[who_ca]

I just installed a Juicebox Pro 40 to charge my 2017 Volt but I'm noticing I'm only seeing around 2.9 kW of power rather than something close to the 3.6 kW max.

I'm typically seeing around 12A at 240V while charging. I have my max allowed set at 40A for the Juicebox.

Has anyone experienced issues with a Juicebox charging a gen2 Volt?

Thanks!

 

[joezzhou]

I just installed a Juicebox Pro 40 to charge my 2017 Volt but I'm noticing I'm only seeing around 2.9 kW of power rather than something close to the 3.6 kW max.

I'm typically seeing around 12A at 240V while charging. I have my max allowed set at 40A for the Juicebox.

Has anyone experienced issues with a Juicebox charging a gen2 Volt?

Thanks!

240v x 12 a = 2.88KW. So you will not get 3.6KW at all. The design of the charger of VOLT only support 12A max.

 

[Upper5Percent]

240v x 12 a = 2.88KW. So you will not get 3.6KW at all. The design of the charger of VOLT only support 12A max.

Actually the on-board charger supports 3,300 watts divided by 240 volts = 13.75 amps....in a perfect world...

 

[Upper5Percent]

I just installed a Juicebox Pro 40 to charge my 2017 Volt but I'm noticing I'm only seeing around 2.9 kW of power rather than something close to the 3.6 kW max.

I'm typically seeing around 12A at 240V while charging. I have my max allowed set at 40A for the Juicebox.

Has anyone experienced issues with a Juicebox charging a gen2 Volt?

Thanks!

It sound like the Juicebox is not negotiating a max charge rate with your Chevy Volt...
Did you set the proper battery capacity of your 2017 Volt in your app?
maybe you ought to ask the manufacturer about this...1.844.584.2329

 

[bentbiker]

240v x 12 a = 2.88KW. So you will not get 3.6KW at all. The design of the charger of VOLT only support 12A max.

The 12A max is only for the OEM EVSE whether operating at 120V or 240V.

Actually the on-board charger supports 3,300 watts divided by 240 volts = 13.75 amps....in a perfect world...

Since this is a Gen2, the charger supports 3,600W.

I agree with Upper5Percent's recommendation to call EMW.

 

[Upper5Percent]

The 12A max is only for the OEM EVSE whether operating at 120V or 240V.

Since this is a Gen2, the charger supports 3,600W.

I agree with Upper5Percent's recommendation to call EMW.

Oops...still driving my restrained 2013 Gen1...

 

[Loboc]

What is the battery condition when observing the charge rate? Near top SOC, for example, might be tapering charge. Is the battery hot? (Just ending a trip.) The battery management system could be limiting the rate.

If you charge from the lower SOC, how long does it take to charge?

Can you try another EVSE?

Did you try setting the JuiceBox to a lower rate? Say 20-Amps.

 

[Neromanceres]

Actually the on-board charger supports 3,300 watts divided by 240 volts = 13.75 amps....in a perfect world...

That's only applicable to the Gen I Volt.

Gen II Volt supports up to 16A.

I have net metered solar at my house with fairly high line Voltage (and not far from my local utility transfer station). I have observed my Gen II Volt charging as high as 248V @ 16A (3.97KW).

 

[JRRF]

Did you set the proper battery capacity of your 2017 Volt in your app?

How do you set the battery capacity? I've never seen that in the app.

 

[joezzhou]

Actually the on-board charger supports 3,300 watts divided by 240 volts = 13.75 amps....in a perfect world...

For my GEN2, the in car display (Under ENERGY touch button) only supports 2 currents: 8A and 12A. How to tell the car to support higher charging current?

 

[JRRF]

For my GEN2, the in car display (Under ENERGY touch button) only supports 2 currents: 8A and 12A. How to tell the car to support higher charging current?

That's only for the standard Level 1 charger. If you are using a Level 2 charger, the max is 16 amps.

If you do the math:
16*240 = 3840 watts.

That will charge a G2 battery in about the advertised 4.5 hours.

 

[joezzhou]

Thank you for your clarification.

 

[telveer]

You have a Gen 2 Volt, which is capable of drawing a max of 3.6kW (assuming input is at 240V/15A)

If it is drawing lower than that, the factors could be
a) Amperage (somehow, your EVSE is limiting to lower amperage)
b) Voltage (I have seen 208, 220 and 240 in US)
c) Battery level: Volt starts tapering charge rate down as the battery starts getting close to full
d) Environment: Battery may be too hot/cold, limiting draw
c) Some other issue (hopefully not)

 

[timoshev]

Why not just time a full charge from depleted? If around 4.5 hrs. you're OK. (240v)

 

[canehdian]

Where is the 2.9 coming from?

Use OBD to grab the stats while charging.
It should give you power in (amps*volts) and power out.
In should be ~3.6kW and out should be ~90% of that. (except during the final ~10% of charging when it will begin to taper)

 

[who_ca]

It sound like the Juicebox is not negotiating a max charge rate with your Chevy Volt...
Did you set the proper battery capacity of your 2017 Volt in your app?
maybe you ought to ask the manufacturer about this...1.844.584.2329

Thanks for the response. Yes, I've set up the app to include my 2017 Volt with the proper battery capacity (max of 18.4 kWh). I have submitted a question to their support through their web form and left a voicemail, but I haven't heard back yet.

 

[who_ca]

What is the battery condition when observing the charge rate? Near top SOC, for example, might be tapering charge. Is the battery hot? (Just ending a trip.) The battery management system could be limiting the rate.

If you charge from the lower SOC, how long does it take to charge?

Can you try another EVSE?

Did you try setting the JuiceBox to a lower rate? Say 20-Amps.

Most of the time, I've been charging from about half charge. I do see tapering as it approaches full but I'm not seeing charging over around 2.9 kW of power.

I also tried setting the Juicebox limit to different levels. I'm able to lower the limit to 10A and the Juicebox correctly limits it. If I set the Juicebox to 15A or 20A, it still only reaches around 12A max (at 240V).

So something is limiting the output of the Juicebox whether it be some incorrect handshaking between the Volt and the Juicebox, or some limiter on the Juicebox itself (does it have any DIP swictches or ways to hardwire the max output?)

I'll try another level 2 charger to see if my Volt can charge at it's max 3.6 kW when I have a chance. Although looking at my Chargepoint app it looks like I was getting close to 3.6 kW during some charges back in August.

I'm also going to see if I can get my neighbor that has a Leaf to plug into my Juicebox and see what happens.

 

[who_ca]

Where is the 2.9 coming from?

Use OBD to grab the stats while charging.
It should give you power in (amps*volts) and power out.
In should be ~3.6kW and out should be ~90% of that. (except during the final ~10% of charging when it will begin to taper)

The 2.9 kW shows on the EV JuiceNet app that connects to my Juicebox via wifi.

 

[PilotWashburne]

I'd be curious to see if you could check the voltage going into the juicebox. I noticed that when plugging in my car at my brother's house, the amp meter he has shows it slowly steps up to the full draw. I'd suspect that something might be in place to reduce the draw if the voltage drop is too much (IE, 210v, 200v, etc).

Do you have a volt meter that you could tap into where your charger is connected? This is just a theory...

 

[drmx]

I'd be curious to confirm input voltage too, but the OP did mention 12A @ 240V a few times, presumably he's seeing the 240V reading from the Juicebox app, not just assuming that value. I also charge my '17 with a juicebox 40 pro, and it reads 240-249V depending on power grid load at the time. It steps down current if voltage is high, but still maintains just over 3.8kW until the final 10 minutes of the charge cycle where it tapers down to 1.4kW. The car will not allow above 16A if the voltage is lower, e.g. 208V or 220V. The ramp-up time is very fast on initial plug in, up to full rate in just a few seconds. I would see what their tech support has to say about it, I've worked with them a few times and they were fairly knowledgeable and responsive. It sounds like potentially a problem internal to the juicebox, not stepping up past 12A regardless of your setting, yet correctly cutting it back when you specify 10A.

A few others mentioned it, but 16A (3.84kW) is the correct L2 max rate for a '16-17 Gen 2 car. L1 max is 12A (1.44kW @ 120V), with the default being 8A, configurable in the center display. That setting does not apply to L2 charging, which is always 16A capable, at any current. The other poster's 3.3 and 3.6 kW assumptions are based on Gen 1 cars or other misinformation.