Electric car charging stations

bigred · August 25, 2016, 10:20:20 AM

These twits that abuse the good will of Walmart and a few other's just make it hard on all of us .I remember a few years back there was a Goober from Florida that spent the whole summer at our Walmart in Asheville This was a motor home not a bus,but to make a long story short ,it wasn't but a little while until "No Overnight Parking" signs appeared.I mean if you can't afford a place to stay ,keep your butt at home .I mean this was not a "junker"motor home! It was a late model well kept motor home!!

CrabbyMilton · August 25, 2016, 10:36:35 AM

Many people have the idea that everything should either be free or someone else should pay for it. Obviously the former isn't possible without the later.
Everybody knows electricity is free and it comes from those little holes in the wall. Right?
I mean if you want cotton, all you have to do is open up a pill bottle and credit cards are free money so why worry huh?

LuckyChow · August 27, 2016, 03:43:40 PM

The electric car chargers that you see everywhere aren't really chargers at all. They are fancy electric switches. The chargers are actually in the cars themselves and do a lot of fancy voltage conversions and battery monitoring. The charge units you see at businesses are usually level 2 units which operate off of 240 v ac, They have a small computer in them that talks to the car charger/computer when hooked up. The car computer tells them is can accept up to xx amps of electricity. They shake hands and the "charge unit" computer operates a solenoid that completes the circuit to the car and passes the 240 ac to the car. When the car charge is complete, it tells the "charge unit" that it is finished and to turn off. Level 3 charging, sometimes called hi speed charging is very high DC voltage. Seems like it is around 5 or 6 hundred volts.

Lin · August 28, 2016, 04:52:25 PM

Anyway, just for clarification, is the question related to plugging in to one of those chargers and camping there or just a way to save a little generator time when charging?

arutkow · August 29, 2016, 03:50:10 AM

Quote from: Lin on August 28, 2016, 04:52:25 PM
Anyway, just for clarification, is the question related to plugging in to one of those chargers and camping there or just a way to save a little generator time when charging?

I was thinking of just using it to save a little generator time. Most of the charging stations I've seen aren't in the most scenic of locales.

Oonrahnjay · August 29, 2016, 05:16:13 AM

Quote from: arutkow on August 29, 2016, 03:50:10 AMI was thinking of just using it to save a little generator time. Most of the charging stations I've seen aren't in the most scenic of locales.

The info above tells me that it's not a feasible proposition, based on the power management and software involved in the stations. Maybe some electronics guy could come up with a way to tell the charger to deliver two 50-Amp legs of 240V (or whatever maximum your charging needs might be) but it certainly isn't "plug and play" as things are now.

Jon · August 29, 2016, 07:02:10 AM

I am struggling with the concept of how people who do not want to pay to be in a campground or RV park somehow feel entitled to plug into somebody's power outlet and take electric. It is not free. Someone is paying for it.

Oonrahnjay · August 29, 2016, 10:26:09 AM

Quote from: Jon on August 29, 2016, 07:02:10 AMI am struggling with the concept of how people who do not want to pay to be in a campground or RV park somehow feel entitled to plug into somebody's power outlet and take electric. It is not free. Someone is paying for it.

Yes, there is that, too. (My note above was purely about the technical properties that appear to make it not practical -- even if one had the facility to pay for it.)