Water resistant charger

I'm a big fan of the Grizzl-E, which I have. It's well-built and designed for winter conditions. I got it based on @Tom Moloughney's ultimate review. There is now a smart version of the Grizzl-E, but I don't know how well it works.

 

Honestly, to my dismay, the “smart” version isn’t worth the fifty bucks extra I paid for it. OOTB it only works with the ChargeLab app, and that is frankly crap. You get just as much info from the MINI app, and the ChargeLab app doesn’t let you control the charge or even give notification. I have yet to find any other app that works with it — ie there are no other “open” OCPP 1.6 apps. I’m sure I could get something to do what I want, but that’s more work than I’m willing to take on right now, and… the EVSE is supposed to be smart for me; I shouldn’t have to be smart for it.

 

The supplied charger comes with 5-15 and 14-50 adaptors, so it can do both 1 and 2 on the right outlets.
I'd recommend getting a hard wired wall EVSE for 230 charging. With hardwired, you save on a GFCI breaker in your panel.
The portable ones don't really look suitable for leaving out in perpetual damp. A mini shed over the outlets with space for a a charger seems like a very prudent idea in your situation.1' wide, 2' tall, 6" deep would do it, roof sealed to the wall. I wouldn't want one being rained on regularly. I have mine in a car port, but still went for a weather proof EVSE. When I wired it, I also pulled a 110/230 20A set of wires to a weather proof 5-20 + 6-20 outlet. Those two share a GFCI breaker. That means I can also use my Tesla UMC2 at 3.8kW if my wall charger ever has an issue, or I have an EVisitor! A weatherproof 14-50 outlet of course makes swapping EVSEs easy. I went for a 48A wall EVSE for a couple of reasons.

1. I might get a car that can take more than 32A,
2. I might get a 2nd EV and want a 2nd wall EVSE. Some wall EVSEs can share a power cable...

The portable chargers dangle from the short power cord, looks ripe for getting filled with water if they have swappable cords, like the stock BMW and Tesla ones do...

 

How cold are your winters and how long is your wire run from the outdoor 14-50R to your main panel? I'm assuming it's a main panel in the garage?

 

I think charging off 120 should suit you just fine, to be honest. I offered my Flexible Fast Charger to our next door neighbors driving a Lexus NX450h+ (basically a HiHy Prime) and they graciously turned me down because for their needs they just charge on 120 for a few hours every few days as needed. They’ve used one tank of premium in the five months they’ve owned it.

 

You are giving a best advice for charging EV for all owners of EV on this forum they shouldn’t Google anymore just take your advice bc you very knowledgeable I’m charging SE on double 20 amps circles brakes 40 AMPs for 7 years I3 and SE for 10 months and I’m doing good with Cripper Creek charger 32 AMP s

 

Everyone's use case is a bit different. A data point is when I visit my daughter, a 60 mile highway trip, I plug the Mini's charger into one of her 120v outlets and it takes 30 hours to fully charge. On the return, it takes 3 hours more or less with my 230v EVSE.

At one time echargers ran a portal that had a lot of promise. I liked the charge history graphs and that the energy use reported was what was actually pulled from the outlet. But they abandoned the portal and contracted with chargelab, which offers a crappy app. Its useful if you install charging stations as a business as it provides the services to collect money. I think Grizzl-E support still recommends not activating the wifi for best performance, unless you need a firmware update.

Last I heard the smart Grizzl-E is not completely OCPP 1.6 compliant and open source apps can't connect to it.

 

My Clipper Creek HCS-50, 40A, L2 EVSE, 240V, w/25 ft cable has been flawless!

 

I am completely comfortable unplugging my EVSE after charging, and storing it separately in the garage (the garage is not connected to the house, and running a 240 line to the garage would have been prohibitively expensive). Best of both worlds. I can charge in the driveway, the outlet is safe from snow and rain, and the EVSE and cable are protected.

 

Running a Juicebox outside in the rain and sun for over 2 years. NEMA 4X rated. Cable was accidentally submerged in standing water many times. No problems whatsoever.

 

The Goodwill locations in my area use ClipperCreek outdoor installations, that's likely another good choice.

 

I plugged in an hour ago after a spirited drive into town and back dropped my SOC from 78 to 49%, just in case I need to run around tomorrow, and this is all the dumb ChargeLab app shows:

 

I cannot comment on all of the electrical specs. You might want to check out the “State of Charge” YouTube channel. He has a lot of great videos on charging the MINI specifically as well as reviews on different charging stations and charging adapters. Lastly, we chose the JuiceBox 48 hardwired. It’s rated NEMA 4 for weather. (Our concerns were water/snow and less temperature.) While the amperage is higher than we needed, we chose to “plan ahead” for future EV purchases.


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I think the iPad app provides a few more details, but not enough to matter. Last I checked it did provide a running total kWh charged. The charge tab has charging history. The map shows a couple chargelab chargers in the area, 7.7 kW at $1.50 an hour. If you add a payment method to your account you can use them via the app. A bunch of chargers in the Toronto area.

It looks like your personal charger becomes part of the chargelab network. Only the public chargers and the ones you own are listed.

 

Thanks, I’ll try it on an iPad. I don’t have a cellular-enabled one anymore, it’ll be good to know it’s not as bad as what I’ve got now. I can’t believe I have to hardware hack my “smart” charger if I want to integrate it into my home automation system.

 

I can confirm as an owner of the Grizzl-E Smart that it is not OCPP 1.6 compliant - check out this thread here for a lot of the details:

https://github.com/lbbrhzn/ocpp/issues/442

Short version is don't buy this attempting to use any of the smart features.

 

Lol, yeah, I read that entire thread about a week after getting my Grizzl-E Smart plugged in and realizing it was a dumb charger with an even dumber app. I’ve resigned myself to considering it $50 wasted, and will use the MINI app for information, and a minor hardware hack using Zwave to enable “smart” control of the EVSE for my needs.

 

I personally have a 32A JuiceBox installed outside my garage. It has been through several Syracuse winters which sound similar to your climate (typically teens to 20s in mid winter but occasionally dropping below zero, to -20 or so. Lots of snow!)

The JuiceBox is plugged into a NEMA 14-50 outlet and exposed to all weather. It still works great - I’ve had no problems with it.


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