XC90 T8 Economy 7 charging

[Philip Fisher]

Originally Posted by Rojah

Hi there,

We have had E7 since 1992. In our part of Lancs the switching times for E7 are 10.30pm to 12.30am and the 2.30am to 7.30am.

We run the dishwasher when we go to bed before 11.00pm, and the washing machine when we get up at 6am. We use E7 for hot water system in the summer, as this saves multiple cycling of the gas boiler.

The T8 is charged from 10.30pm till midnight then from 3.00am until fully charged. I do this so that some of my early 4.30/5.00am starts are with a fully charged car.

Now then. The XC90 mains charging system draws 10A (which is adjustable downwards on the standard charging module supplied btw). So a good quality 13A plug (13A fuse), cable and adaptor is fine for my “extension cable” from Garage to driveway where the car resides. I use a 13KW digital timer to control switching. House is on RDC as is the Volvo charging module.

The plugs, cable and timer don’t get even warm, as I have used quality items, and have been using this set up for 30 months on my XC90 and 3 years previously on my plug in Prius.

The world has moved on since some people unplugged appliances at night before they went to bed.

Regards

Rojah

It sounds like you have a good set up for your T8 charging. Good quality cables and proper fusing is always a good idea and people tend to forget this. I tend to make my own extension leads using good quality cable and duraplug accessories. A lot of electrical cables and leads are of poor quality now and after looking at what BandQ had to offer I made my own. I would have no qualms with charging my T8 outside at night.

One point I think you mean a 3kw timer not a 13kw timer.

However I am not sure I agree that things have moved on a lot since people unplugged the tele at night. What I think has happened is people have become more relaxed and started to forget about electrical and fire safety. We also have a lot equipment made in the far east. Some is fantastic quality and subject to decent QC checks on arrival in the UK. Some is not. Everything is made to a price in some way or another and sometimes these cheaper materials cause new issues - Which? is currently having a big push on the fire risk from plastic backed freezers.

Not so long ago there was a nightime house fire in Sheffield which killed a family of 5. The cause was a faulty mobile phone charger.

Grenfell tower was a tragic and complicated incident, but the initial fire was caused by a fridgefreezer. Now nobody is going to unplug the fridgefreezer at night, but it highlights that white goods do present a risk of fire. Let us also not forget the Whirlpool tumble dryer debacle which continues to run on.

So from my side I switch off most things at night. I have good smoke and CO alarms. I only have original Samsung Chargers and I an updated 17th edition consumer unit. I dont charge my mobile overnight, dont do the washing overnight or run the dishwasher.

Essentially I believe that reducing the amount of items running over night is a sensible and pagmatic way of reducing the risk of a house fire at night. And fire when you are asleep is a lot more likely to be fatal.

[Rojah]

Sorry Philip, you are quite right, a typo. I use a 3Kw digital timer