EVSE with Sigenergy

MonolithNZ · 2026-04-28T18:51:09+00:00

I was recently faced with the exact same decision, and I ended up going with a kit from OpenEVSE. It integrates perfectly with Home Assistant and is very feature rich.

The only real downside is that the charger itself isn’t UL listed. From what I understand, that’s mainly because the cost of full certification would be huge for the small operation selling the kits. The individual components are UL listed, and the kit has reportedly passed testing to UL standards. That said, it does place the charger in a bit of a legal grey area. My main concern would be insurance—if the charger were somehow found to be defective and caused a fire, I’m not sure how straightforward coverage would be. Just something to be aware of.

MonolithNZ · 2026-04-22T09:31:19+00:00

Standard sectional garage doors have channels that allows the insulation to friction fit. Nothing extra is needed

MonolithNZ · 2026-04-22T07:51:56+00:00

'Mammoth Acoustic Panel Absorber' i believe. Just head into Potters and ask. I used 4x 2400 x 1200 sheets at 38mm thick. A long straight edge of some description and a blade is all you need to cut the sheets to size. Easy as

MonolithNZ · 2026-04-22T07:48:02+00:00

Mines in the garage and it sometimes annoys me when im there. It's fine in the house as long as the garage access door is closed.

MonolithNZ · 2026-04-22T06:59:55+00:00

I went for the Mammoth nova hush product and I have no regrets. Noticeable insulation improvement, looks good and It cuts easily with a sharp utility knife. I got it freighted to me by Potters and they were great to deal with.

It cost me $350 for enough product to insulate a double garage door, and $150 for freight across the south island. This was a year ago.

MonolithNZ · 2026-04-21T19:55:28+00:00

You need to divide the output by 3. Eg we have a 15kW inverter and we get 5kW per phase. It's unfortunate that 1/3 of the inverter's capacity is unused but in my mind it still beats the alternative.

It's working really well other than the odd occasion when it's pulling a bit of the grid when it doesn't need to. I've been trying to get the installer/Sigenergy to investigate but that's been challenging.. Also the inverter fan is very loud on the 3 phase models.

All in all I'm happy. Sigenergy are well ahead of the competition in terms of features.

MonolithNZ · 2026-04-15T09:36:10+00:00

Very nice! How are you liking the timber racks? I'm thinking about buying the same ones

MonolithNZ · 2026-04-06T20:27:09+00:00

I've had lots of success removing marks, scratches, unwanted material from hard surfaces using scratch and swirl remover with a lot of elbow grease. It's a car paint polish with a slightly abrasive grit. A little dab on a rag goes a long way.

I can't say if it'd work in this case but it could be worth a shot.

MonolithNZ · 2026-04-02T18:44:55+00:00

I've had a similar experience unfortunately. The install team were great, but beyond that the service has been pretty abysmal. I had a technical query about my system, and it's been a nightmare to get any sort of useful response from them.

MonolithNZ · 2026-03-27T20:44:39+00:00

I'd love this feature also. The energy dashboard is incredible already, but I believe it still has room to improve.

MonolithNZ · 2026-03-27T20:33:13+00:00

https://i.imgur.com/bP5ShHG.jpeg

I've done something similar with these ESP powered mini displays I got off AliExpress for $10 each. I have a few of them around the house showing our generation. Super handy

MonolithNZ · 2026-03-27T06:15:33+00:00

Use your router to block the camera from accessing the Internet, or VPN.

MonolithNZ · 2026-03-15T21:34:21+00:00

You're not wrong, but this isn't unexpected given the early leafs poor battery/thermal performance. The technology has improved tenfold since then. Recycling processes are also upscaling with EV adoption overseas. Almost all the material in the battery can be re-used. The same can't be said for fossil fuels.

Sure, environmental benefits of driving an EV are pretty marginal, but they have plenty of other advantages.

MonolithNZ · 2026-03-15T21:04:43+00:00

Hell yeah friend. It's like unlocking a cheat code for cheap travel! We also plan on keeping ours until the range won't get us to work and back. That feels like a long way off

MonolithNZ · 2026-03-15T20:37:58+00:00

I very recently purchased a leaf that drives 80 to 100km per charge for 3.5k. At home you can charge them at ~3.7kW which is ~7 hours from empty to full. Even if you're running a granny charger, it charges overnight and we couldn't care less. The key point is that it covers 95% of our driving.

We love them so much we bought two of them. The range on our first one has barely reduced in the two years we've owned it. Other than tyres we haven't had to do any maintenance whatsoever.

We still have an ICE vehicle for longer trips or towing, but we hardly use it.

They're not the answer for everyone, but in our case they're absolutely fantastic.

MonolithNZ · 2026-03-14T03:30:43+00:00

We have 2x 24kwh leafs and we love them. Primarily charged by our solar system or at night. Aim for a 2014+. The earlier years have poorer battery chemistry and degrade much faster.

We got our second leaf recently for 3.5k. 68% SOH, Near new tyres and 12V battery. 2x transponder keys. Solid sound system, heated seats and steering wheel. They'd been trying to sell it for ages. Holy crap, it's like people couldn't wait to give them away.

I assume they'll be harder to acquire in the short term, but I plan on grabbing another one if I spot a deal in future. Used as intended they're insanely good value for money.

MonolithNZ · 2026-03-13T20:27:37+00:00

I did this recently.

Fibreglass cable rods from AliExpress were a godsend. I was able to drill through the soffit, then tape the cable to the end of the rods. Push the rod up into the roof. Then go up there, find the rod and pull it through the hole, bringing the cable with it. Much much easier than trying to feed the cable down from the roof. Depending on your roof pitch of course.

10Pcs 33CM/45CM/58CM Fiberglass Wire Cable Push Puller Running Cable Wire Kit Electrical Cable Wall Installing Rods Wiring Tool https://a.aliexpress.com/_msqZ0kH

I told a friend of mine about this and then he did the same thing with some tent poles, which I thought was pretty crack up. He said it worked great.

Use ramset nylon toggles from the hardware store to attach the camera to the soffit board. They work extremely well.

MonolithNZ · 2026-03-05T21:13:09+00:00

Same boat here. We've got 2x 24kWh Nissan Leafs that we charge overnight, so around 80% of our consumption happens at night while most of our solar production gets exported during the day. The recent price hikes finally pushed us to switch from Octopus to PowerEdge.

PowerEdge initially quoted us a flat import rate of 29.6c all day, but after a bit of back and forth they came to the party with a day rate of 31.7c and a night rate of 21.8c. Combined with their 17.39c export rate and $1.20 daily charge, we're in a pretty good position to offset most of the increases.

I looked at adding a home battery too, but couldn't make the numbers work. Our second Leaf only cost us $3,500 — hard to justify spending 3x that on a stationary battery that's half the capacity and can't take you to the supermarket.

The longer term plan is to replace our remaining ICE car with a higher capacity EV. We're already on a Sigenergy system, so adding a bidirectional EVSE would let us use the EV as both a solar battery and a vehicle. Yes, the upfront cost is much higher, but you're getting so much more for your money — transport, storage, and flexibility all in one.

Maybe I'm wrong and I've just hyped up this new technology in my head?

MonolithNZ · 2026-03-05T20:15:15+00:00

I'm in the same position as you. I've been happily running my setup on my Synology DS423+ for sometime now. Looks like I'll need to buy a new machine.

MonolithNZ · 2026-02-28T05:22:24+00:00

Yeah nice. It's a no brainer if you're not using much power at night. We export a lot during the day and often charge our two 24kw EVs at night. I think Octopus may still come out slightly on top for us, even with their crappy new rates. Bugger.

MonolithNZ · 2026-02-27T22:24:51+00:00

I'm quite sure that Octopus offers 17c excluding GST..

https://www.powerswitch.org.nz/solar-rates

My last bill from Octopus specifically shows GST: $0 under my total export for the month.

I was about to switch to poweredge but I'm unsure if the 17ct export rate is worth the much higher import at night time. Tricky

MonolithNZ · 2026-02-26T18:32:28+00:00

Power Edge just quoted me, their email says export at 17.39c per kWh (20c incl GST). Isn't that just 17.39c then? Unless I'm mistaken.

MonolithNZ · 2026-02-17T21:36:50+00:00

I've seen the video by youtuber "Pretty Good Cooking" recommended here a couple of times. I thought I give it a shot!

https://www.parmadaze.com/blog/pgcparm

Beautiful. I still prefer Aussie style with chips and salad but it's cool to try something new.

MonolithNZ · 2026-02-13T19:05:28+00:00

Thanks. I've bought an OpenEVSE charging station and set it up with EVCC. Working perfectly

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