JoeKirdahy
New member
Thinking about purchasing an i3. We have an older home with a 100 W service so not sure if it can handle a Level 2 station. Is level 1 ok for most owners?
JoeKirdahy said:Thinking about purchasing an i3. We have an older home with a 100 W service so not sure if it can handle a Level 2 station. Is level 1 ok for most owners?
alohart said:Our apartment has 100 amp service. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that the 100 amp rating is at 120 v., so it would be 50 amps at 208/240 v.
I charged our i-MiEV using a small L2 EVSE (208 v. at 13 amps). I have been charging our i3 with its L1 EVSE which has been sufficient so far, but it's probably not for everyone. I am about to install a JuiceBox L2 EVSE that I will run at 208 v. and 16 amps (it will be on a 20 amp circuit). That should charge our i3 fast enough, but if not, I could upgrade our charging circuit to 40 amps (the wiring is already sufficient). Even if we charged at the i3's full power (~32 amps), we should still have sufficient excess capacity during nighttime hours when little power is being used in our apartment.
If you run power-hungry appliances in your home (electric water heater, oven, A/C), you might need to be careful charging when these appliances are on. We replaced our conventional electric water heater with a heat pump water heater, rarely turn on our A/C, and don't use our oven much, so I don't anticipate any tripped circuit breakers.
The service in our apartment is 120Y/208 v. which is common in commercial establishments and in many apartments here in Honolulu. As you say, free-standing houses typically have 120/240 v. split phase power. A downside to 120Y/208 v. power is that one wouldn't be able to charge at full i3 charger power. So if you live in an apartment, check your electric panel to determine which type of power you have. I was surprised to have only 208 v. available.mind machine said:Domestic service is more likely 100 amps @ 240 volts, not 208 volts.
alohart said:The service in our apartment is 120Y/208 v. which is common in commercial establishments and in many apartments here in Honolulu. As you say, free-standing houses typically have 120/240 v. split phase power. A downside to 120Y/208 v. power is that one wouldn't be able to charge at full i3 charger power. So if you live in an apartment, check your electric panel to determine which type of power you have. I was surprised to have only 208 v. available.mind machine said:Domestic service is more likely 100 amps @ 240 volts, not 208 volts.
jadnashuanh said:You'd need a bigger EVSE than 32A if your input voltage was only 208vac. The i3 can handle 7.4Kw. Power=volts*amps so 7400/208=35.6A needed. FOr practical purposes, probably a 40A unit. Now, the i3 could be both current limited as well as max power limited, and may not make full use of a larger unit...a call to BMW might clarify that. The heat generated remains about the same as it's related to the power consumed (the thing is a bit less efficient with lower voltage, and you'd really notice it if it were 120vac...not sure if 208 would be that much different than 240 in efficiency, though).
I've got a 60 amp JuiceBox with a 32 amp output cable, but it's on a 20 amp circuit, so I'll be charging at 16 amps, 208 v., or 3.3 kW assuming no voltage drop on my very long (~150') 8 AWG supply lines. That should be plenty fast for me. But if not, I could spend even more money on my expensive (>$3000) charging circuit to upgrade the panel fuse and circuit breakers to 40 amps and the receptacle to a 14-50P.jadnashuanh said:You'd need a bigger EVSE than 32A if your input voltage was only 208vac.
JoeKirdahy said:Is level 1 ok for most owners?
jadnashuanh said:more bang for your bucks.
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