EV Charing Station: Only Charging 3p While Excess Power Only Allows 1p

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vicfanmulti asked Jul 27, '22

EV Charing Station: Only Charging 3p While Excess Power Only Allows 1p

I have the EV Charger Station installed since yesterday. After updating FW on Multiplus GX System (v2.89) and EV Charger (V3.3/1.22) I got a connection and could also start charging.

Issue: Both in manual and auto mode, the charing is always performed on all 3 phases. In auto mode, when their is excess PV power it shows 1p charging very short and then jumps directly to 3p charging, although the excess PV power (about 2000W to grid) is only enough for 1p charging.

What am I doing wrong or can I try to make the device charge only 1p?

Currently the charging starts, draws to much power, battery kicks in, charging stops again. This cycle keeps repeating. This is not the behavior I want.

Thanks.

VicFanMulti

Multiplus-II ev charging station

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Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) answered · Aug 01, 2022 at 08:25 AM

Hi, yes, there is only one 3P contactor inside, so charging single phase can't be selected from the software side. But if charging 3P is not something that you want, why not removing L3 and/or L2 from the charging station, and then, it will charge with lower power?

What's in the pipeline—for the next model or models, we are planning to add a secondary contactor, we are working on scheduled charging, we are working on auto algorithm for off grid and some other cool features.

Lucian

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Answer 1 · 2022-07-27T08:37:03Z

vicfanmulti answered · Jul 27, 2022 at 08:37 AM

Situation before charging starts. Excess power around 3,6kW = 1p 16A

When charing starts, it shows 1p for very short.
But directly changes to 3p charging, while power is larger and drawn from grid.

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Answer 2 · 2022-07-27T08:57:04Z

nhuillard answered · Jul 27, 2022 at 08:57 AM

From what I see inside the EV Charging Station, there is a single relay for all phases. Thus, when charging, all phases open, the car takes all 3 phases, and your system appears to be capable to deliver all 3 phases.

The problem is either:

instead of 16A on every 3 phases, the EVCS should tell the car to draw 1/3rd of it: that maybe a Victron EVCS bug
your PV system delivers 1 phase only, but the EVCS is connected on all 3 phases: it will always draw from the grid on the 2 other phases...

Maybe you could just disconnect 2 phases on the EVCS (or use a 1P cable to the car) and check that the current is still 16A (validating the first option above). This will imbalance your phases though...

I think there are lots of little bugs in the EVCS firmware, which will be solved over time, using input from users.

I own an EVCS since a few months, 1 phase system, limited to 16A as of now, and only use it manually, because the auto mode is not good enough for me.

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Answer 3 · 2022-07-27T10:14:14Z

vicfanmulti answered · Jul 27, 2022 at 10:14 AM

@nhuillard Thanks for your feedback.

Regarding your points:

1. My reference wallbox is a go-e homefix (that I currently use), which has the capability to switch between 1p or 3p on the fly. It also only has a 3 Phase contactor = all 3 phases connected to car or none. So I believe the capability to charge 1p or 3p lies in the communication between EVCS and vehicle.

2. My PV system delivers on 3 phases although these are different AC connected PV inverters. I could disconnect 2 phases, but then I am partly wasting power in case the PV system delivers more than 4,3kW excess power. I want to use it all.

I was especially eager to have a Victron wallbox because:

a) Better documentation of how much of the energy consumed (either grid or PV) was going to the EV. Seems this is currently not implemented.

b) Better regulation of PV excess, since I do not have to pass the info through a third party alternative (e.g. EVCC.io). However, currently the third party alternative works better.

What time frame can I expect from Victron until this is improved? I personally have no info and I am thinking about returning the wallbox in its current state.

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nhuillard commented · Jul 27, 2022 at 11:27 AM

My bet when I ordered my EVCS a few months ago was that whatever its state at the time, software would improve, bugs would be fixed and features would be added in the long run. The hardware will evolve too, but since it matured for a few years before being produced, it may already be more than good enough for my future needs.

I do not use the auto mode, because it does not suit me as of now. I just charge the car during the days it's in the garage, at low enough power to allow the house battery to also charge enough for the next night and day. I noticed that passing clouds will not change the end result (houve battery SoC at the end of the day) as long as the charging current is low enough.

If you return the hardware, you may also have problems in a few months to get a new one, depending on the state of the global economy...

I'd say that the EVCS firmware will be much better at the end of this year:

I noticed wrong power readings
Lucian mentionned off-peak hours charge programming
automatic mode could also work before the house battery is 100%, like off-grid auto mode

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vicfanmulti nhuillard commented · Jul 27, 2022 at 12:16 PM

Okay. Got your points. For me, Auto Mode is the selling criteria. But expectations are different.

I wanted to return the HW, since I have another none Victron solution. But you are right, if at some time in the future the software evolves into what we expect, I might not be able to order the HW again or have long delivery times.

My remark is: I have highlighted this issue here with you in the forum. I am very thankful for the discussion. But you are not a Victron representative. Many of the forum entries are unanswered, so what needs to happen, that a representative from Victron actually jumps on my questions. I am happy to support with what I can test from here, but currently your conclusion is:

It is what it is = has a some bugs, but based on experience it should be better by the end of the year.

Until then, I have to keep two wallboxes (one that actually supports auto charging, but is not included in the Victron environment) and one that will be one day (but costs around 1200 Euros, which is double of what the other wallbox costs) and I cannot use it as intended until that currently unknown date of SW fixes.

How do we get into contact with Victron officials? Or is this even possible via this site?

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nhuillard vicfanmulti commented · Jul 28, 2022 at 07:50 AM

As I understand it, you don't get in contact with Victron officials here: they answer your questions when they see fit. They won't answer questions about timing and future plans and releases.

@Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) answered many questions about the EVCS here, but didn't yet on my latest one. He/they may also need holidays, or time to work on the products, in order to answer via actual code instead of forum posts ;-)

The automatic mode was also a selling point for me. My alternative being a simple wall socket, the EVCS as it is now is better anyway, and I know it will improve, justifying its cost.

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Answer 4 · 2022-11-23T13:15:10Z

lucca371 answered · Nov 23, 2022 at 01:15 PM

@Lucian Popescu (Victron Energy Staff) how can i add add a secondary contactor to switch between 1p or 3p. A free connection is provided at the pcb. The other one is used for the main contactor. We talked in VRM Walkthrough about this feature.

thx.

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Answer 5 · 2023-09-15T14:40:24Z

iron-m answered · Sep 15, 2023 at 02:40 PM

I am very disappointed at the moment. I also went for the Victron solution because of the integration to all my other victor stuff, but that it cannot switch to 1P is a stupid no go. We loose so much PV charging capacity by this I can't believe that Victron is building something like this

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