ABL 16A

ewj1978

Hi Guys,

Will soon be back into EV ownership. Questions re home charge points:
I had a L30 with 3.3kw charging and I'm pretty sure the ABL is only for 3.3 but the electrician who installed the RCB put in one for up to 6.6.

Can someone look at the attached photo's and see if I'm right.

1st photo is ABL unit. 2nd is RCB.

samih

ewj1978 wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Will soon be back into EV ownership. Questions re home charge points:
I had a L30 with 3.3kw charging and I'm pretty sure the ABL is only for 3.3 but the electrician who installed the RCB put in one for up to 6.6.

Can someone look at the attached photo's and see if I'm right.

1st photo is ABL unit. 2nd is RCB.

The unit has 40 A RCD so capable for 7.2 kW. The second photo doesn't fully show me but if it's also 40 A you're golden once the cable is at least 6 mm^2. You'd need to set the EVCC module on the right hand side under the lockable screw on cover of ABL to 32 A.

Gumbo

I done the same.
The h it itself is already capable of 32a charging I believe.
I put in the 6mm Sq. Cable and a 40a RCBO in my fuseboard.

I just don’t know how to flash the machine to the higher rate!!!!

ewj1978

samih wrote: »

The unit has 40 A RCD so capable for 7.2 kW. The second photo doesn't fully show me but if it's also 40 A you're golden once the cable is at least 6 mm^2. You'd need to set the EVCC module on the right hand side under the lockable screw on cover of ABL to 32 A.

This is the RCB beside the fuse box(bigger picture)
As for the cabling I've no idea.. you'd have to assume that when Nigel installed it he used the correct cabling.

IMG_20190308_162558492.jpg

samih

If you send me a pm with your email address I'll forward you the instructions. You'll also need to buy usb to serial adaptor from ebay for a few quid.

USB to RS485

ewj1978

kceire wrote: »

I done the same.
The h it itself is already capable of 32a charging I believe.
I put in the 6mm Sq. Cable and a 40a RCBO in my fuseboard.

I just don’t know how to flash the machine to the higher rate!!!!

flashing the ABL? is this something I need to do too?

samih

ewj1978 wrote: »

This is the RCB beside the fuse box(bigger picture)
As for the cabling I've no idea.. you'd have to assume that when Nigel installed it he used the correct cabling.

IMG_20190308_162558492.jpg

Unfortunately you have only a 25 A RCD (or actually RCBO) and who knows what the cable used was. When the ESB contractor installed ours back in 2015 they definitely didn't use large enough cable and ours was actually fitted with a 20 A RCBO. Since then I had to move ours to a different location so fixed the wiring at the same time and flashed the unit.

Yes, you'll need to tell the controller, which is called "ABL CVCC", what the maximum amps your cabling is good for. Don't mess with this unless you know for certain that your cabling and house in general is up for it. It's not really flashing, more like changing the setting, done via command strings over the RS485 connection. ABL has a handy utitility for it that somebody here forwarded for me.

Gumbo

ewj1978 wrote: »

This is the RCB beside the fuse box(bigger picture)
As for the cabling I've no idea.. you'd have to assume that when Nigel installed it he used the correct cabling.

IMG_20190308_162558492.jpg

That RCBO doesn’t look big enough.

Here’s mine.

stesaurus

ewj1978 wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Will soon be back into EV ownership. Questions re home charge points:
I had a L30 with 3.3kw charging and I'm pretty sure the ABL is only for 3.3 but the electrician who installed the RCB put in one for up to 6.6.

Can someone look at the attached photo's and see if I'm right.

1st photo is ABL unit. 2nd is RCB.

Get a full picture of the RCBO, looks a little like an MCB but sure either way you can't see the rating on that pic.

You'll also need to flash the unit, actually that's wrong you're not flashing anything just changing a setting.

ewj1978

So the ABL can handle the charge but it looks like the MCB/RCD is too low?
I'll get onto a local spark then to see what he says or might even just give the lads who installed day one a bell.

Samih I've sent you my email too if you wouldn't mind sending me on the instructions.

Gumbo

samih wrote: »

If you send me a pm with your email address I'll forward you the instructions. You'll also need to buy usb to serial adaptor from ebay for a few quid.

USB to RS485

PM sent
Thanks.

stesaurus

ewj1978 wrote: »

So the ABL can handle the charge but it looks like the MCB/RCD is too low?
I'll get onto a local spark then to see what he says or might even just give the lads who installed day one a bell.

Samih I've sent you my email too if you wouldn't mind sending me on the instructions.

Take a full picture of the breaker and it should be pretty clear. It should state in it what type it is.
A local spark will want to see it and will charge for that as they'll need to come out.
Best bet would be whoever installed it. Was it done through the free installs? If so very unlikely the cable is rated high enough.

stesaurus

kceire wrote: »

PM sent
Thanks.

Have you opened up your ABL? Seems that some of them were pre-wired with an RJ45 connector which would be easier to connect to.

Gumbo

stesaurus wrote: »

Have you opened up your ABL? Seems that some of them were pre-wired with an RJ45 connector which would be easier to connect to.

I’ll do that today. Just Incase.

ewj1978

stesaurus wrote: »

Take a full picture of the breaker and it should be pretty clear. It should state in it what type it is.
A local spark will want to see it and will charge for that as they'll need to come out.
Best bet would be whoever installed it. Was it done through the free installs? If so very unlikely the cable is rated high enough.

posted this up a bit :https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=474946&d=1552062448

It was done through the free installs.

unkel

You need a new 40A RCBO and most likely the cabling needs to be done again from scratch using 6mm2 or 10mm2 cable instead of the 4mm2 cable used...

10mm2 is way over kill for 32 amps.

6mm2 is good for 40 amps.

unkel

Deleted User wrote: »

10mm2 is way over kill for 32 amps.

:rolleyes:

For longer runs you need 10mm2

stesaurus

ewj1978 wrote: »

posted this up a bit :https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=474946&d=1552062448

It was done through the free installs.

Free installs wouldn't have had the cabling for 32a charging so that will need to be done along with the RCBO as it's only a 25a fitted there.
Won't be much change out of €200 I'd say for cabling, breaker and testing.
Make sure the RECI you get fits a C curve RCBO of 32a minimum, 40a ideally.

unkel

stesaurus wrote: »

Free installs wouldn't have had the cabling for 32a charging

Mine did

Had to have a robust discussion with the man behind all these installs though, before he agreed to do it. I supplied the 6mm2 cable, he installed it. He refused to install the 40A RCBO I supplied, as it would lead to the ecars not paying him for the install, which is understandable. Pictures were taken of the install (incl one of the RCBO) which had to be submitted to ecars

I had a friendly electrician fit the 40A RCBO in my consumer unit (2 minute job) and I upgraded the ABL from 16A to 32A myself. That was almost 2 years ago and it has been faultless since

If only I could find the keys of my ABL, I left the USB to RS485 connected in there, could help someone else out if I got it back. That said, I can't remember any of the details of what I did really

ewj1978

unkel wrote: »

:rolleyes:

For longer runs you need 10mm2

ABL is beside front door, comes through the wall and up 8 ft to the fuse box just inside the door.

unkel

unkel wrote: »

:rolleyes:

For longer runs you need 10mm2

It would want to be pretty long.

unkel

ewj1978 wrote: »

ABL is beside front door, comes through the wall and up 8 ft to the fuse box just inside the door.

As bog standard an installation as you can get. Same as mine. 6mm2 required for 7.2kW charging (and a 40A RCBO)

ewj1978

and a priority switch and flashing an ABL unit... Complicated business.. Might just leave the 3.6kW in place.

Or sell it and get another one.

stesaurus

There's nothing complicated about changing the settings to 32a. It's not flashing so no chance of bricking the charger or anything silly like that.
You'd also only need a priority switch if you have an electric shower or a heat pump.

On the keys thing, Nigel Daly has a few spare. I remember losing mine and he posted out a pair to me.

stesaurus

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Or sell it and get another one.

Cabling, RCBO, priority etc. still need to be upgraded. Then pay about 600 for a new charger and get maybe 200 back for the ABL.
What would the point be?

I'm hoping to flog my 16 amp ABL soon and going to get a 32a different one, didn't bother flashing it because it causes quite unacceptable radio frequency interference which is illegal and they did not respond to my emails, perhaps I can get my Partner to type them a nice email in German just in case they did not get the message.......

Gumbo

ewj1978 wrote: »

and a priority switch and flashing an ABL unit... Complicated business.. Might just leave the 3.6kW in place.

Why do you need a priority switch?
If you have no electric shower, would it still be required?

unkel

Deleted User wrote: »

didn't bother flashing it because it causes quite unacceptable radio frequency interference which is illegal

What?

unkel

kceire wrote: »

Why do you need a priority switch?
If you have no electric shower, would it still be required?

No. A priority switch is needed if you have more than one heavy electricity using device and that if they are both switched on at the same time, your main ESB fuse would blow

A 7.2kW car charger + a 10kW electric shower = over 17kW plus your backgroud load of your house so well over 17kW in total, which is more than a 12kVa standard connection (~15kW) can handle.