Due to the massive demand and increase for vehicle charging points, I decided to expand my EVSE testing capabilities by investing in some new equipment prior to a road trip to Scotland, which involved commissioning over 80 new EVSE charger points. I already owned and had experience of some of the other EVSE testing units on the market, but decided to give this latest launch from Test Instrument Solutions a go – with the added advantage of having a demonstration and hands-on training right on my doorstep! The thing that stood out for me initially was the clear separate capabilities of both the TIS MFTPRO and the EVTEST-100 in their own right.
So much so that the actual MFTPRO was ‘snaffled’ by one of my colleagues to perform some industrial/commercial testing unrelated to EV! However when using the two pieces of equipment together with the interconnecting communication lead, the job of testing EVSEs couldn’t be more straightforward and comprehensive. The ‘AUTO EVSE’ mode leaves no stone unturned and makes sure that every parameter of the EVSE is tested and results recorded. TIS has really used the full colour touch screen to its advantage for these new testing procedures, providing flashing and different coloured information as well as on-screen diagrams for when settings and connections need to be changed for the next measurements.
For ‘Status’ checks you also don't have to rely on hearing the contactor ‘clunk’ in or out – the MFTPRO will actually measure whether or not voltage and current is being delivered in the event of an earth fault or electrical fault on the vehicle. One other big advantage with this system in comparison to others I've used is the utilisation of the ‘Ramp Test’ feature when it comes to checking the 30mA A Type and the 6mA B Type RCDs. Using this feature means that only the RCDs within the EVSE will be caused to trip and not other protective devices ‘upstream’. Other time saving elements that I also found to be useful on-site included the ability to carry out P-N, P-E, PSC and PFC Loop Tests with one connection and key press, plus a similar system for checking the I/R values.
The two units can be used separately and in conjunction with other manufacturer’s instruments, but the icing on the cake when used together is that all of the results are stored and can then be downloaded to the accompanying software. This is a massive advantage as the roll-out of EVSE charging points gathers pace. As an added bonus too, if you want to leave a manual certificate of the EVSE results on-site, then there is the comprehensive TIS1908 EVSE Test Report self duplicating pad available as an optional extra.
