Making the merry go round faster
Metrel has automated electrical testing, making their equipment far more productive than ordinary testers” said Brendan Beaver, Manager of Metrel UK, the provider of innovative testing solutions. “A good example is the testing of electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), or vehicle chargers.
“Recently a couple of manufacturers have realised that their existing instruments do not test EVSE equipment to the 18th Edition requirements, so have introduced new testers or kits, but they still don’t offer the opportunities for efficiency gains through automation.”
“The competitors’ offerings, unlike the Metrel EVSE adapter, are unable to fully test the charge point functionally, simulating an electrical vehicle connecting to the charger, to confirm that all the contactors, communications and indicators are operating as expected. Or they don’t give access to the complete electrical system for testing items such as breaker function with a multi-function tester without the need to break seals and invalidate warranties.”
“All these functional tests can be recorded in Metrel multi-function testers’ memory for later reporting.”
“A multi-function tester, like the Metrel M3152, must be capable of testing the complete electrical system, including the disconnection time of a breaker operating at 6 mA DC. Equally it needs to be capable of completing a loop test through both a Type A 30 mA AC breaker and the 6 mA DC breaker without tripping either of them; no mean feat. And it can string together tests in an auto-sequence making testing 40% faster.”
“With millions of chargers to be installed, there is plenty of work promised in this area, however, testing and certifying each installation could drown the industry in paperwork; and that’s not mentioning the on-going task of checking that those installed on the side of the carriageways, in all weathers, are safe and unvandalised.”
“That is where a multi-function tester, like the Metrel M3152, scores. Because it’s designed like a computer that can do electrical testing, it is simple to store the results on-board, unlike previous incarnations of downloading test instruments. Chargers serial numbers can be added by hand using the QUERTY key pad or by scanning the barcode with an optional reader. The file and folder structure is very much what the user is accustomed to. The data can then either be sent to a mobile phone for onward transmission to the office, or downloaded into a report without further ado.
The report will not just record on the measured values of the installation but list the functional tests pass or failed status and the test parameters that were used. This makes it easy to repeat the test using the same conditions.
And all this automation actually speeds up testing, and the journey from making the joint to sending the invoicing and getting paid shorter.
To find out more go to http://bit.ly/e-car-test or call us on 01924 245000.
