The go-e Controller

If you want to charge your electric car in a cost-effective and sustainable way, take advantage of the go-e Controller, which elevates your charging experience. 

The go-e Controller is an energy management system, or EMS for short, and is used in conjunction with the go-e Charger. You can use it to:
 

• Monitor your energy consumption and see how your electricity is being used
• Charge PV surplus and optimise your self-consumption
• Use dynamic load management to automatically adjust the charging power when too many devices in the house are running at the same time, so you're not suddenly left in the dark.
   

If you have programming skills, the additional interfaces also give you the opportunity to exploit even more functionalities of the go-e Controller. 

The go-e Controller Functions in Detail

The go-e Controller has three main functions:

• Energy Monitoring 
• Dynamic Load Management
• PV Surplus Charging

Energy Monitoring

The go-e Controller measures the power flows in the building. The device knows where energy comes from and where it goes. Depending on the position of the sun and the current power demand in your house, you can control the charging processes of electric cars even smarter in combination with go-e Chargers. But you can also simply use the go-e Controller to monitor energy consumers in the building.

With the Controller, you have full transparency. You can receive detailed information about the power consumption of individual devices, such as the heat pump, air conditioner or sauna. To do this, you can measure their power consumption using sensors. Simply call up the visualised data via the display of the Controller or in even more detail in the go-e App. 

Energy flows of other energy consumers in the building can be monitored as well. The go-e Controller can be operated in 1-phase or 3-phase mode. With three-phase power grids, you can keep an eye on three additional consumers such as inverters, air conditioners and heat pumps; with single-phase power grids, you can keep an eye on up to five additional devices.
 

Dynamic Load Management

The go-e Controller automatically controls the charging power of the connected go-e Chargers depending on the power available in the building. If, for example, many household appliances are operated at high power at the same time, the available amount of electricity could be exceeded. In this case, a power failure can easily occur. 

The go-e Controller measures the total current of the building and passes the information on to the go-e Charger. As long as it is connected to the cloud, it can automatically regulate the charging power and reduce it if necessary.

So if you come home from work in the evening, plug in your electric car to charge it, then go into your house, turn on the lights and use various household appliances at the same time, the go-e Controller detects these activities and passes this data on to the go-e Charger, which in the next step reduces the energy supply accordingly. When you go to bed, the wallbox automatically increases the energy supply again.

PV Surplus Charging

If you use the go-e Charger in combination with the go-e Controller, you charge surplus solar energy into the battery of your electric car. 

Your PV panels generate more energy than is needed to operate your household appliances? Increase your own consumption by charging and thus save real money with green energy. In doing so, you avoid feeding electricity into the public grid at a possibly too low price. Plus, driving with green energy will feel great the next day. So it's not only ecologically but also financially beneficial for you.

But how does it all work?

The go-e Controller controls an unlimited number of go-e Chargers in such a way that, if configured accordingly, they only charge with PV surplus. It monitors the energy consumption of your house and waits for the moment when there is surplus electricity to start charging your car. 

A minimum of 1.4 kW is required for single-phase charging of your electric car. This is how much solar power should still be available after deducting the household demand in order to be able to charge at least single-phase without drawing from the grid. As soon as enough surplus energy is produced, the go-e Controller transmits this information to the go-e Charger, which then takes care of the actual charging process with excess PV power. 

Based on the information from the Controller, the go-e Charger automatically switches between single-phase and three-phase charging depending on the available current. In this way, you can achieve a high level of self-consumption even with low production of PV surplus. As soon as your PV system produces enough surplus, the go-e Charger switches back to 3-phase charging. Please also refer to the information in the data sheet of the go-e Controller. 

Sit back and relax. The smart wallbox system regulates the charging process for you.

Note that no measurement of the PV production by your inverter is necessary for PV surplus charging. However, through direct measurement by means of a sensor at the AC connection of the inverter, you can also display the electricity produced by your PV system in real time. 

Battery storage systems can also be taken into account as long as they can be measured at an AC connection. 

The combined form is also an option if your PV system produces not enough energy and you want to charge using both PV surplus and grid electricity. It is therefore up to you whether you want to charge exclusively with PV surplus electricity or also with mains electricity.

Simply set your preferences for the consumption of surplus solar energy in the go-e app. Or use the app to access all the Controller settings and adjust them to your needs.

Functions for experts and integrators 

If you have programming skills, the go-e Controller gives you even more control when charging your electric car. The Controller has additional interfaces such as a local and cloud-based HTTP API, Modbus TCP and MQTT.

Compatibility of the go-e Controller with other Devices

The go-e Controller is compatible with all go-e Chargers, the go-e App and basically with all PV inverters and AC battery storage systems. Please also refer to the information in the go-e Controller data sheet. 
 

PV optimisation is also possible without direct measurement of production by the inverter. Communication with the inverter or the battery is not necessary. The own production can only be measured and visualised with AC inverters via a sensor. 

In hybrid inverters with direct DC battery connection, however, separate measurement of battery and PV production is not possible.

Installation of the go-e Controller

The go-e Controller must be installed by a qualified electrician, as installation must be carried out in accordance with the applicable local, regional and national regulations. 

The go-e Controller comes with a quick reference guide that must be read before installation. In addition, you will find the complete installation and operating instructions as well as the data sheet of the Controller on our website. Both are also required reading before installation.