Alta Fast charger

Welcome to the Forum, stretch67!

Thank for the info and the link. Most of us here will be needing that adapter soon, as soon as our Rapid chargers arrive.
 
Judaslefourbe said:
Please do NOT purchase this adapter, it will not work. Whichever adapter you choose must not be bridged.
Click to expand...

Does Alta plan on offering an official adapter, or will this strictly be a "It'll work but we can't condone it" type deal charging with the rapid charger off 110v?
 
What you would have to get is a standard 3 prong 120v male plug, the corresponding 240v female plug to match the charger, and a short piece of the appropriate size wire to make a short adapter cord. Alta will have to verify how they want them wired, so hopefully that information will be made available.
 
For safety reasons, I cannot tell you how to wire the adapter, however your electrician should be able to help.
As for providing an adapter, we are working hard on making a 120V cable that you can swap back and forth with the 240V when need be.
And here is the difference between bridged and not bridged.
Capture.JPG
 
I would still like to see a real world stats on the rapid charger. Something along the lines of: the standard charger takes 2 hours, and the rapid takes 1 hour, or whatever the time amounts may be. Without this bit of info, theres no way to justify stepping up to a rapid.
 
WoodsWeapon said:
I would still like to see a real world stats on the rapid charger.
Click to expand...

Here's some charger info I've pieced together using Alta web site info, @ VA calculations, and nameplate data (√) of the standard and fast chargers (I have both):

Alta 3300 Fast Charger: 12A√ (120V, 1,400W), 16A√ (240V, 3,800W)
3.0 / 1.5 hrs charge times (120V / 240V, 5.8 kWh Alta pack)

Alta 2500 Std Charger: 12A√ both voltages (120V, 1,400W & 240V, 2800W)
4.0 / 2.0 hrs charge times (120V / 240V, 5.8 kWh Alta pack)

Ray
 
WoodsWeapon said:
I noticed at 120V you list both chargers at 1,400W, is that correct?
Click to expand...

Yes it is, at least according to the nameplate data. I'd hoped for 14A / 1,700W at 120V, which would still be under the 15A limit of many 120V house circuits - but maybe they wanted to avoid having old and/or GFCI breakers trip out when running near max current.

Ray
 
I've noted that the ground fault sensor/switch is very sensitive and will "trip" when used on many generators. It essentially measures the current going into and out of the charger and if it's not almost identical (possibly indicating a short) it'll trip. Very frustrating as there are typically many parisitic current paths between the generator and charger. Even more surprising is that I've encountered more "tripping" issues with the more expensive inverter generators than the cheaper commercial designs. The only solution I've found is to disconnect the safety ground. I don't like it but so far it's the only way to run my inverter generator!
 
Mark911 said:
I've noted that the ground fault sensor/switch is very sensitive and will "trip" when used on many generators. It essentially measures the current going into and out of the charger and if it's not almost identical (possibly indicating a short) it'll trip.
Click to expand...

If the generator's 240V neutral is being used as the "safety ground" (yikes!) or the SG in the generator output is just a wire connected to the generator chassis, this is to be expected.

Wikipedia: "A ground fault (earth fault) is any failure that allows unintended connection of power circuit conductors with the earth."

A GFCI sensor detects the presence of current flow in the safety-ground conductor (which in a US home ends up connected to earth via a long ground stake at the house power entry point.). But unless your generator has a thick cable from its chassis metal & output safety-ground connection to a stake driven deep into the ground (as my 30kW does), it has no safety ground at all. If its 240V output was designed for the USA it will have a neutral conductor, which is absolutely NOT a generator safety ground and should never be treated as such in generator applications ! A GFCI sensor will see this floating 240V neutral - or any non-staked generator "ground", for that matter - as the nasty non-grounds they are, and a good GFCI should trip almost immediately.

In short, don't sweat the lack of a safety ground, as the vast majority of portable generators don't have one.

Ray
 
Judaslefourbe said:
It is difficult to say. Moreover the issue is compounded by our strong sales (victim of our success?)
We're working hard to catch up is all I can say with confidence.
Sorry for the inconvenience, and thank you for your patience.

Click to expand...

Well I am certainly glad to hear sales are strong. I sorta figured since we were provided with standard chargers that we should be prepared for a wait, I was just curious if there was a time frame yet. Thanks for the reply (y)
 
Its great to hear about the strong sales, hopefully it just continues with no slowing down. I'm sure this is on the back burner, but there was talk a while ago that the SM on board chargers would be able to charge with 240v with a firmware update. Is there any progress on this or update?
 
rtf said:
Its great to hear about the strong sales, hopefully it just continues with no slowing down. I'm sure this is on the back burner, but there was talk a while ago that the SM on board chargers would be able to charge with 240v with a firmware update. Is there any progress on this or update?
Click to expand...
This firmware update has been released. You can go to your dealer to get it done, free of charge.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

J
Alta Motors Redshift Fast Charger 3300 Watts for Sale
Replies
2
Views
1,586
929adam
9
V
DC Chademo fast charger kit for alta and other emoto
Replies
13
Views
4,645
v-proto
V
T
12 adaptors for the Alta “fast charger”
2
Replies
25
Views
12,816
TonyWilliams
T
Back
Top