HPWC in Nashua - 80A@277V

[tga]

In case anyone needs an emergency boost to make it to the next Supercharger when passing through Nashua, this HPWC just appeared on plugshare - 100 Innovative Way | Nashua, NH | Electric Car Charging Station | PlugShare

I stopped by late last night on my way north and plugged in (I was hoping it was >40A, so I could test the second charger in the new car). I was happily surprised that not only was it 80A, but 277V, too.

The landlord's info page - Electric Car Charging Stations @ NTP | Gateway Hills

There is also a Clipper Creek J1772 on the same pedestal (32A @ 208V)

 

[Cosmacelf]

Way cool. I wondered if the HPWC could take 277v (and likewise the car). Apparently it can!

 

[tga]

Way cool. I wondered if the HPWC could take 277v (and likewise the car). Apparently it can!

The manual for the gen 2 HPWC explicitly supports 277V connections, and gives wiring instructions for it:

https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/80A_Wall_Connector_Installation_Manual_EN_JP_ES_0.pdf

 

[AWDtsla]

Way cool. I wondered if the HPWC could take 277v (and likewise the car). Apparently it can!

The HPWC sure. But I don't believe the gen1 charger will accept 277. Wonder what happens when you plug it in.

 

[rypalmer]

Can you confirm your car accepted the full 80a @ 277v? What was the max kW received?

 

[tga]

The HPWC sure. But I don't believe the gen1 charger will accept 277. Wonder what happens when you plug it in.

Well, I can't imagine Tesla would want 277V HPWC's appearing in the wild if it meant they would start blowing up all the classic cars...

Can you confirm your car accepted the full 80a @ 277v? What was the max kW received?

I took this just after the chargers ramped up to 80A (hence +0kWh). 264V*80A=21.12kW, which jibes with the 21kW reported. I only stayed for a few minutes, just long enough to check that the car would pull the full 80A. I was going to need 15 min or so at the Hooksett SC to get home comfortably, but I didn't need this stop to get there, so I didn't see a need to hang out.

 

[Cosmacelf]

To me, this answers my age old question: would a UMC work with an appropriate adapter hooked up to a 277v source. I think the answer is yes.

 

[BrokerDon]

That's great!

Do you think the 277V is because it's at a commercial location which has 277/480 3-phase power vs. 120/240V single-phase power at most residences? If so that's a good option for our clients' and our family's industrial properties.

21.1kW (264V*80A) is a slightly better than the 19.2kW (240V*80A) our Gen 1 HPWC provides... which we only run at 60A most of the time to keep the HPWC cable, plug and Tesla receptacle from getting hot potentially shortening their life.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Yes indeed, 277v comes from commercial 3 phase power.

 

[wozzinator]

I attempted to use this tonight in my 12/2015 Model S 70D and the fault indicator went off on the HPWC and the car saying there was a charge fault. The L2 worked at a degraded capacity. Not sure if either is due to the cold (~15F) right now or my 2015 can't take the 3-phase voltage.

 

[AWDtsla]

I attempted to use this tonight in my 12/2015 Model S 70D and the fault indicator went off on the HPWC and the car saying there was a charge fault. The L2 worked at a degraded capacity. Not sure if either is due to the cold (~15F) right now or my 2015 can't take the 3-phase voltage.

NA HPWC doesn't output 3 phases, only 1. Was the charge handle inserted all the way?

 

[Cosmacelf]

I think wozzinator was saying that maybe his car didn't like the voltage that a 3 phase source puts out - ie. 277 volts. It is very possible that different car software versions react differently to 277v, since this is not a common voltage. You would have hoped that Tesla would have made sure that all their cars could accept 277 volts before making an HPWC that could output it, but you never know. For example, early Model S cars cannot charge any higher than 20A at 120V, while later cars can charge at higher amps at 120V.

 

[wozzinator]

Yes, charge handle was inserted all of the way and both the car and station acknowledged a fault. The NA HPWC manual seems to only state it can support 80A at 250V, but this seems to be contradict the screenshot and info above about 250+ volts so I'm not sure if my car from 12/2015 just doesn't support the voltage or if there was actually a fault with the HPWC due to the weather (the L2 also seemed to indicate a degraded state as well so maybe it was just the circuit that both chargers are connected to?)

 

[tga]

The NA HPWC manual seems to only state it can support 80A at 250V, but this seems to be contradict the screenshot and info above about 250+ volts

You're looking at the prior version of the HPWC manual from 9/2014 - the current one (8/2016) is here - https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/80A_Wall_Connector_Installation_Manual_EN_JP_ES_0.pdf

so I'm not sure if my car from 12/2015 just doesn't support the voltage or if there was actually a fault with the HPWC due to the weather

My car is a year older than yours (12/2014); if mine supports it, yours should. I don't see how Tesla would allow 277V HPWC installations if all existing cars couldn't support them - it would be a support nightmare. Try calling Tesla support or the Service Center and see if they can explain what happened - they may be able to pull logs from the car and figure something out.

(the L2 also seemed to indicate a degraded state as well so maybe it was just the circuit that both chargers are connected to?)

I did notice something when I looked at the screenshots I took while charging on the J1772. Before charging starts, the car reports 205V, 32A available. After current ramps up, the voltage drops 8% to 188V, and the car reports 24A available. I don't remember seeing any charging errors, but this may be the car reducing current due to bad connection/possible extension cord problem detection (188V is pretty low), and may explain the degradation you saw on the J1772.

 

[AWDtsla]

Someone forgot to torque the wires down, I bet.

 

[wozzinator]

I came back today to give it a second shot. I reset the fault on the HPWC and plugged in. The reported voltage is 274V. I have dual chargers, but for some reason it's stuck on 40/80 A even after 15 minutes. I was suspect about my dual charger installation at the beginning of last year because I never saw the current hit 80A when they were testing it and didn't get a chance to try it out until today. Is it possible that Dedham updated the firmware, but didn't connect the second charger correctly?

 

[wozzinator]

See attached screenshot for comment above.

 

[tga]

I came back today to give it a second shot. I reset the fault on the HPWC and plugged in. The reported voltage is 274V. I have dual chargers, but for some reason it's stuck on 40/80 A even after 15 minutes. I was suspect about my dual charger installation at the beginning of last year because I never saw the current hit 80A when they were testing it and didn't get a chance to try it out until today. Is it possible that Dedham updated the firmware, but didn't connect the second charger correctly?

40/80 means the car is drawing 40A, but 80A is available. Since the picture shows that you didn't manually drop the current setting, the car should pull 80A (assuming you have dual chargers). If you have dual chargers, something is wrong with the installation; you should call the service center.

Someone forgot to torque the wires down, I bet.

Yep. I stopped there last night to test the J1772 again (traffic was awful and I was tired of sitting in it). This time I looked at the dash and got the "bad wiring" notice:

The car reports "/30" as the current starts to ramp. Around 20A or so, the voltage drops enough that it shows this message and shows only 24A available (instead of 30). So I guess number after the slash is not necessarily the current reported by the EVSE, but (EVSE max) - (wiring safety buffer); ie, I was expecting to see "24/30" in this case, not "24/24"

 

[andrewket]

I came back today to give it a second shot. I reset the fault on the HPWC and plugged in. The reported voltage is 274V. I have dual chargers, but for some reason it's stuck on 40/80 A even after 15 minutes. I was suspect about my dual charger installation at the beginning of last year because I never saw the current hit 80A when they were testing it and didn't get a chance to try it out until today. Is it possible that Dedham updated the firmware, but didn't connect the second charger correctly?

They likely forgot to change the config on your car and update the firmware on the master charger so it knows there is a slave charger. You need to go back to your SC.

 

[ravejads.tmc]

I was able to charge my 60D at 270V/42A this morning with the Tesla charger. Outside temp is 32F.

John