Another new owner (data freak)

[jeffbass]

Hi guys, I have had my 2012 iMiev for 48 hours and so far I love it! I have one question that I can't find an answer to. Does the info panel keep track of charging data? Like day and time and hours, etc. It would be awesome if it kept track of 110V vs 220V vs Quick charge times, too.

Hope this isn't a redundant question from someone else.

I like this car! Traded my 2013 Fiat 500 for it the other day. (I still keep waiting to hear the starter motor crank when I turn the key)

 

[PV1]

Welcome. Congrats on the i-MiEV.

While the i-MiEV is wonderfully engineered, it does lack some of the standard features found in other EVs, including charging info. However, there are a few relatively easy ways to gain this functionality.

What I and other owners have done is install a kWh meter on the circuit we use to charge the car. Many simply use a Kill a Watt meter with the included cord, but in order to use 240 volt charging, a different meter is required. I use an EKM 3-wire, 120/240 volt kWh meter. This can measure both 120 volt loads and 240 volt loads, good if you install outlets for both voltages on the circuit.

There are also charging stations that have a meter built in. Charge point is close to releasing a home charger. Their network tracks your usage and provides some pretty detailed info.

 

[jray3]

Congrats also Jeff.
I installed an old-school glass dome analog utility meter (about $20 from Hileah Meter) on my EVSE circuit, but for a digital data freak, the TED 5000 might be more your speed. JoeS has posted a few charts of his charging sessions. I've acquired but not yet installed a TED...

 

[JoeS]

Jeff, congratulations on your purchase! Whereabouts are you located? - you might update your Profile (under User Control Panel) to show that. It's always interesting to note the diverse world-wide group we have on this forum.

When we were brand-new i-MiEV users, many of us spent a lot of time meticulously recording our consumption data from the wall in an attempt to pinpoint the Wh/mile (or miles/kWh, or Wh/km, or…). In my case, after doing that religiously for over 8000 miles I came to the realization that -

1. Driving range and thus driving efficiency is whatever I need it to be. Normally, I leadfoot, but if I'm taking a longer trip then I hypermile. This can result in dramatically-different energy consumption figures.

2. Heating and aircon (especially heating) has such an inordinate impact upon range (= efficiency) as to make datataking useless unless CaniOn heater-use data is taken into account. This proved to be too much trouble for me.

3. Using L1 (120vac, around 900W using Mitsu EVSE) vs. L2 (240vac, around 3.1kW) produces different 'efficiency' results. When plugged in, the car's charging 'system' consumes a certain amount of power, and the longer it is plugged in then the more energy is consumed, irrespective of what goes into the battery. Thus, the shorter-duration of L2 charging increases the apparent efficiency of the car over L1, measured wall-to-wheels.

4. Very low temperatures have an adverse impact on many fronts, with the car's charging system compensating in order to avoid damaging the battery.

Finally, a bit of information for you, as a new user: I personally believe that the worst thing you can do for battery life is to fully charge the car and leave it sitting at 100% charge at high ambient temperatures. The solution is simple: if you live in a hot climate, simply charge it to around 75% (12-13 bars), and fully charge the car just before taking off on a longer trip. If you are like the majority of drivers in the US, you will find the i-MiEV's range more than adequate for your daily use, even when usually charging to 12 bars. At the lower end, keeping it above 2 bars is also a good idea (some of us have never seen the 'turtle' which shows up below zero bars).

There is a low-temperature corollary, but others with low-temp experience are much-better qualified to discuss this.

 

[Daox]

How do you control what SOC you charge to?

 

[JoeS]

How do you control what SOC you charge to?

Using L2 the car charges at a rate of about three bars/hour. Using the Mitsu L1 EVSE (8A), the car charges at a rate of about four bars for five hours of charging.

There are a number of ways of stopping charging -

1. Unplug the car when it gets to the number of bars you want. Even though the car is off, when the J1772 is plugged in and charging then the 'fuel gauge' display is dimly lit. Unfortunately, you need to open the door and look at the dashboard.

2. Use the Remote, which can program (in 1/2-hour increments) both the turn-on time delay as well as the number of charging hours before turning off the charger. No need to unplug the car.

3. Use a timer feeding your EVSE. I have a simple spring wind-up timer to shut off my L2 power, and it has become second-nature for both my wife and myself to eyeball the fuel gauge and determine how long we want the car the charge.

 

[PV1]

How do you control what SOC you charge to?

Joe beat me to it, but here are my observed charging rates.

Level 1 (120 volt) charge rate - roughly 1 bar per hour, stock EVSE 8 amps is just under this, 12 amps is just over.
Level 2 (240 volt) charge rate - roughly 3 bars per hour, rate slows above 90% (15 bars out of 16).

The top bar takes the longest as the charging rate is reduced and battery cell balancing occurs. Something important to keep in mind when topping off.

 

[BenBrown]

This basic information is really valuable. I could have saved 8 weeks of taking notes and looking for patterns if I clearly remembered the info Joe provided or I could have easily retrieved this info. The reality of charge times etc. from my data collection is only now making sense.. Of course on the other hand maybe I wouldn't appreciate the charge times and advice had I not been tracking it. For me, learning to do really basic inexpensive hands on data collection is helping me appreciate the more advance discussions,.. coming from a completely non technical background.

I also like the idea of using the Killawatt when I L1 charge to understand information I don't have when I charge at home. (so far 100% of my L2 charging has been at ChargePoint stations and I can easily read/record the data my smart phone is giving me - so I have a good basic place to start.) I'm budgeting now to get the Killawatt.

I just upgraded my smart phone via bartering music lessons (harp) for a new phone. The new one will have the capacity to make use of canion from what I understand. That though is a project for later on...

Rather than hijack this thread with other questionsI will take my conflicting regen advice given me to threads elsewhere...

One last thing... I wonder if we shouldn't have a new owner thread for new owners to write in... (or do we already have one?)

 

[jeffbass]

Hi everyone. Thanks for the input and answers to some questions I didn't even have yet!

I've had it for a week now and am very happy. I'll keep the suggestions in mind.

Jeff B
Columbia, TN

 

[Don]

I spent a couple hours in Columbia TN Wednesday getting a fuel filter replaced on our old Dodge diesel. We were on our way to Indianapolis to pick up a 'new' 2012 iMiEV my brother had bought there

Don