Lux ac battery controller

philologus

Just figured it out. EV.

Bernard_S

Unless they've changed the rules very recently you don't really need to have an EV.

Stuart787

Quick question for those with solar PV, an EV chargepoint and a Lux AC controller / Pylontech batteries setup...

Which device(s) do you tend to log into to monitor and control everything?  I realise this thread is about the Lux controller, so clearly it's the main topic of conversation.  But can you / do you also log into your solar inverter?  Can your chargepoint app show the flow of energy around the whole system?  Or can the Lux show everything, including the car being charged?

Still trying to get my head around it all!

newbuilder

Bernard_S said:

Unless they've changed the rules very recently you don't really need to have an EV.

They have changed the rules very recently and you DO need to have an EV. Those who are on the plan will have to confirm this on renewal too.

newbuilder

Stuart787 said:

Quick question for those with solar PV, an EV chargepoint and a Lux AC controller / Pylontech batteries setup...

Which device(s) do you tend to log into to monitor and control everything?  I realise this thread is about the Lux controller, so clearly it's the main topic of conversation.  But can you / do you also log into your solar inverter?  Can your chargepoint app show the flow of energy around the whole system?  Or can the Lux show everything, including the car being charged?

Still trying to get my head around it all!

I use Lux as it is the hybrid so shows batteries and house. It shows the car being charged based on the KW being pulled rather than know it is going to the car. The EO app for my EV charger is not worth the investment the company put into it. It even shown my PV solar coming in to the house at 2300hrs so is mistaking AC charge. EO want nothing to do with it.

EVandPV

Stuart787 said:

Quick question for those with solar PV, an EV chargepoint and a Lux AC controller / Pylontech batteries setup...

Which device(s) do you tend to log into to monitor and control everything?  I realise this thread is about the Lux controller, so clearly it's the main topic of conversation.  But can you / do you also log into your solar inverter?  Can your chargepoint app show the flow of energy around the whole system?  Or can the Lux show everything, including the car being charged?

Still trying to get my head around it all!

The Zappi app can show grid, pv, car and house battery power flows if you have enough ct clamps connected but to be honest, the Lux data is way more accurate so I go by that and hardly ever look at the Zappi app other than to set a charge schedule or change charging mode.
Our pv inverter is 10 years old and has no monitoring options other than the inverter lcd.

Stuart787

Thank you both for your replies.  There's a fair chance I'll go for a Zappi I think.  So...  CT clamps...  Am I right in thinking I'll need CT clamps in a few places, all wired back to the Zappi for it to read what's going on?  Would I also need CT clamps going back to the Lux controller too? 

Again, I'm not sure how this all works I'm afraid.  How does one device know what's going on with the rest of the system?

EVandPV

Stuart787 said:

Thank you both for your replies.  There's a fair chance I'll go for a Zappi I think.  So...  CT clamps...  Am I right in thinking I'll need CT clamps in a few places, all wired back to the Zappi for it to read what's going on?  Would I also need CT clamps going back to the Lux controller too? 

Again, I'm not sure how this all works I'm afraid.  How does one device know what's going on with the rest of the system?

The Zappi comes with 2 CT clamps. Strictly speaking, you only need one around your grid connection for it to work and it'll still be able to divert surplus pv based on what your exporting.
The other CT can either go round your pv or your house battery (Lux) ac wiring and will give you a reading of the powerflow. I have mine round the Lux live wire as it means the Zappi can be set to give priority to either charging the car or the house battery when charging from pv.
If you wanted to see your pv data on the app, you'd need to buy a 3rd CT clamp but again, it's not necessary. 
I didn't bother with it as the Lux gives better and more accurate monitoring. The Zappi servers are also notorious for losing historical data, not a problem I've had with the Lux so far.

Solarchaser

Great info Scott thanks.
I'm waiting my zappi install as I queried the fact I seem to be looped (and at times using 22kw between batteries, granny charger, leccy shower and white goods) and sure enough I need unlooped for the zappi.
I was planning additional ct clamps as I've run a load of cat 5e for them, but sounds like I'm best to just keep going with the lux for monitoring. 

With ev I'm still very spoiled, the wee leaf will take 7kwh on the 4.5p rate with granny charger which is generally enough, if it needs a little more I let the batteries charge the leaf, if it needs a lot more, the bottom of the street has a couple of 50kw chargers... which are free still atm, so that's where the Tesla is charged, but thats not gonna last forever, so perhaps I will need to extend my 3 hours to 5 hours in time.

Though it's just occurred to me if I need 7kw in the Tesla and 3.3 in the leaf, well that's not gonna happen from 1 zappi, I guess the leaf will need to stay on the granny long term really.

So anyway you guys are using the extra 2 hours for the ev rather than the batteries,  and that makes sense.

When I joined octopus go they asked if I had an ev, I said yes, and that was it, there was no demand for proof, v5. Nor even registration. 

And really the go was for the batteries way more than for the ev.
I see it as a box ticking exercise for octopus,  so they can call it an ev tarrif (maybe there is tax relief for them etc??)

EVandPV

Loads of info/discussion on the Zappi here ..... (40) myenergi - All posts