Graph: Impact of Nissan Leaf on Solar generation/consumption

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eyeks

Member
Joined
May 21, 2014
Messages
6
See the chart for a typical day of solar generation and use before and after acquiring the Nissan Leaf:



Enjoy!
 
Very nice. It looks like you are doing the bulk of your charging after arriving home in the evening. For battery longevity and grid friendliness, I'd recommend instead charging in the very early morning hours whenever possible. You can use a charging timer with an end time of, say, 7 AM and no start time.
 
eyeks said:
See the chart for a typical day of solar generation and use before and after acquiring the Nissan Leaf:



Enjoy!

Nice!

Was there an issue in measuring on the second graph? Was your usage literally zero in the middle of the day?
 
QueenBee said:
Nice!
Was there an issue in measuring on the second graph? Was your usage literally zero in the middle of the day?
I believe the '0' usage is due to separation of generation and consumption metering - when consumption is completely supplied by the panel the consumption goes to '0' - If the graph was single color (net metering) the orange bars would be inverted.
 
abasile said:
Very nice. It looks like you are doing the bulk of your charging after arriving home in the evening. For battery longevity and grid friendliness, I'd recommend instead charging in the very early morning hours whenever possible. You can use a charging timer with an end time of, say, 7 AM and no start time.
You are right. My off-peak hours on E-7 (grandfathered PG&E circa 2005 rate) start at 6 pm and run through noon M-F. The Leaf-S does not allow setting a start time even though you wouldn't think so if you read the manual (http://1drv.ms/1k18h2L" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). That's a real problem since I only have L1. The possibility of forgetting to plug in after 6 and being car-less the next day is finite.
Could you elaborate on your 'For battery longevity' comment? I believe I'm grid friendly after 6 pm.

Cheers,
 
eyeks said:
abasile said:
Very nice. It looks like you are doing the bulk of your charging after arriving home in the evening. For battery longevity and grid friendliness, I'd recommend instead charging in the very early morning hours whenever possible. You can use a charging timer with an end time of, say, 7 AM and no start time.
You are right. My off-peak hours on E-7 (grandfathered PG&E circa 2005 rate) start at 6 pm and run through noon M-F. The Leaf-S does not allow setting a start time even though you wouldn't think so if you read the manual (http://1drv.ms/1k18h2L" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). That's a real problem since I only have L1. The possibility of forgetting to plug in after 6 and being car-less the next day is finite.
Could you elaborate on your 'For battery longevity' comment? I believe I'm grid friendly after 6 pm.
On the timer, you don't need to set a start time, just an end time in the AM just before you leave for work.

Li-ion battery longevity tends to be better if the battery spends most of its time at moderate SOC (state of charge) levels, generally at about 80% or below. The optimal "storage" SOC tends to be roughly 30%. By programming the car to wait as long as possible every night to charge, you lower the average SOC which is good for longevity. With the LEAF, this seems to be much less of a factor than battery temperature, however. And since you're leasing, longevity might be less of an issue to you.

"Grid friendliness" is relative. There's still a lot of grid demand in the evening hours when people get home from work. Charging much later at night is preferable since electricity demand is much lower then.

All of that said, don't take any of this advice too far! Above all, do whatever you need to do to make the car useful to you. Personally, I do not hesitate to add charge during peak hours if I need to do multiple drives in a day, given the LEAF's limited range.
 
eyeks said:
QueenBee said:
Nice!
Was there an issue in measuring on the second graph? Was your usage literally zero in the middle of the day?
I believe the '0' usage is due to separation of generation and consumption metering - when consumption is completely supplied by the panel the consumption goes to '0' - If the graph was single color (net metering) the orange bars would be inverted.

So the "household use" label should really be "bought from the grid"?

Usually you measure generation and the connection to the grid and then add the production and connection to the grid values together.

So if generation is 5kw and power from the grid is 1kw your home is using 6kw.
If generation is 5kw and power from the grid is -2kw your home is using 3kw.
 
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