Charging stopped - voltage dip caused?

[voip-ninja]

I plugged in this morning at the free Chargepoint stations we have at work (4 hours free charging per day) and walked off. When I plugged in my car was the only car at the stall. I noticed the charging voltage was kind of low, about 204-205V on a 30amp connection that should have been 220-240V.

About 5 minutes later I got a notification from the Tesla app that charging had stopped. This happened one other time but that time charging started up again on its own. This time 5 minutes later the vehicle still wasn't charging.

I went down to the Chargepoint station and saw that another car (Chevy Volt) had plugged in next to mine, sharing the same pedestal. The station indicated "your vehicle stopped charging". I released the charge port, re-authorized Chargepoint station and started charging again.

My car started charging again, but slowly, about 203-204V and claiming 18 miles per hour on a 30 amp connection.

Is this "normal"? Does a voltage dip, caused for example by a vehicle sharing the charging station cause this kind of thing to happen in other people's experience?

 

[woodguyatl]

I plugged in this morning at the free Chargepoint stations we have at work (4 hours free charging per day) and walked off. When I plugged in my car was the only car at the stall. I noticed the charging voltage was kind of low, about 204-205V on a 30amp connection that should have been 220-240V.

About 5 minutes later I got a notification from the Tesla app that charging had stopped. This happened one other time but that time charging started up again on its own. This time 5 minutes later the vehicle still wasn't charging.

I went down to the Chargepoint station and saw that another car (Chevy Volt) had plugged in next to mine, sharing the same pedestal. The station indicated "your vehicle stopped charging". I released the charge port, re-authorized Chargepoint station and started charging again.

My car started charging again, but slowly, about 203-204V and claiming 18 miles per hour on a 30 amp connection.

Is this "normal"? Does a voltage dip, caused for example by a vehicle sharing the charging station cause this kind of thing to happen in other people's experience?

Have you ever seen that charger close to 240 volts? If not, it may be a 3-phase 208 volt charger.

I did have to rewire my charger at work because my care did not like voltage fluctuations when we turned on big machines.

 

[brkaus]

Voltage dip usually causes it to reduce charge current. I have not seen it stop, but it is possible. I think it drops a 30a to 24a, then lower if necessary.

Some chargepoints that I use, I watch the voltage as it ramps up. If it drops too much, I reduce it to 28 or 26. It's a bit slower, but if it keeps it from dropping to 24a its much better.

 

[voip-ninja]

Voltage dip usually causes it to reduce charge current. I have not seen it stop, but it is possible. I think it drops a 30a to 24a, then lower if necessary.

Some chargepoints that I use, I watch the voltage as it ramps up. If it drops too much, I reduce it to 28 or 26. It's a bit slower, but if it keeps it from dropping to 24a its much better.

Okay thanks for the tip maybe I will need to do that. I can't come up with any explanation for why charging stopped other than that the Volt plugging in next to me caused a dip in the current or voltage and the car decided it needed to stop charging.

 

[voip-ninja]

Have you ever seen that charger close to 240 volts? If not, it may be a 3-phase 208 volt charger.

I did have to rewire my charger at work because my care did not like voltage fluctuations when we turned on big machines.

It hadn't occurred to me that this could be a 3-phase 208 setup so that's probably the most likely explanation.

 

[brkaus]

Okay thanks for the tip maybe I will need to do that. I can't come up with any explanation for why charging stopped other than that the Volt plugging in next to me caused a dip in the current or voltage and the car decided it needed to stop charging.

I'm not sure how multi-headed charge points share the power. Maybe a issue w/ how that works?

One place I have used replaced a single headed charge point w/ a dual headed one. Clearly they didn't update the wiring - when two people try to charge it trips the breaker. I contacted a helpful installer and he said there is a power management box that needs to be installed in that case. But I didn't ask how it worked. Unfortunately, the helpful installer does not support that particular charger and no one has managed to get it to work properly,

 

[voip-ninja]

I'm not sure how multi-headed charge points share the power. Maybe a issue w/ how that works?

One place I have used replaced a single headed charge point w/ a dual headed one. Clearly they didn't update the wiring - when two people try to charge it trips the breaker. I contacted a helpful installer and he said there is a power management box that needs to be installed in that case. But I didn't ask how it worked. Unfortunately, the helpful installer does not support that particular charger and no one has managed to get it to work properly,

There are six of these dual headed Charge Point devices that provide power to up to 12 stalls. They all appear to be wired on shared circuits. I don't know what the electrical architecture is.

The only way I could know for sure why charging stopped would be to review the vehicle's logs to see what it reported... if it was a voltage/amperage problem I suppose I could report it to Charge Point... maybe this pedestal has a defect.