Solar charging starts when Charge HQ detects that there is sufficient excess solar available to meet the minimum rate of EV charging.
During cloudy periods or if there are changes in energy use from other home appliances, there may not be sufficient excess. To avoid excessive stopping and starting of charging, Charge HQ continues charging for up to 6 minutes before stopping. During this time some or all of the energy may come from the grid.
On cloudy days it's expected to see higher usage of grid energy whilst solar charging than on sunny days. Days with higher percentages of grid usage will often be days with low levels of solar charging, meaning only small amounts of grid energy are used.
Over the longer term, the amount of energy consumption from the grid whilst solar charging should be small (<10%).
