Max amps at 120 volts?

[maxward]

Hello. I’m two weeks into ownership of a 2019 SE. The level 1 charger will have to do for awhile since electricians are booked around here for months. I’m considering getting a Clipper Creek ACS-20 to charge a bit faster and especially because it has a longer cord. I asked about how this might effect charge times and got this response:

I cannot guarantee that this unit would charge the vehicle any faster as many vehicles are limited to 12A charging when using 120V power.

I searched the site for information about this and found one post that gives me hope, but can anyone verify that the onboard charger will accept 16 amps at 120 volts? Thanks.

 

[f1geek]

If you are going to pay an electrician, why not just have her install a 240 V circuit?

As far as 16 amps at 120V, I believe the e-Golf will take it since this is the J1772 standard, but why not ask Clipper Creek if it works? Do you like in CA and are able to drive to Auburn and test it in person?

 

[maxward]

Thanks, f1geek. I did ask Clipper Creek and that was her response in my original post. I do plan to pay an electrician for a 240 volt circuit, but as I said, they are all pretty booked here in Salem, Oregon. So my idea of getting their 16 amp, 120 volt unit would be a stopgap measure.

 

[f1geek]

Ok. Maybe try to find a L1 16 amp station in your local area to test?

 

[maxward]

Okay, I’ll look into local charging stations. In the meantime, I rephrased my question to Clipper Creek to see if they have a definite answer.

 

[maxward]

My second response from Clipper Creek was that they had no specific data about the 2019 e-Golf. My local VW dealer, somewhat surprisingly, given their sluggish response to a request to schedule a test drive of an e-Golf, responded to my email within an hour. They said that it will accept up to 16 amps at 120 volts.

 

[f1geek]

Great to hear the dealer said the e-Golf can accept 16 amps at 120 V. I was looking at my car's on board charger live data the other day, using OBDEleven, and saw that when charging at 30 amps at 240 V, about 15 amps was being delivered on the L1 line and 15 amps on the L2 line. So it makes sense the car can take 16 amps or at least very close to it (15 amps?) at 120V.

 

[mccdeuce]

I am relatively new to the world of EV so take with a grain of salt.

I have 200 amp service but my entire panel is taken dedicated to HVAC and kitchen basically.

I purchased a Neo Smart switcher and am using my dryer plug to work 240 charging. No electrician required. (not only are they booked, but they want a lot of money because they are all booked)

 

[f1geek]

Yes, smart move getting the Neocharge. I am planning to get one myself one of these days...when my wife ditches the ICE car for a BEV. FYI, even if your panel is full, chances are you are not using the entire ampacity of the 200 amp service. You can replace full size breakers with mini breakers for 120V circuits and fit more circuits in the panel, once you've done the load calculation to verify. My 200 amp main panel and 100 amp sub panel are also full, but I am only using about 60% of the total ampacity available.

 

[mccdeuce]

unfortunately my house has everything electric with a large HVAC system. so electrician's load calcs were 195 amps. (Mine are slightly lower, but this is one where county permits come into play and my lack of licensing gets trumped, hence the neo switch)

Not all panels can take mini breakers either. I am a 30 slot 200 amp service with one spare breaker. (think its going to go to the wife's heated floor in our bathroom....) but my panel does not allow mini breakers

not sure which charger you have, but with multiple pulsar plus's they have load sharing built in to not have to have the switching device.

 

[f1geek]

Thanks for explanation. I have a Clipper Creek HCS-40 on a 50 amp circuit. While I could replace it with a power sharing EVSE, having the Neocharge would let me pull a total of 54 amps simultaneously (assuming 24 amps pulling off the 30 amp dryer circuit) as opposed to only 40 amps on the single circuit.

 

[DRB]

See my similar post re. L1 charging amps. My new Clipper Creek ACS-25 seems to be charging at something close to 20A on 120V.

 

[miamor]

when charging at 30 amps at 240 V, about 15 amps was being delivered on the L1 line and 15 amps on the L2 line. So it makes sense the car can take 16 amps or at least very close to it (15 amps?) at 120V.

Yes to the making sense part. However, this adding of amps on each line is a common mistake. Ask an electric guy, not me.
But they will tell you that you cannot be adding amperes up like that to get 30A. It doesn't add up. Each line carries the exact same amperage, it's just the current going thru transformer coil into the breaker box. So you might set the car to charge at 30, but in this example, if 15 was in the lines, then the car was only using 15A for some reason. Had it really been pulling 30A, you should see that at the breaker box and in the plug at the car.

 

[f1geek]

The car was using 30 amps, as confirmed by the charge time required. Yes, the current on each hot conductor adds up to the total current the car receives. Thoughts?