Intro
Load Balancing lets you use the full potential of your site by having users charge at the maximum speed possible. You can create Load Balancing Groups on a Charging site or across multiple Charging sites.
Requirements
- A Pro, Business or Enterprise Monta Plan
- A charge point brand and model that supports Load Balancing in Monta
- Charge points have been added in a Team and connected to Monta
Set-up
There are a number of factors, which have to be considered when setting up Dynamic Load Balancing in Monta. Follow the below- listed steps so you can determine how to configure the settings of your Load Balancing Group.
1. Add and connect the charge points to Monta
Before you can begin setting up Dynamic Load Balancing on your charge points, you need to add and connect them to Monta. You can add the charge points one at a time or in bulk.
2. Create a Load Balancing Group
If all charge points are added to the same Charging site, you can create a Load Balancing Group by opening the specific Charging site page in Monta Hub.
If the charge points belong to different Charging Sites, you can create a Load Balancing Group from Multi-Site Load Balancing Portal.
When you create the Group, you have to input some general information. For this, you need to consider:
- What are the total available amps per phase for the charge points and the building?
- How do you want to distribute the power to the charge points?
Currently you can select between sharing the power equally to all active charge points or prioritizing charging cars in order of arrival. You can set additional prioritization settings once you add the charge points to the Group.
3. Set up an external meter
Dynamic Load Balancing requires an external meter, which has to be configured so it reports meter values to Monta. We currently support Perific (formerly Enegic) and ABB ModBus meters.
Perific meters are connected to the internet via a local WiFi connection and report meter values to the Perific backend, which forwards values to Monta. Here is a setup guide.
ABB ModBus meters are connected to a charge point, which sends the meter data to Monta over OCPP in DataTransfer messages.
Once you set up the meter and connect it to Monta, you can add it to your Load Balancing Group. You need to take into account the following things:
- Does the meter measure only the building’s consumption or charge points’ as well?
- What is the highest expected increase in the building’s consumption within 1 minute?
- What is the minimum amount of amps the system should use, if the meter cannot communicate with Monta?
4. Add charge points to the Group
You can only add change points that support Load Balancing and are connected to Monta.
In a standard (single-site) Load Balancing Group, you can select charge points that belong to the same Charging Site.
In a Multi-site Load Balancing Group, you can select among different Charging sites, as well as charge points which have not been added to a site. You can use the search bar to find charge points by address, name or serial number.
Advanced Group settings
Multi-level Load Balancing
In Monta, we offer multi-level Load Balancing. You can create a Sub-Group within the Load Balancing Group, which shares the same total amps.
You can limit how many of the total amps can be used for the Sub-Group, add charge points and create nested Sub-Groups. The power distribution of the main group will be applied to all charge points across all Sub-Groups.
You cannot add an external meter to a Sub-Group.
Advanced charge point settings
After you add the charge points to the Group, you are able to customize the settings of individual charge points. You need to take into consideration:
- What is the phase order on each charge point? (Please consult your electrician)
- What is the maximum amount of Amps available for the charge point?
- Do you want to prioritize a specific charge point, based on location on the site, for example?
More resources
My charge point brand / model is not supported for Load Balancing in Monta
If you want to set up Dynamic Load Balancing for your charge point site, but the charge points are not included in the supported list, please reach out to us, so we can evaluate if we can start supporting your setup.
When you reach out to us, please include the following information:
- Brand and model of the charge point
- Brand and model of the external meter (if relevant)
- Any details of the site, that are relevant to the setup
I have a locally managed Load Balancing setup
Some charge point brands and models have their own setup for Load Balancing. This means that the current is managed locally, on their own system and the information is not communicated to Monta. This means that you cannot use Monta’s Dynamic Load Balancing system on such sites.
The only locally managed Load Balancing setup that can currently be connected to Monta is Easee charge points, using an Perific external meter. You can read more about how you can set this up here.
Many Local Load Balancing setups allow you to operate the charge points from Monta, while the Load Balancing is operating on the native charge point system.
The charge point brands that can have this setup include: Schneider, Charge Amps, CTEK, Enelion, Easee, Zaptec, Hager, Wallbox