EV ACCESSORY BATTERY CHARGER (DC-DC CONVERTER) COMPARISON
All information is a snapshot taken in September 2009 and is subject to change without being updated here. Issues highlighted in yellow or red. Sorted from left to right by popularity on EV Discussion List Photo Album per www.evalbum.com/dcdcr. Updated 9/11/09.
| Parameter | Comment | DCDC Converters: | ||||||||||||
| Make | Iota | Sevcon | Vicor | Astrodyne | Curtis | Zivan | Azure Dynamics | Kelly | Brusa | MES | Electric Conversions | |||
| Number of users on EVDL | 164 | 90 | 76 | 54 | 44 | 39 | 34 | 27 | 12 | 2 | 0 | |||
| DC Input Voltage | 130 to 190 | 28.8 to 60 for 622-11071/11084, 57.6 to 100 for 622-11075/11086 | 66 to 160 | 120 to 175 or 234 to 350 via switch for AS series, 120 to 350 for PSP and SP series | 24 to 96 nominal | 70 to 160 or 100 to 200 | 200 to 400 | 56 to 200 | 67 to 250 | 100 to 400 | 84 to 120 or 96 to 144 | |||
| Isolated | Isolation provides single fault tolerance against electric shock. | ? | yes | yes | yes | yes | ? | ? | yes | yes | yes | ? | ||
| Output Overcurrent Protection | Supplies maximum continuous current or current foldback in the event of excessive current draw including a short circuit. | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | ? | ? | yes | yes | yes | ? | ||
| Output Voltage | approximately 13.5V required to keep backup accessory battery charged on float to run headlights and battery and vehicle management systems in the event of a DCDC converter failure for safety. | 13.6 | 13.4 | 13.8 | 13.5 | 13.5 | 14 | 13.5 | 13.5 | 13.8 | 14.5 | 13.6 | ||
| Overtemperature protection | Cuts back output current in the event of excess temperature detected in the power stage to protect the charger. | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | ? | yes | yes | ? | yes | ? | ||
| Radio Frequency Interference regulatory compliance | Will not interfere with wireles equipment such as radios and cell phones; covered by FCC or CE. | ? | yes, CE | yes, CE | yes, CE | yes, CE | yes, CE | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||
| Models | DLS-15 DLS-30 DLS-45 DLS-55 DLS-75 DLS-90 | 622-11071 622-11075 622-11084 622-11086 | VE-JTPEW | AS150-13.5 AS320-13.5 PSP500-13.5 PSP600-13.5 PSP1000-13.5 PSP1500-13.5 SP75-13.5 SP100-13.5 SP150-13.5 SP200-13.5 SP320-13.5 SP500-13.5 | 1400E series 1410E series | 70 to 160 in/50A out 100 to 200 in/60A out | DCDC750BC12 | HWZ Series | DCDC600/xx/14 | 400-1000 | 84 to 120 or 96 to 144 volts input | |||
| Continuous Output Power, Watts | 300W for car with minimum accessories; less for bike | 200 for DLS-15 400 for DLS-30 600 for DLS-45 750 for DLS-55 1000 for DLS-75 1200 for DLS-90 | 180 for 622-11071/11075, 300 for 622-11084/11086 | 100 | 75 to 1500 | 200 or 300 | 700 or 840 | 750 | 337 | 600 | 1000 | 400 | ||
| Price | $149 for DLS-15 $159 for DLS-30 $179 for DLS-45 $199 for DLS-55 $289 for DLS-75 $329 for DLS-90 | $225 for 622-11086 from EV Parts | $226 from EV Parts | $80 to $826, direct | $410 for 1400E 72/96 model 1201 from KTA Services | $525 for both from KTA Services | $1,580 from Electro Automotive | $189 from Cloud Electric | $946 from Metric Mind | $1,604 from Metric Mind | $275 from KTA Services | |||
| Cost performance, $/W | $0.27 for DLS-90 | $0.75 | $2.26 | $0.55 for PSP1500-13.5 | $1.37 | $0.62 | $2.11 | $0.56 | $1.58 | $1.60 | $0.69 | |||
| Sealed | More reliable long term in automotive environment if heat dissipation adequate. | no | yes | yes | no | yes | no | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | ||
| Cooling method | forced air | passive | passive | forced air | passive | forced air | forced air | passive | passive | forced air | passive | |||
| Operating temperature range, degrees C | 0 to 40 | -30 to 55 | -10 to 100 | 0 to 60 for PSP series, -10 to 60 for AS and SP series except -20 to 65 for SP320-13.5 and -10 to 50 for SP500-13.5 | -30 to 55 | ? | -25 to 85 | -10 to 40 | ? | 50 max | ? | |||
| Dimensions, inches (model) | 9.7x6.7x3.4 for DLS-15/30/45/55, 13x6.5x3.4 for DLS-75/90 | 7.5x2.9x1.7 | 2.6x2.5x0.7 | up to 11x5.1x7.5 for PSP1500-13.5 | 7.0x5.7x3.0 | ? | 13.0x4.3x7.4 | 6.8x4.8x2.6 | 9.1x5.0x3.5 | 11.6x6.1x5.2 | 7.9x5.5x2.7 | |||
| Weight, pounds | 5 for DLS-15/30/45/55, 7.8 for DLS-75/90 | ? | 0.3 | up to 15.2 for PSP1500-13.5 | 4 | ? | 6.8 | 5.5 | 6.0 | 8.8 | 4.8 | |||
| Distributors: Canadian EVs | Errington, BC | |||||||||||||
| Cloud Electric | Clarkesville, GA | yes | yes | yes | ||||||||||
| Electro Automotive | Felton, CA | yes | ||||||||||||
| EV Parts | Sequim, WA | yes | yes | yes | ||||||||||
| EVs of America | Wolfeboro, NH | |||||||||||||
| EV Source | Logan, UT | yes | ||||||||||||
| KTA Services | Ramona, CA | yes | yes | yes | ||||||||||
| Metric Mind | Happy Valley, OR | yes | yes | |||||||||||
| Thunderstruck Motors | Sebastopol, CA | yes |
Note: Total DCDC converters listed on EVDL is 827. Top 10 make up 630 or 76% of total. 8 of the top 10 are shown above. Todd and DC Power Systems are also popular DCDC converters with 71 and 31 users respectively, but they appear to be no longer available hence they are not included above. Other unpopular DCDC converters sold by distributors above that did not present adequate information were not added.
If you have any corrections, questions, updates or additions to the information on this page, please contact the NBEAA per information posted on www.nbeaa.org.