Fastest level 2 charge in the world!

[timk225]

Wow, anything that is 180 volts is BAD. Someone needs to look at that. Probably loose connections somewhere (or I guess it could be just really long wire of insufficient gauge, but that would be a big mistake to have installed it that way).

I am surprised the Tesla would not kick off and refuse to charge (or at least back off charging speed). I am not sure what their current thresholds are for backoff / abort.

This is at the J1772 charger at the Pittsburgh Zoo. I had called them about it a few weeks ago. I was only recently back there for the first time in several weeks. I plugged in my 3, and the voltage went up to 190 volts pretty quickly this time, but after about 3-4 minutes my Model 3 throttles it back from 30 amps to 22 amps, saying there was a power problem or extension cord in use.

Here on Plugshare:

PlugShare - Find Electric Vehicle Charging Locations Near You

 

[eprosenx]

This is at the J1772 charger at the Pittsburgh Zoo. I had called them about it a few weeks ago. I was only recently back there for the first time in several weeks. I plugged in my 3, and the voltage went up to 190 volts pretty quickly this time, but after about 3-4 minutes my Model 3 throttles it back from 30 amps to 22 amps, saying there was a power problem or extension cord in use.

Here on Plugshare:

PlugShare - Find Electric Vehicle Charging Locations Near You

Thanks for checking again.

This is broken and should be reported. If it is due to loose connectors or something it could be a hazard. If it is just due to really long wires that is less bad, but clearly it is impacting functionality.

I would keep reporting it since not having it available/working could ruin some folks day (or make it a lot more annoying to have to go charge elsewhere).

 

[Jedi2155]

48mph seems to be the cap for Model 3...
View attachment 337834

277V @ 46amps. Not 48 amps due to a power limit. Implies approx 12.7kW.

Note that per a linked thread higher up it seems that 277V didn't work before, but since around May-ish it has.

Wow, I'm surprised it takes 277v. My house has a rather high voltage as well due to it being the 1st house in the string for the residential transformer (I get 128v L-N, 256v L-L). I would complain to my utility, but haven't yet....

I saw there is a lot of confusion around the voltages so a quick recap for folks in the US:

• 120v is Line to Neutral voltage for most US homes as 120/240v "Split Phase".
• 240v is Line to Line voltage for most US homes from the 120/240v "Split Phase"
• 120v is also available from 208v 3-phase as Line to Neutral voltage. Common in small commercial service.
• 208v is Line to Line voltage from 208v 3-phase.
• 277v is the Line to Neutral voltage from a 480v 3-phase

There in lies the most common secondary voltages you'll see in the US grid. ANSI C84.1 defines the ranges as +5%/-10%, but +/- 5% is more common.

 

[mswlogo]

Don't superchargers, charge much faster than that?

 

[Jedi2155]

Don't superchargers, charge much faster than that?

Level 2 charging, implies 240v AC charging (technically up to 80A) so its not the "fastest" level 2, but the fastest level 2 for a given amperage lol.
Level 1 is 120v charging.

Most DC fast chargers eschews using the "Level" system and simply call it fast charging.

Supercharging is DC Level 3 charging on a technical level.

Charging levels - Level 1, Level 2, DC Fast Charging, etc

 

[eprosenx]

Wow, I'm surprised it takes 277v. My house has a rather high voltage as well due to it being the 1st house in the string for the residential transformer (I get 128v L-N, 256v L-L). I would complain to my utility, but haven't yet....

I saw there is a lot of confusion around the voltages so a quick recap for folks in the US:

• 120v is Line to Neutral voltage for most US homes as 120/240v "Split Phase".
• 240v is Line to Line voltage for most US homes from the 120/240v "Split Phase"
• 120v is also available from 208v 3-phase as Line to Neutral voltage. Common in small commercial service.
• 208v is Line to Line voltage from 208v 3-phase.
• 277v is the Line to Neutral voltage from a 480v 3-phase

There in lies the most common secondary voltages you'll see in the US grid. ANSI C84.1 defines the ranges as +5%/-10%, but +/- 5% is more common.

Wow, that is pretty hot for 240v service!

Are you really close to a substation? Are you also right next to the transformer in your front yard?

Normally the issue is voltage drop not it being too high. I would love to see a daily graph of it... I wonder how high it gets at some times of day as the online tap chargers operate?

That would be worth contacting your utility about. It is good for Tesla charging, but some things like motors might not appreciate it.

 

[timk225]

The wires to my house connect right next to the 25 KW transformer on my telephone pole. I get 126/252 volts with low power load running. I followed the wires from my transformer, and this ONE 25 KW transformer is feeding 7 houses!!! 6 really, since one house is empty. But even so, how the hell does the utility think a 25 KW transformer isn't overloaded here?

 

[eprosenx]

The wires to my house connect right next to the 25 KW transformer on my telephone pole. I get 126/252 volts with low power load running. I followed the wires from my transformer, and this ONE 25 KW transformer is feeding 7 houses!!! 6 really, since one house is empty. But even so, how the hell does the utility think a 25 KW transformer isn't overloaded here?

Wow, seven houses is a lot for a 25kW transformer. I have a friend with a dedicated 25kW transformer for his single house (lodge) and we think it is causing issues. (of course he has two huge AC units and two electrical water heaters, one of which is an instant one which means it is nearly 40kW by ITSELF!) 4x 40a circuits that run at 100% since they are not continuous load.

Now for the questions though:

Of those seven houses, I am guessing they all have natural gas service?

And do they have air conditioning?

If they have natural gas heating and AC and even ovens and ranges and such and they don't have AC then it is more reasonable.

But yeah, the power company runs transformers HOT a lot. They don't have to follow NEC. It is kinda whatever they feel like.

Your voltage is really good (nearly out of the upper bound spec, but not quite), but I wonder if it sag's a lot when the neighborhood is drawing heavy load?

Oh, and do you have a 200a service? Or just 100a? etc?

 

[nwdiver]

The wires to my house connect right next to the 25 KW transformer on my telephone pole. I get 126/252 volts with low power load running. I followed the wires from my transformer, and this ONE 25 KW transformer is feeding 7 houses!!! 6 really, since one house is empty. But even so, how the hell does the utility think a 25 KW transformer isn't overloaded here?

There are lots of weird things on the utility side. They're super fast and loose with ampacity ratings. I've seen #6 Al wire normally good for ~55A feeding 200A service.

I think this is their general guide for service wire and transformers;

 

[AWDtsla]

The wires to my house connect right next to the 25 KW transformer on my telephone pole. I get 126/252 volts with low power load running. I followed the wires from my transformer, and this ONE 25 KW transformer is feeding 7 houses!!! 6 really, since one house is empty. But even so, how the hell does the utility think a 25 KW transformer isn't overloaded here?

They run them until the explode. If it hasn't exploded yet, it's probably fine.

 

[Jedi2155]

Wow, that is pretty hot for 240v service!

Are you really close to a substation? Are you also right next to the transformer in your front yard?

Normally the issue is voltage drop not it being too high. I would love to see a daily graph of it... I wonder how high it gets at some times of day as the online tap chargers operate?

That would be worth contacting your utility about. It is good for Tesla charging, but some things like motors might not appreciate it.

I'm quite a ways away from the sub, just next to my transformer. I've been meaning to check what to size is (will probably do that tomorrow) but I'm going to assume 50-100 kVA. Been wanting to put a Dranetz PQ meter on it but also too lazy for that. There isn't a large amount of solar in my area either (maybe 2-3 houses only) so its just a tap setting TBH.

I haven't had much issues with motors, but I wonder if there are other glitches I've had related to it....

 

[timk225]

I don't know about the other houses, aside from the one next to me having whole house AC, but I have a gas furnace and gas water heater. I ran the whole year on 2 window AC units with 17,000 BTUs between them, and that was enough for me. They draw around 1700 watts between the 2 of them. My service drop on the outside of the house (it's an old 1930 house changed to an over/under duplex) feeds 2 meters and 2 100 amp CH breaker panels.

In my computer and Tesla nerdiness, I've been all over the power system of this house by myself and with my electrician, I know everything going on in here, which breakers control which outlets, I made breaker maps in Microsoft Paint, etc.

I have an APC Back-UPS Pro 1500 with an auxiliary battery connected to it, powering my computer systems, it has a voltage readout on it. And a smaller APC battery unit to keep the modem up if the power goes out so I can stay online for a while. I've seen it as low as 118 volts in the summer, probably when everyone has their AC cranking hard, to 125-126 volts more recently in cooler weather and at night when neighborhood power usage is less.

I've noticed that my transformer on the pole looks very clean and new, like it was replaced in the past year. It's got a big "25" sticker on the side, which from what I've read online is its KW rating.

 

[Jedi2155]

I don't know about the other houses, aside from the one next to me having whole house AC, but I have a gas furnace and gas water heater. I ran the whole year on 2 window AC units with 17,000 BTUs between them, and that was enough for me. They draw around 1700 watts between the 2 of them. My service drop on the outside of the house (it's an old 1930 house changed to an over/under duplex) feeds 2 meters and 2 100 amp CH breaker panels.

In my computer and Tesla nerdiness, I've been all over the power system of this house by myself and with my electrician, I know everything going on in here, which breakers control which outlets, I made breaker maps in Microsoft Paint, etc.

I have an APC Back-UPS Pro 1500 with an auxiliary battery connected to it, powering my computer systems, it has a voltage readout on it. And a smaller APC battery unit to keep the modem up if the power goes out so I can stay online for a while. I've seen it as low as 118 volts in the summer, probably when everyone has their AC cranking hard, to 125-126 volts more recently in cooler weather and at night when neighborhood power usage is less.

I've noticed that my transformer on the pole looks very clean and new, like it was replaced in the past year. It's got a big "25" sticker on the side, which from what I've read online is its KW rating.

Transformers are usually rated by KVA instead of KW, because KW does not take power factor into consideration. I.e you could almost have 0 kW through a transformer but 25 kVA and fully load the transformer.

 

[eprosenx]

I'm quite a ways away from the sub, just next to my transformer. I've been meaning to check what to size is (will probably do that tomorrow) but I'm going to assume 50-100 kVA. Been wanting to put a Dranetz PQ meter on it but also too lazy for that. There isn't a large amount of solar in my area either (maybe 2-3 houses only) so its just a tap setting TBH.

I haven't had much issues with motors, but I wonder if there are other glitches I've had related to it....

How far is quite a ways from the substation? I don’t suppose there is a voltage regulator bank close to your house that re boosts the voltage? (doubtful unless really rural)

Are there other houses off the line between you and the substation? Or are you one of the first connections to the line? (If so, they can run the voltage hot from the sub knowing there is loss prior to the first subscriber)

As far as I know, they don’t generally adjust tap settings on residential transformers as at least some power companies can feed the main lines from multiple substations (depending on design) and so they don’t want every distribution transformer to have a custom tap setting for a single substation feeding it. I generally thought the transformers around here are all fixed tap configurations.

I would be curious for you to reach out to the power company and see what they say!

 

[eprosenx]

I have an APC Back-UPS Pro 1500 with an auxiliary battery connected to it, powering my computer systems, it has a voltage readout on it. And a smaller APC battery unit to keep the modem up if the power goes out so I can stay online for a while. I've seen it as low as 118 volts in the summer, probably when everyone has their AC cranking hard, to 125-126 volts more recently in cooler weather and at night when neighborhood power usage is less.

A range of 118 to 126 volts is right in spec. Very little dropout on the low side, and actually just shy of too high a voltage on the upper side.

So seven houses is a LOT for a 25kva transformer, but your voltage measurements are just evidence that the power company is doing the right thing... If 25kva was insufficient you would see voltage issues during the peak load time (summer?).

I am guessing all the houses are gas and it sounds like they are older so likely less demand electrically.

As others have mentioned, transformers can be run beyond their rated load. I am not sure what test conditions the rating comes from, but it is probably an ambient temp of like 105 degrees Fahrenheit, in the sun, and with a constant load. The reality is that load fluctuates during the day, and so you may only hit peak loading for a short period of time.