BEV charger questions

[Stinsy]

The master plug ones are highly regarded: https://www.screwfix.com/p/masterplug-3 ... e-5m/525kr

[Krill]

Stinsy, I can't find any masterplug 10m cables at Screwfix.

AGT, thanks, that's the best price I've been able to find.

[Ken]

Having a CT clamp on the grid supply and one on the immersion heater and then joining them together before entering the Zappi the immersion heater will charge until such time the measured current at the Zappi reads min 6amps when the Zappi will charge the car and disconnect the immersion and vice versa when clouds or evening. This utilizes all the surplus PV until they are full and then goes on to export or charge the batts.

However this is old thinking because with TOU tariffs i would demand shift EV,HW,HP, batts and others to the cheap rate and export the surplus PV at the 15p. I would not use the batts for arbitage as i consider that poor value after hammering the batts.

Not sure I understand the theory of this. Yes you can add the (signed) current draw of two devices using two CTs but does the control aspect rely on the immersion controller being a Myenergi eddi? Mine is home brewed, needs 50W export to turn on fully so has priority over the zappi (set as per MIs to 100W) but frankly CBA to modify that threshold.

Particularly as am expecting to be moved from deemed export to Octopus Fixed Outgoing when they get round to it, then I will as you say benefit from 15p/kWh and it will be cheaper to heat the immersion at night at 12p than sacrifice exports.

Sorry for very slow reply.
Any diverter will work with the above. Once the Zappi detects 6A + being used by the HW diverter it will switch on and cut off the diverter. When the HW is full the zappi will only switch on if it detects 6A+ being exported at the meter.

But as i said that is old hat -just throw as much demand as possible into 7p/kwh TOU slot and export as much of PV as poss.

[sharpener]

Sorry for very slow reply.
Any diverter will work with the above. Once the Zappi detects 6A + being used by the HW diverter it will switch on and cut off the diverter. When the HW is full the zappi will only switch on if it detects 6A+ being exported at the meter.

But as i said that is old hat -just throw as much demand as possible into 7p/kwh TOU slot and export as much of PV as poss.

That makes sense but as you say is no longer optimal.

Now that the DNO has withdrawn their 3.7kW limit I can export the full 6.9 kW, or still export 3kW while charging at 70A which is welcome flexibility albeit rather late in the season!

However since my round trip efficiency is <80% it is not worthwhile to charge the battery from Cosy at 12p merely in order to export more at 15p. So the aim is to leave as much scope to export PV consistent with starting the 1600h - 1900 peak period with a full battery to power the HP. Even Victron Dynamic ESS seems not to be very good it, so am still wrestling with automating the decisions using the standard Scheduled Charging function. At the last iteration I have 3 charging periods in the afternoon with targets of 40% SoC by 1400, 70% by 1500, 100% by 1600. Not sure it will export once the thresholds are met, if that does not work I will have to code what I want to do in NodeRed.

[Krill]

So a little update.

I took possession of the new Kona last Wednesday, and I'm getting used to it. The regenerative breaking is easy enough, but changing the levels as I go along is taking some getting used to to limit thee brake usage. I managed to cram in two hours of charging during the power hour, and the Zappi took a little bit of a fight to get it to let go of the charging cable, but so far so good.

One thing I don't quite understand, is what to do about the battery conditioning? I've got the app on my phone, but I'm not quite au fait with when I should be using it? Anyone have any suggestions such as how long it should be used before charging/driving when the temperature is blow 10 degrees?

[MrPablo]

If you haven't already, try out the auto regen setting.
I changed to that quote a while ago and it's been very good at ramping up regen based on vehicle speed and distance to traffic.
I tend to keep the Kia on auto regen + level 1.

[Moxi]

I just drive around in i-pedal every where, its naturally intuitive and never use the breaks unless something darts out in front of me, I tend to find driving like this makes me read the road further ahead and makes for a more relaxed journey. The only annoyance I have is that every time you start a journey or reverse anywhere you then have to re-engage i pedal mode again.

Moxi

[Krill]

I've been using the i-pedal (regenerative breaking set to max, level 4 on a 0-4 scale for those who don't know), and the speed limiter, which seems to be the most efficient and easiest way to drive in cities or heavy traffic, but on A roads going up to 60 or so, it feels like every time I lift off the throttle someone has thrown an anchor out the car. It feels unsafe, like I'm going to get rear ended. It feels like swapping between the lower levels of breaking and level 4/i-pedal is the better choice on those stretches of road.

[Oliver90owner]

I’m with MrPablo. Auto is best, IMO.

It just means using the left paddle, for control, a bit more - and sometimes the paddle is not easily selected for the auto-hold bit. But I can cope with that. I know when I’m driving straight ahead or with a lot of lock on the steering.

[Stinsy]

I find that putting it on low regen is best for everyday driving. The brake pedal controls the regen too. Then for rolling traffic I put it on max regen so I can use one pedal.