[Overlander23]

I've just noticed that my PFC5000 is only outputing 2kw on 240v. I also noticed that under 110v I need to have the hot leg in a specific position for it to work, which seemed odd at the time.


Am I correct in thinking that this is essentially two 110v chargers, and one leg is malfunctioning?


I just want to confirm the input wiring is red-hot, yellow-hot, green-ground... and that under 110v operation green is ground, with either red or yellow hot, and neutral yellow or red, respectively.

 

[jonescg]

Does it have an 'enable' line? If it has one, check the resistance of this connection - if there's a few hundred ohms it will throttle back the max current (a nice feature when you need to charge on a 10 A connection).

 

[Overlander23]

No 'enable' line... at least none that's been needed for the past nine years.



This is new behavior. Possibly due to being temporarily, badly wired when I recently installed a new BMS system. The BMS controls the charger via a simple relay on the mains, not through a more advanced means such as the CANbus.


I'm hoping it's just an internal fuse on the AC side, but I'm surprised it's working at all if that is the case.

 

[Coulomb]

I also noticed that under 110v I need to have the hot leg in a specific position for it to work, which seemed odd at the time.

It sounds like one of your hots isn't hot. So perhaps it's operating at 120 V when your are expecting 240 V. Check your outlet and/or wiring.

There are two charger "units" in there, but as far as I know they'll just be in parallel (both inputs and outputs). I'm not familiar with how split phase affects this; I would expect it would not affect the charger wiring at all.

Edit: there are input (AC), and often but not always output (DC) fuses. The output fuses rarely blow in my experience. When the input (240 VAC) fuse blows, it's often a sign of trouble, but they occasionally fail through thermal fatigue. Also check the pre-charge resistors (2 x 150 Ω in parallel) and the input relay.

I can't recall seeing one of these chargers with yellow and red mains wires; they've always been black and white. It could be a north American thing, even though black and white are also a north American standard.

 

[Overlander23]

I think I found the problem. Someone at the factory wired one side of the charger using yellow as ground and green as a hot leg. This wasn't an issue in the past because apparently the original three-pronged plug was wired with yellow to the ground blade and green to hot.

But it's also quite unconventional, especially since the other side of the charger (it is, indeed, two 2500w chargers in parallel) daisy-chained yellow off the input green. The photo shows how it was wired. Input is at the top left. So, I was feeding one hot leg in (red) and returning through ground, which is a bad idea.

I haven't hooked it back up yet, but I swapped green and yellow (making green ground, as it should be, since my plug is green to ground). Hopefully this should make everything right.

 

[Coulomb]

I think I found the problem. ... So, I was feeding one hot leg in (red) and returning through ground, which is a bad idea.

I haven't hooked it back up yet...

Please check very carefully before powering it up. The way you thought it was seems it would have connected a hot to chassis, which you should have noticed painfully, and returning through ground should have tripped your GFCI, I would think.

 

[kennybobby]

Is the output fuse blown on the right hand unit, can't really see it in the picture.

where are you located--don't know what mains system you are using.

Who wired up the plug? Who wired up the mains outlet--is it in the correct polarity and configuration?

Was this sold by Elcon or TCCH? Used or New?

 

[Overlander23]

You bring up a great point, which I have no solid explanation for...


... unless the charger is isolated enough from the chassis through all the paint. The Land Rover also has painted Al body panels, so that too might have afforded some more resistance.



A resistance test between the internal ground lug and the exterior of the charger's chassis results in no continuity and zero ohms. From the ground lug to the internal surface of the chassis (a bare-metal, fastener hole) resulted in positive continuity.


Regardless, the charger was not used for more than a minute as I knew something wasn't quite right. That was when testing on 110V. Not sure if there was a GFI on that circuit. I was indoors in a garage at a commercial space, and the NEC only started requiring GFI in commercial garages in 2002. The building may be older than that.


At home, on 220v, the charger never tripped the 220v GFCI breaker.


But I can think of no other pathways... I definitely wired green to ground all the way through to the charger, including the charger plug.


And you can see from the picture that green was on the N leg. It's all very weird.


I will definitely do due diligence and test this in stages going forward.

Please check very carefully before powering it up. The way you thought it was seems it would have connected a hot to chassis, which you should have noticed painfully, and returning through ground should have tripped your GFCI, I would think.

 

[Overlander23]

Both output fuses are the type wrapped in heat shrink. Continuity across the legs of both output fuses is positive.

This is the USA, so 110v and split-phase 220v.

I originally bought the charger new from Elcon through Rebirth Auto (Elcon drop shipped it to me since they had to program it anyway.) This was in late 2009.

The initial build was so long ago that the details are hazy. I know at some point I swapped out the L6-30 plug that came with the charger with a more robust version. I'm almost positive I just matched the colors up at the time, not paying attention to convention.

I hadn't touched anything about the charging circuit for nine years until a few weeks ago when I reworked some wiring to accomodate charger control via a new Zeva BMS. I certainly had never opened the charger up before.

The BMS now controls a DPDT relay which manages power to the charger.

This time, I didn't record the wiring colors/positions, and when it came time to put everything back together I stuck with convention: black/red hot, white/yellow neutral, and green ground (though I admit, it's the first time I've seen yellow in the mix.)

The 110v mains outlet I used is in a commercial garage facility. I can only assume it's wired correctly, though I suppose I can put a tester on it to be sure.

The 220v outlet I used is in my home garage, and was installed by me and inspected by the city... so it better be right. $30 in supplies... $300 in permitting/inspection fees

Is the output fuse blown on the right hand unit, can't really see it in the picture.

where are you located--don't know what mains system you are using.

Who wired up the plug? Who wired up the mains outlet--is it in the correct polarity and configuration?

Was this sold by Elcon or TCCH? Used or New?