MG5 tripping public AC charger

[simick]

Hi,

I’ve had a couple of incidences of my car tripping the ChargePoint (Type 2 AC) charger at my workplace, which results in an engineer having to reset the trip.

It seems to only happen when both of the two ports are in use (mine being one of them), but as far as I’m aware doesn’t happen when any other two cars are plugged in together.

There’s no problem with it charging on my home EVSE charger and I can charge fully on the ChargePoint when the other port is unused.

Does anyone know the max AC charging rate of the MG5 LR? I think the ChargePoints are capable of up to 22kWh per car, and thought that the MG5 LR can only take 7kWh on AC.

Perhaps the wrong size trip has been installed in the ChargePoint, but then why wouldn’t other combinations of cars trip it too?

Has anyone had any similar issues?

Cheers,

Simon

 

[Jomarkh]

If it is a 22kw EVSE then it is three phase. Do you trip both sides of the unit and does it trip with just you plugged in?

 

[BugEyed]

Does anyone know the max AC charging rate of the MG5 LR? I think the ChargePoints are capable of up to 22kWh per car, and thought that the MG5 LR can only take 7kWh on AC.

The MG5 seems happy to take slightly over 30 Amps so it shouldn't be an issue. Note that it is single phase, so although it is only around 7kW the load is all on one phase as is common for most cars. Some cars take only 3.6kW but on each phase so 11kW in total.
There are two types of tripping - excess current and earth leakage. Are you using the same lead at this charge point as at home? Where did you get the lead? What are the other cars that charge successfully?
Excess current tripping shouldn't occur as the charge point should advertise a maximum current that it can supply and the car will not exceed this.

 

[simick]

@Jomarkh, we have two units with two ports each and it has tripped both units so far.

@BugEyed, that's roughly what I'd assumed about the maximum current, and I've seen various combinations of Teslas, Hyundai Konas, Ioniqs and Leafs all using the chargers together without issue.

This is the cable supplied by MG (not brand new, mind; I got it as a freebie as my car was ex-demo with ~3k miles), although I'm not using it at home (where my charger is tethered). That could be worth some investigation. I have used the same cable at one other public PodPoint, although I suppose different chargers may have different levels of tolerance to earth leakage.

Is there anything I can do, or anywhere I could take it, to test the cable for earth leakage?

 

[BugEyed]

I'd try and borrow the charge cable from one of your colleagues and see if you still trip the unit in order to determine whether the issue is your car or the lead.
A sparky with the proper commissioning equipment for a charge point can test the lead.

 

[simick]

Good idea, I’ll try that, thanks @BugEyed!

 

[Harry]

@Jomarkh, we have two units with two ports each and it has tripped both units so far.

@BugEyed, that's roughly what I'd assumed about the maximum current, and I've seen various combinations of Teslas, Hyundai Konas, Ioniqs and Leafs all using the chargers together without issue.

This is the cable supplied by MG (not brand new, mind; I got it as a freebie as my car was ex-demo with ~3k miles), although I'm not using it at home (where my charger is tethered). That could be worth some investigation. I have used the same cable at one other public PodPoint, although I suppose different chargers may have different levels of tolerance to earth leakage.

Is there anything I can do, or anywhere I could take it, to test the cable for earth leakage?

The cables all have an internal resistor which is used by the car to detect the cable current capacity, and this probably goes for the charger as well. If you search on here on the subject of VTL (vehicle to load) you will find a member who illustrates this, provides a table of resistor values for different cable ratings and shows which sockets on the type 2 plug across which the resistor lies. If you have a multimeter or can borrow one, you can check your cable.