[POSTed on several EV list/groups]
There have been POSTs asking how to adapt to the
available public AVCON charging stations.
Inductive users that carry their chargers with them and
conductive charging EVs can either buy the AVCON adaptor
(made at cost) from merchandise page or
build their own from the components
Many have told me the EAA's sturdy pre-made AVCON adaptor
box is a much better deal. But some people enjoy building
their own.
The adaptor has a 14-50 receptacle as the output. You can
only get 208-270VAC (depending on the host - I will call
this voltage range 220VAC from this point) not 120VAC (two
hot lines and a ground). The spec's of the AVCON do not
provide a neutral to obtain 120VAC.
Some LA EAA chapter members use a 208VAC to 120VAC
transformer to step the voltage down, but these are large
and heavy.
If you have a 220VAC charger onboard you can make a
connection to the AVCON adaptor to obtain your power.
Remember the AVCON is using a 40 amp source. So, by
electrical code, one can only draw 80% of capacity
(32 amps).
A ZIVAN NG5 will not work with a public AVCON charging
head. It draws too much AC current.
Using a 220VAC Zivan NG3 (or K2) is tricky. The K2 is the
forerunner to the NG series. The 220VAC K2 is 400w less
than the NG3. The K2 has a max output of 2.5kw. The NG3 is a
3kw charger. The K2 came with a in-line AC filter which
slightly reduced the current spike the charger put on the AC
line. The NG3 does not has such a filter (but one could put
one on the input).
Both ZIVAN chargers chop their output adjusting their duty
cycle to control current. However, these are not one would
call a power factor corrected charger. They have a PFC
rating but it is not that good. 95% or above the target, and
the lower the PFC%, the more power is not getting into your
battery pack and is wasted. PFC chargers are more expensive.
Non-PFC chargers that work prefectly well off a breaker,
trip evi ics-200 charging heads.
ZIVAN chargers draw the majority of their current in the
center portion of the AC wave. For a portion of the wave a
high current is drawn to average out to the current reading.
The majority of public AVCON chargers are various versions
of the evi ics-200 charging head (it takes 220VAC power from
the breaker and provides the 220VAC to the AVCON head after
certain required signals are recognized).
Somehow the evi ics-200 became the AVCON model chosen for
public installations. The evi ics-200 has too much circuitry
to 'NOT' give you power, and has a syntho woman's voice
complaining that you have exceeded the current limitations.
The ics-200 wants to see a PFC charger like what it was
designed for: a Honda EV plus or a Ford Ranger (neither are
in production = availability: nil).
When a 220VAC NG3 or K2 charger is directly connected (via a
straight through AVCON adaptor), the ics-200 looks at the
high currents in the center portion of the wave, rather than
the average current (like a breaker would), and barfs/gives
an error message/turns the power off.
But all is not lost ...
I have two 220VAC K2 chargers in my Blazer
I have been trying various configurations to get the
ics-200 to behave and give power to non-EV+/Ranger EVs
(non PFC chargers).
Since the K2 draws a little less current than the NG3 there
is an advantage. Both chargers try to output the same
current, but a smaller gauge long extension cord in line
between the adaptor and the charger reduces the current draw
and has a minor reduction of the current 'spikes'. This
configuration has been just enough to make it work. I have
used this configuration many times. Most recently at the
EVAA ETI conference
The cord must be able to dissipate a small amount of heat.
Cords should never be hot. Warm is OK but know that ages the
cord. But a $10 100' 14 gauge cord is an affordable
solution.
The NG3 is a different story. Greg McCrea is a ZIVAN
distributor in Sacramento, CA. I had a talk with him about
this when we had lunch together (I was visiting him, he was
setting up my NG5).
Greg said he had worked with local EV drivers to get the NG3
to work with the (above) extension cord configuration by
turning the NG3 charging current down to the 2.2kw level.
It seems silly to spend money for a 3kw charger just to turn
it down to 2/3 the power. Greg said ZIVAN had no plans to
put a toggle switch to give different charging current
settings. And people that 'do their own' void their
warranty.
Know that the 120VAC NG3 charger in Sparrows are 'turned
down' from working off a 30amp breaker to work off a 20amp
breaker (from 3kw to 1.5kw).
So, a NG3 turned down, and connected to a 100' 14 gauge
extension cord (spread out to dissipate the heat) connected
to an AVCON adaptor box might work for you.
Additional: Not all ics-200's are the same. Different model
generations and the wide manufacturing tolerances used, mean
one ics-200 would work, and the next one won't.
I state the above having had extensive personal experience
using the public charging infrastructure in most of
California (North, SF, Sacramento, and LA). I have driven
the 300 mile trip to Sacramento and back using public
charging five times.
=====
-
Electric Vehicle (EV) List & Renewable Energy (RE) Editor
~ ____ % Charge your EV with RE %
~/__|o\__
'@----- @'---(= Get Amp'd
hybrid & fcv newsitems
-
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Sports - Coverage of the 2002 Olympic Games
