AEVA Forums

Just a bit of a warning. About 3 years ago I purchased a flexible panel to put on the top of my EV to keep the aux battery topped up. Saves me having to use the DC-DC converter. The panel conked out after about 2 and a half years. When I purchased the panel I also researched methods of attaching it ...

Thanks Richo,

Richo wrote: ↑

Wed, 18 Jul 2018, 12:21

As a reconfirmation it is the panel you could measure with a DMM the PV output before charging then after the 20min when panel cuts out.

Yep Richo it was the panel.

I better start hunting around for a new one.

Thanks
Paul

Hi people, My investigations were somewhat interrupted by the flu so I didn't want to visit anyone and pass the flu along. Got to the solar shop today and they basically did the same checks I had already done. We opened the junction box at the base of the panel but couldn't see anything physically w...

Thanks Richo, I managed to check on the wiring yesterday. My multimeter showed that the controller's display was accurate. I then stripped some of the insulation off the two wires where they come out of the panel which eliminated, as possibilities, voltage drop or some sort of hot spot along the len...

Thanks Richo and Coulomb 1. Did it ever work? I think it did a year or two ago. The previous controller didn't give me an instantaneous figure for current charge or pv voltage. I replaced it because I assumed it must have become faulty at some stage. It wasn't until I recently bought a new controlle...

Thanks Richo, Can you actually charge your aux battery to 14V by any other method eg lab power supply? I have a 12v charger which charges the battery up to 13.5v at a rate of 1.7 amps. The battery then sits at 13.4v until I use the car again. The controller will go into what the manual calls "Bulk C...

Thanks coulomb, Is it 4 LiFePO₄ cells? Or some other lithium chemistry? The battery is marked as a Fusion Lithium battery V-LFP-12-26Ah so I assume it is LiFePo. How are you measuring the charge current? It sounds to me like a voltage drop issue. What wire do you have from the charger to the battery...

Hi people, I am having a bit of trouble charging my lithium auxiliary battery the way I think it should be charging. The system I have set up is that I have a 12v 90 watt flexible solar panel on the roof of my car. I also have the DC-DC 96v converter which has an on-off switch on the dash board. Bot...

I was just wondering if anyone who attended the NRMA meeting could post a summary/report/opinion on how the meeting went? I really wanted to go to the meeting but a last minute health issue prevented me from going.

Thanks in advance,
Paul

Just in regard to TC Chargers. My last upgrade included adding two new TC chargers. They have a new model available which is roughly half the weight and size of the old models. I bought two to fit to my car. The first problem was that the chargers have very small pin and socket fittings and the manu...

I read that report yesterday with the hope of finding out where they intended the charging stations to be located. No luck there. Am I correct in assuming that they haven't published the whereabouts of each station yet? If they haven't, are they "collecting" opinions or have they decided locations b...

Yep acceleration improved noticeably with lithiums vs lead acids. Just the weight reduction helped! Lead acids weighed about 265kgs whereas the same voltage for lithiums was just over 100kgs. Losing 160kgs of weight helped performance in every area.

Cheers

My gut feel about a 48v system is that acceleration may not be slow but embarrassingly slow. I finished my conversion in 2010 with a 96v motor and controller with 8 x 12v SLA batteries in a 1993 Suzuki Swift. Battery weight was about 260kgs. One of my regular trips was to the golf course 10km away a...

In my off grid place west of Sydney I use a Plasmatronics PL30 Regulator to control my battery bank. I am aware that this regulator is capable of charging a second battery bank or turning on lights or running irrigation pumps etc etc depending on criteria the user sets in the regulator. And the crit...

Yep Chris I had noted that with previous chargers and had tried it with this charger before I took it to my brothers place. I tested with a multimeter hooked up and got no DC output then tried it hooked up to my battery bank and still no response. But from memory with previous chargers, if I had no ...

Thought I would update my progress in case it can be of benefit to anyone. I have ordered a 2kw KPES charger and am expecting delivery soon. In the meantime I took my "good" TC Charger ("good" as in not the one I blew up) over to my electrician brother's place to check my wiring and test the charger...

Thanks CZal, I have ordered one of these and will see how it goes. My "wish list" is to have two chargers to cover both 10amp circuits and 16amp circuits. I was going to buy a 2kw charger and a 3.3kw charger but have realised that two 2kw chargers would do the same job (I think)?) I hook one up for ...

Thanks antiscab,

Mine "sort of" locks in but once "locked" in they still wobble a bit. I would still be very interested in how your charger performs.
Cheers
Paul

Hi Rob,

I am going by memory when I say it is a 400watt turbine. Next time I am up there I will hunt around for the manual and check.

Cheers
Paul

Thanks EV2Go, I am a bit confused at your calculation of 144v x 10amps = 1440watts. The max voltage from the 144v charger is 176v which, times 10amps, equals 1760watts? Still well short of 2kw but better than 1440w or am I missing something? The reason I am asking about the KPES charger is because I...

Thanks EV2Go

I assume you mean that the max voltage for the 144v nominal charger being 176v and the amps being 10amps means the max draw/power would be 1760watts?

Thanks
Paul

I have a weekender in the mountains west of Sydney which is totally off-grid. 0.5kw of solar panels and an Ampair 400w wind turbine. My experience with the turbine appears to be similar to Rob's above comments. My turbine never produces any where near the power that the solar panels do. For starters...

Thanks jonescg

I had queried them but had no reply for a while which prompted my query here.

They advised (eventually) that these chargers do have thermal cutoff and reverse polarity protection.

Thanks for your advice,
Paul

Just wondering if anyone knows much or has had experience with, the following chargers: http://evcomponents.com/kpes-k2000w-charger.html I noted no mention about things like thermal cut off protection or reverse polarity protection? They are $299US versus the $500 to $700US for the Elcon TC Charger ...

The issues around public charging spots was discussed here in the following thread.

viewtopic.php?title=improving-ev-charge-spots&t=4549

Hope it helps.
Cheers
Paul