[Dgcan75]

I just purchased a new 2017 Volt Premier and will pick it up next week. Thanks to all the Ottawa Volt owners on this site since you were good ambassadors and were very influential in my decision. Can you let me know which settings I should immediately change when I get the car - based on this board I think I need to change gas usage to -10C, preconditioning on battery only and something about amp setting for charging. Let me know what settings I should be changing or an Ottawa environment and any suggestions on winter tires.

 

[quirkySquirt]

Above all else, download the PDF manual to your phone.

As for the amp setting, make sure to set your home location on your volt (park at home, set home location) then set 12A charging. It's all in the manual.

BTW, which color did you get? :-D

 

[Dgcan75]

Thanks for the info. I chose a black Volt.

 

[Actionjax]

Thanks for the info. I chose a black Volt.

Got the exact same one 3 weeks ago in Toronto. Took me 2 weeks for a dealer to locate and get one for me. Very hard to come by.

You are going to love it.

 

[slylrux]

Good for you. I know you will love it... there is no need to set the amp if you will be using an 220 volt charger .

Have fun .

 

[BAZINGA]

Welcome to the family. and here are a few tips/pointers

1. The Volt's AER (Average Electric Range) as displayed in the lower corner of the DIC is a prediction based on your last few driving sessions. That number can/will increase or decrease. It doesn't mean your battery is dying. That's why we call it the Guess-O-Meter

2. The Volt's AER is impacted by what we call the THREE T's - Temperature, Terrain and Technique. You'll figure this out as you drive your Volt.

3. Suggest setting your tire pressure(s) 2 OVER the recommendation in the door label or 38 PSI/262 kPa COLD. Some like to go a bit higher which reduces rolling resistance and increased your AER. You can play around with that number as well. But tire PSI/kPa can have a HUGE impact on your AER

4. In the winter your AER will plummet like a rock. It's not uncommon for new owners to think their battery is failing when their nice weather AER drops by 30% or MORE. Heating the cabin takes massive amounts of battery power. Many drive with just the heated seats/steering wheel to save battery range. But then your windows will fog. The Volt will run the ICE in COLD weather to assist heating the cabin. Learn to love it.

This should get you started and don't hesitate to ask questions.

 

[jbakerjonathan]

@Bazinga
I like to add an additional two T's: Traffic and Tire Pressure. 8^) You all but say tire pressure belongs with the three T's in your tip #3.

 

[Dgcan75]

Good for you. I know you will love it... there is no need to set the amp if you will be using an 220 volt charger .

Have fun .

But if at work during the winter I will plug into a regular charger, then I would want to make a change to the amps right?

 

[jcanoe]

But if at work during the winter I will plug into a regular charger, then I would want to make a change to the amps right?

If you know that the standard 120V outlet at work is being used by another high power device then you can set the Volt to charge at 12 amps instead of the default (8 amps.). Since it is a commercial location the 120V outlet at work might be more likely to be connected to a 20 amp circuit instead of a 15 amp circuit. If it is a 20 amp circuit, unless is already heavily loaded with other high power devices, you should be able to charge at 12 amps without causing the circuit breaker to trip. 12 amps is the maximum load on a 15 amp circuit, 16 amps is the maximum load on a 20 amp circuit.

 

[Sean Nelson]

Since it is a commercial location the 120V outlet at work might be more likely to be connected to a 20 amp circuit instead of a 15 amp circuit.

If it's a 120V/20A circuit then it should have a NEMA 5-20R receptacle with a T-shaped neutral connector like this:

This receptacle can be used with 15A-compatible devices with standard plugs, while devices requiring a 20A circuit will have a T-shaped prong on their plug that fits into this connector but not into a standard 15A receptacle.

 

[BAZINGA]

@Bazinga
I like to add an additional two T's: Traffic and Tire Pressure. 8^) You all but say tire pressure belongs with the three T's in your tip #3.

Yup. The more T's the better.

 

[Dgcan75]

If it's a 120V/20A circuit then it should have a NEMA 5-20R receptacle with a T-shaped neutral connector like this:

This receptacle can be used with 15A-compatible devices with standard plugs, while devices requiring a 20A circuit will have a T-shaped prong on their plug that fits into this connector but not into a standard 15A receptacle.

I checked the plugs in the garage and they don't have the T shape. So what does that mean on how I am supposed to set up and plug at work during those cold days.

 

[jcanoe]

I checked the plugs in the garage and they don't have the T shape. So what does that mean on how I am supposed to set up and plug at work during those cold days.

How old is the building? It could be that the building dates to before the NEMA 5-20R with the slotted neutral tab was required by code. If you can't find out if the circuit is setup for 20 amps the best thing to do would be to start out using the 8 amp setting and find out if the outlet is on its own circuit or is shared with other outlets/electrical equipment. A 15 amp circuit can support up to 12 amps of continuous electrical load as long as there is nothing else sharing the circuit.

 

[danieljlz]

I would strong suggest charging with 220V. Your charger is compatible.
I made the adapter with parts from Canadian Tire (about C$35) and wired a 240V circuit from the electrical panel to the garage.
The charging time is cut to less than half (from ~13H to ~5.5H).

 

[Dgcan75]

How old is the building? It could be that the building dates to before the NEMA 5-20R with the slotted neutral tab was required by code. If you can't find out if the circuit is setup for 20 amps the best thing to do would be to start out using the 8 amp setting and find out if the outlet is on its own circuit or is shared with other outlets/electrical equipment. A 15 amp circuit can support up to 12 amps of continuous electrical load as long as there is nothing else sharing the circuit.

It was built in the 70s . Since this is new to me, I'm not quite following but appreciate the help. So at home I am getting installed a 220V charger. That will charge the volt in 4-5 hours and I don't need to make any changes to the settings right? At work, in the winter I plan to plug the car into a 120v outlet. This would technically charge the car in about 13 hours. Do I need to make any changes to the default factory settings for the 120v charging? I read on other messages that the default setting for a household plug was set to low amp and you should change it.

 

[jcanoe]

It was built in the 70s . Since this is new to me, I'm not quite following but appreciate the help. So at home I am getting installed a 220V charger. That will charge the volt in 4-5 hours and I don't need to make any changes to the settings right? At work, in the winter I plan to plug the car into a 120v outlet. This would technically charge the car in about 13 hours. Do I need to make any changes to the default factory settings for the 120v charging? I read on other messages that the default setting for a household plug was set to low amp and you should change it.

At home you don't have to worry about changing any settings. The Volt will negotiate the maximum 240V charging amperage with the EVSE.

Since building was built in the 1970s it may have 20 amp circuits with outlets that look like 15 amp receptacles. When you plug in at work, since you don't know for certain if it is a 20 amp circuit or a 15 amp circuit or what else might be plugged in and running on the circuit it is safer to use the default setting of 120V at 8 amps.

If you can determine the circuit at work is a 20 amp circuit that is not heavily loaded with other equipment you should be ok to change the charging setting to 12 amps. If the circuit is rated for a maximum of 15 amps and there is other equipment drawing power on the circuit, if you try charging at 12 amps this may overload the circuit and the circuit breaker would trip off. If you try the 12 amp setting and the circuit breaker trips move to a different outlet on a different circuit and try again. If there is only one outlet and the breaker trips when you try the 12 amp setting then you will have to make do with the 8 amp setting. Otherwise, if you continue to trip the breaker due to overloading the circuit this might displease the building's management enough that they might rescind your charging privileges. Of course you could always try and sell management on the benefit of installing Level II charging.

 

[Dgcan75]

Thanks. That helped a lot! Any recommendations on a home charger? The Flo G5 or EVDuty were the two recommended to me by the one company I am in contact with.

 

[jcanoe]

Thanks. That helped a lot! Any recommendations on a home charger? The Flo G5 or EVDuty were the two recommended to me by the one company I am in contact with.

I am not familiar with those brands. The EVSE manufacturers that are most discussed/recommended on the Volt forums here include: Clipper Creek (CC), JuiceBox, ChargePoint and Duosida. Chevrolet offers a Level II home charging solution that includes having an electrician come to your home to install the wiring and a Bosch Level II EVSE. If you are installing a 240V 50amp circuit, indoors in a garage, the EVSE does not have to be hard wired and you can ask the electrician install a NEMA 14-50R outlet receptacle. This makes it easy to remove, replace or upgrade the EVSE. I am most familiar with the CC brand. I purchased a CC model LCS-20P. The LCS-20P is recommended by CC for the Volt, it can fully recharge the Volt in 4.5 hours. The CC LCS-20P EVSE can be ordered with the NEMA 14-50 power plug or a number of other standard 240V plug configurations or for hard wiring into an electrical junction box. You can purchase an EVSE that is capable of supplying up to 32 or 40 amps, for future use, but the Volt won't charge any faster than if you use a Level II EVSE such as the CC LCS-20P that can supply up to 16 amps. The higher amperage rated EVSE will cost a bit more, have thicker gauge wiring and charging cord. If you are planning to someday replace or augment your Volt with a fully electric vehicle then it would make sense to purchase one of these higher power EVSE. An EVSE should last up to 10 years, essentially the life of the plug-in vehicle. One reason to wait to buy a higher power EVSE until you actually need the additional power it can provide is that the technology will continue to improve and the cost should come down somewhat. In 2010/11 when the Gen I Volt was released there were fewer EVSE manufacturers, the cost of the EVSE was $1000 or more. Today the cost of the same EVSE is half or less.

Shown above is my CC LCS-20P with NEMA 14-50 plug and receptacle. The NEMA 14-50R is mounted above 48 inches in my garage as per code. The 14-50R receptacle was installed rotated 90 degrees to the left so that the ground terminal pin is facing to the right instead of down (the electrical code does not specify the orientation of the receptacle.) The writing on the NEMA 14-50R junction box is electrician speak intended for the benefit of the county inspector or another electrician. The 50 amp circuit is connected to the basement subpanel (SP) on the other side of the house, via ~70 ft of 4-wire #6 armored cable.

The weatherized outlet to the right is on a 20 amp circuit that is shared with half of my kitchen that is located on the other side of the brick wall. I used this outlet with my Level I EVSE for several months until I could get the 50 amp circuit installed.

 

[an_outsider]

Ontario EVSE program http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/vehicles/electric/electric-vehicle-charging-stations.shtml

Personally, in 2017 I would prefer a "connected" EVSE, c/w at least 30-32A capability and 25' cable length...

One nice feature with ChargePoint and with Flo X5 (not G5) is kind of smart EVSE: you can track your energy usage at home and aggregate your data from recharge you did on the road when using their own EVSE network.

https://www.chargepoint.com/en-ca/products/home/summersale

The Flo X5
https://flo.ca/at-home/single-family/x5
https://flo.ca/at-home/single-family/compare
As seen on X5 " ...Plus, easily add a second unit on the same breaker thanks to our exclusive power sharing technology. "

 

[an_outsider]

...and any suggestions on winter tires.

Way to go: Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2
https://www.nokiantires.com/winter-tires/nokian-hakkapeliitta-r2/

YT https://youtu.be/C72NcBOjvH0