storksb Posted September 24, 2015 at 01:51 AM Report Share Posted September 24, 2015 at 01:51 AM Just bit the bullet and decided to move up to a Level 2 EVSE. Pricing was a strong consideration but so was future proofing my investment as I plan on moving to a BEV after turn in the Energi at the end of the lease. Also my wife is looking at moving on from her scandal ridden VW TDI Jetta, though she did dislike it before the Emissions scandal broke she dislikes it even more now, so I wouldn't be surprised if she was to get a PHEV or BEV in the next 9 - 12 months, so being able to charge two cars quickly is a must. Not having a 208/240V outlet in the garage I need to invest in not only the EVSE but also the wiring. Thankfully I had just enough capacity on my electrical panel to support a 50 amp circuit so I decide to go with an EVSE that could support 30Amps plus. My shortlist of EVSE's was quickly reduced to 2, the Juicebox Pro and the Clippercreek HCS-40P. I like the rich feature set of the Juicebox, wifi, data logging etc but was wary on two fronts, UL or equivalent certification and customer service. My enquiry to them yesterday about UL Cert (I believe that they are actively seeking UL certification) and expected timeframe for them to acquire it has still not been answered 24 hours later, which I think for a sales enquiry is longer than should be expected. In contrast I emailed Clippercreek today and within 45 minutes had answers to the two questions I posed to them.Add to this the 1 year warranty for Juice Box and 3 year for Clippercreek I decided to go with the HCS-40P. Hope to have it arrive by the end of next week, just in time as the electrician is scheduled to do the install on Thursday. storksb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybridbear Posted September 24, 2015 at 02:44 PM Report Share Posted September 24, 2015 at 02:44 PM The Clipper Creek units seem to be very high quality. I'm curious why you went with an HCS-40 instead of HCS-50. With a 50 amp circuit you could do the HCS-50. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonzo71 Posted September 24, 2015 at 03:27 PM Report Share Posted September 24, 2015 at 03:27 PM No matter what station you get/got, I'm sure you'll be happy with charging at a much faster rate! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meyersnole Posted September 24, 2015 at 09:29 PM Report Share Posted September 24, 2015 at 09:29 PM (edited) Just be aware that no matter how many amps your charger is, the Fusion will still only charge at 3.3 kWh (16a). Now you did mention that you plan to do a BEV as well and that most likely will be able to use the additional capacity. Edited September 25, 2015 at 02:24 AM by meyersnole Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff_h Posted September 25, 2015 at 12:04 AM Report Share Posted September 25, 2015 at 12:04 AM Just be aware that no matter how many amps your charger is, the Fusion will still only charge at 3.8 kWh (16a). Now you did mention that you plan to do a BEV as well and that most likely will be able to use the additional capacity. I think the limit is 3.3kW isn't it? meyersnole 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murphy Posted September 25, 2015 at 12:24 AM Report Share Posted September 25, 2015 at 12:24 AM The battery is rated at 7.6 kWh. Mine charges in 2:05 hours at 240 volts so the charge power has to be 3.8 kW. It is not a linear charge. It tapers off as it nears the end of charge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
storksb Posted September 25, 2015 at 12:48 AM Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2015 at 12:48 AM Hybridbear, I went with the HCS40-P for two reasons, first was the added cost, $270 extra and two I am having a 14-50 plug fitted and the HCS-50P opnly comes with a NEMA 6-50 plug and I want the flexibility to take the EVSE with me on any road trips and 14-50 I think are more widely available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
storksb Posted September 25, 2015 at 12:50 AM Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2015 at 12:50 AM I do believe that JeffH is correct, the onboard charge in the Energi is a 3.3kwh unit, remember the battery capacity is 7.6kwh but you typically only use 5.2 - 5.5kwh so a 2 hour recharge time is achievable at 3.3kwh. Doug0716 and jeff_h 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdbob Posted September 25, 2015 at 12:52 AM Report Share Posted September 25, 2015 at 12:52 AM I think the limit is 3.3kW isn't it? At 208V input it is. At 240V it is 3.8kW. The key is it will draw 16 amps until it's full enough to taper the current down. jeff_h 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybridbear Posted September 26, 2015 at 12:33 AM Report Share Posted September 26, 2015 at 12:33 AM The battery is rated at 7.6 kWh. Mine charges in 2:05 hours at 240 volts so the charge power has to be 3.8 kW. It is not a linear charge. It tapers off as it nears the end of charge.Have you confirmed this with FORScan or through another method? We achieve a 2 hour recharge time with only 207-208 V at home. At 208V input it is. At 240V it is 3.8kW. The key is it will draw 16 amps until it's full enough to taper the current down.Are you sure? I think the charge limit is 3.3 kW by the onboard charger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdbob Posted September 26, 2015 at 01:18 AM Report Share Posted September 26, 2015 at 01:18 AM Are you sure? I think the charge limit is 3.3 kW by the onboard charger. Pretty sure. My clamp-on meter showed the car drawing 16A at 240V. The on-board charger seems to think so too: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Automate Posted September 26, 2015 at 08:59 PM Report Share Posted September 26, 2015 at 08:59 PM Pretty sure. My clamp-on meter showed the car drawing 16A at 240V. But charging is only 82% efficient so 16A * 240V * 0.82 = 3.15 kW to the battery Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdbob Posted September 26, 2015 at 09:14 PM Report Share Posted September 26, 2015 at 09:14 PM But charging is only 82% efficient so 16A * 240V * 0.82 = 3.15 kW to the battery 82% is the total efficiency, combining the losses charging the battery, as well as the losses extracting the power from the battery. Besides, that's now how chargers in cars are rated, they are rated as the amount they draw from the wall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Automate Posted September 26, 2015 at 09:45 PM Report Share Posted September 26, 2015 at 09:45 PM 82% is the total efficiency, combining the losses charging the battery, as well as the losses extracting the power from the battery. Besides, that's now how chargers in cars are rated, they are rated as the amount they draw from the wall.82% does not include "extracting the power from the battery", its only getting power into the battery It does include both the the efficiency of the the AC to DC conversion as well as the losses due to current in the battery but the AC to DC converter losses are much greater. With a 120V charger the overall efficiency is 0.72 with exactly the same batteries. The external charger can be rated higher but the in car electronics ultimately limits the kW charge rate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larryh Posted September 26, 2015 at 09:55 PM Report Share Posted September 26, 2015 at 09:55 PM (edited) Pretty sure. My clamp-on meter showed the car drawing 16A at 240V. The on-board charger seems to think so too: BAT_CHARG_PWR is the "Available Battery Charger Input Power" which can be provided by the Level 2 EVSE to the car. It is not the power being consumed by the charger. I have a very accurate meter attached to the Level 2 EVSE which shows the power being consumed to be about 3430 watts. About 100 of those watts are consumed by the car's fans and internal electronics. The rest goes to the car's internal charger. Generally, the car's internal charger consumes 14 amps of current for the HVB. Edited September 27, 2015 at 12:38 PM by larryh Hybridbear 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdbob Posted September 27, 2015 at 12:52 AM Report Share Posted September 27, 2015 at 12:52 AM BAT_CHARG_PWR is the "Available Battery Charger Input Power" which can be provided by the Level 2 EVSE to the car. It is not the power being consumed by the charger. I have a very accurate meter attached to the Level 2 EVSE which shows the power being consumed to be about 3430 watts. About 100 of those watts are consumed by the car's fans and internal electronics. The rest goes to the car's internal charger. Generally, the car's internal charger provides 14 amps of current to the HVB. My EVSE can provide 5750 watts, so your first statement doesn't seem accurate. At what voltage are you reading 3430 watts? It seems unlikely that Ford would specify the power to the HVB, people think about how much power from the wall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larryh Posted September 27, 2015 at 11:45 AM Report Share Posted September 27, 2015 at 11:45 AM (edited) The car and the EVSE negotiate the maximum power that the car can draw from the EVSE. 3850 watts is the negotiated maximum power that the EVSE will provide to the car. However, the car does not actually draw that much power from the EVSE. The actual power consumed by my EVSE is about 3430 watts at 240 volts. You can see the power provided to the HVB by monitoring the following current and voltage PIDs: BAT_CHARG_OUT_V Battery Charger Output VoltageBAT_OPC_MEAS High Voltage Battery Charger Output Current - Measured The power consumed by the on-board charger can be observed with: BAT_CHARG_INP Battery Charger Input VoltageBAT_CHR_IN_CUR Battery Charger Input Current Edited September 27, 2015 at 12:39 PM by larryh Hybridbear 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdbob Posted September 28, 2015 at 09:58 PM Report Share Posted September 28, 2015 at 09:58 PM You're right Larry. My clamp-on meter is way off. I put a 0.01 ohm 25W 1% shunt resistor in series with the 240V and it was only 3400 watts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdbob Posted October 14, 2015 at 11:10 PM Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 at 11:10 PM Opened up the meter and adjusted it so that when the current is actually 14 amps, it shows 14 amps. Of course, they're probably go and change the definition of an amp :) http://www.nature.com/news/ampere-to-get-rational-redefinition-1.14512 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.