Table of Contents
5. Power management
Power management settings allow operators to set various aspects of power management functionalities and cluster settings. Settings are available for Power management configuration, to turn the power management on or off and to define if charging station is Master or Slave device. Other settings are Building power limits, Power cluster configuration, Energy prices and Frequency control.
Figure 45: Power management settings
Power Limits at the Location
Building power limits settings allows setting of current limitation for the complete consumption at the location (e.g. included consumption of the consumers of electricity of the household and the consumption of charging station). Charging station current limits are calculated for each phase separately to not exceed the household grid limits or limits of the fuses.
Figure 46: Building power limits settings
It is advisable to set the max current limits to avoid blowing the fuse or triggering other overcurrent device.
Additional security limits can also be set to reduce the maximal current of each phase in the event when the communication with the Load Guard is interrupted.
Load Guard Settings
In the same options menu, it is possible to set the Load Guard device:
IP address
Serial no.
Load Guard Configuration
To configure the Load Guard, software developed by Etrel is used to do this. Download link can be found on the Etrel internet site (https://etrelchargingsolutions.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/Home/pages/258867203/Configuration+software).
After opening the software, it will find all the Load Guards in the same network and display them on the screen as it is shown on the following figure.
Figure 47: Load Guard Configurator
When particular Load Guard is selected, new screen will be shown with configuration options for Load Guard and all the measurement of each phase that Load Guard is currently measuring.
Figure 48: Load Guard Measurements
In case that the device time and actual time are not already synchronized, this can be done by pressing “Sync Device time” button.
Most important setting that may influence the Load Guard data received by the station, is the IP address of the charging station. IP will be set up in the production process, however if the IP of the charging station was changed, it needs to be changed also in the Load Guard software.
Figure 49: Communication status
Also, the Load Guard communication settings can be changed from dynamic IP to static IP address.
Power Cluster Configuration
Power cluster configuration options in the web interface allow you to define which charging stations are parts of the cluster, set IP of the primary and secondary master and set maximal current output if the communication with the cluster master is interrupted.
This is an important setting which can prevent blowing the fuse if the grid limitations change during the time of no communication.
Limitation of cluster currents can be also set on each phase separately.
Figure 50: Power cluster configuration settings
Figure 51: Setting max. cluster currents
Cluster Primary Master
To configure primary master, the option ”Connect this charger to the cluster” needs to be enabled. Write in primary master address or acquire it simply by pressing the “Running on this charger”.
Maximal current in the event of failed communication with master can be set by writting the current value in “Max current output when communication with master fails” field.
After ticking the “Enable cluster service”, all the charging stations that are part of the cluster need to be inserted, including primary and secondary master.
Last option is “Max cluster currents”, which will define limit for all the phases for the whole cluster.
Secondary Master
Secondary master is not mandatory, but it can provide redundancy in the case when primary master loses communication or if there is a fault. Setting up secondary master is almost the same as for the primary master.
Enabling the “Connect this charger to the cluster” and ticking “Enable also secondary master”. Secondary master IP can be acquired by pressing the “Running on this charger”. For the primary master, the primary master local IP needs to be inserted. That address can also be obtained with the button.
Charging Station Part of the Cluster
For all the charging station that are part of the cluster and are not primary or secondary master first the “Connect this charger to the cluster” option needs to be enabled and the address of primary and secondary master inserted (if they are used). Local IP address of the master can be obtained by pressing the “Running on this charger” button.
The value of “Max current output when communication with master fails” should also be inserted.
When configuring charging stations that are part of the cluster, make sure that primary master is live, up and running.
Checking Cluster Configuration
Cluster configuration can be checked with clicking the icon in the top right corner.
Figure 52: Cluster configuration icon
New window will open, showing which charging stations are connected to the cluster and whether they are online.
Figure 53: Charging stations of the cluster
Electrical Energy Prices
In the Energy prices menu, it is possible to define multiple electricity tariffs, which will allow electric vehicle charging using the economic power management. This means that the charging station will be able to charge using the price signal and consequently reduce the cost of charging. When creating the tariff, it is also possible to define prices and times when the tariff is valid.
Figure 54: Energy prices settings
Frequency Control
Etrel Inch Duo charging station is capable helping with the frequency regulation. In the Frequency control menu, the frequency parameters can be set. In case of under frequency the charging power of the charger is lowered, by the value needed and is kept at that value until the frequency is restored to the normal value.
Figure 55: Frequency power management settings