32A vs 40A charger for Clarity
- Thread starter Ken7
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jdonalds
Well-Known Member
Same here Ken7. It charges so quickly that after arriving home and plugging the power cord into the car we hardly notice before it's ready to go again. Just have lunch, check email, and a few other things and the car is back to 100% charged.
Rajiv Vaidyanathan
Active Member
Yes, it's the Honda app. It works okay - most of the time.
That must be the explanation. It continues to be incredibly cold here and I'm getting frustrated at my inability to see the full potential of my EV in these ridiculous temps. May be time to move!
The heat of the desert will also do some things to EV potential. Nissan Leaf had some real problems early on in the Arizona heat because of the Leaf's air-cooled battery. Range for those drivers really fell (into double digits), and there were some pretty unhappy owners. Battery degradation was a big issue for them. I'm not sure if/how Nissan resolved this, but for awhile there was plenty of hollering among those owners. Their 2018 Leaf redux didn't solve the battery issue - still air-cooled, so at least you don't have one of those!
KentuckyKen
Well-Known Member
Only has my Clarity for 6 days and just got my ChargePoint. I think I have the definitive (hopefully) answer for the folks whose charging handles are hard to insert and remove.
It’s clear that the o-ring is there to seal out moisture and engages toward the end of the insertion travel. This it is not the reason for any initial/halfway hard to insert/remove problems. Greasing the o-ring gave me a slightly easier end of insertion and beginning of removal effort.
But here is what really helped:
I put some dielectric (non-conducting) grease in the holes of the charging handle (first turn off breaker for safety). I did this primarily to protect contacts from corrosion and also to ease insertion/removal effort due to age and old arm injury. And it worked! Much easier that before. Think about it. The electrical contact between handle and car must be a tight friction fit to prevent arcing so it makes sense that it is going to require some kind of effort to mate up. Usually it’s not to bad but I have one public charger that a bear. Unless your handle is out of spec (SAE J1771) this should make it easier on you and keep you from having to remove the o-ring (think lawyers/insurance claim). You can purchase the dielectric grease at auto parts stores and use it on the o-ring as well. Please try this and let us know it it helps more people than just me.
Hope his helps and consider it my thank you for all great info I have found in this forum.
The o-ring on my PriusPHEV EVSE wore out after 4 years and came apart inside the EVSE plug making it impossible to get the thing to plug in. I had to remove the pieces. Still worked, but it was not as tight a fit as before. Someone else's issue now, though. LOL
Wasn't just a standard o-ring one could buy at the corner hardware store - or even at the internets - on the cheap anyway.
Wasn't just a standard o-ring one could buy at the corner hardware store - or even at the internets - on the cheap anyway.
Ken, how did you get the grease in the holes and did you put it in all the holes? I'm wondering if this inhibits, in any way, the current flow.
KentuckyKen
Well-Known Member
Ken7, I used the old Mark I finger and Q tip on the handle holes and the Car male prongs. This does not inhibit current flow at all. I have used this on plug connections under the hood and in accessories I have wired in several cars. The pressure of the male to female blades or in our case, the round male prongs on the car port forced into the female contacts on the handle just forces the grease out of the way wherever there is metal to metal contact.
Our 110v included charger doesn’t have any o-ring that I can see and had very minor friction going in. It has charged O/N just fine w the grease. I primarily greased it for anti-corrosion purposes since it will spend its life in the trunkwell where who knows what the humidity/condensation will be there. It’s my emergency backup and I want it to work if I every need it.
Waiting on electrician to hookup the ChargePoint, but tested handle fit to Car and grease made it easier to insert/remove. Important to me since I have a surgically repaired dominant hand/arm.
So haven’t charged w it yet, but I can say that after greasing and plugging in several times at home and then using a free public charger (Level 2 Aerovironment) that charging seems normal. I think the last charge was 25miles to 48miles in 1 hr 15 min or less. Charger operated normally and got the above range on dash after it shut down.
Next week I will share results from home charging on ChargePoint on 40 amp circuit w 8 gauge NMB wire on about a 20 ft run from breaker box. I’m sure it will be normal.
Of course the grease won’t help if your plug is out of spec from the mold or perhaps has a spruce or seam causing an interference. Hope the folks w hard handle fit checked for this.
Our 110v included charger doesn’t have any o-ring that I can see and had very minor friction going in. It has charged O/N just fine w the grease. I primarily greased it for anti-corrosion purposes since it will spend its life in the trunkwell where who knows what the humidity/condensation will be there. It’s my emergency backup and I want it to work if I every need it.
Waiting on electrician to hookup the ChargePoint, but tested handle fit to Car and grease made it easier to insert/remove. Important to me since I have a surgically repaired dominant hand/arm.
So haven’t charged w it yet, but I can say that after greasing and plugging in several times at home and then using a free public charger (Level 2 Aerovironment) that charging seems normal. I think the last charge was 25miles to 48miles in 1 hr 15 min or less. Charger operated normally and got the above range on dash after it shut down.
Next week I will share results from home charging on ChargePoint on 40 amp circuit w 8 gauge NMB wire on about a 20 ft run from breaker box. I’m sure it will be normal.
Of course the grease won’t help if your plug is out of spec from the mold or perhaps has a spruce or seam causing an interference. Hope the folks w hard handle fit checked for this.
KentuckyKen
Well-Known Member
That was sprue not spruce. Stupid spell check!!!!!!
bruinjacket
New Member
Slightly related question: What is the length of the included 120v charger? Thank you!
HappyValley
New Member
It's at least 15' as mine is plugged into an outlet at the front center of my garage, meaning I need to walk the cord almost the entire length of the car to plug in. It easily reaches and there's still a little slack in the cord.
bruinjacket
New Member
Thank you @HappyValley !
Boston_Pilot
Active Member
Handles 32 amps like a champ.
MrFixit
Well-Known Member
Something is not right. The Clarity will draw ~30A @ 240V (~7.2 kW).
What "meter" are you referring to? Is your Lectron EVSE reporting the charging current or are you using some other external "meter"?
Another simple sanity check... How long does it take for a 'full' charge (from an EV range of zero / 2 bars on the gauge)?
A 'full' charge on Level 2 should take roughly 2 hours. If you are really only charging at 15 amps it will take twice that long, or 4+ hours.
craze1cars
Well-Known Member
Define “meter” and how you are using it to get your readings. I would fully expect a reading of 14-16 amps flowing thru each 120v leg of your 240v circuit.
Added together you’re flowing 28 to 32 amps...
May be simple error in how you are hooking up your meter and/or interpreting the results.
ClarityBill
Active Member
This is not how you measure 32 amps... It should have 32 amps in each of the wires on 240v
Yeah, there are no 120v ‘legs’ because neutral is not used by the EVSE. You can measure current on either L1 or L2 and it will read the same. Do not add the values together.