Question about charging with Clipper Creek at office

[incrediwoah]

Hey TMC,

Just plugged my offices clipper creek charger in this morning and it kept cancelling the charge for some reason. I noticed that my setting for charging was set to 40amps so it tuned down to the 32amp and began working. Is this the max I can use? Will I have to change it to 32amps every morning before plugging in?

 

[TexasEV]

What model Clipper Creek is it? Is it one that has max output of 32A? If so it should set that automatically.

 

[incrediwoah]

it shows 240v of charging. Not sure how to check. Any method?

 

[TexasEV]

There should be a model number on the unit.

 

[incrediwoah]

Its the -40 model!

 

[BerTX]

Hey TMC,

Just plugged my offices clipper creek charger in this morning and it kept cancelling the charge for some reason. I noticed that my setting for charging was set to 40amps so it tuned down to the 32amp and began working. Is this the max I can use? Will I have to change it to 32amps every morning before plugging in?

To answer the second part of your question -- the car should remember the location and set the charging to that amperage automatically.

 

[incrediwoah]

To answer the second part of your question -- the car should remember the location and set the charging to that amperage automatically.

As I was leaving my garage I noticed it said that! So I assume it won't fault again because it will remember the 32amp. I didn't mess up anything btw as it was faulting right? I tried 3 or 4 times before realizing it was the amp amount

 

[BerTX]

As I was leaving my garage I noticed it said that! So I assume it won't fault again because it will remember the 32amp. I didn't mess up anything btw as it was faulting right? I tried 3 or 4 times before realizing it was the amp amount

No, that was the car's safety systems cutting off the charge because it couldn't get the voltage it expected at the amps it wanted. The system is mostly there to protect the wiring coming into the car. You won't break the car unless you plug into something really unlikely for you to encounter accidentally.

 

[brkaus]

It sounds like the car detecting a voltage drop and reducing the charge current.

As others have mentioned, it will remember for that location.

You can set the amps to max, plug in the car and watch the voltage as it ramps up. I don’t remember the threshold, but if exceeded it will drop the current by 20%.

If you really need the charge speed, you can manually reduce the current a bit and see if you can find a sweet spot where it is happy.

 

[incrediwoah]

It sounds like the car detecting a voltage drop and reducing the charge current.

As others have mentioned, it will remember for that location.

You can set the amps to max, plug in the car and watch the voltage as it ramps up. I don’t remember the threshold, but if exceeded it will drop the current by 20%.

If you really need the charge speed, you can manually reduce the current a bit and see if you can find a sweet spot where it is happy.

I don't need the charge speed. Was just curious. thanks for the insight!

 

[TexasEV]

The Clipper Creek -40 models provide 32A charging. (The number refers to the size of the required circuit in amps and the output is 80% of that). What were you expecting? Your car should have displayed 32A when you plugged into it rather than cutting off charging. Not sure what that’s about, unless you were manually trying to increase charging above 32A.

 

[incrediwoah]

The Clipper Creek -40 models provide 32A charging. (The number refers to the size of the required circuit in amps and the output is 80% of that). What were you expecting? Your car should have displayed 32A when you plugged into it rather than cutting off charging. Not sure what that’s about, unless you were manually trying to increase charging above 32A.

It was originally set at 40amps so I think it was having trouble readjusting.

 

[gregd]

Something's really wrong here... If the charge station is only capable of offering 32 amps, it should have communicated that fact to the car through the charging cable. If that value is being properly sourced, nothing you can fiddle with on the car should cause the car to exceed that (i.e. it's not your fault). Clipper Creek's products are generally known to be very well made, so if the unit is only capable of delivering 32 amps, I would think it should not be possible to configure it to report the higher value.

Since the car is giving you the option for the higher current, it appears that the Clipper Creek unit is really telling the car that it can deliver 40 amps, and the car is just following along. The unit then senses the overcurrent situation and faults. Perhaps it's damaged in some way, or maybe it is possible to mis-configure it internally to report the higher value (set by someone who wasn't aware of the (80% rule). I'd contact Clipper Creek to verify the proper limits, and then let the property management know about the issue, so that real damage to the charging station doesn't occur (or get worse).

 

[bmah]

I agree with @TexasEV and @gregd...something fishy is happening here. In my garage I have a UMC on a NEMA 14-50 (for my car) and a Clipper Creek HCS-40P (for my wife's BMW 330e). Both are on 50A circuits. When the HCS-40P was installed, I tested it against my Tesla (using the J1772 adapter of course), and I didn't need to dial the charging amperage down...it just Did The Right Thing (DTRT) and automatically went from 40A to 32A.

Bruce.