I currently have a Gen 2 inverter and battery in the garage, connected to the main consumer unit EM115 40m away via a trench buried cat 5 cable.
The installation manual mentions EV to Gen 3 inverter comms, but not Gen 2?
Would mine need wiring back to the consumer unit 40m away or the local inverter?
Thanks.
Haddock this is for the GivEnergy EV charger, any 3rd party one won't interface with GE equipment. But when the GE charger comes out it'll interface with the inverter I believe
Hi - yes I’m talking about the new Givenergy charger.
Does the Gen 3 inverter have something special my Gen 2 won’t have?
Cheers
I believe Gen2 and Gen3 inverters are identical internally with respect to electronics. The main difference is the casing and heatsink which are integrated in the Gen3. Hopefully, an installer will be able to concur.
I thought the same - but the installation manual specifically states the Gen 3 so I suspect not.
It was believed they are the same at the time but I think it's not really the case, Gen2 & 3 run (slightly) different code internally as they have a different CPU based on an old post I've quoted below: https://community.givenergy.cloud/d/1342-new-givenergy-inverter-bms-firmware-beta-testing-chat/2825
Gen1 - As above, its based around the same code for Gen2, but compiled for the smaller processor and the additional registers for 10 charge and discharge are not present. Current version D195-A195 has been in circulation a while without issues.
Cant be applied to all inverters, those older than 2209 need 1st checking for a transformer compatibility issue. Service desk have this test FW, to check for compatibility.AC3 - Version D289-A289 is the oldest beta, has AC charge oscillation still present, which needs fixing like Gen2 and 1.
Gen3 - D303-A303 - Based on Gen2 (909-909), but compiled for the Gen3 CPU
Key points being the Based on Gen2 (909-909), but compiled for the Gen3 CPU bit which suggests there are actually differences between the two & only Gen 3 sounds like it can pull off the EV charger direct wire trick.
I understand the GEN 3 been the only one able to directly wire but why does it need it ? The app works locally over the network and surley gets all the information the EVSE needs every 10 seconds ??
I have a GEN 1 so I assume it will be configuration D for me.
Cheers - do you read this as the “supply cable” being the power cable and therefore it doesn’t need its own clamp in the consumer unit as per configuration c?
We have a main consumer unit in the house (40m trench away) and a garage consumer unit which supply’s the inverter and will supply the EV charger.
Hoping it doesn’t need to go back to the house consumer unit - what do you think?
Haddock Yeah that's how I read it. I've posted a link to midsummer wholesale who have the installation instructions.
Config C would be like how a zappi is wired and is having to collect its own data.
I'm lucky that it's all close together for me but I've been waiting for just over a year as I want it to place nicely with my hybrid inverter.
https://midsummerwholesale.co.uk/buy/givenergy-ev/giv-ev-charger
What I’ve not been able to spot or see referenced is how the battery will avoid being drained by the EV.
Hook all I’ve seen is a bit in the faq for the charger “you can also disable the battery from discharging if the EV is plugged in and charging. This is a common problem industry wide, but one we’re proud to have solved. “
However it doesn’t say what the battery is doing really - is it still covering house load or are they simply stopping all battery discharge whilst eV is charging (so house pulls from the grid same as eV).
I was really hoping that it goes like the libbi where there is a “tickbox” basically telling the battery to ignore the charger and it still covers house load.
Hook It can just limit the battery output power to match the house load. If the car is drawing 7.5kw and the house 500w the system could just limit the battery to 500w. It's already possible through the app. The EVSE could surely do this with a micro in a similar way people use home assistant.
I am assuming you can locally change that value but I would be shocked if you cant
Lab140 generation 1 hybrid for me. Got the givenergy EV charger on pre order so doing the same as everyone else now and trying to figure this all out. Will be interesting to get some feedback from GE on this issue.
c_squared a direct response from GE on the issue “If the EV charger is connected to the GivEnergy system, by default the battery will only discharge to meet the home demand when the car is charging. You can configure the maximum power that the battery can discharge if you want it to discharge to the EV charger”
Smk82 I was thinking more about the method of connection between the charger and inverter.
c_squared I would guess that being on the same network they would talk locally once paired so they know what each other is - might be via the cloud, but I wouldn't expect that to be quick enough to respond to the varying house load.
anglefire my thoughts also, unless there are clear blue skies with not a cloud in sight. I seem to remember the original version of the charger, the one that never made it to market, had a wired connection between the EM115 and the charger. Doesn’t seem to be the route they have gone down with this version.
c_squared I don’t know - I’ve not followed it too closely as although it would have been my preferred charger, I’ve had to go for a Zappi as OctopusEv don’t currently offer it. And as the car arrived today, I didn’t want to wait.
c_squared there are at least some details in the installation manual on the midsummer and GE websites. Looks like cloud and wired (eventually) to be offered with GE inverters. What not clear though is whether they will offer this with AC inverters as they talk about systems with a third party pv inverter connecting via an em115 but then the next option is connection to a GE inverter…
@Haddock 
I've had mine installed and it is just power that you need
Lab140 be interesting see some snapshots of it working in app, and confirmation that the battery only supplies the house (if set correctly), so you can leave battery set as “solar only” without having to charge batteries at the same time as eV
Lab140 what Ev do you have and are you already on io? Be interesting to see if Octopus can still see your car.
I presume it would need to be in “dumb” mode to currently work with io.
I will have a play tonight and get some. It can stop the battery discharging to the car as it changes the max discharge rate on the battery to match the house load.
Hook I have a Niro. I have not bothered with IO yet as it's flaky using the Kia api. Hopefully the charger will be added soon so I can try it through that
Had mine installed today. The app wasn’t as intuitive as I had thought but I think I’ve got my head around things now. Will see what happens tonight during the timed charge period.
The commissioning process on the app was very straightforward. Took the electricians a little over two hours to install. Very happy that I waited for the givenergy EVC rather than installing one outside of the ecosystem.