# Zivan vs. Russco-- Opinions



## bblocher (Jul 30, 2008)

Peetaah said:


> The question is what to purchase:
> 
> Russco SC30-120 + transformer
> or a
> ...


We can assume the worst and do some quick and crude math. If you run your pack down 80 DOD then that gives us 176 Ah to recharge.

Zivan NG3 144-15 would take 11.73 hours to fully recharge. You can also say that in a 8 or 9 hour period at work you could recharge 120 and 135 Ah of the pack respectively.

The Russco says 17.5 amp charger so you're looking at 10 hours for a full charge.

None of this takes into account any inefficiencies but should give you a rough enough idea. It's really going to come down to how many watt/hrs you use per mile. I drive my car in a hilly commute to work as well. I use 450 wh/mile heading there and 250 heading home (2000 ft elevation increase over 35 miles).

Again some more rough math. You have 260Ah x144 = 37440 wh. Accounting for Peukert's you're really looking at more like 22464 wh. Now to use at most 80% of the pack leaves you with 17971 wh. Assuming your commute is close to mine it will take (20 miles x 450 wh) = 9000 wh from the pack. 9000/17971 is 50% (of the 80 DOD rating) which means 40% of the 260Ah = 104Ah needs to be recharged. At 15 amps it will take 6.93 hours to recharge or 5.94 hours at 17.5 amps.

Mainly, go as big as you can. You want to be able to drive to lunch and leave early without draining your batteries too low.  Of course, you'll also need to make sure you're charging from a 30 amp circuit.


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## Peetaah (Oct 15, 2008)

bblocher said:


> We can assume the worst and do some quick and crude math. If you run your pack down 80 DOD then that gives us 176 Ah to recharge.
> 
> Zivan NG3 144-15 would take 11.73 hours to fully recharge. You can also say that in a 8 or 9 hour period at work you could recharge 120 and 135 Ah of the pack respectively.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the info! It has been hard to rap my head around the math when there are so many variables that are difficult to estimate without hands on experience. Your math made perfect sense. It looks like I can get the Russco charger for a decent price so this is what I was hoping to hear!

It is also very nice to hear that someone else has been successful/happy with a commute with that much elevation change. My biggest fear was that I would finish up and wouldn't have enough juice to realistically get to and from the office. My commute is a lot of up and down so the actual elevation change is only about 200 feet but the total climb is closer to 2300. Hopefully all the downhills will provide some cheap distance and acceleration.


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## 92 Escort EV (Jul 3, 2008)

I have a Zivan NG3 charger onboard on my 92 ford escort. 

see http://www.evalbum.com/1818.html

I havent updated info on this page for a while. 


You will see that I was driving a 50 mile round trip daily using only the Zivan to charge the batteries. This worked for about 4 months before I had ruined my batteries. 

Don't get me wrong, the Zivan NG3 is a very good charger. I had no problems using it as my only charger when I never went below about 50% DOD for about 8 months. But going to about 80% DOD every day aparently used more than the 115V 12amp (to the batteries), charger could put back into the batteries in 12 hours. 

Per the advice of my battery dealer I purchased a 220 volt AC charger that charges at up to 25 amps to the batteries. It's a Lester. It charges fast and the big amps is supposed to be better for the lead acid batteries. 

I still use the Zivan NG3 any time I need to charge, but I found out that using it to fully charge from an 80% DOD on a daily basis cost me a new set of batteries. 

The math above is exactly what was explained to me by my battery dealer who basicly showed me that I was using slightly more than was being put back into the batteries by the charger, at lower amps. 

I have no expertise in doing the math, but for at home charging, I would go with the biggest you can afford, (more amps output and 220V). The 220 lester is also faster, I can charge in half the time of the 120 volt charger. That is nice on weekends when I use the car a lot with more passengers. For onboard charging, I would love the manzanita micro that can use practically any input voltage and output different voltages if your battery pack ever changes.

Brian


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## ZEVUtah (Apr 10, 2008)

I have owned a Zivan and a Rusco. For me the Rusco is better charger and the cost is less, so its an easy decision. 

The fact that the Zivan can not be adjusted by the user is my biggest complaint. On the Rusco, I can control the voltage and the amp draw. 

I would bet that you can get a full charge in 8 hours. If not why not just ask your employer to let you work 4 days 10 hours each instead of 5 days and 8 hour shifts ? 

KJD

http://www.evalbum.com/2058 
http://www.zevutah.com


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## Peetaah (Oct 15, 2008)

92 Escort EV said:


> I have a Zivan NG3 charger onboard on my 92 ford escort.
> 
> see http://www.evalbum.com/1818.html
> 
> ...


Were you using a 15 or 30 amp circuit? I plan on upgrading to 220 at some point but want to start off with the lower voltage while I am learning.


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## Peetaah (Oct 15, 2008)

ZEVUtah said:


> I have owned a Zivan and a Rusco. For me the Rusco is better charger and the cost is less, so its an easy decision.
> 
> The fact that the Zivan can not be adjusted by the user is my biggest complaint. On the Rusco, I can control the voltage and the amp draw.
> 
> ...


Ha, I wish I could do the 4 10 hour days-- life would be good! Unfortunately my position demands my presence 5 days a week  

Utah ehh? Me too. Where are you located? I am in Francis (east of Park City). http://360.yahoo.com/peetaah


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## neanderthal (Jul 24, 2008)

My solution to this was to use 2 zivan pfc 1500 chargers in parallel about $615 per charger. When plugged into 110 they put out 1200 watts each. when plugged into 220 they put out 1500 wats each. So with both in parallel and a switch you can have 4 current output options 7 amps, 9 amps, 14 amps and 18 amps. That leaves for opportunity charging and fast charging and only spending $1230. Of course this was cheaper for me because i have agm batteries and the rusco for agms is costs more. but it is an option


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## 92 Escort EV (Jul 3, 2008)

Peetaah said:


> Were you using a 15 or 30 amp circuit? I plan on upgrading to 220 at some point but want to start off with the lower voltage while I am learning.


I have a Lester 07740 charger that needs a 220 V 20 Amp circuit. There are lots of nicer chargers out there, but I could not afford at the time. The lester site is: http://www.lesterelectrical.com/ you can find PDF files of their chargers there. I sent an inquiry as to what type of battery, charge time desired ect. and they sent reccomendation of what charger to get.


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