Whats available for off grid solar EV charging ? Can you charge DC or do you have to faff with converting to AC, I have had a bit of a google search but I am still new to EV's and might not be searching the right terms.
Yes I know it will be slower than the alternates AC systems available but I am being quoted £3.5k to get a supply from the house across the road to the drive so why not spend that money instead on a solar car charger or DIY system ?
I know that even I could loft some ground mount panels, go through an inverter to AC then connect an AC charger but that will have some losses so is there a DC equivalent that I am missing out on ?
Moxi
Re: Off Grid Solar EV charging
Posted: Tue May 23, 2023 11:08 am
by NikoV6
Like this?
Re: Off Grid Solar EV charging
Posted: Tue May 23, 2023 11:10 am
by Caesium
I think the problem is you'd have to match the DC voltage of the car's battery right? And that can be anything up to 800V on the newer platforms. Probably not something you'd want to be messing with.
On the whole my view is DIYing an EV charger is probably not the best idea. I'm mostly fine with the idea of electrocuting myself in my own house but a car that's standing outside on rubber wheels in the rain on a driveway right next to a public footpath is a different story. If I make that car live and kill someone, doesn't even bear thinking about.
For now as I've only a PHEV I make do with the relatively slow charge rates of a granny charger. I do have one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0B ... UTF8&psc=1 - which I'm planning to stick on the end of a 32A commando socket at some point, then that'll give me faster charging and scale up to a full BEV quite nicely at some point. But even then there's grounding implications to consider I guess, which I haven't really thought about yet. If its on an RCD in the house I guess thats good enough..?
Re: Off Grid Solar EV charging
Posted: Tue May 23, 2023 11:50 am
by openspaceman
Caesium wrote: ↑Tue May 23, 2023 11:10 am
I think the problem is you'd have to match the DC voltage of the car's battery right? And that can be anything up to 800V on the newer platforms. Probably not something you'd want to be messing with.
On the whole my view is DIYing an EV charger is probably not the best idea. I'm mostly fine with the idea of electrocuting myself in my own house but a car that's standing outside on rubber wheels in the rain on a driveway right next to a public footpath is a different story. If I make that car live and kill someone, doesn't even bear thinking about.
For now as I've only a PHEV I make do with the relatively slow charge rates of a granny charger. I do have one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0B ... UTF8&psc=1 - which I'm planning to stick on the end of a 32A commando socket at some point, then that'll give me faster charging and scale up to a full BEV quite nicely at some point. But even then there's grounding implications to consider I guess, which I haven't really thought about yet. If its on an RCD in the house I guess thats good enough..?
Do you need any permissions to use one of these, in fact are they legal to use in UK?
Re: Off Grid Solar EV charging
Posted: Tue May 23, 2023 11:57 am
by Moxi
So it does look like its got to be the DC to AC route - that's ok I just didn't want to miss something "obvious" and I certainly don't want to be DIY up at 800V DC that feels like a Darwin award scenario - I had the flutters wiring in the 48V home stack and feel much happier at 24V and 12V DC systems in general.
Caesium wrote: ↑Tue May 23, 2023 11:10 am
I think the problem is you'd have to match the DC voltage of the car's battery right? And that can be anything up to 800V on the newer platforms. Probably not something you'd want to be messing with.
On the whole my view is DIYing an EV charger is probably not the best idea. I'm mostly fine with the idea of electrocuting myself in my own house but a car that's standing outside on rubber wheels in the rain on a driveway right next to a public footpath is a different story. If I make that car live and kill someone, doesn't even bear thinking about.
For now as I've only a PHEV I make do with the relatively slow charge rates of a granny charger. I do have one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0B ... UTF8&psc=1 - which I'm planning to stick on the end of a 32A commando socket at some point, then that'll give me faster charging and scale up to a full BEV quite nicely at some point. But even then there's grounding implications to consider I guess, which I haven't really thought about yet. If its on an RCD in the house I guess thats good enough..?
Do you need any permissions to use one of these, in fact are they legal to use in UK?
It doesn't look like it'd comply with the post July 2022 regs for EV chargers to be smart.
openspaceman wrote: ↑Tue May 23, 2023 11:50 am
Do you need any permissions to use one of these, in fact are they legal to use in UK?
It doesn't look like it'd comply with the post July 2022 regs for EV chargers to be smart.
No it doesn't have any smarts. It's not much different from every granny charger though (bit more powerful), and they're surely still sold today with every new EV? And they're surely all still legal?
I've not looked at the regs around this in detail but I wonder if it only applies to permanent installations or something, thus exempting granny chargers and ones you can stick on a commando socket like this (intended for caravan campsites and such I imagine).
I don't see anything there about permanent installs but the entire thing seems vague and ambiguous, how unsurprising. In particular (cut out the relevant parts):
The regulations cover:
[...]
smart cables (defined as an electrical cable which is a charge point and is able to send and receive information)
The regulations do not apply to private charge points which are:
[...]
non-smart cables or rapid charge points
[...]
So the one I linked is basically a charging cable I guess? But since it's non-smart, the regulations don't apply to it?
Re: Off Grid Solar EV charging
Posted: Tue May 23, 2023 1:15 pm
by openspaceman
Caesium wrote: ↑Tue May 23, 2023 11:10 am
I do have one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0B ... UTF8&psc=1 - which I'm planning to stick on the end of a 32A commando socket at some point, then that'll give me faster charging and scale up to a full BEV quite nicely at some point. But even then there's grounding implications to consider I guess, which I haven't really thought about yet. If its on an RCD in the house I guess thats good enough..?
Hurry up and try it, I'm gagging to learn how it works out .
Re: Off Grid Solar EV charging
Posted: Tue May 23, 2023 1:34 pm
by Moxi
Doesn't need to be regulation compliant if its not hooked up to the Grid which would be the case with my proposed installation. The smart charging requirement was to allow grid stabilisation so the smart chargers can be switched on/ off if required by the NG in times of adversity. That was my understanding in any event.
.