Originally Coulomb (an EVSE and EVSE network company) offered a combination of level-2 6kW (via a j1772 coupler) and level-1 1.3kW (via a 5-20 outlet behind a cover-door) access. The Coulomb sales team sold these like crazy, so they are installed at many public EVSE locations.
Well, today, Coulomb does not sell that model, and have moved on to what drivers use: j1772 couplers. At all the sites I have seen that have these CT-2100 EVSE, I have not seen an EV that can only charge off L1 (conversions, nEVs, ecycles, ebikes, etc.) use the L1 outlet. One of the reasons may be that EVSE use-demand is coming from the production plugins. Another reason may be that Coulomb's EVSE host software can not differentiate between the L2 & L1 ports on the same EVSE when it comes to the host setting the cost of use. That is if the cost of using the L2 6kW J1772 coupler was set to $1/hr, the use of the L1 1.3kW 5-20 outlet on the same combo CT-2100 EVSE would also be $1/hr. That's quite a gyp / rip-off for the driver using the lower powered L1. So many times have I seen drivers fighting over the one j1772 coupler the CT-2100 EVSE offers yet it is installed to service two EV spots. This not only causes tension between drivers, but also causes drivers to park in one of the EV spots unplugged (whether they are waiting for their turn at the j1772 or their plugin was unplugged to charge the other plugin and was not moved). It seems with drivers not using the L1 has caused issues. My thinking is these issues would be resolved 'if' the L1 was upgraded to be a L2 3kW source. Since the majority of production plugins today have a half-powered 3kW on-board charger (lower-cost EVs and plug-in-hybrids) changing the L1 to a L2 3kW source would service more plugins at a minimal CT-2100 retrofit cost. The retrofit would consist of replacing the 5-20 outlet in the CT-2100 with a 6-20 (straight-blade) outlet, rewiring it to the 208 to 240VAC source with a 20A breaker, and some rework of the CT-2100 circuitry (the current sensing, etc.). After the retrofit, the 6-20 outlet would be a true L2 3kW source that many plugins would be more-happy to pay the use-fee to plug-in. So, no re-work of the Coulomb software would be needed (it should be transparent to it). So, who could use that L2 3kW outlet? Many of the plugins sold in the U.S. come with a L1 EVSE that is carried on board. Those would most likely not work on the 6-20 outlet. Many already know of evseupgrade.com which offers a lower-cost solution to convert a L1 to a dual voltage (L2 3kW & L1) EVSE. But there are some cheap / less-expensive portable EVSE that could be bought that would provide 3kW charging (matching the plugin's on-board charger). At $400 the LCS-20 L2 3kW portable EVSE http://www.clippercreek.com/blog/clippercreek-launches-a-395-level-2-ev-charging-station/ is a much sweeter deal than the $600 AV 3kW TurboCord http://www.homedepot.com/p/AeroVironment-TurboCord-240-Volt-16-Amp-Plug-In-EV-Charger-Charging-Station-23075-020/205430044 I had sent a letter out to an EVSE company suggesting the the above, and their response was they would forward the idea on for their development team to see if it would work for them / be a business opportunity. But this idea could be a business opportunity for a hungry start-up that is interested in this retrofit work. Note that the retrofit work of replacing all the existing L2 6kW Avcon EVSE in CA was funded by a CA grant. Perhaps a grant could fund this retrofit work. I see this idea as a 4x win: -there would be additional plugin business with the retrofits, and the selling of portable 3kW EVSE -Coulomb would see a longer use-life of their already sold CT-2100 product (more networking revenues) -hosts get more utilization out the CT-2100 EVSE that they already have -drivers would now have access to an additional 3kW L2 source Comments & corrections requested. For all EVLN posts use: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/template/NamlServlet.jtp?macro=search_page&node=413529&query=evln&sort=date {brucedp.150m.com} ... http://www.advancedenergy.org/portal/evse/details.php?id=16&squery=!chargingopts[]=Level+2!mounting=Wall!ulcertified= [image http://www.advancedenergy.org/portal/evse/img/evse/coulomb/coulomb_photo1.jpg CT210x models ] ... http://www.repeater-builder.com/test-equipment/wavetek/pdf/ct2100-svc-man.pdf ... https://www.chargepoint.com/files/CT2100-Installation-Guide75-001020-01Rev4.0.pdf -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVangel-about-retrofit-CT-2100-EVSE-to-have-L2-6kW-3kW-access-tp4671320.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ 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)
