Charge Time Screen

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Lataxe

Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2024
Messages
18
Location
West Wales UK
The Charge Time Screen gives options for the charging rate. But is it just using the selection (say 6 Kw or 3 Kw) to calculate & display the estimated times-to-charge-level in the Charge Time Screen; or to actually limit the external charger supply to 3 Kw or 6 Kw? I suspect the former rather than the latter ...... In which case .....

Is there a means to limit the rate-of-charge or will it be determined by the maximum rate that the external charger (a home wall-mounted 32 amp supply outputting a maximum of 6.6 Kw in my case) outputs limited only by the Leaf battery temperature-control BMS?

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My issue is that the house solar panels inverter has a 6Kw conversion limit, meaning that if the Leaf is drawing 6 kw and the house is drawing another, say, 2kw then the solar power is being supplemented by the grid. The inverter can only suck 6 kw from the solar panels and/or house batteries, even if they're capable of producing/outputting more than that.

As the solar is a daytime supply, charging the Leaf from the solar panels can only be done during the day. But if the grid is also being called on to supply more e to the house&car than the inverter can handle, the grid charge-rate is a daytime rate rather than the nighttime rate of around 1/3rd the price. Poof!

At present, the only way I can limit the Leaf e-suck from the solar/batteries/grid is to use the granny charger. This isn't so bad (I only want to charge the Leaf from, typically, 40% charged to 65% charged) but seems a waste of that nice (and much faster) wall charger.

How, then, to limit the wall charger output to, say, 3kw instead of 6kw?

It's already a bit of a PITA having to use the timer to limit the charge-to amount to 60% or so.
 
There are "adjustable rate" EVSE's on the market. For your situation it sounds like that might be the answer. You could limit your EVSE current to something enough below the 6 kw limit of your inverter, and let the car charge at a lower rate while the house uses the rest.
It would take some research on your part to figure the house load during that period and then the amount left over for the car, then setting the car supply current so as not to exceed the limit.
My adjustable rate EVSE has settings for 10,16,20,24 and 32 amps. However, those limits are not the only possibilities.
 
There are "adjustable rate" EVSE's on the market. For your situation it sounds like that might be the answer. You could limit your EVSE current to something enough below the 6 kw limit of your inverter, and let the car charge at a lower rate while the house uses the rest.
It would take some research on your part to figure the house load during that period and then the amount left over for the car, then setting the car supply current so as not to exceed the limit.
My adjustable rate EVSE has settings for 10,16,20,24 and 32 amps. However, those limits are not the only possibilities.
In Britain the cost of a new wall-point charger for an e-car is generally rather a lot. I imagine that the cost of one as sophisticated as that you mention might be prohibitive - a lot more than the potential savings via not having to download a few tens of kwh at the higher day time rate using the current ('scuse pun) charger. So, given that we already have that current 32-amp / 6.6 kw charger installed (used on the last car, a hybrid that itself limited the charging maximum to 3 kw) it seems uneconomic to get another expensive charger installation. And ....

One of the motives for getting a Leaf is that its V2X-compliant, so I'm hoping that when a suitable V2X-compliant wall charger/inverter becomes available (next March) it'll have the facilities to vary the charging rate, amongst other functions. We'll be coughing up for one of those as it offers many facilities besides charging - making the Leaf battery a house battery too being the most important facility for us. The possibility of the grid being knocked out from weather events for a while seems to grow each year.
 
In Britain the cost of a new wall-point charger for an e-car is generally rather a lot. I imagine that the cost of one as sophisticated as that you mention might be prohibitive - a lot more than the potential savings via not having to download a few tens of kwh at the higher day time rate using the current ('scuse pun) charger. So, given that we already have that current 32-amp / 6.6 kw charger installed (used on the last car, a hybrid that itself limited the charging maximum to 3 kw) it seems uneconomic to get another expensive charger installation. And ....

One of the motives for getting a Leaf is that its V2X-compliant, so I'm hoping that when a suitable V2X-compliant wall charger/inverter becomes available (next March) it'll have the facilities to vary the charging rate, amongst other functions. We'll be coughing up for one of those as it offers many facilities besides charging - making the Leaf battery a house battery too being the most important facility for us. The possibility of the grid being knocked out from weather events for a while seems to grow each ye
Have a look at this thread https://mynissanleaf.com/threads/question-about-leaf-240v-evse-charger.29887/#post-650011, post #19.

You can set the charge rate to whatever you want within the existing parameters of the Leaf OBC which should be around 1.4kw to 6.6kw.

Just change the resistance value advertised to the car from your EVSE charging cable.

It cost me about £5 for a 3 position switch & 3 different 1/4w resistors.
 
The selection for rate is to show the time to charge at the rate you selected BEFORE you start charging...select the charging rate you use most frequently. Once you actually plug in, then it will change to the rate actually being used for the time prediction.
 
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