Jason, My solar goes to the main switch board , which is on the house tariff .
Is there a way to run my zjbeny from tariff 33 (my off peak hot water) and somehow get solar from the main switch board to combine with tariff 33 .??
From what I read on the Energex website, they say that EV Chargers should work off Tariff. 33 . ???
Waiting for the new DLB box.
Cheers Trevor
@Doris_Trevor, I’m not sure what you mean by tariff 33? I’m assuming you mean the off-peak tariff from 11pm to 7am. If so, then you can easily set the ZJ-Beny charger to start and stop charging at these times.
Off-peak hot water often uses what’s called a ‘controlled load’ which is basically a simple switch in the meter which turns the hot water on and off everyday. (This can’t be used for other appliances though). You really don’t need it for an EV charger anyway as most EV chargers can be set on timers. Although, for it to work with some EVs like the BYD Atto 3, you also have to program the vehicle to also allow charging at these times.
Jason, I mean Hot water tariff 33 ( Energex recommends this for EV Charging ) which works 18 hours/day and is 25% cheaper, and suits me being retired at home and can charge when Tariff 33 is available roughly from 9am to 4pm ) . But I want solar, firstly to go to the main switch board for house requirements, and the remainder to tariff 33 to charge my EV.
So I want solar to go to the house first, and then the excess to go to tariff 33 when needed for EV Charging and finally any additional solar to go to the grid. ?? Solar to Main switch board for house requirements, and excess Solar to work with Tariff 33 and finally remainder Solar to the Grid .
Basically can I have the Solar feeding into both;; 1 The main Switch board for the house use and 2 Tarrif 33 to Charge my ATTO 3 ???
Thanks for your help
Trevor
@Doris_Trevor, all solar generation will go to the loads first (in the main switchboard), whether it’s home circuits or an EV charger, then any excess solar will be exported to the grid. This is how most grid-tie solar systems operate.
The solar inverter cannot distinguish between different loads. There’s no difference between an EV charger circuit and other general household circuits. However, this is where the Solar DLB box can help to ensure the EV charging is automatically adjusted to match the solar generation.
Thanks Jason, I will forget the Tarrif 33 ,and wait for the new DLB box to automatically. adjust to match the Solar generation. The reason I purchased the zjBenny for that exact purpose.
Thanks again 
Trevor
I’ll +1 the waiting on the Atto 3. I’m looking for a way to use the Solar DLB on an off grid installation. That way the “House CT” with its max current protection can ensure the inverter output isn’t exceeded, but the trick is to substitute the solar CT input in some way. Has anyone worked out the RS485 communications? Or is there a way to “fake” the output of a CT into the DLB box (using and Arduino or pie)? Or will the CT (or a substituted CT) work on DC 24V (and then I’ll have make a 10X conversion)? All thoughts welcome.
There might be a way to ‘hack’ the solar DLB and control the output to follow the generation from an AC-coupled solar array in an off-grid system (once the household battery is full). However, the Beny charger still requires a min of 6A (1.4kW) to operate, so other controls and monitoring will be required.
What system are you using? If it’s Victron then no worries, just use the Victron EV charger instead.
Thanks for your thoughts Svarky, I’m running Victron 100/50’s for solar to 24V DC, fused and terminated to the inverter input, then inverter input to fuses/ BMS controlled contactor at 6S Lithium batteries. That Victron EV charger looks great, but at 3.7X what I paid for ZJ beny, and not already having a Victron inverter, its worth finding that work around solution.
We’ve just added support to Charge HQ for the ZJ Beny charger models with OCPP support. It monitors solar production via the inverter API so no CT clamp required. Might be an option for users with configurations incompatible with current Solar DLB setup.
@Andrew_Rogers I have a BCP-A2N-L model charger and have tried numerous times to connect to ChargeHQ following the configuration guide, but unfortunately, it does not work. There is no Wifi signal coming from the charger after reset, only Bluetooth.
There is much conflicting information about the OCPP versions of the ZJBeny. The latest official ZJBeny specification datasheet does not list OCPP compatibility anywhere (See below). However, the ChargeHQ website suggests I have the OCPP model. Can you please clarify with the manufacturer which model actually supports OCPP? There is a lot of confusion, and the actual OPCC model does not seem to be available anywhere.
@Svarky Hey Jason, just want to know does the solar dlb box have wifi or only ethernet connection.
thank you
Robin
@Nan_Wang, the Solar DLB requires a physical connection using the included comms cable or a common CAT5 or CAT6 network cable. It does not have Wifi.
I was wondering if anyone has been able to set the clock for their zjbeny charger. I have a BCP-A2N-L and cant seem to find the setting for the internal clock so I can use the timed charging. I tried it once but it did not come on for the times I set. I have used the reservation charging on my Atto3 and that works fine, however I am trying to use the charger for timed charging.
Just checking if an updated DLB module is available yet and if so, where anyone has managed to source one? i.e. I’m referring to the updated DLB module that is better suited to standard australian switchboard wiring, with one CT on the supply/feed in from the Solar Inverter and the other CT on the consumer mains? Cheers.
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As far a I know, the updated Solar DLB has not yet been released.
TLDR; does anyone know if ZJ Beny’s will work with PV setups, which have had their excess solar to the grid limited?
So I’ve had Solargain WA install a ZJ Beny for the purpose of charging my Tesla purely off excess solar.
Charger Type installed: 22kw 3ph BCP-AT2N-L.
Solar System: 10kw(2 x 5kw) Huawei Inverters and 13.3kw panels.
Export Limit set to 1.5kw to the grid, per Western Power WA State Regulations for solar systems larger than 5kw (yep).
However Solargain are coming up against an issue where the Charger doesn’t want to allow me to charge purely from PV.
It doesn’t even give me the option in the Z-BOX app for “Pure EV” or “Hybrid” charging.
I’ve had Solagain installers back out to check the CT positions and DLB box, and they can’t work out why it won’t change.
I’ve even given them the diagram which @Svarky kindly provided, which they said my setup is the same, and still nothing.
I also asked them to confirm they’ve installed a Solar DLB, and not a Standard DLB Box. Apparently it’s the Solar one.
They say they have a similar charger at their office in WA, and charges a Nissan Leaf perfectly from Excess Solar.
The only thing they can suggest is that the 1.5kw export limit is causing the issue, but they’re not sure themselves.
Would appreciate if anyone could please offer any insights on this little ditty?
As a work around I was just going to revert to ChargeHQ, which @Andrew_Rogers has kindly set up to work with ZJ Beny Chargers.
But the issue there it seems that my particular ZJ Beny isn’t OCPP compatible, it’s only Bluetooth/WIFI. Not that I can get the WIFI to work on this charger.
So I’m thinking I might ditch the ZJ Beny.
Instead, buying a 32a tail for my Tesla UMC.
Then adding a Wattwatcher to my switchboard, to use with ChargeHQ.
Ahhh fun and games…
Hi. New user here. My BYD arrives in 2 weeks so it is time to commit to a EVSE. Does anybody know if the ZJBeny app lets you export charging data or just see daily and monthly history on the screen? I need to claim “fuel” for my Novated lease. In an ICE vehicle it is just a receipt from the servo but with this I need to prove to the lease company what actually went through the charger and into my car, then of course how mush each KWh cost me. I too would also buy now and purchase the Solar DLB box whenever it is released
@Ando, did you check you have the latest firmware on your the ZBOX app?
If you have the latest firmware, you will be able to go to settings and enter the “PV Dynamic Load Balance” mode. Then you can select one of the solar charging options.
@Zaphod42, the ZBOX app can export the charging history (day/month/year) to a .xls document.
I just tried for this month. The document has two columns - it’s very basic, just the date and the amount of kWh.
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