leafme
Well-known member
Measured my LEAF tonight while charging to get a feel for the power input for 120v and 240v EVSE conditions.
Equipment used:
P3 International P4400 Kill A Watt, 15a, 120v electricity usage monitor (primarily for power factor, PF)
Fluke 289 True RMS recording multimeter
Fluke i410 AC/DC current clamp
Fluke T5-600 Volt/Amp/ohm meter
Used all equipment to verify consistency which was within approximately 1%. Assumed the Kill A Watt power factor was accurate and used its value for calculating power when using Fluke measured values at 240v.
The power factor indicated 0.98. A power factor close to 1 is expected since we are just charging a battery here and no reactive load is expected.
The Kill A Watt indicated 120.4v, 11.94a and 1,406w with PF of 0.98. It fluctuated over the few minutes I measured it but stuck very close to 1400-1420w. This is a good thing since the plug on the portable EVSE is rated 120v, 15a. The NEC limits continuous loads to 80% of equipment rating (unless equipment is rated for 100% loading which almost nothing is) which equates to the 12a continuous load I measured (11.94a). While the manual does indicate a 20a branch circuit is needed, errata supplied with the owners package corrects this indicating only a 120v, 15a branch circuit is necessary. Good thing since the plug on the portable EVSE is a 15a plug NOT a 20a plug. At 120v, 12a, 0.98 PF, you can squeeze 1,411w out of the wall as input to the LEAF. As the charge begins, the LEAF smoothly ramps the current up from 0a to 12a in 5 seconds. A nice smooth ramp up. Nice job on that design Nissan. Fairly easy to do with power converter technology but at least they chose to do it.
To measure the 240v EVSE supply on my garage wall I used the Fluke 289 and the i410 current probe and verified the measured values with the T5-600 and assumed the power factor to be the same, 0.98. This indicated 15.55a and 245v which yields 3,809va or 3,733w. This too ramped up in 5 seconds from zero. After about 3-5 minutes the current settled out at 15.67a, 243v or 3,731w. Nissan also kept this rate at under the 16a max current allowed on a 20a branch circuit by code even though my EVSE and installed 40a branch circuit is capable of 32a at 240v. As an fyi, the Blink is rated at a maximum of 240v at 30a. This "larger" branch circuit provides the capability to charge at almost twice the 3,733 rate in the future if I choose to upgrade the power converter in the LEAF when Nissan releases the upgrade in a couple of years. Mark Perry told me its coming but I knew better than to ask him the price at this time.
So what we see here is 1,410w for the 120v EVSE and 3,771w for the 240v EVSE or a ratio of 0.37, or (1/x) at 2.67. This is to say the 120v EVSE will charge at 37% of the 240v EVSE rate or the 240v EVSE will charge at 267% of the 120v EVSE rate. In any case, the indicator in the car usually states a 3 or 4 to one difference (and only estimates to the half hour).
As you can see here, my measurements indicate a 2.67 to one ratio. Extending these measurements to miles (range) gained per charge time, and noting that Randy and I got 18 miles for 1.5 hr of charge on our "111 mi trip" (12 mi/hr), I would expect the 120v EVSE to boost the battery by 12/2.67 or 4.5 mi/hr. If I come across a single phase power meter I'll verify the power factor at 240v (but I bet it's very close to the same at 0.98).
For general travel planning purposes, I plan my trips for non-eco driving, add 5-6 miles for good measure (I call it anti-walking measure) and then drive almost 100% of the time in eco mode with the climate control in auto. I've only owned my LEAF since Tuesday so I'll need a few more travel data points to draw conclusions on my forecasting ability but for now, I haven't had to walk yet.
Owning and driving an electric car does take a different mindset. But so far, man, this is a blast.
Malcolm
Equipment used:
P3 International P4400 Kill A Watt, 15a, 120v electricity usage monitor (primarily for power factor, PF)
Fluke 289 True RMS recording multimeter
Fluke i410 AC/DC current clamp
Fluke T5-600 Volt/Amp/ohm meter
Used all equipment to verify consistency which was within approximately 1%. Assumed the Kill A Watt power factor was accurate and used its value for calculating power when using Fluke measured values at 240v.
The power factor indicated 0.98. A power factor close to 1 is expected since we are just charging a battery here and no reactive load is expected.
The Kill A Watt indicated 120.4v, 11.94a and 1,406w with PF of 0.98. It fluctuated over the few minutes I measured it but stuck very close to 1400-1420w. This is a good thing since the plug on the portable EVSE is rated 120v, 15a. The NEC limits continuous loads to 80% of equipment rating (unless equipment is rated for 100% loading which almost nothing is) which equates to the 12a continuous load I measured (11.94a). While the manual does indicate a 20a branch circuit is needed, errata supplied with the owners package corrects this indicating only a 120v, 15a branch circuit is necessary. Good thing since the plug on the portable EVSE is a 15a plug NOT a 20a plug. At 120v, 12a, 0.98 PF, you can squeeze 1,411w out of the wall as input to the LEAF. As the charge begins, the LEAF smoothly ramps the current up from 0a to 12a in 5 seconds. A nice smooth ramp up. Nice job on that design Nissan. Fairly easy to do with power converter technology but at least they chose to do it.
To measure the 240v EVSE supply on my garage wall I used the Fluke 289 and the i410 current probe and verified the measured values with the T5-600 and assumed the power factor to be the same, 0.98. This indicated 15.55a and 245v which yields 3,809va or 3,733w. This too ramped up in 5 seconds from zero. After about 3-5 minutes the current settled out at 15.67a, 243v or 3,731w. Nissan also kept this rate at under the 16a max current allowed on a 20a branch circuit by code even though my EVSE and installed 40a branch circuit is capable of 32a at 240v. As an fyi, the Blink is rated at a maximum of 240v at 30a. This "larger" branch circuit provides the capability to charge at almost twice the 3,733 rate in the future if I choose to upgrade the power converter in the LEAF when Nissan releases the upgrade in a couple of years. Mark Perry told me its coming but I knew better than to ask him the price at this time.
So what we see here is 1,410w for the 120v EVSE and 3,771w for the 240v EVSE or a ratio of 0.37, or (1/x) at 2.67. This is to say the 120v EVSE will charge at 37% of the 240v EVSE rate or the 240v EVSE will charge at 267% of the 120v EVSE rate. In any case, the indicator in the car usually states a 3 or 4 to one difference (and only estimates to the half hour).
As you can see here, my measurements indicate a 2.67 to one ratio. Extending these measurements to miles (range) gained per charge time, and noting that Randy and I got 18 miles for 1.5 hr of charge on our "111 mi trip" (12 mi/hr), I would expect the 120v EVSE to boost the battery by 12/2.67 or 4.5 mi/hr. If I come across a single phase power meter I'll verify the power factor at 240v (but I bet it's very close to the same at 0.98).
For general travel planning purposes, I plan my trips for non-eco driving, add 5-6 miles for good measure (I call it anti-walking measure) and then drive almost 100% of the time in eco mode with the climate control in auto. I've only owned my LEAF since Tuesday so I'll need a few more travel data points to draw conclusions on my forecasting ability but for now, I haven't had to walk yet.
Owning and driving an electric car does take a different mindset. But so far, man, this is a blast.
Malcolm