New "No Parking" signs at Glen Allen, VA supercharger

[tga]

Mine was spinning the other night charging the car and using aux electric heat...

Here's a tidbit people may or may not know. You can get your (near) instantaneous power draw on an old-school mechanical meter by timing how long it takes for one rotation of the disk, and using the formula:

Watts = (Kh factor) * 3600 /(rotation time in seconds)

Kh is the # of watt-hours/rotation, usually 7.2 for North American meters (see the lower right corner of the video)

I counted 36 rotations in 20 seconds, so 7.2*3600/(20/36) = ~46kW

 

[tga]

It also blinks it's status if you touch button on the handle, so you can check them that way at Superchargers, though not from a distance.

Doesn't that interrupt the charge, which then has the side effect of giving the other car in the pair priority?

 

[wk057]

Here's a tidbit people may or may not know. You can get your (near) instantaneous power draw on an old-school mechanical meter by timing how long it takes for one rotation of the disk, and using the formula:

Watts = (Kh factor) * 3600 /(rotation time in seconds)

Kh is the # of watt-hours/rotation, usually 7.2 for North American meters (see the lower right corner of the video)

I counted 36 rotations in 20 seconds, so 7.2*3600/(20/36) = ~46kW

Yup, my TED was showing about 45-46kW usage at the time. The sound in the video is actually the heat pumps that are near the meter, not the meter itself, that would be crazy... lol

 

[Xenoilphobe]

How could you tell they were all done charging?

Touch the door handle and it lights up - blue means it just communicating with the SC. Green flashing is charging and Orange means bad connection.

also none of the fans on the SC were running which means no load on the charger.

 

[Chipper]

Touch the door handle and it lights up - blue means it just communicating with the SC. Green flashing is charging and Orange means bad connection.

also none of the fans on the SC were running which means no load on the charger.

OK...but I think not. Door handles do not light up on my car unless the fob is near. And the fans on the SC only crank up if their temp requires it. I have charged repeatedly at the Chattanooga SC lately (and did so today just to check on this) and sometimes the fans NEVER kick in because it is too cold.

 

[Rheazombi]

View attachment 70250

Something about the fancy red screws on the new signs makes me think they are Tesla official. I wouldn't expect that attention to detail from a landlord or random EV owner.

 

[liuping]

Doesn't that interrupt the charge, which then has the side effect of giving the other car in the pair priority?

Not if you don't have the keyfob for that car. It just shows the status.

I'm curious if one of the charge port opening fob would also light the status lights. I'll try that next time I'm at a Supercharger. (I keep the remote in the glovebox, although with 6.1 it's no longer needed)

 

[tga]

Not if you don't have the keyfob for that car. It just shows the status.

Actually, this thread says it works as I described, interrupting charging on the car who's button was pressed, and allowing the other car in the pair to take priority:

Got kicked off a SuperCharger... | Forums | Tesla Motors

Page 2, midway down:

I tried it - if you press the button when the car is locked while supercharging, it interrupts the charging and then resumes

No doubt that the other person pressed the button on your charge cable after plugging in in an effort to get more power quickly. Another owner and I were curious about this at the Glen Allen, VA charger and it works as expected and switches priorities.

I will admit none of these posts mention the keyfob being in or out of range.

 

[Robert.Boston]

Actually, this thread says it works as I described, interrupting charging on the car who's button was pressed, and allowing the other car in the pair to take priority:

Got kicked off a SuperCharger... | Forums | Tesla Motors

Page 2, midway down:



I will admit none of these posts mention the keyfob being in or out of range.

The OP made it clear that he was in a store at the time, well away from the car. So unless he left the fob in the car, this interruption/reprioritization occurred while the car was locked. That sounds like a bug for Tesla to squish. It's great that it shows the status, but not great that it bumps the charging off line.

BTW, Tesla should also have some indicator for charging status on J1772s.

 

[wk057]

I've since tried this with the keyfob out of range, and it does still indeed interrupt the charge. This is expected behavior with J1772 at least, and seems to carry over to Tesla-style DC charging since it is the same connector. Again, the charger has no way to know whether the charge port is locked. I assume that is something that *may* be able to be addressed with superchargers, but with other "dumb" EVSEs, it would be impossible for the charger/EVSE to know if the port was locked or not and if it actually needed to cut power instantly.

 

[Cottonwood]

I've since tried this with the keyfob out of range, and it does still indeed interrupt the charge. This is expected behavior with J1772 at least, and seems to carry over to Tesla-style DC charging since it is the same connector. Again, the charger has no way to know whether the charge port is locked. I assume that is something that *may* be able to be addressed with superchargers, but with other "dumb" EVSEs, it would be impossible for the charger/EVSE to know if the port was locked or not and if it actually needed to cut power instantly.

You are probably correct, but the Supercharger Cabinet controller could easily ignore short interruptions of charging in it's priority algorithm.

 

[wk057]

You are probably correct, but the Supercharger Cabinet controller could easily ignore short interruptions of charging in it's priority algorithm.

That's probably a good solution, as I had also mentioned in the other thread.

I think if it isn't a safety concern, since the supercharger has a data link with the car it could easily just "ask" the car when the button is pressed, "Are you unlocked? Is the port still locked?" and react accordingly, or not at all, assuming there is no physical interrupt of that data link when the button is pressed.

 

[FlasherZ]

You are probably correct, but the Supercharger Cabinet controller could easily ignore short interruptions of charging in it's priority algorithm.

Just hold it down longer.

 

[JohnEC]

You are probably correct, but the Supercharger Cabinet controller could easily ignore short interruptions of charging in it's priority algorithm.

Just hold it down longer.

Yeah, this has been an interesting discussion. If indeed the button press must interrupt the charging session for safety reasons (car locked or not), then for the supercharger to be "fair", I think it would have to keep track of the identity of the last car in that stall. Then if the same car returns (or just comes back online) and it previously had "top" priority, then it should get that priority back again. This is probably a lot to hope for though.

 

[wk057]

In a few days whenever they energize the Charlotte, NC supercharger my fiance are taking both Model S down to it. I'll try to remember to not charge one of them the day before so we can test this priority thing, do a video, and send it to Tesla.

 

[Rheazombi]

Dunno how common these signs are but I just saw the same ones, red screw and everything, at the East Greenwich, RI supercharger (they weren't there a couple months ago). Unfortunately the new signs did not seem to deter any ICERS. There were only 2 free spots for Teslas when I arrived.