Remember that an EVSE has a relay interrupting the 240V supply. As I related before, any wire that is damaged or improperly tightened can burn, even if not overloaded for the spec of the wire. If the EVSE is not frequently used, there is the risk of corrosion of the relay contacts, adding to the resistance and easily causing overheating of the relay or even starting a fire. I used an outdoor outlet (which was under a massive 8 ft overhang of roof on a patio and inside a weather-protecting cover, so it was never seeing rain) and the outlet was a 20A GFCI protected dual outlet, accepting both NEMA 5-15 and 5-20 plugs. I charged there for months until one day the outlet burned its GFCI contacts open (the GFCI never triggered, it simply overheated and failed) so I replaced it with another (brand new) 20A GFCI outlet and never had any problems. I disected the old outlet and could not find *why* it had failed, so my conclusion was that it was likely the contact resistance of the GFCI relay. The new outlet I exercised the contacts regularly by first unplugging and then pushing the TEST button to turn the outlet off and pushing the RESET button before I plugged in again.
-----Original Message----- From: David Kerzel [mailto:a...@bellsouth.net] Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2017 3:03 PM To: Cor van de Water; 'Electric Vehicle Discussion List' Subject: RE: [EVDL] ? Is this really a Smart Fortwo ED EV that burnt to acrisp ? In your example the EVSE is set for 40 amps providing 32 Amps via the PILOT signal but powered by 30 Amp circuit. If the car could use 32 amps the 30 amp breaker even with tolerance should trip in about an hour. Can the car in question charge at 32 Amps? I am still confused by how the EVSE even if it was defective or overloaded in some way caused the car to burn. The car should only accept the maximum amount of power the on board charger is rated for and that has nothing to do with the EVSE. I suspect the burning car burned the EVSE. I find it hard to believe a listed EVSE mounted on a wall would burn with enough intensity to set a vehicle on fire. David Kerzel -----Original Message----- From: EV [mailto:ev-boun...@lists.evdl.org] On Behalf Of Cor van de Water via EV Sent: Monday, July 10, 2017 7:44 PM To: Electric Vehicle Discussion List Subject: Re: [EVDL] ? Is this really a Smart Fortwo ED EV that burnt to acrisp ? Not true, the EVSE is supposed to limit the charging current to what is safe to draw from the electrical connection. For example, a 240V 30A circuit must be protected by the EVSE telling the car that it can only draw 24A (80% of 30A) continuous. The EVSE needs to select the proper duty cycle of the pilot signal to convey this to the EV. If a 30A circuit is attached to an EVSE that expects a 40A circuit, it will tell the EV to draw up to 32A, overloading the circuit. Besides a mis-match like that (which I have once encountered myself) there are other concerns, such as a worn, damaged or corroded contact in the charging plug, either of the EVSE or the car. And then there is the ever-present danger of a failing wire in the cord. This is not exclusively a problem from EV and EVSE, as my colleague had a small fire in his house this last winter due to the wire at the back of the wall plug starting to break internally and the remaining strands overheated to the point of setting the cord on fire. I have had similar experience with an outlet in a previous home, where the wire coming out of the wall probably was nicked before being attached, so after successfully washing loads of laundry for years (water was heated electrically so the washer drew about 12 Amps continuously for an hour or so during a hot wash cycle) suddenly one day the bathroom filled with smoke and the wire inside the outlet burned clean through. There had been no movement of that wire, so no gradual breakage - this was purely a resistive heating induced failure. Besides the EVSE itself, the circuit it is fed with and the charging plug contacts, also the circuitry inside the car (AC powered HV battery charger) can fail, for example an improperly tightened wire or a loss of water cooling overheating the charger, which subsequently fails and burns... So many different ways to let the magic smoke out... Cor. -----Original Message----- From: EV [mailto:ev-boun...@lists.evdl.org] On Behalf Of David Kerzel via EV Sent: Monday, July 10, 2017 12:36 PM To: 'brucedp5'; 'Electric Vehicle Discussion List' Subject: Re: [EVDL] ? Is this really a Smart Fortwo ED EV that burnt to acrisp ? What does the EVSE have to do with this? The car makes the decisions. The EVSE is just a super safe power cord. David Kerzel -----Original Message----- From: EV [mailto:ev-boun...@lists.evdl.org] On Behalf Of brucedp5 via EV Sent: Monday, July 10, 2017 4:56 AM To: ev@lists.evdl.org Subject: [EVDL] ? Is this really a Smart Fortwo ED EV that burnt to a crisp ? % First look at: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EV-fire-Fau lty- wall-mounted-EVSE-completely-burns-Smart42ED-EV-uk-td4687296.html EV-fire: Faulty wall-mounted EVSE completely burns (?Smart42ED?) EV.uk Electric car gutted by flames after it set fire while charging An electric car was left completely burnt out after it set on fire while charging. The vehicle was destroyed and a nearby building was damaged by smoke in the ... then at the end I placed some image links of Smart EV frames without their body. The EV's body was not metal and completely bunt away. Only the metal frame was left, including the metal frame for the doors. Compare, and decide. Was this EV really a Smart? Or was it something else. http://evdl.org/evln/ For all EVLN EV-newswire posts {brucedp.neocities.org} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/Is-this-rea lly- a-Smart-Fortwo-ED-EV-that-burnt-to-a-crisp-tp4687297.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 Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
