Solar PV, the Born, a Zappi and Octopus Go
Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2022 7:27 pm
Took delivery of our Born in early July and had 4.3 kw of solar PV installed at the same time.
Plan was to charge it on PV for half the year.
This has been a huge disappointment, almost nothing from the PV so far.
The problem is the group buying Solar Together PV thousands went for way under performs.
On strong sunny days we barely get above 2 kw at best for an hour or two.
Four of the 11 panels generate almost nothing but endless arguments after result in lots of excuses and no solution 4 months on.
Pathetic, beware.
The protocol for charging on the Zappi is it can't charge an EV below 1.4 kw so most of time it can’t charge on “Eco plus” setting cos there is never more than 1.4 kw for a few minutes then gives up.
Chose Eco ordinary instead and it imports lots of top price top up electricity instead when overnight on Go is far cheaper.
Otherwise the Zappi is fine except the CT monitoring goes berserk when charging.
Try getting any help to fix that after hours on the web/phone, thanks its now yours.
Good luck.
I ended up abandoning daytime PV charging, now just do it overnight on cheap rate to dodge the problem.
Abandoned exporting PV energy at a sensible price as a consequence so had to go for the the SEG 4p/kwh
For those thinking of PV please understand the issues, its been of little use to me, am happy to hear other experiences and advice.
f I had my time again I'd go for far more panels with a company that knows what they are doing.
Plan was to charge it on PV for half the year.
This has been a huge disappointment, almost nothing from the PV so far.
The problem is the group buying Solar Together PV thousands went for way under performs.
On strong sunny days we barely get above 2 kw at best for an hour or two.
Four of the 11 panels generate almost nothing but endless arguments after result in lots of excuses and no solution 4 months on.
Pathetic, beware.
The protocol for charging on the Zappi is it can't charge an EV below 1.4 kw so most of time it can’t charge on “Eco plus” setting cos there is never more than 1.4 kw for a few minutes then gives up.
Chose Eco ordinary instead and it imports lots of top price top up electricity instead when overnight on Go is far cheaper.
Otherwise the Zappi is fine except the CT monitoring goes berserk when charging.
Try getting any help to fix that after hours on the web/phone, thanks its now yours.
Good luck.
I ended up abandoning daytime PV charging, now just do it overnight on cheap rate to dodge the problem.
Abandoned exporting PV energy at a sensible price as a consequence so had to go for the the SEG 4p/kwh
For those thinking of PV please understand the issues, its been of little use to me, am happy to hear other experiences and advice.
f I had my time again I'd go for far more panels with a company that knows what they are doing.