My self assembled Charging Station for the Twizy

Renault Twizy
#1

Being still a novice to Twizy ownership I have followed with great interest the pitfalls of charging/not charging a Twizy regularly and the trouble it can cause if you simply park it up and use it only very occasionally.

Most posters, like me, seem to use their Twizy’s every day so perhaps what I have installed at home is not required. However the image below shows you what I’ve done to ensure the Twizy has 3 hours of charge every day via a timer set at 2am, In addition, I have also fitted a Horstman override switch which can boost charge 2/4/6 hours (if required). If I get home after using the Twizy and intend using it again in an hour or so and need a short charge before the timer kicks in, I simply press the “boost button”.

My only note is that since using the system I can now achieve 100% charge capacity - never been seen before over the last 5 months of ownership. It all seems to work very well but comments would be appreciated if you think that technically this may not be a good idea.

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#2

@K22MDL: Looks smart and neat!
it is strange of course that your Twizy did not get 100% capacity without your sophisticated system. But alas, now everything is fine.

Last week I also got my Horstmann timer in from the UK. I did choose the timer with 2 hours max. As most of the time none of the two Twizys is empty enough to need more than a 2 hour charge. The older of the two Twizys keeps its ventilator running all the time and I want to kill that as soon as possible with the Horstmann timer.
In my house I have installed the Plugwise system. Now I can program the outlet I want. The Twizys are only charged now when the solar panels on the roof deliver enough current.

#3

Ahh!! I thought of that too but of course the Twizy is in use when my solar panels are working so it wouldn’t work for me. The 2 hour booster (2/4/6) was the same price as the 1/2/3 booster so I bought the former.

Anyway, it all works very well so it seems. Just seeing 100% full charge for the very first time impressed me!

#4

That is awesome. Fancy fitting one at my house Martin? Lol :wink:

#5

Good if it works for you, but I really don’t understand your system.

When you plug in the Twizy to the outlet, the only thing you do is to power the build in charger. The build in charger use around 2000W (10A) from the outlet. You can not control the power consumption, no matter what you do, it will use around 2000W, so there is nothing like “boost charge”.

Why not just plugin the car to a normal outlet when you get home and let it charge? Why the timer?

#6

Martin’s system Lets him make use of E7 without having to be there and it simply turns off after max 3 hrs. There is an optional charge ‘me’ now for 2 or 4 hours. A boost if you like. All good stuff.

What it doesn’t do is ensure the full battery balancing process takes place. The period after the car display goes dark but the charger and fans are still running. This ‘over run’ last from a few minutes to several hours but only draws approx 20w.

I have been letting my battery charger shut down on it’s own and it has started to recover the range a little bit. Hard to tell with the warmer weather.

#7

What is E7?
Sorry, I still dont get it. Why not just plug it in and let it charge and balance until it stops?
Why the timer?

#8

E7 = Economy 7 a cheaper Night time rate.

Do you want to wait to 00:00 or 01:00 (depends on time of year) just to plug it in? Martin’s system lets him plug in any time a leave it to charge overnight ready for the morning.

#9

Exactly. And the boost switch (or charge me now) allows me to temporarily override the timer for a predefined period of time and not worry about turning the timer back on again.

Also I have never achieved 100% charge even if I leave it on constantly for a week or even two (when the weather was dreadful), probably because it was over charging and reduced the charge. Since leaving this system connected for over two weeks whilst I was away, the batteries balanced themselves perfectly, so maybe there is an advantage to doing it this way.

#10

Ok, now I get it :smile:
Here in DK it is the same price day and night.

#11

It isn’t just that Jan, it’s also leaving the Twizy plugged in permanently to the AC.

When I did this I could never get 100% showing for charge status. Osbrook also has also found that the Twizy charging system can actually think it is over charging and reduce the charge rate if the Voltage output is more than 250V, or thereabouts. By leaving the Twizy plugged in each and every time I parked up this is what was happening.

The simple timer install deletes this possibility as it is set to charge a max of 3 hours a day. The “boost” is a simple timer-based override switch which I only use if I have been out in the Twizy, depleted the battery and want a simple “boost” before the timer kicks in at 2am. Hope that makes sense!

#12

Alas, you are a tad too far!!! I can list the items I used if anyone is interested?

#13

It makes sence.
I think we have around 230V in the outlet and my twizy allways charge to 100%

Maybe charging via a UPS could solve your problems.

#14

Now that is a good idea!

#15

That is a high output UPS.

#16

A new UPS which can deliver over 2KW is probably going to set you back a bit, but maybe you could find an old one with slightly knackered batteries that would still do the trick in terms of getting the voltage right?

#17

Or just stick with my £60 GBP’s worth of timer and booster switch!

#18

@K22MDL and you, who can think so clear, want a brexit? :slight_smile:

#19

Yeah I mean if it works, it works! I’ve also got mine on an immersion timer with boost function; similar setup but the timer is in the house and the socket is outside.

I’ve never looked to see what percentage it stops charging at though; I’m always asleep when it stops…!

Does anyone know of any hidden dashboard function to show battery charge when it’s not charging?