Sense P1 Load Balancing Module

Zaptec Sense P1 is the unit that lets your charging station keep an eye on the rest of your house. It plugs into the P1 port of your smart meter and pulls back the charging power when a lot of electricity is being used elsewhere in the house.

What it does

Without something like this, an installer has to fix the charging power at a safe value. That works, but then you also charge slowly at moments when there is plenty of room. With Sense, the charging station uses whatever room is actually available at that moment.

The unit is small: 58 by 59 by 25 millimetres, 70 grams including cable. It is meant for indoor use. Connection is via wifi on 2.4 GHz. The box contains a communication cable, a magnetic plate and double-sided tape.

What to watch out for

The P1 port of your meter needs to be open. Zaptec states that it is disabled by default and that your grid operator has to activate it. Arrange that before the installer arrives, otherwise it sits in your meter cupboard for nothing.

If your P1 port is already taken by another device, you need a splitter and usually also a separate 5 volt power supply.

If the internet connection drops, charging falls back to 6 A. Safe, but slow. You can adjust that behaviour in the Zaptec portal.