Sol-Ark and EV Charging.

[Lt.Dan]

Hey Y'all, I recently bought a new (to me), Tesla Model 3 Long Range, and will hopefully be receiving it in the next few days.

I have a SolArk 12k in my garage, along with my 540ah DIY battery. I'm in the market for a new EV charger obviously, and want to see if there's anything that works in conjunction with the Sol Ark? Ideally it would start charging when the house battery reached 100%, and instead of feeding back to the grid, it would charge the car.

Does anybody else do this currently?

 

[Luxpower_Gilbert]

Try check out lEmporia Vue monitor with their EV charger

Emporia Energy Smart Home Energy Monitor Devices

Use our smart home energy monitor devices to monitor your home's energy use and save money on your utility bills! Easily install and get suggestions on how to save today!

shop.emporiaenergy.com

 

[fromport]

I have a SolArk 12k in my garage, along with my 540ah DIY battery. I'm in the market for a new EV charger obviously, and want to see if there's anything that works in conjunction with the Sol Ark? Ideally it would start charging when the house battery reached 100%, and instead of feeding back to the grid, it would charge the car.

With the right amount of login you could also consider openevse.com

According to https://wikiless.org/wiki/Tesla_Model_3?lang=en a model 3 LR > MY2021 has a 82kWh battery.
Your PV system has a 51.2V x 540Ah = 27,648 Wh or 27.7 kWh battery installed.
Your EV will have almost 3 times more energy storage than your home.

 

[Lt.Dan]

Try check out lEmporia Vue monitor with their EV charger

Emporia Energy Smart Home Energy Monitor Devices

Use our smart home energy monitor devices to monitor your home's energy use and save money on your utility bills! Easily install and get suggestions on how to save today!

shop.emporiaenergy.com

I will do more research on this, but I assumed this works only with micro-invertered Grid-Tie solar, where it is reading power going out, but the Sol-Ark might act different? I will look into it. Thank you.

With the right amount of login you could also consider openevse.com

According to https://wikiless.org/wiki/Tesla_Model_3?lang=en a model 3 LR > MY2021 has a 82kWh battery.
Your PV system has a 51.2V x 540Ah = 27,648 Wh or 27.7 kWh battery installed.
Your EV will have almost 3 times more energy storage than your home.

Are you suggesting a bi-directional charging? Its not something I'm interested in, as the house uses very little power, most days under 20kWh, and frequently around 10-12kWh. I'd rather keep the Tesla battery in good shape rather than constantly cycle it.

 

[Luxpower_Gilbert]

I will do more research on this, but I assumed this works only with micro-invertered Grid-Tie solar, where it is reading power going out, but the Sol-Ark might act different? I will look into it. Thank you.

When the emporia vue monitor sees your sol-ark inverter selling power to the grid it will turn on their charger to charge your EV. It will only charge it whatever the solar excess power of your sol-ark.

 

[Lt.Dan]

When the emporia vue monitor sees your sol-ark inverter selling power to the grid it will turn on their charger to charge your EV. It will only charge it whatever the solar excess power of your sol-ark.

I see now, I was under the impression that it was just monitoring the line that came from the solar only, but that definitely makes more sense. I didn't think it all the way through lol.

The hard part with that is my charger will be connected to my sub-panel in the garage, and the main panel is clear on the opposite side of the home. The emporia won't be monitoring the entire house, but just what is connected to the sub-panel. But it still does what I want, which is the smart EV charging.

Thank you!

 

[fromport]

Are you suggesting a bi-directional charging? Its not something I'm interested in, as the house uses very little power, most days under 20kWh, and frequently around 10-12kWh. I'd rather keep the Tesla battery in good shape rather than constantly cycle it.

no, not at all.
Batteries when charged/dis-charge between 20-90% really can take a lot of cycles. Batteries also ware down from getting old. So I would rather use them then let them go to waste un-used.
What I was trying to point out: if you come back home, your MY is 50% state of charge, your home battery is 100% full, you could start charging your MY with the energy from the sun, but it will not be enough to fill it 100%. I assume you don't want to drain your PW to your car and have nothing left there in case of power outage ?

 

[Luxpower_Gilbert]

I see now, I was under the impression that it was just monitoring the line that came from the solar only, but that definitely makes more sense. I didn't think it all the way through lol.

The hard part with that is my charger will be connected to my sub-panel in the garage, and the main panel is clear on the opposite side of the home. The emporia won't be monitoring the entire house, but just what is connected to the sub-panel. But it still does what I want, which is the smart EV charging.

Thank you!

you can install the energy monitor on your main panel all it does is monitor what’s comes in and out of your main panel and you can use the additional 16 ct to monitor each breaker of your panel. You don’t have to monitor your solar production with the energy monitor.

The EV charger you can install it on your sub panel, it doesn’t have to in the main panel the emporia monitor will activate and control thru network if it sees power going out of your main panel.

 

[Lt.Dan]

What I was trying to point out: if you come back home, your MY is 50% state of charge, your home battery is 100% full, you could start charging your MY with the energy from the sun, but it will not be enough to fill it 100%. I assume you don't want to drain your PW to your car and have nothing left there in case of power outage ?

My wife is the one driving it the most, and she gets home from work right at noon. I guess I could setup the Tesla to not accept a charge between 4pm-9pm to prevent on-grid/expensive charging. Then EV Charging will happen during most of the highest available PV from 12am to 4pm. After that, it will stop charging until 9pm, and then pick back up if it is not at the necessary SOC. The only concern would be the charger needing to regulate current to not pull more than what PV is available to it, which I'm sure the Emporia will do.

you can install the energy monitor on your main panel all it does is monitor what’s comes in and out of your main panel and you can use the additional 16 ct to monitor each breaker of your panel. You don’t have to monitor your solar production with the energy monitor.

The EV charger you can install it on your sub panel, it doesn’t have to in the main panel the emporia monitor will activate and control thru network if it sees power going out of your main panel.

The main panel is over 100ft away, and because of that, I still haven't even been able to install the CT sensors for the Sol-Ark at the main panel. In this case, the Emporia will only see everything the Sub-Panel, which is fine.

 

[Luxpower_Gilbert]

Install the emporia energy monitor in your main panel, and install the charger in your sub panel.

 

[Lt.Dan]

Does the energy monitor and the charger have to connect? Or are they wireless?

I see on their website they have a Vue Utility Connect that connects direct to the meter wirelessly. But they don't specify what is compatible other than Zigbee enabled Smart Meter? I cannot figure out if my meter is compatible and there is no "Is your meter supported" kind of thing.

 

[Ampster]

but I assumed this works only with micro-invertered Grid-Tie solar, where it is reading power going out,

The Emporia CTs works on measuring any power being exported and it cannot distinguish from DC coupled or AC coupled and particularly AC coupled micros or a GT inverter.

 

[Ampster]

At this point all my DC and AC coupled solar goes through the SolArk and my Emporia Energy monitor CTs are only on the AC coupled solar and the main panel. As mentioned above I think the Emporia modulates my EV charging based on what the Energy Monitor sees as Export. The only relationship my EV charging has to the SolArk is based on how much power is being exported from the SolArk.

 

[Ampster]

I see on their website they have a Vue Utility Connect that connects direct to the meter wirelessly. But they don't specify what is compatible other than Zigbee enabled Smart Meter? I cannot figure out if my meter is compatible and there is no "Is your meter supported" kind of thing.

I also tried the Vue Utility Connect and in my case PG&E did not support it because I had solar. That was a policy decision from PG&E which must have been recent because at a previous residence where I was able to use another Zigbee device. They are called HAN devices and anyone considering it should confirm with their utility.

 

[629658]

I also tried the Vue Utility Connect and in my case PG&E did not support it because I had solar. That was a policy decision from PG&E which must have been recent because at a previous residence where I was able to use another Zigbee device. They are called HAN devices and anyone considering it should confirm with their utility.

I have a HAN (Rainforest) and my utility lets me see grid use and PV production. I basically only use it at the end of a billing cycle to get my end meter reads to keep everyone honest.

 

[hayhayday]

I also tried the Vue Utility Connect and in my case PG&E did not support it because I had solar. That was a policy decision from PG&E which must have been recent because at a previous residence where I was able to use another Zigbee device. They are called HAN devices and anyone considering it should confirm with their utility.

You might try again I have PG&E , solar , vue utility connect and the emporia charger set up a few months ago. Took a phone call to PG&E and they had to submit a ticket someplace but it started working the next day. Main panel has only 2 breakers one for sol-ark 15k and another to the emporia evse, set to 0kw demand and tou so it will only use otherwise exported energy before 4pm.

 

[Ampster]

You might try again I have PG&E , solar , vue utility connect and the emporia charger set up a few months ago. Took a phone call to PG&E and they had to submit a ticket someplace but it started working the next day. Main panel has only 2 breakers one for sol-ark 15k and another to the emporia evse, set to 0kw demand and tou so it will only use otherwise exported energy before 4pm.

Good input, but I returned the Vue Utility Connect some time ago. That is no surprise about PG&E being inconsistant. When I set up a Rainforest with them years ago, one person said I could not do it because I was with Sonoma Clean Power, a CCA. It took a conversation with her supervisor to clarify and get the Rainforest connected. I also use the exported power to charge but only before 3PM because that is when my higher rate starts. I want to get as much credit for export at the higher rates.

 

[acsscott]

I have a Sol-Ark 12K. I use a Grizzl-e Classic 10kW EV charger on my Ford mach-e. I have it connected to the Sol-Ark GEN/Smartload output so it only charges when the PV is above 4kW and my batteries are above 98%. I mounted a toggle switch on the outside connected to the internal DIP switch so I can set the charge rate depending on how much solar I want to use and how fast I need to charge. Typical cloudy day, 3.84kW. Fun Sun cool day, 7.68 kW. Need it charged now, 9.6kW.

There really isn't anything to a Level 2 charger. Extremely over priced. Just some solid state relays and a negotiation circuit that puts out a PWM signal to tell the car how much current it can draw.

 

[2TrevorJ]

Sol-Arks Smartload with an appropriately adjustable EVSE should be money.

Another universal option that uses CTs:

Solar EV Charging

Experience Wallbox's state-of-the-art solar integration technologies with sustainable EV charging. Our revolutionary solar-powered EV charger is designed to fully charge your electric vehicle using clean and renewable energy from the sun.

wallbox.com

Eco-Smart Activation and User Guide - Wallbox Help Center

Eco-Smart allows you to use the green energy generated from your solar panels or wind turbines at home to charge your electric vehicle.

support.wallbox.com

Install guide

https://support.wallbox.com/wp-content/uploads/ht_kb/2021/09/Energy-Meters-IG.pdf

 

[smurfturf]

I'm really interested in a dc ev charger. Here's the link

Enteligent

Our EV Charger is game-changing and will be available in early 2022.

enteligent.com

I believe this could be connected to the high voltage dc bus in the sol ark at approximately 400v dc and connect to the ev via ccs1 connector.
They claim that we'll save a lot of energy without the dc to ac and back to dc conversions.

 

[jculina2012]

When the emporia vue monitor sees your sol-ark inverter selling power to the grid it will turn on their charger to charge your EV. It will only charge it whatever the solar excess power of your sol-ark.

i have deye 12kw hybrid inverter basically unit that looks same like sol ark. but i am not selling any excess because it is not allowed in my country. now i need help to buy charger for my house. problem that happens is that if i put car to charge at 6kw i am limiting house to use only 6kw then . i need some charger availible in europe that has energy monitor this one that you suggested i checked out now but it dont sell in europe . can you help please. sometimes my house is using only 1kw sometimes it goes up to 7kw so i need something that can monitor house consumption and adjust based on that