Solaredge EV Charger on Solaredge Inverter

[LDLP]

Hello we recently had our Solaredge vendor install our Solar 12.58kW system with the SE10000H inverter and battery backup interface. i am looking to have the Solaredge EV charger installed and would like to take advantage of the excess solar mode. I believe i understand this to be that any excess clipped solar produced would go into charging the EV? Currently it seems that any excess is going into the battery to top it off. Anyone with experience or has a similar setup please let me know your thoughts. Leaning towards purchasing the Tesla model Y for now if that changes anything.

The EV charger also comes in a Nema 14-50 AC plug and or a Nema 6-50 AC plug and i know i need to purchase an adapter for the Tesla plug side. Does it matter what Nema plug i go for? is there any pro's or con's?

Thank you in Advance...

[spencnor]

I have a Tesla mobile charger for my MY and used a Nema 6-50R receptacle because the Tesla 14-50 adapter was back ordered. Note Tesla lists both the 14-50 and 6-50 as acceptable. The 14-50R has a neutral connection which is not required for Tesla chargers. I did later buy a 14-50 to 6-50 adapter to use in case I ever needed that connection.

[LDLP]

I have a Tesla mobile charger for my MY and used a Nema 6-50R receptacle because the Tesla 14-50 adapter was back ordered. Note Tesla lists both the 14-50 and 6-50 as acceptable. The 14-50R has a neutral connection which is not required for Tesla chargers. I did later buy a 14-50 to 6-50 adapter to use in case I ever needed that connection.

Am i correct in assuming that the 14-50 and 6-50 are the AC plugs for the wall side and has nothing to do with the car side? The solaredge EV charger comes in two AC plug models but i am also told i will need an adapter for the car side. I am also assuming that both nema versions are if they cant hardwire into my inverter.

[spencnor]

Yes, the 14-50 and 6-50 are on the AC side of the charger. If you buy a Tesla charger whether mobile, or wall, the car side is proprietary to Tesla. You will get a J1772 adapter with your Tesla if you go to a 3rd party (not Tesla) charging station. In other words, if you buy a non-Tesla charger, it will most likely be the J1772 standard.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...P8IbUC0TF4OPf8

[LDLP]

Thank you for this information. It clears a few things. Does anyone know how excess solar charging work? Is this from clipped Solar?

[peakbagger]

Clipped solar is gone forever as the reason it its "clipped" is that the inverter does not have the capacity to convert all the DC output of the panels into the AC output. This is an economic decision, a few hours of peak panel capacity during certain times of the year that exceed the inverters input rating is not worth installing a more costly larger capacity inverter. Unless you have direct DC charging with no intermediate AC, the charger is getting fed from the AC output of the inverter so clipping has already occurred. Note I am assuming you are connected to the grid, if totally off gird than this discussion is not 100% applicable as an off grid person needs somewhere to put the power and if they do not have this capacity, the inverters will run below nameplate.

My guess is your reference to "excess solar charging" is presumably that the charger looks at power flow between the utility and the house, if the power demand for the house is less than the PV inverter output, then power would be flowing to the grid. In a true metered account like mine in NH, that doesnt make a difference but in many rate tariffs in effect today, there are some fees for that export to the grid or when they sell your power back. In that case, a homeowner would be better off sending the surplus to a load inside the home which presumably would be the car charger which would not have any fees since its inside the home. In an area with tiered rates (cheaper rates when demand is low) some more complex inverters can be set up to sell as much power as possible to the gird during rate periods when it is the most valuable and minimize purchases and then buy back power (and charge the car) when power is cheap. These strategies are very rate tariff dependent so be careful that you understand your local rate tariff before asking questions as my answers on based on my grandfathered Net Metering tariff may not be applicable to the rate tariff you are connected to. Add in home storage batteries and it is a similar game, charge up the batteries when its cheap and use them to avoid buying power from the utility when its expensive. Add in the capability for the utility to "borrow" power from the home battery or in rare cases the EV battery, and it gets more complex where the utility pays you a fee to borrow your battery whether they use it or not.

In my case if I build a new house in NH, there is a new so called net metering tariff that does charge fees for import and export of my spare power so my new house and system will most likely be configured differently. Clipping on the other hand is universal limitation with the equipment and rate tariffs do not factor in on the equation.

In summary, read your tariff and understand it and ask specific questions if you do not and then once you are educated find a solution that works for your circumstances.

[Ampster]

My understanding is the same as peakbagger . It cannot use any capacity above that of the inverter so it is not able to utilize any clipped solar. In many rate structures there can be advantages to charge from excess solar that would ordinarily be sold to the grid. I do not have a Solaredge but use an Emporia EVSE with an adapter for my Tesla. The Emporia works in conjunction with my Emporia Energy monitor to vary the charging rate based on excess solar.

[LDLP]

Thank you all for educating on all this. Learning a lot.