Level 1 charging

If I could find a good dual Level 2/Level 1 portable with UL certification I'd likely get it.

 

I’m not sure if this one meets UL. It sort of sidesteps it by saying the connector is standard and that standard is UL. Hm.

BougeRV Level 2 EV Charger Cable (240V, 16A, 25FT) Portable EVSE Electric Vehicle Charging Station (NEMA6-20 with Adapter for NEMA5-15) Compatible with Level 1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KNWPRWJ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_F4B9CN35D9MRFHT35TES?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

If you've got a single outlet on a 120V breaker, and if the wire is correctly sized for 20A, you are in the perfect position to very inexpensively move up to L2 charging.

The electrician will swap the breaker for a two-pole, 240V breaker, use the existing wire (taping to mark each end, to indicate there is now a second hot wire), and swap the outlet to a 6-20. Maybe a $200 job.

Instead of 5MRPH, you'll get 15, enough to completely fill up the SE in 7 hours.

 

I have a few questions about Level 1 charging. First, is the cable that was included with my 2022 SE 15A, rather than 10A? It seems it's 15A from the label and the inscription on the plug.




Because of that, I thought I should set the charge current setting to "Reduced": if the cable is 15A, then reduced should draw 11.25A, which should be safe to use with my 15A outlet. On that setting, the battery charges at about 2% per hour. According to the MINI App, charging from 70%-100% took 15h40min, and used about 13kWh. If this is accurate, then it seems the car is not drawing 11.25A (11.25Ax120V=1.35kW, times 15.66 hours=21.14kWh--do these calculations make sense??).

So, maybe I have a 10A cable? But if so, why do the label and plug show 15A (or am I reading those incorrectly)? If the cable is 10A, then the reduced setting would draw 7.5A, which is 0.9kW. At 15.66 hours, that equals 14.1 kWh, which is closer to the 13kWh that the MINI App is showing.

Is there a way to check exactly how much energy the car is drawing? Am I missing something? I haven't yet tried to change the charge current setting to "Max," out of fear that drawing the full 15A on a 15A outlet (20A breaker) would be too much. Can someone help me figure this out? Thanks!

 

On mine, the cable is rated 15A, but the EVSE is rated 10A. Check the spec plate on the back side of the EVSE.


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Well, I feel stupid. It was right under my nose the whole time! 10A, 1.2kW. You have the same as this, right? I'll go and set the charge current to Max. Thanks so much!

 

Why in the world would they cap it at 10 amps?

 

Because most 120 V outlets in the US are on 15 A circuits (NEMA 5-15R), so a 10 A EVSE is the safest choice. My 2021 SE came with the same Level 1 EVSE.

 

12A is the 80% limit for continuous load. Most cars come with an EVSE that pulls 12A from a NEMA 5-15.

I would argue that those two extra amps are even more important here since the car is so efficient.

Anecdotally, I moved from a 12A to 16A level 1 adapter in my Tesla and the difference was enormous, possibly due to electronics overhead in the car.

 

What's funny is that the default current is the "Low" setting, which is 6A for the 10A EVSE. So, they could have just included a 12A or 15A EVSE, since they could make the "Low" setting safe for anyone to use, and then the owner figures out how much they can increase that. Otherwise, why not just have it set to Max as the default?

Also, I just figured out that what was confusing me is that the manual tells you to look at the "Imprint on the charging cable," which is 15A, not 10A. They could have made that a bit more clear.

 

I assumed 10 A and 15 A were common (read inexpensive) circuit build, and maybe 12 A isn't an easily-built configuration. Yes, 12 A would be the ideal, but in reality we all should have gotten the TurboCord originally promised.

 

The SE is an international car. Maybe 10A works for more markets than 12A? That way they make one EVSE for all markets, and only change the wall plug between them. Just a thought; I am not familiar with electrical standards outside of the US, I just know they differ.

 

That's very true, but in this case the only difference would be the charging cable included with the SE. Which, as you point out, needs to happen anyway due to wall plug differences.

Since we didn't get the mythical TurboCord in North America I can only draw the conclusion that MINI went with an easy-to-get solution that safely works on 15 A circuits, and we ended up with a 10 A cable instead of the more desirable 12 A. That 2-amp difference doesn't seem like much, but it would be about a 20% faster charge.

 

I'm looking for a 2nd level 1 charger as a spare, anyone have any experience with a after market one?

 

Can someone explain this table from the owner's manual? I have the Mini-provided Level I charger pictured by Newkirk above in this thread ("10A max" is printed on the back of the EVSE but 15A is printed on cable). Assuming this means 10A for the "Imprint on the charging cable" in the table below, am I OK with simply choosing Max (10A) as the charge setting? Why would one instead choose "Reduced" or "Low", which I assume will result in slower charging.

Note that my circuit breaker says 20A and there is also a fridge running on the circuit. Tx!!!

 

There's a reasonable chance your circuit will blow with the car and the fridge on it. I have an outlet in our garage that is the same circuit as other random things. It's a house from the 30s so it is in common with parts of the basement and some other outdoor areas and one or two weird offshoots from those. Charging the car trips the circuit breaker when enough stuff in the basement is on with the dehumidifier being the worst culprit. I currently have it plugged into an outdoor circuit via an extension cord that is on the same breaker as our A/C, which isn't going to be used for a while and it's working fine from there. It also charges a little faster from that circuit. It's the 'newest' electical outlet in the house. The one in the garage is very old.

We are getting a Level 2 charger put it, we just haven't been able to get the electrician out to our house yet to do it but we're apparently on the schedule!

 

Does your fridge have a 5-15 (two vertical prongs) or a 5-20 (one vertical / one horizontal prong) plug? If the latter, I would look for another circuit to charge your car. If the former, you should be ok. You may need to go to “reduced” (7.5A) or “low” (6A) if the breaker trips when the fridge compressor comes on.


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If you're using the MINI EVSE, 10 Amps is the most it will deliver (and draw).

As you postulated, there would be no good reason to select a lower setting. Even with a fridge on the 20A circuit, you should be fine, assuming it doesn't pull 10A continuously, which it probably doesn't.

 

I disagree with this as a forgone conclusion. Some older fridges may need a full 20A for startup current (hence my question about the plug type). I would hope that 30A would trip a 20A breaker.

Most modern / reasonably sized fridges will be fine.


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