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What does a EV charging point actually do?

Harry Macdonald

I have bought a 2nd hand Nissan leaf and have been happily charging it slowly from a 13A socket (fed by solar panels) for 6 months using the "granny lead" that comes with the car.

Yesterday, when I turned it on, the READY and CHARGE light flashed about once per second, as did the lights on the dashboard, and there was a click each time from the unit. The manual does not list this combination as indicative of anything.

This lead me to wonder what the "charging unit" actually does, It lists its input and output as 250V ac so it clearly is not a transformer/ rectifier. If it is a protective relay measuring neutral earth voltage, then maybe the ON / OFF is caused by something happening to the voltage in the house?

I have not found any information on the internet as to what is inside these units.

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    Isn't it really as simple as the EV being charged communicating with EVSE (charger) to determine the current rating of the available electricity supply?

    There can be additional protection built into the EVSE, but not always. 

    A similar question would be, why do electricians spend four hundred pounds or more on an EVSE testing adapter to fool the EVSE into thinking the electrician is plugging in an EV to charge rather than their installation tester to carry out tests?

  • 0 in reply to Sparkingchip

    I was starting to wonder why I wasted my hard-earned money on the course, the COP, the EV socket adaptor and a new megger !

  • 0 in reply to Sparkingchip
    Sparkingchip said:
    A similar question would be, why do electricians spend four hundred pounds or more on an EVSE testing adapter to fool the EVSE into thinking the electrician is plugging in an EV to charge rather than their installation tester to carry out tests?

    That's a good question for the most part ... although protective devices such as RCDs can be built into EV charging equipment ... having said that, in designs like the "cabinet" type approach with DIN-rail mounted components, the RCD could possibly  be tested using Test Method 2 (upstream'/downstream) from GN3 9th Ed (2022) ...

    I think, however, fault-finding and commissioning are the answers to why you really need an EV  simulator/adaptor.

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  • 0 in reply to Sparkingchip
    Sparkingchip said:
    A similar question would be, why do electricians spend four hundred pounds or more on an EVSE testing adapter to fool the EVSE into thinking the electrician is plugging in an EV to charge rather than their installation tester to carry out tests?

    That's a good question for the most part ... although protective devices such as RCDs can be built into EV charging equipment ... having said that, in designs like the "cabinet" type approach with DIN-rail mounted components, the RCD could possibly  be tested using Test Method 2 (upstream'/downstream) from GN3 9th Ed (2022) ...

    I think, however, fault-finding and commissioning are the answers to why you really need an EV  simulator/adaptor.

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