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EV CHARGING EQUIPMENT

I am hearing from my network of contractors, that have actually read the new 722, that they have been asking charging equipment manufactures for documentary proof to comply with Note 5 of 722.411.4.


They are getting knocked back for asking or in one case a Declaration that says the particular device complies with BS 7671. I think that is wrong to declare that as BS 7671 is an installation safety standard and not a product standard. I believe that as a minimum the equipment must comply with the Low Voltage Directive and be CE marked. I also believe that manufacturers have to issue a Declaration of Conformity. 


BS 7671 722 has numerous references to the various standards required such as BS EN 61851 that the equipment must comply with. I am thinking it may be illegal to offer the sale of equipment that does not comply with the Low Voltage Directive and is not CE marked?


I am hoping the countries top man of equipment safety standards, Paul Skyrme , sees this post and will come on and give us his expert view?


Has any forum member asked for a Declaration of Conformity from EV charging equipment manufacturers and received one?

  • Today I aim to measure an RCD or two to determine the DC characteristics.




    I;d be very interested in  any serious blinding you find - so far my rather unscientific testing has not seen anything other than a rise in threshold of about the same as the DC.

    I used a 'jammer' from a bench supply of DC with a fully floating output and a couple of wire wound resistors (one to N, one to E, started with 1k  ohms and then reduced to mul;tiples of 100 in parallel) to set the current and with a thousand uF or so of C across the DC supply to act as a fault limiters if something unpleasant came down the NE loop.

    The actual threshold of the RCD I found a bit variable from shot to shot even without the jammer, and also needed a bank of resisiors as I do not have a ramp tester.

     


  • Interesting from NZ here

    Type B to be used, at least on domestic arrangements. Also Suppliers Declaration of Conformity
  • Today I aim to measure an RCD or two to determine the DC characteristics. I have nothing else which I can do as am confined to the house, and will attempt to plot the DC sensitivity of any RCDs I can find lying about. I don't think I have a B type, but a number of A types should be fairly easy with a lab constant current supply and my MFT. I will report on the findings later.
  • At least it does claim to include all pole breaking and a type B RCD functionality, and be suitable for a PME eath, so some thought there.


    Amusingly their  our team web page  describes the Technical director as Bad at maths but big on creativity  Which is more the sort of thing  I'd associate with a marketing director, or in some companies, accounts.


  • Jon Steward:
    https://andersen-ev.com/andersen-a2/specs/

    No DoC from these guys just this spec.




    Which includes: "Complies with BS 7671:2018, 722.411.4.1 (iii) TT : earth resistance < 200 Ω according to BS 7671:2018, or < 100 Ω for some vehicles".


  • John Peckham:

    Has any forum member asked for a Declaration of Conformity from EV charging equipment manufacturers and received one?




    https://andersen-ev.com/andersen-a2/specs/

    No DoC from these guys just this spec.


  • The Type B (or Type A or F plus RDC-DD) would still be required for the EVSE.


    I don't think there's a requirement (or need) for upstream devices to be anything more onerous than Type A, as the downstream device detects the DC residual current fault. A few manufacturers have been supplying Type A rather than Type AC for a few years now.



    If you've got a type B RCD for the charge point it seems you can't be confident that the d.c. fault will be disconnected unless the d.c. residual current is above 60mA - while 6mA appears to be sufficient to disrupt an upstream A type. I gather that d.c. faults in typical mode 3 system could be naturally limited - perhaps to 12 or 15mA - or even less when the fault may take parallel paths only some of which pass through the supply RCD(s).


    If you've got an A EV type RCD or RDC-DD for the charge point then d.c. faults over 6mA should be disconnected - which should indeed protect upstream A-type RCDs provided there are no other sources of d.c. fault currents. If you have multiple charge points then you're perhaps back to having a risk of the cumulative d.c. residual current seen by upstream RCDs exceeding 6mA again (depending on your view of how many faults to danger you're willing to accept, baring in mind that these faults may not be detected either automatically or during an EICR (as a broken c.p.c. should be)).


       - Andy.

  • Chris Pearson:




    Sparkingchip:

    If you have become an installer and have gained approval to fit specific chargers, how much choice are you going to give potential customers?




    So when you go out to buy your EV, how much choice do you get in the M-B dealer, or the BMW one, or the VW one, or ...


     




     

    So if you go to the car dealership and order your new car along with the installation of an EV charger at your home how much choice are you going to get?


    I cannot help but think that many people will just get what the EV charger the installation company and car dealership wants to install, rather than maybe what is best for the customer.


    I cannot imagine many people ever ask for a declaration of conformity before placing their order for the car, the charger or anything else associated with them. I can also imagine that those who do are quite possibly considered a pain in the butt.


    Andy B.

  • Sparkingchip:

    If you have become an installer and have gained approval to fit specific chargers, how much choice are you going to give potential customers?




    So when you go out to buy your EV, how much choice do you get in the M-B dealer, or the BMW one, or the VW one, or ...

  • If you have become an installer and have gained approval to fit specific chargers, how much choice are you going to give potential customers?


    Andy B.