# [EVDL] Some TC (Elcon) charger data



## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

Hey guys,

So today I rigged up a NEMA 14-30 to NEMA 5-15 adapter for the simple purpose of trying my
charger's 240V mode. Before I spend the time/money to put a dedicated outlet in the garage,
I wanted to use the clothes dryer outlet (located in the house near the garage) to see what the
numbers look like. 

My unit is a TC Charger band (Elcon style) 2kW model. It was setup to charge 50 Calbs somewhere
in China. Currently, my mini-bms is having to shunt one battery before the charger automatically
shuts off. I figure my pack will eventually balance and I'm not trying to squeeze too much out
of the pack yet anyways so I'm not too concerned yet.

OK, so here's the numbers.

* When charging from a 120V outlet with about a 80% SOC, I see the charger put 6.5 Amps at 170V (1105W).
* When charging from a 240V outlet with about a 80% SOC, I see the charger put 11.2 Amps at 170V (1904W).

* I checked the 240V AC side and the charger was sucking 8.2 Amps (2016W). So my efficiency is about 94.4%.
* I haven't checked the 120V AC side current yet.
* The numbers were taken with a Fluke clamp meter.

So it appears if I use 240V, I'll get about 72% improvement. Not too bad.

Tonight I did my first nighttime highway run. I finally got my speedometer gear fixed. As always, nothing
just fit. I had to cut down the inner speedometer cable wire to fit in the new speedo gear because it's
input hole wasn't as deep. Arggh. 

At any rate, the EV grin continues to develop.

-ben

_______________________________________________
| Moratorium on drag racing discussion is in effect.
| Please take those discussions elsewhere. Thanks.
|
| REPLYING: address your message to [email protected] only.
| Multiple-address or CCed messages may be rejected.
| UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
| OTHER HELP: http://evdl.org/help/
| CONFIGURE: http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ev


----------



## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

Hi Ben,

Another reason to charge at 220V besides the faster charging: The current
draw on 110V may be high enough to stress your house wiring and outlet over
time. It will depend how many amps the charger pulls. I would presume that
the 220V circuit won't have any issues with the 8A draw, even long term.
Since your 110V draw appears to be less than 12A, that might not be too big
an issue, but it is with my charger drawing 15A on 110V.

I'm surprised that your charger is turning off with only 1 MiniBMS module
shunting. Are you sure the charger is terminating the charge cycle and not
the BMS and its AC relay? The reason I'm asking is that my charger doesn't
terminate charging by itself until almost all cells are shunting. It sounds
like your setpoints must be set a little different. I would be wondering
how low the cells are that aren't starting to shunt. If the BMS and relay
are turning off the charger, you really have no idea how low the lowest
cells are. I had this happen to me. I had some cells that were 20% below
the highest and didn't know it.

On my system, I can easily tell the difference on how the charge cycle
terminated. If the charger terminated the charge, its LED is lit green.
More importantly, the fan stays on. I can hear it even with the hood
closed. If the BMS cuts power, the fan is off because the AC to the charger
is off.

Mike

> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On
> Behalf Of Ben Jarrett
> Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2012 10:08 PM
> To: Electric Vehicle Discussion List
> Subject: [EVDL] Some TC (Elcon) charger data
> 
> 
> 
> Hey guys,
> 
> So today I rigged up a NEMA 14-30 to NEMA 5-15 adapter for the simple
> purpose of trying my charger's 240V mode. Before I spend the time/money
> to put a dedicated outlet in the garage, I wanted to use the clothes dryer
> outlet (located in the house near the garage) to see what the numbers look
> like.
> 
> My unit is a TC Charger band (Elcon style) 2kW model. It was setup to
charge
> 50 Calbs somewhere in China. Currently, my mini-bms is having to shunt
one
> battery before the charger automatically shuts off. I figure my pack will
> eventually balance and I'm not trying to squeeze too much out of the pack
> yet anyways so I'm not too concerned yet.
> 
> OK, so here's the numbers.
> 
> * When charging from a 120V outlet with about a 80% SOC, I see the charger
> put 6.5 Amps at 170V (1105W).
> * When charging from a 240V outlet with about a 80% SOC, I see the charger
> put 11.2 Amps at 170V (1904W).
> 
> * I checked the 240V AC side and the charger was sucking 8.2 Amps (2016W).
> So my efficiency is about 94.4%.
> * I haven't checked the 120V AC side current yet.
> * The numbers were taken with a Fluke clamp meter.
> 
> So it appears if I use 240V, I'll get about 72% improvement. Not too bad.
> 
> Tonight I did my first nighttime highway run. I finally got my
speedometer
> gear fixed. As always, nothing just fit. I had to cut down the inner
> speedometer cable wire to fit in the new speedo gear because it's input
hole
> wasn't as deep. Arggh.
> 
> At any rate, the EV grin continues to develop.
> 
> -ben
> 
> _______________________________________________
> | Moratorium on drag racing discussion is in effect.
> | Please take those discussions elsewhere. Thanks.
> |
> | REPLYING: address your message to [email protected] only.
> | Multiple-address or CCed messages may be rejected.
> | UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
> | OTHER HELP: http://evdl.org/help/
> | CONFIGURE: http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ev

_______________________________________________
| Moratorium on drag racing discussion is in effect.
| Please take those discussions elsewhere. Thanks.
|
| REPLYING: address your message to [email protected] only.
| Multiple-address or CCed messages may be rejected.
| UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
| OTHER HELP: http://evdl.org/help/
| CONFIGURE: http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ev


----------

