Montego
Established Member
I recently learned that electricity network operators are legally required to maintain the voltage within a specific range. This range is defined as +10% and -6% of the 230V nominal voltage which results in an allowed voltage range of 216.2V to 253.0V.
To take advantage of the E.ON Next Drive tariff I charge my MG4 between the hours of midnight and 07:00 hours. I usually charge the car battery to 80% to maintain battery health. I program the session using the Pod-Point app, not the car. On three occasions my Pod-Point failed to achieve the programmed charge level during the charging period. Two of these events were within a 2 week period when both terminated at a car battery charge level of 40%.
I reported this problem to Pod-Point, and they have provided me a graph that showed that the supply voltage fell significantly below the lowest declared tolerance and the charger cut out for safety reasons. They recommended contacting my Distribution Network Operator (DNO) for further review of the supply. [You can find your DNO on the following website: www.energynetworks.org/operating-the-networks/whos-my-network-operator ] (in my case this is SSEN not E.ON).
Checking the usage statistics on the E.ON app showed that on each occasion that the car failed to achieve the required level of charge the power consumption fell dramatically and prematurely.
SSEN responded very quickly. They sent an Engineer who tested my home installation and gave it a clean bill of health and then sent a second engineer to fit a monitor to constantly measure voltage levels. This showed that there is a problem which will have to be monitored at a transformer level. I am still awaiting the outcome of this.
I found it interesting that SSEN find it necessary to employ an engineer to monitor issues at homes with EV chargers. It has been suggested that part of the problem might be due to the number of EV chargers on the street and that we are near the end of the cable run from the transformer.
But, my expectation is that if the Pod-Point stops charging because of a supply issue, when the voltage returns above the lowest declared tolerance, during the programmed charging period, charging should recommence. Pod-Point have agreed that this should happen, but it does not.
Does anybody else have a similar experience? We are hoping to move soon and so I am happy to consider a different manufacturers charger for our new home.
To take advantage of the E.ON Next Drive tariff I charge my MG4 between the hours of midnight and 07:00 hours. I usually charge the car battery to 80% to maintain battery health. I program the session using the Pod-Point app, not the car. On three occasions my Pod-Point failed to achieve the programmed charge level during the charging period. Two of these events were within a 2 week period when both terminated at a car battery charge level of 40%.
I reported this problem to Pod-Point, and they have provided me a graph that showed that the supply voltage fell significantly below the lowest declared tolerance and the charger cut out for safety reasons. They recommended contacting my Distribution Network Operator (DNO) for further review of the supply. [You can find your DNO on the following website: www.energynetworks.org/operating-the-networks/whos-my-network-operator ] (in my case this is SSEN not E.ON).
Checking the usage statistics on the E.ON app showed that on each occasion that the car failed to achieve the required level of charge the power consumption fell dramatically and prematurely.
SSEN responded very quickly. They sent an Engineer who tested my home installation and gave it a clean bill of health and then sent a second engineer to fit a monitor to constantly measure voltage levels. This showed that there is a problem which will have to be monitored at a transformer level. I am still awaiting the outcome of this.
I found it interesting that SSEN find it necessary to employ an engineer to monitor issues at homes with EV chargers. It has been suggested that part of the problem might be due to the number of EV chargers on the street and that we are near the end of the cable run from the transformer.
But, my expectation is that if the Pod-Point stops charging because of a supply issue, when the voltage returns above the lowest declared tolerance, during the programmed charging period, charging should recommence. Pod-Point have agreed that this should happen, but it does not.
Does anybody else have a similar experience? We are hoping to move soon and so I am happy to consider a different manufacturers charger for our new home.
that is correct... Your DNO is regulated under ESQCR 2002 to maintain that voltage at the point of your supply (i.e. at the DNO cut-out). This will not necessarily be the voltage measured at your pod-point depending on the impedance of the wire from your cut-out to the pod-point.
