Charging, energy use monitoring - moved from New Member Intro

2384 Views 4 Replies 3 Participants Last post by Ayepace, May 15, 2019

Carlotto

Discussion Starter · May 13, 2019

Hi all,
I'm moving this thread from the "New member intro" as it is now a bit off topic there. Recap:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Time2Roll View Post
I would start by getting a clamp on ammeter and measure your actual loads as you live normal. I think you may have more power available than you realize.
You still may want to charge at 240v to keep the load balanced. The charging spec goes down to 6 amps if needed.

Openevse is easily adjusted. https://www.openevse.com/stations.html

Thanks for the tips. I do have a problem that the house main fuse trips now and then. With only 40A = some 8kW practical max, house trips if I put on oven, toaster and air condition at same time. I can simply flip the fuse back again, so no big deal. But you are right - I need to check the amount of amps really used for various things, never thought about the clamp meter - good idea!

The OpenEVSE is interesting, it certainly has what I would want, but I can't find the products in Europe and importing from US is too much hassle, customs, duties, delays. I found one half-DIY in the Netherlands, but that didn't have the full Wifi so I would need to connect a terminal, that is too geeky and messy.

I can probably use any European charger, set to 16A max and 1-phase. Then turn charging off when using more stuff in house. But it doesn't let me tweak to more amps say overnight when house is idle. I might settle for that solution in order to get nice design, wifi etc without any hassle. I prefer this one (from quality and design points):
https://andersen-ev.com/andersen-a2/
It can be set to a number of different steps of charging amps, but only from the manufacturer (messy). Must call them, they access remotely and change. Apparently not available in the app for the user to do himself. Not ideal, but I like the rest. I particularly like that it doesn't look like a snake pit of DIY cables from Radio Shack. There aren't many boxes with nice designs out there.

---------- new bits below --------------

The energy monitoring was a good tip, I have ordered an "emonPi":

https://guide.openenergymonitor.org/setup/
So I can get full stats on what the house is using up and when.

I'm then talking to the manufacturer of "Juicebox":
https://emotorwerks.com/eu/residential/juicebox
That charger has app-settable max current, which means I can squeeze in max charge depending on what the house is using at each time. Some trial and error I guess and if I get it wrong, I need to flip the fuse and try again. I didn't want to go for a 3kW fixed as I might be able to use more overnight. Haven't ordered the charger yet but this one does look promising.

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Ayepace

· #2 · May 13, 2019

Juicebox and its app can do as you want.

I have the Juicebox Pro 40. Initially I plugged it into where my clothes drier plugs in and set the maximum current via app to 25A since the drier circuit breaker is 30A. I increased it to 40A after installing a dedicated outlet with a 50A circuit breaker. The car charging is at a lower rate at the 25A setting than it is at 40A.

You can also set up profiles for different cars or use Juicebox supplied default profiles. Even if you start with the Juicebox profile for the I-pace you can adjust the maximum charging current for it via the app. You could set up multiple profiles for the I-pace with different charging rates. You would only have to change the profile in-use to change the charging rate. It is easy to do in the app.

The car profile can also specify 1-phase or 3-phase, depending on the car's equipment.

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Carlotto

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 14, 2019

Juicebox

Ayepace said:
Juicebox and its app can do as you want.

I have the Juicebox Pro 40. Initially I plugged it into where my clothes drier plugs in and set the maximum current via app to 25A since the drier circuit breaker is 30A. I increased it to 40A after installing a dedicated outlet with a 50A circuit breaker. The car charging is at a lower rate at the 25A setting than it is at 40A.

You can also set up profiles for different cars or use Juicebox supplied default profiles. Even if you start with the Juicebox profile for the I-pace you can adjust the maximum charging current for it via the app. You could set up multiple profiles for the I-pace with different charging rates. You would only have to change the profile in-use to change the charging rate. It is easy to do in the app.

The car profile can also specify 1-phase or 3-phase, depending on the car's equipment.

Thanks - I figured out most of that after talking to their support. The other box I was looking at (Andersen, very sleek thing) can also do it - but not via the app, only via desktop and that is a bit so so. I will go for the Juicebox.

One thing I cannot find out from their documentation (for the record, here: https://docs.juice.net/Residential/us/) is whether their Wifi has got LAN settings so I can give it permanent IP etc. The setup assumes DHCP and that is a minor problem as we have many power cuts in Cyprus. After a power cut, it is likely that the Juicebox comes faster back online than my DHCP server, so unless it's very clever, the JB won't get an IP. Most gadgets don't re-try until they get one. Anyway - minor thing. Worst case I'll have to go outside and reboot it, but there probably is a method to do it.

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Starman67

· #4 · May 14, 2019

Have you looked at Energy Management Systems

DCC Technology DCC9
https://dcc.technology/dcc-9/

when installed it will stop charging if your home usage exceeds a set level that would trip the panel.

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Ayepace

· #5 · May 15, 2019

I lost power and internet for 5.5 hours a couple of weeks ago, and internet only for a few hours overnight a couple of nights ago.

My router assigns IP addresses to my household devices. The router is connected to a UPS to eliminate small power blip problems, and a house generator automatically started up and ran for the duration of the power outage. Neither event caused issues with the JB. I would assume, though I haven't tried, that if the JB has power you can connect to it with your phone, or other device, to control it when it isn't connected to anything else like you do for initial setup.

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