I bought the $400 Jekayla 240V/32A 16' charger from Amazon, and we had the electrician install a 40A breaker to an outlet very much like @loomis2. Has been working great for two months (even when I dropped from 51 to 13 EV miles on the gauge it took maybe 80 minutes to recharge. Only issues have been it is tighter to connect than the one from Honda (and I don't think it has anything to do with the "O" ring because it is a tighter fit from first contact) and I wish I had gotten a longer cord (20-25' for a little more convenience - BUT - that could lead to a little more energy transfer loss - who knows). Anyway, it has worked great so far.
Dstrauss, same here. The unit works great, but the fit remains tight. I've given up on the thought that it might loosen with time. Like you, I've also given up on the thought that the O-ring is the culprit. My original thought was that if it was the O-ring, it wouldn't explain why it's difficult to remove too. As you say, it's also tighter at the very beginning of the insertion process. well before the O-ring makes contact. I do wonder if this is true with all of the 240v 32/40A chargers, regardless of manufacturer? If so, I wonder why? It doesn't seem to have any functional reason for why this would be true. My wife certainly wishes this weren't the case.
The ClipperCreek we charged at the hotel a few weeks ago was also a tighter fit than the 110 Honda version... @loomis2 - how's the fit on that Siemens charger?
Maybe the better question is why is the Honda 110 charger so loose - I can see a lot more reasons for a snug fit than the easy one...
I have never had a problem with the fit on either car. The Siemens fits fine, as do the chargers that comes with the cars.
This has been our third PHEV, and all the 120v chargers fit in easily. So it does seem, regardless of manufacturer, the 120s fit easily and the 30A/40A are very snug. In fact we even have a 240v20A charger and that too inserts and removes easily.
The SAE J1772 spec has a withdrawal force minimum. From what I see in a manufacturers table, it increases with current rating. 15 A is 4 lbs force while 21 A and greater is 6 lbs. The differences will depend on the connector manufacturer.
It's going to depend on the manufacturer of the connector. Some may take more care to design to a certain range of force.
The connector from my Bosch EVSE was difficult to insert (into my Volt) when I first got it (four years ago) and I gave it a tiny squirt of silicone lubricant and it's worked fine ever since.
No, it's liquid in a spray can. I've used it to keep weatherstripping from sticking in the past. You'd probably want to cover the electrical contacts to protect them from overspray. Use just a tiny amount.
Not only do you want to cover the electrical contacts, but be sure to unplug it from the wall prior to spraying!