Charging Question

[Pantera Dude]

I made a mistake yesterday, (one of several, but that's not important:biggrin, I stopped in at the Fashion Island Newport Beach location to get some juice. I forgot to change my amp setting up from the 30 that I use at home up to the 70 that was available. So when I got back to the car I gained half the miles I was counting on. My question is, is there any reason for me to have my amp setting limited to 30? I never charge any lower than that, and if I keep it set at 70, I wouldn't run into the problem that I did.

 

[Doug_G]

Odd. It should remember the amp setting by location. That should not have happened.

That said, when on the road I ALWAYS wait until the car is charging at full power before leaving. Well worth a couple of minutes of your time.

 

[Lloyd]

Fashion Island charging is underground, and location (GPS) information was likely not availble.

 

[Pantera Dude]

Thank you guys! So I assume that the only reason I should not have the setting at 70 amps, would be if for some reason I did not want the full amperage available at the charging location? No harm in having the setting higher than what is available?

 

[Lloyd]

The car will not let you set higher than what you are plugged into. For example if you are plugged into a 14-50, the car will sense the adapter for that plug and set amps appropriately at 40 unless you have set it differently for a particular location.

 

[Doug_G]

To be more precise, it won't let you set it higer than the site allows, but it does let you set it lower. And it remembers the location so you don't have to set it again.

 

[augkuo]

Yes you could set it at 70A and it'll just draw the maximum amount available. The reason why you would set it at a lower amperage is if you're home charging at peak electricity rates and you just want to cool the car down.
If you set it at 12A (at 240V) for 30-60 minutes, it'll cool the battery pack down to prolong its life. Then at midnight or whenever your off-peak rates kick-in, you can charge at the maximum rate.

Also if you're range mode charging, you'll want to drive it off within an hour or so of reaching 100% SOC - so you can calculate how much amperage you'll need based upon when you start the charge and SOC.

The remote access devices (Tattler/OVMS) makes this thing easier to do so you don't have to keep going back to your car to change the amperage settings.

Thank you guys! So I assume that the only reason I should not have the setting at 70 amps, would be if for some reason I did not want the full amperage available at the charging location? No harm in having the setting higher than what is available?

 

[Pantera Dude]

Ok, I think I got it now.:biggrin:
Thank you guys!

 

[TEG]

Another reason to intentionally set low sometimes - if you are concerned about the quality of the connection. For instance if you were at a campground at a worn looking, marginal 14-50 socket you might not want to pull the full amps from it.

 

[Botbldr45]

Another reason to intentionally set low sometimes - if you are concerned about the quality of the connection. For instance if you were at a campground at a worn looking, marginal 14-50 socket you might not want to pull the full amps from it.

Now that's scary!!!:scared: