Charging Fun

[insightman]

I think the owner's manual reference to 16 amps is specifically about the level 2 cable that used to be supplied with the car.

Has anyone on this forum received the mythical Level 2 turbo-cord with their MINI Cooper SE? Does it come only with SEs sold on the eastern side of the Atlantic? I've never seen a photo of one in any of the more than 100 international reviews of the SE I've read.

 

[insightman]

Fun observation from my little corner of fun: No matter what 'maximum amperage' setting I choose in the car (low, reduced, or max), it always charges at the full 32A that my EVSE allows... so... that could be awkward if my wiring wasn't prepared

Did your SE come from the dealer already set to charge at the full 7.4 kW? Most people have to change the setting to Maximum after they get their cars.

 

[Tommy Electric]

Has anyone on this forum received the mythical Level 2 turbo-cord with their MINI Cooper SE? Does it come only with SEs sold on the eastern side of the Atlantic? I've never seen a photo of one in any of the more than 100 international reviews of the SE I've read.

Not that this will help you, but I can confirm that the Level 2 charging cord is NOT included with the car in Australia. Only the home charging cable is included. My dealer is getting a Level 2 cord for me separately.

 

[Tommy Electric]

This is what they look like:

 

[insightman]

This is what they look like

Clearly, the connector on your MINI is different than the J1772 connector we get in the US. However the cable you showed doesn't seem to be enough--it looks more like an extension cable in that it appears it could plug into itself. What does the other end plug into? Is there a special box between that cable and your electrical service that performs the functions of an EVSE? Does that cable deliver the 7.4 kWh that is the max our SEs can use in the US? Does BMW sell the i3 in Australia?

 

[Toi]

I think you might be selecting from the 120V charging options. I was confused by that at first as well. There are only two options for 240V, Reduced (3kW) and Maximum (7kW)

I will look more closely at the menu, thanks!

 

[Toi]

Did your SE come from the dealer already set to charge at the full 7.4 kW? Most people have to change the setting to Maximum after they get their cars.

My dealer and I set a charging state to max at pickup, I've been playing with the charging mode screen that pops up right after you turn the car off, but perhaps this is the 120V screen that was mentioned... I'll do some research/testing.

 

[Tommy Electric]

Clearly, the connector on your MINI is different than the J1772 connector we get in the US. However the cable you showed doesn't seem to be enough--it looks more like an extension cable in that it appears it could plug into itself. What does the other end plug into? Is there a special box between that cable and your electrical service that performs the functions of an EVSE? Does that cable deliver the 7.4 kWh that is the max our SEs can use in the US? Does BMW sell the i3 in Australia?

This is the cable that connects a Type 2 Universal Mennekes charging station to the EV. It will deliver 7 kwh. BMW does indeed sell the I3 in Australia.

 

[Big Al]

Hi fizzit, where you seeing this option in My Mini? I only have options to change the charge amperage to maximum. Thanks

 

[Puppethead]

This is the cable that connects a Type 2 Universal Mennekes charging station to the EV. It will deliver 7 kwh. BMW does indeed sell the I3 in Australia.

I can see the advantage having a universal cord with a connector on both ends that each vehicle carries, so you plug into the vehicle and the EVSE. In North America our charging stations have fixed cables with the plug on the end, and they're always getting damaged. But I guess the argument is the vehicle doesn't need to carry any equipment for charging.

 

[Tommy Electric]

I can see the advantage having a universal cord with a connector on both ends that each vehicle carries, so you plug into the vehicle and the EVSE. In North America our charging stations have fixed cables with the plug on the end, and they're always getting damaged. But I guess the argument is the vehicle doesn't need to carry any equipment for charging.

Many of our public charging stations also have a fixed cable, but there are a few (my guesstimate: 15-20%) that seem to be "bring your own". Since I'll be charging at work, and the charging station at work doesn't have a fixed cable, I wanted to buy this separately.

 

[fizzit]

Hi fizzit, where you seeing this option in My Mini? I only have options to change the charge amperage to maximum. Thanks

If you go to My Mini -> Settings plan charging stuff, there should be menu options to choose the 120V and 240V charging rates. For some reason when you turn off the car, at least in my case, it just shows you options for 120V charging rate but not 240V.

 

[F14Scott]

Hmm, interesting theory; you may be right. I guess the way to test it would be to charge my SE until it is well on the taper with, say, half an hour until it finishes charging, and then I'll plug in a well-discharged Tesla that would normally pull 48 Amps. If it only pulls 24, then we know.

I tried it, and @GetOffYourGas is correct. My 95% charged mini should have been on the taper and using fewer than 24 Amps (although I am not certain that is true, as I have no way to measure), but when I then commanded my Tesla to charge, it set itself for 24 Amps (down from its nominal 48) and then ramped up immediately to 24 Amps draw.

So, it appears the Tesla Gen 2 HPWCs load share by exactly dividing the available power between themselves, rather than dividing the available Amperage "intelligently." I believe these units can have up to four connected together, so now I'm wondering how that splitting looks. No, I'm not buying any more electric cars for a while...

 

[Norbu72]

Because I know only enough about electricity to be dangerous, I have an EVSE question. Two years ago I bought an Audi A3 eTron plug-in. I also bought a Clipper Creek EVSE because my house had an outlet/fuse already installed in the garage (new house). I went with the Clipper Creek recommendation for the car and got an LCS 20p. When I run the SE through the recommendation program I get a different unit, the HCS 40.

Having read a lot of posts on this forum my question is one of safety. Is the lesser LCS 20 okay to use safely but it just won’t charge as fast as I could with the HCS or is there a potential for overloading the LCS somehow?

Here are the LCS 20 specs:

Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs

 

[Toi]

Because I know only enough about electricity to be dangerous, I have an EVSE question. Two years ago I bought an Audi A3 eTron plug-in. I also bought a Clipper Creek EVSE because my house had an outlet/fuse already installed in the garage (new house). I went with the Clipper Creek recommendation for the car and got an LCS 20p. When I run the SE through the recommendation program I get a different unit, the HCS 40.

Having read a lot of posts on this forum my question is one of safety. Is the lesser LCS 20 okay to use safely but it just won’t charge as fast as I could with the HCS or is there a potential for overloading the LCS somehow?

Here are the LCS 20 specs:

View attachment 9776


Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs

No danger... the evse and your car actually talk to each other as to what is available. The only danger would be using an evse that has greater capacity than the circuit it is connected to and thus tripping a breaker or burning wires if not sized correctly.

 

[F14Scott]

Because I know only enough about electricity to be dangerous, I have an EVSE question. Two years ago I bought an Audi A3 eTron plug-in. I also bought a Clipper Creek EVSE because my house had an outlet/fuse already installed in the garage (new house). I went with the Clipper Creek recommendation for the car and got an LCS 20p. When I run the SE through the recommendation program I get a different unit, the HCS 40.

Having read a lot of posts on this forum my question is one of safety. Is the lesser LCS 20 okay to use safely but it just won’t charge as fast as I could with the HCS or is there a potential for overloading the LCS somehow?

Here are the LCS 20 specs:

View attachment 9776


Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs

Assuming you have it mounted on a properly sized breaker (a 30 Amp, 240 Volt breaker will likely be used for the 14-30 plug that your unit is corded for), your connector will give all it has (16 Amps at 240V) to charge your car and be perfectly safe for your home's wiring. The 16A provided are your unit's design limit, but it should not have any problem delivering those 16A forever without being overloaded. As you stated, a larger connector would charge your car faster, but your 3.8kW will fill up the SE's 30kWh battery from 0 to 100% in under 8 hours, just fine for most people.

 

[GvilleGuy]

As some of you know, I have mentioned that I have never owned an EV and have not yet ordered a Mini. I am ignorant on some of the battery expectations. Someone in another thread mentioned the Mini Enthusiasts group on FB, and I was glancing at some of their threads. One person posted this:

"Ouch...9F and preconditioned for nearly 40 minutes. Still only have 50% power.
Update: Drove 14 miles and only got up to 80% power by the time I got back home. I’m not impressed. My Spark never did this. And yes, the car lives outside."

So...if you are not able to pre-condition the battery long enough in (really) cold weather, does this really mean you are only getting around half the "go power" to the engine until the battery starts to warm up? Seems like a dramatic drop.

 

[Toi]

Mine lives outside, but the lowest it has seen was 28F and I had full power without pre-conditioning... so, to borrow a phrase from my main line of work: cannot repro.

 

[Norbu72]

Assuming you have it mounted on a properly sized breaker (a 30 Amp, 240 Volt breaker will likely be used for the 14-30 plug that your unit is corded for), your connector will give all it has (16 Amps at 240V) to charge your car and be perfectly safe for your home's wiring. The 16A provided are your unit's design limit, but it should not have any problem delivering those 16A forever without being overloaded. As you stated, a larger connector would charge your car faster, but your 3.8kW will fill up the SE's 30kWh battery from 0 to 100% in under 8 hours, just fine for most people.

Thanks F14Scott and Toi! Just what I wanted to hear. The 30 Amp/240 Volt breaker and 14-30 plug are good to go. All I need now is the SE! I’ll report back with actual charge times.


Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs

 

[Puppethead]

So...if you are not able to pre-condition the battery long enough in (really) cold weather, does this really mean you are only getting around half the "go power" to the engine until the battery starts to warm up? Seems like a dramatic drop.

I've been following that discussion. My car has been sitting in the garage when it got down to 16ºF overnight, and I didn't drive or precondition for three days and I still had full power when I took it out.

That person did not set a departure time at least three hours in advance, so there was no battery preconditioning. Also I believe they were only doing Level 1 charging, which isn't enough power to precondition the battery.