Friday, July 17, 2015

EV Charging


To better monitor my EV charging times/electricity consumption, I installed a separate 13amp circuit distribution box in the garage next to the other distribution boxes.
The circuit consists of two (inside) 13amp socket outlets and an external waterproof dual 13amp socket outlet, installed just outside the main door.
All socket outlets are protected by a separate 30ma ERCB (Salvavita) and a 16amp dual MCB. I have also installed a KWH meter to monitor the EV charging requirements and thus be in a better position to calculate the EV running costs.
The EV circuits will be switched OFF when not in use (as indicated by the Orange Neon indicator).

The image below is displaying four of the distribution boxes.
1) Top Left is all dedicated to the house air conditioning circuits.
2) Bottom Left is dedicated to the House 'general' circuits. Main MCB, ERCB, ERCB bypass etc.
3) Top Right is the new distribution box for the EV charging circuits
4) Bottom Right is dedicated to the off-grid Inverter circuit, consisting of a main MCB, ERCB and a KWH meter.




The image below is displaying the EV charging distribution Box. From left to right are the 30ma ERCB, KWH meter and the 16amp MCB. Then there is also a small miniature switch which will be used to illuminate an LED strip outside the house to mark/indicate the cable crossing across the pavement.


The image below is displaying one of the 13amp socket outlets installed inside the garage, clearly indicating that the socket is to be used solely for the EV charging. It is extremely important that the EV sockets are solely used for the EV charging otherwise they will distort the EV charging requirements!

 
 
The image below is displaying the external 13amp socket outlet to be used solely for EV charging


 
 
I dug a culvert right outside my property which will be used to pass the charging cable through. In this way there will be no wires running around on the pavement and therefore less chance of people toppling over it!
I'll place/remove the cable each time I need to charge the EV and therefore the cable is only placed temporarily while the EV is being charged.




 
And here I'm charging the EV at night. Notice how the cable (black) is passing through the culvert.


 
I have also illuminated the culvert (using a water-proof LED strip) to indicate to anyone passing through that the EV is being charged. Although the EV charging socket is illuminated, I decided that I'll better illuminate the area a bit more so people will notice that a socket/cable are coming out from the EV.