Any info on these chargers?

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Paul9
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Any info on these chargers?

Post by Paul9 »

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 PFC 2000w.

Thanks in advance
Paul
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jonescg
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Re: Any info on these chargers?

Post by jonescg »

I think they are okay - we had a few of them where I used to work, but they look an awful lot like a KingPan charger. Not weather or vibration proof, but should do the job.
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Re: Any info on these chargers?

Post by Paul9 »

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
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EV2Go
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Re: Any info on these chargers?

Post by EV2Go »

Looking at the voltage and amps they seem to fall well short of 2000w.
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Re: Any info on these chargers?

Post by Paul9 »

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
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EV2Go
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Re: Any info on these chargers?

Post by EV2Go »

Yes with the nominal being 144v that's only 1440w at 10A. With 2400w being available from a 10A line, there is no reason for it to be below 2000w if it is what it says it is. I have the TC Charger here (yet to be used) but it looks rugged and well made. I don't think I would baulk at buying another one from them.
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Re: Any info on these chargers?

Post by EV2Go »

BTW I got mine directly from Nancy in China and might be cheaper than buying from a U.S. store.
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Re: Any info on these chargers?

Post by Paul9 »

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 have just received the two new TC Chargers I ordered last month. I bought two 3.3kw chargers.

First problem is that the connectors are 4 pin, pin and socket connectors. The female connectors do not fit snugly onto the male connector - they wobble!
Secondly the female lugs that go into the female connector don't stay in. If you turn the female connector upside down the lugs (and any wire attached to them) fall out of the connector. These lugs are also very thin. Less than 2mm in diameter. Don't drop them on the garage floor as, if your garage looks like mine, you will never find them. And TC only give you 8 pins in total - no spares.
Thirdly, neither the female connectors nor the lugs that go in them are available in Australia. I have tried some online stores suggested to me by "Coulomb" and they have advised they do not have them.
Fourthly the User Manual is less than clear in regard to which hole in the female connector receives which wire. Emails with "Coulomb" and a number of emails to TC in China have, I think, cleared this up.
As a result of the above I managed to blow one of the connectors up (the DC OUT connector). A loud bang accompanied by a large shower of sparks and melted lugs was the result. Despite being very careful that the right wire went in the right hole, I may have stuffed up my connecting somewhere, so I am not laying all the blame necessarily on the charger. End result is one stuffed $1,000AU charger.
I have been told persistence is a virtue so today I got out the other new charger and wired it up without the female connectors and insulated the living daylights out of all the wires. I powered the charger up and it just sat there. The fan didn't spin and no LED lights. But I had achieved something - no explosion! About the same reaction as if I had wired up a house brick.

The old PFC TC Chargers using IEC connectors were just plug and play. The only other thing I have noticed is that the new 3.3kw TC chargers from the USA (based only on photos on their websites) already appear to have wired up the connectors for you and have the wires running out of the connectors so you only have to connect the wires.

I certainly would be interested in how your TC Charger goes when you wire it up and any suggestions you may have in regard to my issues above.

Thanks
Paul
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Re: Any info on these chargers?

Post by antiscab »

Thanks for the heads up

I have a new 3.3kW tc charger that I have yet to use. On mine the 4pin connectors lock in place. If they end up loose I'll probably swap the connectors out with something else. The hold the connectors occupy is a standard size, replacements can be bought off aliexpress
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Re: Any info on these chargers?

Post by Paul9 »

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
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Re: Any info on these chargers?

Post by CZal »

Hi Paul9,

I agree with JonesCG in that it looks very much like a KingPan. (So much so that I'd have to expect that it is one...)
I've had 2 x Kingpan 2000W chargers (144v nominal 10A output like you describe).
Th 2Kw is a max rating.
LiFePo4 144V nominal is a bit over 162.5V charging (45 x 3.6V)
With 90% efficiency the number is about right for a 2kW charger.

Worked ok but I found that they put a ripple through the battery load while charging.
I only noticed it while running my 50Hz test wand (not a CRO or anything similar just a standard $50 wand that you use to find AC behind plasterboard, it beeps and flashes when near AC). I just happened to have a new wand and was running it along the AC input side of the car and noticed the anomaly.
Wasn't sure if it was just being sensitive. The charger is positioned in the back, next to the rear battery pack, so I checked along the front pack and the wand lit up there as well.

The KingPan charger died not long after that and I thought it was related, but when I replaced the charger, I checked again and the wand still lit up front and back when charging.

Not sure how bad a DC ripple is for the pack but it didn't inspire confidence!
Figured I'd share my experience.

C.
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Re: Any info on these chargers?

Post by Paul9 »

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 10amp circuits and hook both up for 16amp circuits. The actual figures for what they are supplying are 138.7v x 12amp = 1664.4 watts DC plus 10% for losses = 1831watts AC for a 2kw charger..

I will refrain from ordering the second one until I have thoroughly tested the first one!

Thanks again,
Paul
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Re: Any info on these chargers?

Post by Paul9 »

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. Even though my crimping of wires to lugs was fine, he always likes to solder things, so he rewired all wires with solder.

We then connected up the AC IN as per our understanding of the manual, the DC Out as advised by TC in China and connected the 12v+ to the enable line as I don't use CAN. He then put a multimeter on the DC out and absolutely no reading. The fan didn't spin and no LED lights showing error messages.

If anyone successfully wires up their new charger I would be extremely interested in how they wired it up!!!

Thanks
Paul
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Re: Any info on these chargers?

Post by jonescg »

I think they need to detect a minimum voltage before the charger will provide power...
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Paul9
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Re: Any info on these chargers?

Post by Paul9 »

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 battery pack connected they still used to give me an error message (LED lights) which signified no battery attached. This charger has given me no LED lights at all.

Thanks
Paul
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