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etedverhard avatar image
etedverhard asked

EV Charger with Victron ESS wrong values

I have installed the Victron EV charger and connected it to my system.

Unfortunatelly I'm not happy about the shown values, because I don't understand them:



The charger is loading with 8kW -> that's ok

But the loads at the MPII shows just 4896W

There's no PV device connected directly to the charger.

The charger has the latest Firmware 1.25

Did I do something wrong?

Thank you all very much


Update 01-07-2023: I did the complete Firmware-Update of all devices, but there is no change:
1688194616935.png

I guess, that the charger reduces the load or switch off, if there is not enough power, but unfortunately it seems not to be live.

So it could be, that my car is fully loaded (let's say it needs 10kWh) and Victron says, that it has been loaded with 18kWh.

Right?

If yes -> that should be an urgend change at Victron! :-)

ev charging station
1688194616935.png (70.7 KiB)
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Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented ·
Vehicle model and charging current?
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etedverhard avatar image
etedverhard answered ·

Hi.
I have a Renault Twingo. Load up to 32A

Renault has the Chameleon-charger up to 22kW!

But it doesn't matter which ampere I have.

My problem is, that I have critical load (where the charger is connected) of 1830W and the charger says, that he uses 6019W. He's also counting with the 6019W!

Unfortunately I can't look at the car, what value it is loading. Renault doesn't have that.

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Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented ·
The charger is the same as Zoe, minimum current should be 10A
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etedverhard avatar image etedverhard Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented ·
Hi.

Sorry, that's not correct. The standard say here, that min. is 6A.

With another wallbox I can load with 6A (3ph)

Also if I select 6A at the EVcharger, the value is correct, but only the value of the charger-display.

The problem is the critical load value where the charger is connected! This is not logical!!

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Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ etedverhard commented ·
I'm not sure if I understand your issue. Looking at the picture above, what you are trying to tell me is that the EVCS consumption is not displayed as critical load also?
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etedverhard avatar image etedverhard Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented ·
Dear Lucian,

thank you for your support. :-)

Ok, one more try:
Everythings fine, if I choose manual charge.
The problem is at auto charge. No problem at status "waiting for sun", because nothing happens then. But if there is sun, but no capacity for the EV, because of other consumers in the house, the charger doesn't send any load to the car, but status is connected and load (most times about 6kW).
The problem now is, that the counter seems not to know, that there is no load send! It shows 6kW and count up!

The EV charger is connected to the critical load and if the car is charging, you can see the power there.

As shown in the picture, the load is about 2kW, but the charger shows 6kW, charging!

I hope you understand my problem now! :-)

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Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ etedverhard commented ·
Sorry, I still don't understand.

Do you have an issue with the VRM dashboard?

Do you see the same issue on the EVCS webpage?

Please share a video, maybe it will become clearer.

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diet avatar image
diet answered ·

i think i have the same problem.

values are not correct not in the VRM and also not on the charger.

the value stays at 4,3kw, also when he is charging with a smaller value

when he is charging with more than 4,3kw everything is working fine.img-2039.jpg

img-2040.jpg



img-2039.jpg (6.7 MiB)
img-2040.jpg (2.6 MiB)
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Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented ·
Hi, what is the vehicle model that you are charging in this example?
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diet avatar image
diet answered ·

this example a renault zoe, but with a bmw ix its the same.

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Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented ·
Zoe is not charging with less than 10A. I don't think is the same with the BMW, can you double-check?
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diet avatar image
diet answered ·

im 100% shure, that my zoe ( its an older 2015 ) can charge with 6 amps or less.

when this happend i used mij Fluke amp clamp to verify an it was charging with 2kw like you can see on the photo.

if you need, want photo from that let me know.

with an other charger i can go ass low as 1,4kw single phase charging with my zoe. ( let me know if you want proof )

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Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented ·

Less than 6A is the minimum that charging protocol can handle.

Then, 6A/phase, should be ~3.6kW, not 2. But because on Zoe they are using the motor as an inductor (that's why you can hear that high pitch noise during charging), and because they are charging in pulses, depending on the measurement tool, the measurement will be more or less precise. EVCS is measuring the highest current per pulse. Other tools are doing an average. If you go higher than 9A, measurements should be fine.


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diet avatar image
diet answered ·

but still the issue stays,

i`m off-grid,

power out off the battery 1,85kw and solar 0,35kw = total 2,2kw

ac loads shows 2,9kw eves shows 4,39kw.

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Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented ·
are you charging single or 3 ph? What is the charging current?
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diet avatar image
diet answered ·

3 phase, its set on 6 amps, showing 6 amps in the evcs, showing 4,36kw

but there is only going around 2kw in the car at that time.

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Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented ·

As I told you, minimum current should be 10A for ZOE, it is not correctly charging below that value. That's not something we can fix, it is because of the car.

6A are not stipulated on the datasheet of the vehicle, it is starting at 10A:
1698394982291.png

Another link:

https://my.sma-service.com/s/article/EV-Charger-minimum-charge-current?language=en_US

And we have that info specified on the settings page of the EVCS:
1698395117027.png


Here is a link where the efficiency was tested for charging the ZOE. As you can see, at 10A single phase is very bad. And they are not even trying below 10A
https://canze.fisch.lu/2020/07/07/charger-efficiency/

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