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Smart Solar Charging

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ridgebackpilot

ridgebackpilot

Well-known member
First Name
Michael
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Monterey Peninsula, California
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2022 Lightning Lariat ER, 2022 Mustang Mach-E GTPE
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Conservationist
My newly-installed Emporia Level 2 smart charger immediately recognized my Emporia Vue Utility Connect, and began charging my Lightning using only excess solar energy. The truck seemed to accept a lower rate of charge without any problems.

Today I’ve been watching the Emporia charge my Lightning all morning. It’s a cloudy day with intermittent direct sun.

Once my Powerwalls charged to 100%, the Emporia sensed surplus solar production being sent back to the grid and began to use it instead to charge my car. When the sun came out, the charger ramped up to the full 40 amps maximum. When the clouds obscured the sun, the charger would scale back the charge rate to less current. It matched the solar production pretty well. The Lightning didn’t seem to mind the varying current coming from the charger at all.

So far, I’m impressed with the Emporia!

Ford F-150 Lightning Smart Solar Charging IMG_7141
Ford F-150 Lightning Smart Solar Charging IMG_7142
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Last edited:

markboris

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Mark
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Sonora, CA
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2020 Shelby GT 500 FPB 2021 Mach-E GTPE IS
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Retired
My newly-installed Emporia Level 2 smart charger immediately recognized my Emporia Vue Utility Connect, and began charging my Lightning using only excess solar energy. The truck seemed to accept a lower rate of charge without any problems.

Today I’ve been watching the Emporia charge my Lightning all morning. It’s a cloudy day with intermittent direct sun.

Once my Powerwalls charged to 100%, the Emporia sensed surplus solar production being sent back to the grid and began to use it instead to charge my car. When the sun came out, the charger ramped up to the full 40 amps maximum. When the clouds obscured the sun, the charger would scale back the charge rate to less current. It matched the solar production pretty well. The Lightning didn’t seem to mind the varying current coming from the charger at all.

So far, I’m impressed with the Emporia!

IMG_7141.jpeg
IMG_7142.png
The Lightning and Mach-E haven't had any charging issues with the Emporia EV charger that I have seen. I've been using them for about 6 months now charging on excess solar only. Same as you once my Powerwalls are charged to 100%, the Emporia charger starts charging with excess solar. Just for your information, the charger needs to see a minimum of 1.4kW of excess solar for a constant 2 minutes before it starts charging.
 

MurphysLaww

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Austin, TX
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2023 Lariat Lightning ER,Cayman,Miata,Q7
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Systems Engineer
good to see. Our 3.6kW Truck charger project is using the Ford Charge Station Pro at least initially, but if there are snafu's with it, I'll be picking up one of these.
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