Portable EVSE Amps over 110v/120v

[jefro]

Most other OEM evse's offer a lower 8A to protect homes that can't handle the higher constant 12A.

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[VTbuckeye]

Most other OEM evse's offer a lower 8A to protect homes that can't handle the higher constant 12A.

My Chevy plugins would default to 8amp on 120v charging. This was set by the car, not the evse. Evse tells car how much it can give, car tells evse how much to deliver. Our other cars will only charge at 12amp on 120v.

 

[SmoothJ]

My Chevy plugins would default to 8amp on 120v charging. This was set by the car, not the evse. Evse tells car how much it can give, car tells evse how much to deliver. Our other cars will only charge at 12amp on 120v.

This is the underlying reason for the question. My wife has a Chevy Bolt and it defaults to 8A unless you change it to 12A. We use it every day since wife does 80 miles per day round trip, and we found that her level 1 works out for her. This is in a IP rated enclosure just to be sure there aren't any issues along with a 10/3 cord.

I do have 2 40A OpenEVSEs in the garage, however wife doesn't feel comfortable driving into the garage. I would love to park in the garage with my truck, but my truck is too high. So at the moment, I am stuck using the Level 1 from FMC.

 

[VTbuckeye]

This is the underlying reason for the question. My wife has a Chevy Bolt and it defaults to 8A unless you change it to 12A. We use it every day since wife does 80 miles per day round trip, and we found that her level 1 works out for her. This is in a IP rated enclosure just to be sure there aren't any issues along with a 10/3 cord.

I do have 2 40A OpenEVSEs in the garage, however wife doesn't feel comfortable driving into the garage. I would love to park in the garage with my truck, but my truck is too high. So at the moment, I am stuck using the Level 1 from FMC.

80 miles per day at 5 miles per kWh (what we got in the summer) would be 16kwh to replace daily at 12amp that would be 11 to 12 hours. At 8amo that would be 17ish hours. In the winter around here that same 80 miles would require 25 to 30kwh which is not replaceable overnight. I understand not wanting to park in the garage. That is why we no longer own the bolt (we have a garage for a reason and in the winter we are going to not park in it).

Is there any way to move your open evse to the edge of the garage so that it can charge the car while parked outside? Our EVSEs are located so that they can reach inside or outside by running the car under the garage door.

 

[SmoothJ]

80 miles per day at 5 miles per kWh (what we got in the summer) would be 16kwh to replace daily at 12amp that would be 11 to 12 hours. At 8amo that would be 17ish hours. In the winter around here that same 80 miles would require 25 to 30kwh which is not replaceable overnight. I understand not wanting to park in the garage. That is why we no longer own the bolt (we have a garage for a reason and in the winter we are going to not park in it).

Is there any way to move your open evse to the edge of the garage so that it can charge the car while parked outside? Our EVSEs are located so that they can reach inside or outside by running the car under the garage door.

In short, yes its possible. However where the 14-50s are installed, it will not reach. I had them installed with the intention that we would charge in the garage (this is going back nearly 2 years ago at this point). So I would need to use a 40A J1772 charging adapter (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07W5TVFSS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1).

I did this before in my last house, but with this new house that we have, its a bit more complicated. For one, we live more in rural area now, and there are a lot more critters that run around at night (ie mice). So I wouldn't want those running around in our garage/house. So I need to keep the bottom of the garage as "tight" as possible to the concrete floor.

I was toying around with putting in a external 14-50R, and then enclose the EVSE like I did before. I just need the time to do it.

 

[Amps]

Charge the Bolt from the truck while the truck charges? Give yyou another 20 feet or so.

 

[FlasherZ]

My Chevy plugins would default to 8amp on 120v charging. This was set by the car, not the evse. Evse tells car how much it can give, car tells evse how much to deliver. Our other cars will only charge at 12amp on 120v.

The EVSE tells the truck how much is available, but the truck doesn't tell the EVSE how much to supply. It just tells the EVSE to turn on by pulling down the pilot signal to +6v from +9v. The truck pulls what it thinks it can use based on the EVSE's signal and the EVSE plays no part in gating that. The truck could ignore the EVSE's indication and try to draw 80A from a household receptacle if it wanted to (resulting in a tripped breaker).

 

[RickLightning]

My observations are that there are some differences in various weather. In my experience with another brand, a car that normally gets 3-4 miles per hour it's plugged in might only get 1 mile per hour of charge in winter because even the 1800W being pumped into the battery isn't enough to keep up with the weather's cooling tendencies. In the summer, I haven't really observed any reduced charging rates with 120V due to needing pack cooling... but I don't live in Phoenix.

You're confusing things.

Charging provides no miles per hour. Charging adds kilowatts to the battery. In cold weather, each kilowatt produces less miles than in warm weather, similar to an ICE truck that gets worse mpg in the winter due to winter gas and cold temps.

It's not reduced charging rates, it's less power output to the ground in usage.

 

[FlasherZ]

You're confusing things.

Charging provides no miles per hour. Charging adds kilowatts to the battery. In cold weather, each kilowatt produces less miles than in warm weather, similar to an ICE truck that gets worse mpg in the winter due to winter gas and cold temps.

It's not reduced charging rates, it's less power output to the ground in usage.

It's a Teslaism. Miles gained per hour of charging based on EPA range. I understand it puts kWh in the battery.

The observation in Tesla cars with 120v is that in winter, you get less kWh into the battery because the battery heater must run occasionally to keep it warm enough to accept a charge.

So yes, in my experience with other vehicles, during winter less energy gets put into the battery per hour vs. summer because the car diverts more to keep the pack warm enough to accept a charge. That's expressed as EPA rated miles per hour of charging but - as you notice - could be represented as how many kWh gets added to the battery.

 

[cvalue13]

So I need to keep the bottom of the garage as "tight" as possible to the concrete floor.

recognizing its not your openly issue, but on the point of passing under the garage door and critters: instead modify a cat door installed several feet off the ground, though which you can simply pass the charger. If, even though feet off the ground, you’re still worried about the car door itself being pushed open by acrobatic critters, (1) notch the plastic to let only the cord pass through while the door is closed, then (2) install a simple toggle latch to secure the car door closed.

 

[beatle]

They actually make hatches for passing an EVSE cord through a garage wall. This guy installed one to solve a similar problem.

https://dougnet.home.blog/2018/09/01/evse-garage-pass-through-instructions/

You can use a 14-50 extension cord if the mobile EVSE doesn't have enough reach, though your J!772 extension cord looks like it could solve the same problem, especially if coupled with one of those hatches for passing the handle side of the extension through (the female side could be permanently installed on the inside). An electrician will hopefully fact-check my post to see if it's a bad idea.

 

[SmoothJ]

They actually make hatches for passing an EVSE cord through a garage wall. This guy installed one to solve a similar problem.

https://dougnet.home.blog/2018/09/01/evse-garage-pass-through-instructions/

You can use a 14-50 extension cord if the mobile EVSE doesn't have enough reach, though your J!772 extension cord looks like it could solve the same problem, especially if coupled with one of those hatches for passing the handle side of the extension through (the female side could be permanently installed on the inside). An electrician will hopefully fact-check my post to see if it's a bad idea.

I thought of doing something like this in our last house, however it never played out. I wish I can do that now, but I would have to go through our cement block foundation, which I am not found of for multiple reasons.

 

[FlasherZ]

They actually make hatches for passing an EVSE cord through a garage wall. This guy installed one to solve a similar problem.

https://dougnet.home.blog/2018/09/01/evse-garage-pass-through-instructions/

You can use a 14-50 extension cord if the mobile EVSE doesn't have enough reach, though your J!772 extension cord looks like it could solve the same problem, especially if coupled with one of those hatches for passing the handle side of the extension through (the female side could be permanently installed on the inside). An electrician will hopefully fact-check my post to see if it's a bad idea.

The code doesn't like extension cords for more permanent installations. The UL listing for many EVSE units specifically state no extension cords. Some EV's detect longer runs on cords and automatically lower charging current by 1/4 or 1/3. That said, many people use them - so...

 

[SmoothJ]

The code doesn't like extension cords for more permanent installations. The UL listing for many EVSE units specifically state no extension cords. Some EV's detect longer runs on cords and automatically lower charging current by 1/4 or 1/3. That said, many people use them - so...

Its frowned upon for multiple reasons, but mainly the wrong gauge wire is used for a particular application. For myself, I need to find a middle ground so I can charge this beast.

 

[jefro]

Sorry, yes, it is either set buy car or in some cases on the evse to limit to 8A and many homes need that setting.

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