Solis 5kW Hybrid inverter

[Andy]

You can set both to start at the same time and have a house hold limit set in the zappi so that you don't blow the fuse. A stagger is just a neighbourly thing to do with regards the grid.

I would very much like the ability to set a lower charge rate for the zappi when scheduling a charge. ie charge during a period at 5kW but this isn't possible without going into the menus each time and changing the zappi max charge rate.

[sharpener]

Thanks, it is early days yet so hopefully she will be able to charge the car from PV for most of the summer, which gives me a little time to look into it.

I had hoped it would be a simple matter of setting the Zappi and battery to charge at the same time, maybe staggering the start of the battery till after the zappi had charged the car.

Yes but depending on the circuit topology and where the CTs are you may also need to schedule the battery charge time to be at least as long as the car charging time in order to prevent it discharging into the car. So if you want to get the max charge into the car then you want to start charging both at the start of the off-peak rate. If you haven't any other big loads at night then 7kW into the car and 5kW max into the battery simultaneously will draw about 50A which is OK on even the smallest (60A) standard supply though I agree with Andy not ideal.

I find it is best to set the zappi up as a timed boost on its front panel (or phone app). The web interface doesn't allow you to do this, only to set up a "smart boost" which is not guaranteed to only draw power at off-peak rates.

You can set both to start at the same time and have a house hold limit set in the zappi so that you don't blow the fuse. A stagger is just a neighbourly thing to do with regards the grid.

I would very much like the ability to set a lower charge rate for the zappi when scheduling a charge. ie charge during a period at 5kW but this isn't possible without going into the menus each time and changing the zappi max charge rate.

Isn't the PWM setting persistent? The timed boost settings seem to survive from one charging period to the next and even through power cuts - provided you do not set a smart boost from the web interface which seems to overwrite them.

[Andy]

Isn't the PWM setting persistent? The timed boost settings seem to survive from one charging period to the next and even through power cuts - provided you do not set a smart boost from the web interface which seems to overwrite them.

It is persistent. That's the problem as I want different charge rates for different scenarios. ie have an optimum charge rate of 3.5kW when purely using the battery pack but if there is solar available I want to use the full 7kW.

[marshman]

Just as a note, the Solis 5kW inverter will not do a continuous 5kW (100A) charge. Depending on the S/W version it will either:

1) Charge at 100A for 15mins then drop to 75A for the rest of the period

or

2) Charge at 100A for down 40 mins then ramp down 83A and return to 100A after it has "cooled down" or if you set the charge current to 90A it will run for 70 ,ins then derate to cool down before returning to the higher charge current.

The above information is from Solis technical support

[sharpener]

Isn't the PWM setting persistent? The timed boost settings seem to survive from one charging period to the next and even through power cuts - provided you do not set a smart boost from the web interface which seems to overwrite them.

It is persistent. That's the problem as I want different charge rates for different scenarios. ie have an optimum charge rate of 3.5kW when purely using the battery pack but if there is solar available I want to use the full 7kW.

Depending on the car it might be easier to set the max charge rate from the car end rather than fiddle about with the zappi's menu options. Alternatively if the battery regards supplying the zappi as "export" can you limit this "export" while the PV is not sufficient for the loads (I forget what inverter and topology you have got)?

[openspaceman]

Just as a note, the Solis 5kW inverter will not do a continuous 5kW (100A) charge. Depending on the S/W version it will either:

1) Charge at 100A for 15mins then drop to 75A for the rest of the period - which is what mine does.

This is what the daughter's seems to do.
The electrician has wired it conventionally despite putting in a second consumer unit that could have been configured as in this page which was suggested up thread by sharpener.

https://support.myenergi.com/hc/en-gb/a ... 6139366161

So far only a couple of sunny days since she has used the zappi in the eco2 mode, which is supposed to only use excess solar power. She has not yet found the menu for export margin so the zappi has taken charge from the battery.

The interesting thing is that as the zappi (or car?) will not charge below 1.4kW, on a "cloudy with occasional sunshine" day even though the car is plugged in the threshold is never met, so the charge all goes to the battery and once that is full electricity is exported. In this scenario it is probably better to deplete the battery to some extent and then judge how much is left for the evenings use.

I am pleased with the PV and solis but some wrinkles to work out and a bit frustrating as I am 50 miles away and daughter is a bit too busy to learn what to do for best performance. At current prices she does really need to consume all her generation to amortise costs over 10 years without exporting.

[MrPablo]

I wonder if the charge derating is controlled via the unit temperature? From monitoring the modbus information, I can see that when there's a lot of power converted DC-DC, the temperature really starts to climb.
I have seen one user rig up a couple of 120mm fans behind the Solis blowing onto the heatsink fins, something I may try out when I replace the 3.6kW unit for one with more power.

https://diysolarforum.com/threads/solis ... ost-718983

Perhaps this could be an inexpensive experiment that could result in sustained 100A charging for someone.

[marshman]

__

[openspaceman]

The interesting thing is that as the zappi (or car?) will not charge below 1.4kW, on a "cloudy with occasional sunshine" day even though the car is plugged in the threshold is never met, so the charge all goes to the battery and once that is full electricity is exported. In this scenario it is probably better to deplete the battery to some extent and then judge how much is left for the evenings use.

There was some strange behaviour yesterday, as the sun went down, the zappi was left plugged in on eco2 and between 17:20 and 19:20 the battery discharged at a steady 3kW until the battery was depleted. Probably OT as it is a zappi thing rather than solis I suspect.

[openspaceman]

The interesting thing is that as the zappi (or car?) will not charge below 1.4kW, on a "cloudy with occasional sunshine" day even though the car is plugged in the threshold is never met, so the charge all goes to the battery and once that is full electricity is exported. In this scenario it is probably better to deplete the battery to some extent and then judge how much is left for the evenings use.

There was some strange behaviour yesterday, as the sun went down, the zappi was left plugged in on eco2 and between 17:20 and 19:20 the battery discharged at a steady 3kW until the battery was depleted. Probably OT as it is a zappi thing rather than solis I suspect.

I am still more than confused by the zappi,

With the export margin set to 100W and EV plugged in, during the day the house battery charges up to 100% before the car starts charging, with the zappi set to eco plus two leaves. It works great and accurately tracks surplus solar production. Once the solar production falls at the end of the day the zappi takes charge from the battery to maintain charge at about 1.8kW until the house battery is depleted,