A Closer Look At ChargeBot’s Safety Features.
Committed to making our own landscaping business fully electric we had to solve the challenge of charging first for ourselves. One of the big questions became how we ensure that whatever power solution we install in our shop and on vehicles is safe for our crews and assets. When we designed ChargeBot, safety became a critical consideration. In this post, we’ll look at ChargeBots safety features and how they’ll give you and your crews peace of mind.
High Quality Connectors
We equipped ChargeBot with high quality connectors for the battery, PDU (power distribution unit) and solar array so that you never have to touch copper wire ends or work with screw terminals. Setting up ChargeBot is literally plug & play. All connectors are locking, so that accidental contact with the connector in the tight space of a trailer or van won’t pull it out of place.
Built-In Circuit Breakers
ChargeBot comes with three built-in circuit breakers:
The battery’s circuit breaker turns off all power to the battery’s plus and minus terminals. You can use this breaker to turn off any battery power going to ChargeBot. This breaker will also trip automatically when more than 100 A are drawn from the battery.
The A/C output circuit breaker. This breaker is located behind the small door on the front of ChargeBot. Turning it off will stop any power going to the PDU (power distribution unit). This breaker will also trip automatically when more than 20 A are drawn from any outlet on the PDU. This is particularly useful in case one of the items being charged short circuits.
The solar breaker is next to the A/C breaker. Turning it off will stop any power from the solar array. This breaker will also trip automatically if more than 30 A are received from the solar array.
Battery Safety
We take battery safety particularly seriously.* ChargeBot's battery has been tested and certified to meet IEC 62619:2017 and UL 1973:2022 standards for use in stationary and mobile applications. It has also been tested and certified to meet UN 38.3 standards for the transport of the battery on vehicles.
The battery comes with a built-in, dedicated BMS (battery management system) which protects the battery’s cells from short circuits, overcharging, over-discharging, over-temperature and other potentially dangerous situations.
Grounding Points
ChargeBot, the PDU and the Battery are equipped with grounding posts (marked with ⏚). We recommend that you at least ground ChargeBot to your vehicle's metal frame using the included grounding wire. In case any of your plugged in chargers or equipment shorts with the body of your vehicle, this ground wire will provide a safe path for electricity to flow back to ChargeBot.
Intelligent Power Monitoring
In addition to the hardware features above, ChargeBot constantly monitors the power output via the PDU and intelligently turns off outlets to prevent overloading the system.
These combined features should give you peace of mind that ChargeBot will power all of your equipment safely. Keep in mind that when using ChargeBot it is important to adhere to our User Guide to ensure safe operation.
Questions or comments about going electric? Let us know at hello@sust.pro
Interested in getting your own ChargeBot? Learn more here.
*ChargeBot’s battery uses LiFePo4 chemistry, which has generally been found to be a safe Lithium battery chemistry. Regardless of this, all Lithium batteries can pose a fire risk, especially when used improperly. Please make sure to refer to our user guide for proper usage of the battery.
