Car charge minimum kWh...?

Hi people,

Just slapped the motor (nisan leaf 2020) on charge as the batteries are 100% full and the solar is just going to the grid...

Stuck the Zappi on Eco++ mode to only use excess solar and I'm still drawing from the battery...?

I assume that the minimum that the car can charge at is 1.5kWh as that's roughly what the total pull on the system is and that's split between the solar excess and the top up from the battery...

Anyone know if this is what I'm looking at or if my system should just be trickling the solar into the car without topping up from the battery...?

Any help greatly appreciated.

with my I3 1.4 kwh is the minimum so about right

Hi BigAl, the secret to not drawing from the battery is to set a minimum export level on the Zappi. Search Zappi Supply Grid – Export Margin to find out how.

The Zappi probably cannot see your battery. If you have a hybrid system, it will assume battery + solar are a single thing. To prevent battery drawdown, set your export margin to ~ 150 watts. that way any excess power goes into charging the battery first, then only when you have 1.4kW + an additional 150 does it charge the EV.

Sounds like a pain, but once set up it just works.

BigAl You need to set the Zappi to ECO+ with 100% Minimum Green Level so that only the amount being exported is diverted. A time delay of 20 seconds or so should allow any inverter overshoot to be ignored. We've been running this setup for the last 12 months and our house batteries are never depleted by the Zappi. We also set a timed charge schedule for the Zappi to be the same as the inverter timed charge so both can charge at the same time off-peak if necessary.

Tim how do I set the delay....?

BigAl On the Zappi itself, go to menu Charge Settings… ECO+ Settings… got past Min Green Level: and then the next is Start/Stop Delay. Our start delay is set to 20 seconds, just to make sure there's nothing else needing the power.

Once it's set, just use the app to enable ECO+ and/or timed charge as required.