ID3 charging with a Zappi

[peterloughran14]

I have an ID3 Life. I also have a Zappi home charger and solar panels. I have experienced a number of problems with charging both from the mains and the solar panels. The Zappi has been replaced twice though the manufacturer says there was no fault with them. Now the car has been with the VW dealer I bought it from for over 3 weeks while they run tests, which have not been conclusive. It looks like I have to wait another 10 days before it is taken to a battery expert company.
Has anyone had similar problems and if so were they resolved?

[AlistairL]

Not much help (still waiting on my car and I don't have off street parking) but the myenergi forum has always seemed good and active - particularly around the various Zappi modes and VW cars not following standards https://myenergi.info/vw-ev-s-and-eco-t2447.html

[Raxacorico]

Hi peterloughran14
I have a Zappi and solar panels, and have never experienced charging problems with my ID.3.
I suppose the first test is to plug in and see if it works 'normally'. By that I mean with the Zappi set to FAST>>. This should take charge from the grid at about 7.4kW per hour.
Getting charge from your solar panels: You need to set the Zappi to ECO + (sorry that + sign should be a leaf symbol, but there is no leaf symbol on my keyboard!) This will use your solar panels where there is a minimum of 1.4kW being generated. Otherwise it will use the grid.
For timed overnight charging I set the Zappi to ECO++ (thats two leaf symbols!), plug in, the status shows 'waiting for surplus', then may give a red error light at the charge socket on the ID.3, then evetually go white. Leave overnight.
In the morning it has given me three hours (cheaper rate for me) of about 22kWh, despite the red light and possible warning on the car app that the charge has failed!
Hope this helps you.
I should have added that for overnight charging you have to set the Zappi timer - this comes under 'Boost Timer' in the Zappi menu (page 14 in my manual) I set my three cheaper hours for every day of the week.

[peterloughran14]

Thanks Raxacorico
It used to work fine on fast charge but now frequently only supplies 1.1kWh. Occasionally the car gives a message that only emergency charging is allowed. On Eco++ it often stops charging and the car goes to sleep if there have been power fluctuations form the panels. If I unlock and then lock the car it wakes up and starts charging again.

[G43FAN]

I have an ID3 Life. I also have a Zappi home charger and solar panels. I have experienced a number of problems with charging both from the mains and the solar panels. The Zappi has been replaced twice though the manufacturer says there was no fault with them. Now the car has been with the VW dealer I bought it from for over 3 weeks while they run tests, which have not been conclusive. It looks like I have to wait another 10 days before it is taken to a battery expert company.
Has anyone had similar problems and if so were they resolved?

Thanks Raxacorico
It used to work fine on fast charge but now frequently only supplies 1.1kWh. Occasionally the car gives a message that only emergency charging is allowed. On Eco++ it often stops charging and the car goes to sleep if there have been power fluctuations form the panels. If I unlock and then lock the car it wakes up and starts charging again.

Hi peterloughran14, Please don't take offense, but none of us are mind readers here to my knowledge, if you are having issues, it would be helpful to document those issues with as much detail as possible if you want constructive feedback, at this stage and especially with charging, car Software version is a minimum requirment. I've had a Zappi running with PV and the ID for 20 months now and not had any issues.

From what's been said so far if you are using Eco++, In all honesty if you live in the UK then this mode is only any use to delay charging and use a timed overnight boost. Why? Well to charge via solar excess energy you need a consistent supply of 1.4kW excess power (this is an industry standard not a VW thing) so the Zappi will only supply charge to the car when you have this level of excess, tricky at this time of year I would suggest unless you have a vast array of panels. (I have 5.8kW and it's a c;lear sunny day today but at midday I was still only getting 1.2kW) Linked with this is the fact the ID.3 senses the input during a session and if the supply frequently disconnects then it will decide that this is a faulty supply and either disconnect or reduce charge power.

The VERY old thread linked above will tell you taht but it's an issue from 2 years ago that was updated to a degree in subsequent updates 2.1, 2.3 etc. The statement that the car does not following standards is absolute rubbish btw.

Mains charging, is this timed and are you using the Zappi to control this or the car? What Software version is the car, if you have had no issues and this has started recently, have you had an update to 2.4 recently?

Out of curiosity, are VW suggesting they are seeing the same behaviour when they test it, does not conclusive mean they are finding no issues?

[peterloughran14]

After over 6 weeks my ID3 has finally been returned. It turns out there was an internal wire, part of the charging mechanism, which had burnt out, I don't know the details of the fault or why it occurred. If I ever find out I'll post it here.

[LordMouldySort]

I have been having similar issues. Here are the boring details - I have a Zappi with an economy7 tariff, so I set the timer on Zappi to charge overnight. I also have solar panels and want it to charge when I have an excess of 1.4kW or more.

The problem is that after a charge, when something like a a kettle or washing machine is put on to take the excess below 1.4kW, charging doesn't resume when the excess comes back unless I either unlock/relock the ID.3 or alter the target % in the ID app. When it fails to charge the status on Zappi is "Charge Delayed". I can even get it in to the state where it says "Charge Delayed" and it won't charge overnight during the configured time window.

Reading the above I think the issue is probably with the car, not the Zappi. I think the software is up to date.

Can anyone suggest a solution?

[Sheps]

I have been having similar issues. Here are the boring details - I have a Zappi with an economy7 tariff, so I set the timer on Zappi to charge overnight. I also have solar panels and want it to charge when I have an excess of 1.4kW or more.

The problem is that after a charge, when something like a a kettle or washing machine is put on to take the excess below 1.4kW, charging doesn't resume when the excess comes back unless I either unlock/relock the ID.3 or alter the target % in the ID app. When it fails to charge the status on Zappi is "Charge Delayed". I can even get it in to the state where it says "Charge Delayed" and it won't charge overnight during the configured time window.

Reading the above I think the issue is probably with the car, not the Zappi. I think the software is up to date.

Can anyone suggest a solution?

This appears to be the same problem I am having. Clear skies should be providing a lot of charge during the day but it keeps cutting out and going to "Charge delayed".

I can't get booked into the dealer for another 6 weeks and meanwhile, I'm not even certain of an overnight Octopus Go charge because of this issue. The dealer says I need the big update that recently came out. Meanwhile, charging is uncertain which is not good enough.

[Sheps]

I've now totally confused myself by plugging into the 13amp socket charger, thus bypassing the Zappi. This appears to be working but I am not sure what it proves. I can't keep an eye on it without sitting in the car. Is it showing the Zappi to be at fault? The Service Manager at the dealership seemed to want to suggests that it was my solar that is at fault but that wouldn't explain a failure to charge at night reliably on Ocopus Go.

[LordMouldySort]

I suspect that unplugging and then plugging in again resets the session. I think that the car thinks that once the excess is longer available and stops charging that is thinks the session sis over and won't start again. Which is a bug.

[sidehaas]

These issues are not a case of the car or the charger being directly at fault. Unfortunately it's an issue of the interface not being fully defined in the standard. VWs interpretation of the standard and how it is implemented has obviously changed a bit between software versions. These issues first started cropping up in cars built with 2.3 and got more common with 2.4. It was usually a case of the car restricting power to 4kw but it sounds like now it will sometimes not charge at all. In every case I am aware of where a solution has been found, it has been for the charger supplier to slightly modify the way in which it communicates with the car. The zappi issue is obviously a bit different than others because it is down to intermittent solar supply rather than a scheduled stop/start in the charge, but ultimately it's probably going to be dealt with in a similar way.

[generationgav]

I've read up on this for the ID.4 and most people said that 3.0+ fixed it.

It's also possible to put an iffy fix in place using Home Assistant, but this requires quite a lot of tech knowledge and a good chunk of time to do.

[Sheps]

It's reassuring to hear that others have the same proplem and that it will, perhaps, be cured by the update.

Mine has gone a few steps worse now and is now only taking 1.2kW even though set on Fast. The grid is being well fed though as it is a clear skied, sunny day and I am getting 1.2 to the car and 1.5 to the grid. Somewhat frustrating. Is it just too hot?

[LordMouldySort]

RIghto, I have made progress. I updated the firmware of the Zappi and changed the configuration in the app. I know that changing two things at the same time is bad as you don't know what fixed but I think it is the settings change which I did a couple of days later.

I have set the Eco+ green percentage to 70% and now when charging stops due to lack of excess the status goes to "Waiting for surplus" and then resumes when there is a surplus without interaction, which is correct. I used 70% as daytime electricity cost is 3 x night time. It is likely that other non-100% values will work but I haven't tried it as I want to see a number of days consistent behaviour before I change anything. If anyone else can try this change and see if theirs comes good too it would be good to know about it

[LordMouldySort]

No, cancel that. It works intermittently. It was fine for a couple of days so I posted and now it isn't. I have extended the STOP DELAY in the Zappi to it's maximum value of 240s and that seems to make it less likely to go to CHARGE DELAYED but it still happens.

I spoke to myenergi support and they say that this happens with a number of cars including the Porsche Taycan and Peugeots but Peugeot talk to myenergi and so they are working on a solution. VW do not update them

[LordMouldySort]

I have had mine upgraded to 3.2 and I have had no issues charging from excess solar since. It goes to pause and then resumes with no interaction required.

[HeidiFlowerpt Driver]

I don't usually charge my car from excess solar, preferring to charge it using Octopus Go cheap overnight rate. However I think I remember learning some time ago that the ID.3 monitors charging and if it stops and starts again more than a few times (3?) the car decides there may be a problem with the chargepoint and stops charging. Perhaps if you unlock and re-lock the car it resets this count?

Since I had my car's software update to 3.2 I haven't tried it but with previous software versions I certainly did notice that the car would stop charging if the charge stopped and restarted much (which with UK weather is likely to happen a lot, each time the sun goes behind clouds in some cases).

[Midgex]

..."if you are using Eco++, In all honesty if you live in the UK then this mode is only any use to delay charging and use a timed overnight boost. Why? Well to charge via solar excess energy you need a consistent supply of 1.4kW excess power (this is an industry standard not a VW thing) so the Zappi will only supply charge to the car when you have this level of excess, tricky at this time of year I would suggest unless you have a vast array of panels."

We don't have many panels, but there is a setting in the Energi/Zappi controls in the app to require less, or considerably less, than 100% greenness for Eco++

It does mean that the car charges, slowly, when the sun shines a bit, and takes a break when the sun doesn't shine or we use a major appliance in the house, which seems generally worthwhile.

I think I'll hang some more panels.

[G43FAN]

..."if you are using Eco++, In all honesty if you live in the UK then this mode is only any use to delay charging and use a timed overnight boost. Why? Well to charge via solar excess energy you need a consistent supply of 1.4kW excess power (this is an industry standard not a VW thing) so the Zappi will only supply charge to the car when you have this level of excess, tricky at this time of year I would suggest unless you have a vast array of panels."

We don't have many panels, but there is a setting in the Energi/Zappi controls in the app to require less, or considerably less, than 100% greenness for Eco++

It does mean that the car charges, slowly, when the sun shines a bit, and takes a break when the sun doesn't shine or we use a major appliance in the house, which seems generally worthwhile.

I think I'll hang some more panels.

Yes, but this makes up for the difference with Grid Energy, presumably for most at peak rate so you gain nothing? The car needs that 1.4kW (or 1.3) in order to charge at all. if you only have 400watts excess PV then you will top it up with 1kW from the grid. (or worse still batteries if applicable).

[Midgex]

I have a single rate. I may change that*.
So charging with 400W from the sun is better and cheaper than charging without it.
We do get enough solar generation to charge at 1.4kW entirely from it, some of the time, but to stop because there was only say 1200W and export unused power to the Grid would be suboptimal.

Having a small battery, possibly on the high voltage DC side of the PV system, so as to stack up energy to top up the panels to charging level for a few minutes would be quite nice I think. Some of the new panels and inverters seem to save DC until they can make a single cycle of AC, which is a nice efficiency.



* not keen on running large household appliances unsupervised at night, and by calculation the difference in cost so far would be small with our pattern of usage - low mileage, usually no rush to charge fully. I have an eye on the next Ripple scheme and therefore Octopus, and on a few more panels, so we shall see.