How do I change the PV optimized charging setting from 100% PV to a lower percentage?

Selecting the 'PV-optimized charging' option in the SMA Energy App means that the charger uses excess power from your solar panels to charge the car. However, it is important to know that cars only start charging at a minimum threshold of power.

For most cars, this minimum required power to start charging is 1.38 kW.

This means that as long as the excess power from your solar panels is less than 1380 watts, the charging process will not start.

Depending on the size of your solar panel system and the weather, this can mean that on some days your excess solar power flows to the grid while the car does not charge at all.

You can change the setting in the system to have 'PV-optimized charging' start even when the excess solar power does not reach the lower limit of 1.38 kW. For example, you can set the system to start charging when the share of PV power is only 50% of the required power. This means that when your panels produce a surplus of (50% of 1380 Watt =) 690 Watt, the charging process already starts with 690 Watt coming from the solar panels plus another 690 Watt from the grid. This way you use more of your excess solar energy yourself instead of sending it back to the grid, although you are also using grid power to charge the car.

When is it a good idea to change the setting?

If your excess solar power is more than enough to charge the car, you don't need to change the setting. However, if your excess power barely reaches the minimum threshold at certain times of the year and you still want to use as much of it as possible, you can change the setting from 100% solar power to, for example, 50%. If you only want to do this during the winter months, you should remember to change it back to 100% when the sunnier period starts.

How do I change the setting from 100% PV to a lower value?

To change the setting, you need to log in to your account on the SMA monitoring platform ennexOS (NB: this is not the same as the SMA Energy App). Click on the cog wheel icon for 'Configuration'.

Then select 'Device administration'

Click on Configuration --> Device Administration --> the three dots next to the charger

You will see a list of instruments and the EV charger is one of them. Click on the three dots on the right side of the screen next to the charger

Click on 'Display device properties'

Click on 'Display Device Properties'

Scroll down to Device Control and click on the pencil icon to be able to modify the settings

Click on the pencil icon in order to modify the setting

Scroll down until you see the 'Optional Energy Demand'. The PV share can be adjusted with the slider. Don't forget to click save after changing the setting.

Side the dot to the desired setting and click 'Save'