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Chevy Volt/Electricty Question


               
2013 Aug 8, 2:58am   6,466 views  25 comments

by CL   follow (1)  

I grabbed a Volt when my lease expired on my Camry. As of now I don't have a place to charge it which is okay because I can use gas to run the generator.

I have access to my old server batteries and a lot of cartridges, like this:

and

Since the Volt uses 110, do you think I'd have any issues using the UPS as a portable charging station? I have several chassis units so I could leave one inside to charge, remove the cartridges periodically and pop them into a waiting chassis in the garage, at least until my building management gets me an outlet.

The car only draws 8-12 AMPs.

Thanks!

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18   zzyzzx   @   2013 Aug 8, 5:49am  

CL says

On the batteries? I believe they are APC 2200 XL RM. XL is for extended run daisy-chains, and the RM only indiactes "rackmount".

I will assume that it is this one:
http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=su2200rmxl3u

Which looks plenty good enough to work. Now lugging the batteries around might be a good form of exercise and I have no idea if one round of battery exchanges will work, or maybe it's the opposite in that you would only have to do the battery swapping every couple of days.
Quite frankly tapping into a light fixture and doing a slow charge with that still seems like a better idea. Or maybe charging the batteries with the light fixture connection then using that battery charge to do a 220V fast charge for the car might work good too.

I would check the max current rating on a Kill-A-Watt before I would connect it to something like this.

19   curious2   @   2013 Aug 8, 5:55am  

zzyzzx says

I would check the max current rating on a Kill-A-Watt before I would connect it to something like this.

It's 15 Amps @ 120V, and compatible with inverters in case you want to meter from the UPS for some reason. The OP said, "The car only draws 8-12 AMPs."

An issue with the device is, it loses its memory when the power gets disconnected. So, if connected to a light socket, it would lose its memory if the light gets switched off. The car will probably be plugged in at night anyway, but prudence suggests getting a few accurate readings so that you can calculate an average and multiply by the number of nights.

20   Automan Empire   @   2013 Aug 8, 6:00am  

Common garage light circuits usually cannot handle additional loads. My friend lived in a condo, and you couldn't even install a garage door opener without adding a battery system with built in TRICKLE charger.

Even 8-10 amps is a lot to add to this type of circuit, though you could probably "get away with it" until someone else using the common garage gets an electric car too.

21   curious2   @   2013 Aug 8, 6:05am  

Automan Empire says

Even 8-10 amps is a lot to add to [a garage light] circuit, though you could probably "get away with it" until someone else using the common garage gets an electric car too.

That's a good point, the light circuit is probably 20 Amps and might already carry a 10 Amp load, so adding a car might conceivably trip the thermoelectric breaker after a few minutes, and adding two cars probably would. OTOH, it costs very little to try, and if two people buy these cars, then management might be more willing to upgrade. Pulling new wire with better modern insulation (thus higher capacity) through an existing conduit doesn't cost too much. Meanwhile, it might be a good opportunity to replace old incandescent bulbs with LED motion sensing bulbs, which would reduce waste and might reduce the load on the circuit enough to accommodate the car.

22   CL   @   2013 Aug 8, 9:39am  

Okay..to expound. The garage is a full sized gated garage with roll up door. The light fixtures are more of a fluorescent variety, and emergency lighting. I agree on the amperage issue. If they didn't build it with this in mind, they need to run circuits and conduit. Or at least run wire through existing (which is what I'm asking them to do). I just need an outlet.

They are the ones that have an interest in the metering, so I don't get away with not paying for consumption.

They would need to be concerned about amperage, which will easily exceed standard wiring with only a few vehicles.

23   zzyzzx   @   2013 Aug 8, 12:11pm  

curious2 says

hat's a good point, the light circuit is probably 20 Amps and might already carry a 10 Amp load,

Might be a 15A circuit, with the existing load unknown.

24   swebb   @   2013 Aug 8, 7:40pm  

CL says

What about Sine waves and such? Any risks? I think now, since its intended purpose is to run the much more sensitive computer equipment.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that UPS systems don't like reactive loads, so you might want to look into the charger system and make sure it's primarily a resistive load.

25   zzyzzx   @   2013 Aug 9, 12:20am  

swebb says

I seem to remember reading somewhere that UPS systems don't like reactive loads, so you might want to look into the charger system and make sure it's primarily a resistive load.

I can't imagine how an inverter could possibly be any type of reactive load??? It's not like there is a motor-generator set in there!

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