Zappi 7kW EV Charger Installation

[EEVblog]

Hub now installed.
https://twitter.com/posnoski/status/1465572683131674624

I really don't get the hub at all, why use it?
Sure it now allows you to look at your charge rate and solar production on your phone. But anyone who buys a Zappi already has solar, and almost certainly an energy monitoring system along with it (I have 3 systems!, Zappi makes it 4). So, 

And tracking your charge on your phone is kinda pointless, why would you bother?

I see zero benefit in keeping it installed. Might as well just put it in a draw and only use again if I need a firmware update. They should have added Ethenet and/or Wifi directly into the Zappi.

[Ed.Kloonk]

If you're worried about the 6 mil copper, what's the power factor like on that thing?

I'd be sticking a current probe on the red one and having a look at the waveform: slow charge, fast charge, charging from the grid vs the inverter. We can work out how hot the wire will get once we know the extent of amperage due to a wonky waveform not just rely on the wattage values.

[Faringdon]

There is some of the reasoning behind the Hub here..
https://myenergi.com/product/hub/

[Red Squirrel]

It's really great to learn that this is something that is possible, to control the charge rate from the charger itself, opens lot of doors for renewable energy use like in this case with the solar.  I plan to build an off grid homestead and was kind of wondering if it's possible to control how much power the car draws, and the fact that it's a simple PWM signal makes it very simple if I wanted to design my own charger even.  I suppose this works with level 1 charging to with 120v right?  Can you get it down to like say, 100w if you really wanted to, or is there a hard minimum?  Maybe not with that particular charger, but like with the standard in general?

I don't have an EV yet myself but that will probably be my next major purchase.  I just need to pay off my land first...  and then save up.  Hopefully the prices come down in the next couple years.  I really want a truck, but I will settle for a SUV if it can tow a small trailer. 

[uer166]

If you're worried about the 6 mil copper, what's the power factor like on that thing?

I'd be sticking a current probe on the red one and having a look at the waveform: slow charge, fast charge, charging from the grid vs the inverter. We can work out how hot the wire will get once we know the extent of amperage due to a wonky waveform not just rely on the wattage values.

Pretty close to 1, all on board chargers in vehicles have pretty good PFC with hard limits on harmonic content, so it wouldn't be a problem. Isn't daves' inverter grid tied? I.e. "charging from inverter" doesn't make any sense in context, it's always "charging from grid"..

[f4eru]

except the Zoé, most EV chargers have near 1 power factor.

[uer166]

except the Zoé, most EV chargers have near 1 power factor.

Ah, the one car that fucked up the French standards for all other international EVSE manufacturers, what an embarrassment.

[f4eru]

Why ?
The french standards are fucked up, but not because of the zoe I think

[uer166]

Why ?
The french standards are fucked up, but not because of the zoe I think

Might have been an unfounded assumption on my part, based on how many issues Zoe causes with fully standards-compliant EVSEs, whether they are DC or AC. Don't get me started on EV-Ready requirements (like shuttered sockets etc), whoever wrote those is either a knucklehead, or lives in a total vacuum.

[EEVblog]

I.e. "charging from inverter" doesn't make any sense in context, it's always "charging from grid"..

Correct, I have 15 inverters that connect to the grid. The Zappi connects to the grid as well. The Zappi just know ho much the solar invereters output and only pulls that amount from the "grid", whcih just happens to match the invereter output into the grid.

[EEVblog]

There is some of the reasoning behind the Hub here..
https://myenergi.com/product/hub/

Mrs EEVblog is waiting for our gas hot water system to die so it can be placed with electric. In that case there may be some benefit to Eddi hot water controller, in not having an electric system coming on over night (after we have had our showers at night), and only coming on during the day with solar. But that can mostly be done with a simple dumb timer controller as well.