Stupid Charging question

[gotkwah]

I feel like an idiot.

I have had my car for close to 3 years, have always used the trickle charge at home overnight. with the trickle charge i get about 4-6% charge per hour depending on temperature and how full the car is.
About once every 1-2 months ill charge for a bit as a L2 charger, 99% of the time it is at a Blink charger close to my house, and I feel like i get about 20% an hour at these stations.

A friends apartment complex installed some siemens chargers recently and i have plugged in there A LOT over the last 10 days (more driving than usual + currently no access to trickle charge at home) and i was shocked when i am consistenly getting close to 40% charge per hour at these stations.

What am I missing?

they are def not L3 (my car doesnt have the L3 charging port) and that would be faster than 40%/hr
I was positive when i plugged into the blink stations it was reporting 6,6kw charge, but maybe i am wrong and it was only 3.3kw? if so, why does blink not offer 6.6kw? i understand it charges faster so they could just charge more. it seems silly to install chargers and run electrical for them and not have them be the fastest capacity (other than L3)

 

[jjeff]

Sounds like you have a 6.6kw charger? Assuming both charging stations were a full 6.6kw my only explanation(and this would only explain a 15% difference) would be one was running on 208v while the other 240v. Others might know if some Blink stations only output 3.3kw, I'd think they'd be at least 30a but I don't know. One thing I wish the Leaf had was a display telling you exact voltage and charging current, neither of which is really easy to measure at a charging station. Note I'd think the station itself would have a placard stating amperage but if it were somehow limited inside to a lesser current you wouldn't know that and also voltage would probably only give a range like 200v-240v AC, which doesn't really tell you much.

 

[Bob]

If the Blink charger is plugged into 120V, it will only produce 3.3kW as previously mentioned.

40% per hour seems about right for a 6.6kW source, but only for the first portion. The last 10% takes much longer.

Bob

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

You can see charging current with LeafSpy.

 

[Reddy]

Some Blinks were specifically turned down from 7.2 KW to 3.8 KW due to melting plugs. It may still be there.
http://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=16876&p=388692&hilit=melting#p388692

 

[gotkwah]

i guess i have to plug in at the blink station again and see if it comes up as 6.6 or 3.3.

why on earth would blink install chargers and only make them 3.3? these are int he middle of a shopping center parking lot, you cant tell me they couldnt access a larger circuit. were 3.3 chargers much cheaper than 6.6 chargers 3 years ago when they installed these?

its strange because i have plugged into a few other L2 chargers and none of them charged this fast either. and some of those were at dealers!

 

[cwerdna]

i guess i have to plug in at the blink station again and see if it comes up as 6.6 or 3.3.

why on earth would blink install chargers and only make them 3.3? these are int he middle of a shopping center parking lot, you cant tell me they couldnt access a larger circuit. were 3.3 chargers much cheaper than 6.6 chargers 3 years ago when they installed these?

its strange because i have plugged into a few other L2 chargers and none of them charged this fast either. and some of those were at dealers!

What model year and trim level do you have?

Blink had to do this: http://insideevs.com/under-threat-from-oems-ecotality-turns-down-the-output-on-chargers-to-avoid-failures/ to avoid melting: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=10749 at higher power levels due to crap Rema handles.

What you are plugging into are EVSEs, NOT chargers. For L1 and L2 AC charging, the charger is on-board the car. See http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=262630#p262630.

 

[cwerdna]

Sounds like you have a 6.6kwh charger? Assuming both charging stations were a full 6.6kwh my only explanation

It is kW, NOT kWh.

kW and kWh are very different metrics. It's the same as confusing gallons with horsepower. Think of kW = horsepower, kWh = gallons.

(BTW, 1 hp = ~0.746 kW. And, many .gov sites says 1 gallon of gasoline=33.7 kWh.)

You can see charging current with LeafSpy.

Yes. OP is better of checking w/that as the car's display behavior of whether it chooses to claim you're charging at 6 kW or 3 kW is unknown to us if you're actually charging on an EVSE that's not really either value. Example: https://store.clippercreek.com/level2?product_id=54 is capable of 20 amps, so 4.8 kW at 240 volts. Which should it display?

 

[davewill]

...
Blink had to do this: http://insideevs.com/under-threat-from-oems-ecotality-turns-down-the-output-on-chargers-to-avoid-failures/ to avoid melting: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=10749 at higher power levels due to crap Rema handles.
...

The sad part is that they haven't fixed them in 3 years. All the ones I've seen in SoCal are from the first generation, still have the same crap handles and are turned down to 16a. Plugging in during a meal is hardly worth the effort at that rate. There just isn't enough money in public charging, to encourage them to maintain the network properly.

 

[RonDawg]

why on earth would blink install chargers and only make them 3.3? these are int he middle of a shopping center parking lot, you cant tell me they couldnt access a larger circuit. were 3.3 chargers much cheaper than 6.6 chargers 3 years ago when they installed these?

its strange because i have plugged into a few other L2 chargers and none of them charged this fast either. and some of those were at dealers!

As mentioned already, melting handles are the reason. But rather than replace the handles, Blink decided to just turn down the juice :roll:

I've also noticed that many Blink stations are far less than 6.6 kW. There's one I used to use when I had my Leaf (the Carls Jr. near the Citadel shopping mall off I-5) that I don't think even gave me 3.8 kW. It seemed to charge at an even slower rate than my 20 amp L2 at home.

A big issue is that at commercial installations, the electric feed is often 208 volt 3 phase, and not 240 volt. Lower voltage at the same amperage means lower wattage. That's why you're often seeing slower charging rates when using public stations.

 

[jjeff]

Sounds like you have a 6.6kwh charger? Assuming both charging stations were a full 6.6kwh my only explanation

It is kW, NOT kWh.

kW and kWh are very different metrics. It's the same as confusing gallons with horsepower. Think of kW = horsepower, kWh = gallons.

(BTW, 1 hp = ~0.746 kW. And, many .gov sites says 1 gallon of gasoline=33.7 kWh.)

I corrected my original post now
I also forgot about Leafspy for reading the charging amperage but I have seen that display, I just wish LeafSpy would also display charging voltage. As has been noted the difference between 208v(3 phase commercial power oftentimes below 200v under full load) and 240v(residential household voltage) can be more than 15% which correlates either a 15% increase or decrease in the amount of time required to charge. Note(at least in my area and I'd assume most others) basically all commercial power is 208v, 240v is really only used in residential power or maybe a very small business without 3 phase equipment. Even businesses with 480/277v power use 208/120v transformers for lower voltage devices, again in my experience.

 

[Parts007]

You can see charging current with LeafSpy.

I have the Leaf Spy Pro, and I must admit I don't totally understand it yet. I will have to figure out the charging current. I might have been looking for amps, not kW. With my local town charger, I gain 27% an hour for my 2016 SL with 30kWh battery

 

[Stanton]

With my local town charger, I gain 27% an hour for my 2016 SL with 30kWh battery

Better watch out: now you're going to get sensored for calling it a "charger" instead of an "EVSE"! :shock:

 

[GetOffYourGas]

You can see charging current with LeafSpy.

I have the Leaf Spy Pro, and I must admit I don't totally understand it yet. I will have to figure out the charging current. I might have been looking for amps, not kW. With my local town charger, I gain 27% an hour for my 2016 SL with 30kWh battery

That rate seems high to me. Assuming the on-board charger is 6.0kW output, 27% / hour implies 22.2kWh usable. Is the 2016 SL charger actually more than 6.0kW? What does it pull on the input? According to NissanUSA.com, it is still a 6.6kW (input) charger.