On 6/15/2013 12:12 PM, Christopher Meier wrote:
Lee, perhaps you can comment on the in-panel surge protectors; if the Manzanita charger has none, would you recommend adding one to the panel or charger circuit? Even if the charger has one, adding one to the circuit or panel may give added protection for the charger (and EV) from a lightening strike?
You can certainly add things like GFCIs and surge protectors yourself. They will protect other equipment downstream from them, whether or not that equipment has any protection of its own.
GFCI's are mass produced by the millions. The cheap ones are often just barely adequate to work. They are OK in a kitchen or bathroom where the loads are light, and they almost never have to break the circuit. But I've seen these used in EV chargers, where they often fail. The EV charger runs the GFCI at high current (often barely short of what the circuit can deliver). It runs hot (because it's inside a hot charger). It tends to switch off more often (due to dirty batteries with lots of ground leakage).
But there are "industrial strength" ones that cost more but are built better. You can get ones that go in the main panel, in place of a normal circuit breaker. They may hold up better with an EV charger on that circuit.
A similar situation exists for surge protectors. Lots of cheap outlet strips brag about having "surge protection". If you look inside, there is a tiny 10 cent surge limiter about the size of a dime. They can absorb the energy of a small surge, but if a big one comes along they just go "bang" and no longer work.
Much bigger ones are needed for serious protection. The amount of energy they can absorb is proportional to their size; so bigger is better. Your main panel is a good place to put them, because in all likelihood the surge is going to come in from the grid.
-- Anyone can make the simple complicated. Creativity is making the complicated simple. -- Charles Mingus -- Lee A. Hart, http://www.sunrise-ev.com/LeesEVs.htm _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
