Browsing the Lidl weekly catalog (as one does) I noticed they’ve a charger for sale. I’ve got a 11/22kW charger on the garage wall (car can only take 11kW) but I usually park up the garden in the abri, so I’ve been using the “charger” that came with the car, plugged into a normal socket in the abri. Since we don’t do a high daily milage the 2.7kW (or whatever) that delivers is actually sufficient. But I think the car charger trailing from the plug to the charging port looks untidy and I don’t like leaving it lying around with the front gates open when we’re out and about. If it was nicked I think it could be expensive to replace. So, I think I might buy a Lidl borne and stick it on the wall in the abri.
Now the question is, do I have enough umph in the abri to drive it? Years ago I had a very (hopefully) professional (and pricy) crowd run the power from my three phase mainboard to the abri. All that’s up there are four LED lights, two on the gate posts and two in the abri, two power points and the electric gates, which are only 12v anyway.
These are the cables that supply it. The top one is 10mm and the two bottom ones 8mm.
Would installing the 11kV (€349) version of the borne work or would it blow me up? There’s a load balancer ensuring the garage one doesn’t hog our supply, would I need the same for the abri, I think it was pricey.
Without knowing more about those cables you’ve shown I can’t say one way or another.
Your measurements don’t mean much e.g. there is no such thing as 8mm², so I think you might have measured the diameter of the exterior. If you can have a closer look those cables should have some proper specifications printed or moulded on them.
I can confirm that the one shown with yellow print will have 2,5mm² conductors in it, but I need the other info to know if it’s 3G2,5 (i.e. monophasé - phase, neutre + terre) or 5G2,5 (i.e. triphasé - 3 x phase, neutre + terre).
The bigger cable may well be triphasé, feeding a distribution board, the smaller ones may be gate power & exterior lights.
On another tack, I’d need to see more info about those devices before parting with my money. They’re a tad too cheap, but I guess that’s partly to do with lack of connectivity.
That would be the minimum size for a monophasé 7kW capable charge controller. A longer run may dictate bigger to avoid volt drop.
Classic loose connection overheating problem. Simply bad workpersonship - look at the sloppily stripped conductors entering the phase block - lots of exposed copper
EDIT: That picture implies to me that the main supply has been split up in a joint box in order to feed multiple locations (sub-boards?). Such a thing should be done inside the main tableau, via suitable disjoncteurs. My hunch is based on seeing exactly this too many times…
Torque screwdrivers are regulation over in the UK, fire investigation guys check tightness of the connections should it be thought the fire started at the consumer unit.
Good to know, but it still doesn’t stop lack of attention. ENEDIS use them on their side of things, but there were a number of Linky fires caused by sloppy/rushed installers in the early days of the changeover, before they weeded out the bad ones.
Hmm…
If you can show me the ends of the cables e.g. where they are stripped & are connected to something I might be able to make a more educated guess.
Did your expensive contractor run triphasé to the abri, or just mono?
P.S. my LEAF locks the charging lead to the car, so it can’t be nicked. Yours may do the same & thus allay your fears slightly.
