This topic contains 30 replies, has 12 voices, and was last updated by 
-
Posts
-
Yeah; I was just curious because I had a similar device that said it could only go on the cable into the meter 🙂
Would be interesting to record a few charges from same SoC/EoC values and overlay them to see how they differ. Wonder if the car follows a set pattern, or if it might vary depending on the state of the cells (how much balancing is required).
When I got my solar PV installed recently (on my garage roof, as it happens) I got them to include an Owl PV monitoring system, which will produce graphs of what’s produced versus what’s consumed.
The slight compromise is that since all the PV gear is in the detached garage, the Owl system can only monitor electricity within the garage (I.e. solar generated versus electricity consumed in the garage) and the monitoring system has no way of knowing how much is used in the house.
The upside is that since there is negligible electricity consumed in the garage except for car charging, I will be getting graphs and totals of exactly what Zoe is drinking.
Just need to add a Zoe now… Collecting it this Friday! 🙂
I have just installed a energy monitor in the house.. I would like to only monitor the car but couldn’t fit it in a covered spot so had to do the whole house. I am primarily interested in the efficiency of Zoe at 3kW.. I believe it’s not as efficient at that level as it would be at 7kW..
will be interesting to see the graph when I charge tonight. I don’t charge daily and mostly use public 22kW charging since it’s free.
In reply to CRF and 230V 3 phase 6A:
I’ve been back through my notes, and although there are references to running 3 phase motors from single phase supplies the only methods of getting from 230 V 6A 3 phase to 230 V 18A single phase (more realistically 16A) are a motor-alternator set or an inverter, neither of which are cheap in continuously rated form. I’d favour the later, but what I don’t know is how pure the single phase output would have to be – quasi sine wave is cheaper than pure of course. Generating the +/- 12V 1 KHz signal from the charging source is a relatively minor matter.Having scanned through the IEC documents very quickly a minimum current of 6A is specified which can be 1 or 3 phase, but there’s nothing to say that the Chameleon charge control is compliant in this respect.
I’m not suggesting you intended anything like this, but it was an interesting diversion for the retired engineering mind.
Good luck!
Fred
The results of monitoring the charge at the car end can be seen here:
Interesting idea Fred. I looked around a bit and it seems that would not be a very efficient way. Also the phase load distribution is very unequal, and that is my main reason for using three phases in the first place.
Anyway, I am now almost sure Zoe will not accept 6A charge, since it does not know there are three phases present at the time it decides to accept the charge. I guess I will have to live with 16A.
I wonder what is the efficiency difference between the old and new Zoe charger/motor at 16A?Both the methods I suggested, even if not practical, would have balanced the three phase loads, the motor being a 400V delta connected unit. The alternator would have been a 230V single phase 50-60 Hz. The efficiency is unlikely to be better than 80% input power to output power, and of course you would have to find the space and put up with the noise and vibration a small motor alternator set might produce. Just an arm chair conjecture!
The inverter method consists of a balanced 3 phase rectifier (star or delta) feeding a single phase 230V output inverter with a continuous rating of at least equal to the load imposed by the Zoe and a peak rating around 4kW.
As previously implied the cost of these varies widely according to the stability and quality of the output required.
Its output would have to be fed through a 3kW wall box – further expense.This is a dead end financially unless there is no alternative. My follow up was really to make the point that these were balanced phase current solutions.
Must get on with the jobs I should be doing! Hope you find a good solution.
Fred
Thank you for your explanation. I will do some further research.
The commercial solutions I found so far were all somewhat unbalanced. ( 1:1:0 or 3:2:1 )Zoe seems to have a efficiency of about 67% at 3.6kW.. very poor.. Zoe owners in Ireland will need about 33kW to charge their car fully.. Mine used nearly 22kWh doing a 60% charge.. Full blast at 3.6kW for about 5 hours.. then a three phase step down for about 100 minutes.. Constantly drawing 2.5 – 3 kW..
Will be in my next video.. I will be getting night saver electricity when I have to pay to use the public charging stations in Ireland..
That’s not great – hope the 7kw charger we have is more efficient!
I wonder if the calculator on the Renault site takes these efficiencies into account when telling you how much your elec will cost!
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.