Hi everyone, I’m hoping to get some advice on configuring my Victron system. My setup includes: Cerbo GX
Two energy meters: one for the grid and one for my solar panels (so I can track what I generate and draw from the grid)
An EV charger (Victron EV Charging Station, if that matters)
No battery
My goal is to configure the EV charger to only charge when I have excess solar energy (i.e., when solar generation exceeds my household load). I want to avoid drawing power from the grid for EV charging as much as possible. I’ve already set up the energy meters in the Cerbo GX and can see the data, but I’m not sure how to create the logic or use the right settings to make the EV charger dynamically adjust based on solar surplus. I’ve looked into assistants and relay outputs, but I’d appreciate specific guidance on: How to set up the Cerbo GX to prioritize solar for the EV charger.
Whether I need to use a custom assistant or another feature like Dynamic Charging.
Any tips for monitoring and fine-tuning to ensure no grid power is used for charging.
I’m relatively new to advanced Victron configurations, so detailed steps or pointers to relevant manuals would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help!
Charging only from excess solar is an automatic option. Once the EV charger and the Cerbo GX are communicating it is easy, no assistants in the inverter are required. The Cerbo needs to be connected to the internet the EV charger to a WiFi service, then you enable Modbus/TCP in the Cerbo menu, find the EV charger in the list of Modbus/TCP devices, and enable it. This process is covered in the EV Charger manual and no doubt in online videos too - this is the manual pdf link https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/EV_Charging_Station/114524-EV_Charging_Station-pdf-en.pdf
@Lpopescu Hi Lucian. For a job of ours I just wanted to confirm that the automatic charging feature works well with only the Victron EV Charger, an energy meter (in this case an ET112), and a GX? Grid connected solar is existing and this is a retrofit to enable surplus-solar charging. Thanks.
Yes, it works, in the setting of the EVCS, there is parameter called virtual battery - enable it.
After doing so, the EVCS will start charging when it detects feed-in power and use that amount for charging
Hello @Pocket .
Are your EV charging by 3 phase? If so, min power should be (6A*230V)*3 = 4140W. Can you check also min charging current on settings->general page->minimum charging current.
6A for one phase. Current EVCS can’t control how many phases are used for EV charging. EVCS provides power for all 3 phases and it is up to your EV(or conenction cable) to decide how many phases to use. So, if your EV uses 1 phase then ~1 380W will be enough for start charging in Auto mode. If 3 phase ~4 140W.
So, you can test it if you will disconnect and then connect EV cable back. EVCS should start charging and will determine how many phases used for EV charging.
I plugged it in today, around 9:00 I had about 2kw solar surplus then. It started a timer for 30 minutes and was charging. After that it stopped and was waiting for sun (I had about 2.5kw surplus then).
What do you think happened here?
Also. What would you recommend me doing in my situation? I’d like to use as much solar as possible.
I think It started charging by one phase - system have enough PV power for that.
After a some time EV started consuming power by phases 2 and 3 - system don’t have enought excess solar power for it and stop charging after timeout.
You can activate ‘Allow low excess solar power for auto mode’ option. In this case EV will consume all excess power + some amount from grid(what is not enought). For example from your screenshots: 3329W PV, 4 140W min power for 3 phase. 4 140 - 3329 = 811W. 3329W from PV and 811W from Grid, approximately.
Thanks, will try that. Do you know what the minimum amount of power would be in that case? I wouldn’t like it starting to charge when I for example only have a surplus of 500w.
AC loads consuming from the grid 4738W
So, there is no any excess power at all. EVCS will not charge in auto mode. I can asume that there was some small amount of excess PV power when you connected the EV and EVCS started charging.
For charging in Auto mode should be some amount of excess PV power. You can calculate like: | PV inverter power | - AC loads power. And value should be positive.
I took that screenshot right after plugging in. I’m not sure what happened. I replied to your PM btw.
On another note.. I think I have to disconnect phase 2 and 3 from the charger. For me it makes more sense to have auto mode eat more of nu surplus than I have schatting faster over 3 phases.
Am I seeing this right?
Also, is disconnecting the only way? Can’t I disable 3 phase charging from the software? Are the other options?
Thanks! Read up on that topic. I think I will switch to 1 phase (just unplug 2/3, right?) for now. Charging on solar is more important to me then charging at max speed. And I don’t want ro risk warranty or so right now.
But that doesn’t explain it charging at night on auto mode right?
