Level 2 Charging for under $20

Discussion in 'Clarity' started by Mowcowbell, May 7, 2019.

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  1. I’ve said before that our need to quick(er) charge would be few and far between.

    But as luck would have it, the day after my N GA install, a case presented itself. We started the day with 51 EV miles and had to do some local running around, which left us at 19 EV miles remaining when we got home. We had about 2 hours before leaving for TN, and plugged in down at our RV pedestal, about 200’ down our driveway...

    upload_2019-7-23_8-2-45.jpeg

    In any case, in the two hours we picked 22 miles of range, going from 19 to 41 EV miles remaining. At least double what we would have seen at 120V. Not a huge deal at today’s gas prices - roughly half of our 90 mile trip is on gas anyway, but still a benefit.

    Glad I did it, and thanks again to all for the inspiration!
     
    MPower, Mowcowbell and MajorAward like this.
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  3. M. Shah

    M. Shah Member

    I already have a GE wattstation in my garage that puts out 30A. I just tried this to see if it works and it does. My current setup is that the Clarity charges on a need basis from the wattstation. I have a Leaf that sits outside the garage and it charges using the L1 charger and a 10 gauge extension. However in Winter I will use the Honda EVSE to charge the Clarity @ level 2 mainly to get the car preheated and the Wattstation for the leaf. Thank you guys for providing a $10 solution for something that would have cost me atleast $200.
     
  4. AveSharia

    AveSharia New Member

    I thought I could live with 12 hour charging, but two weeks with the car and I've already red-necked my suicide cable.

    The biggest heartburn I get from it is that the existing wire between my main panel (60A double-pole breaker) and my garage subpanel is about 50' of 10-3. I wired a dryer outlet in the garage using 6/2 from the subpanel, that way when I upgrade to a 32 amp charger I will only have to pull wire from the main box to the subpanel, and not the whole way. I will have to live with the 240v/12A solution until I finish remodeling the bathroom, or my girlfriend will kill me.

    I cheaped out on my pigtail and got a 10-awg one seeing as there's already 50' of #10 in that sequence. I charged about 30% last night in a little under 2 hours, and everything was cool to the touch.
     
    Last edited: Aug 1, 2019
  5. I’m a bit surprised a time how handy my setup has been. Yesterday I had to run the 95 miles home and take care of some projects. Plugged into 240v I went from 3 miles EV range to 53 miles (full) in about 4 1/2 or 5 hours for the trip back. Like I said, handy.

    And, again, worked seamlessly with zero excess heat or drama.
     
  6. 2002

    2002 Well-Known Member

    Would 6/3 have been much more expensive? I haven't wired my garage yet for 240V, I'm thinking of installing a 14-50 outlet for future proofing since that seems to be becoming popular. But if the EVSE that I wind up purchasing uses say 6-50 then I might install that type of outlet rather than using an adapter, but still run four wire cable to the outlet so that if I later want to change the outlet to 14-50 I won't have to run new wire.
     
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  8. Mowcowbell

    Mowcowbell Well-Known Member

    Just an update on this thread... I'm still using the amazon adapter and it is not getting any hotter than ambient temperature in my garage. I check it each time before and after each use. My Honda OEM EVSE only draws about 10.5amps on 120v, so I'm assuming it is drawing the same amps on 240v. Doing the math, that means I'm drawing ~2520 watts which is well under the 3700 watts max of the adapter.
     
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  9. AveSharia

    AveSharia New Member

    Probably not too much more expensive. I ran the 6/2 based on the NEMA 6-50 plug shown in ChargePoint's plug-in documentation. They make the cheapest Level 2 charger that qualifies for Consumers Energy's rebate. I confess I didn't think about it any more deeply than that.
     
  10. David in TN

    David in TN Well-Known Member

    Ken,
    I completely understand what your intent is behind this; however, I will disagree slightly.

    If there are ashes of your home, they won't find a device saying 120-volt.
    The amperage of the outlet is irrelevant. For example, you plug your cell phone charger into a 20-amp circuit, it doesn't matter. The device only draws what the device is able to draw from the available current. Plugging a 12-amp device into a 50-amp service is the same. It will still only draw 12-amps.

    I slept fine last night with my Clarity charging on 240-volt, 20-amp service. I have had zero issues (after I replaced a cheap plug that melted, and built a proper adapter cord.)

    I have a GFCI that went bad in my garage, where I have a spare fridge. I'll be replacing that outlet this coming weekend. In the meantime, I have the fridge plugging into my dedicated 20-amp 120-volt outlet that I use for my Clarity. Therefore, I'm using a dedicated 240-volt for charging my car until I get the GFCI replaced.

    Everyone has an opinion about this. I respect others opinions. But, for me, this is an acceptable solution that I've been using for a couple of months without an problem.
     
  11. KentuckyKen

    KentuckyKen Well-Known Member

    I am much more sanguine about this now that several have tried it and it’s working without any problems. (I was not worried about the higher Amperage for the reasons you mentioned. I was just concerned about the different voltage.) I was just too chicken to be one of the first to try it. My hat’s off to those brave pioneers that showed the way for the rest of us scaredy-cats. But I still wouldn’t tell my insurance agent neighbor that I am doing this because I have seen insurance companies on more than one occasion search high and low for anything that would invalidate a claim.

    If my Level2 ChargePoint ever has to go in for repairs, I my have to use this trick now that there is ample evidence that it works safely.
    Do I take it that it halves the charging time from 12 hours to 6? What charging times do you see for a depleted battery? Thanks.
     
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  13. Subjectively, it seems to slightly more than double the charging rate. I’d say it goes from about 4 miles per hour of charge to about 10 miles per hour of charge.

    Is that roughly what others are seeing?
     
    KentuckyKen likes this.
  14. 2002

    2002 Well-Known Member

    You are replying to a post that KentuckyKen made on May 7th. He has since been brought over to the dark side :D
     
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  15. KentuckyKen

    KentuckyKen Well-Known Member

    Yes, thanks to those brave pioneers that had the courage to risk bricking their power brick and setting off a weapon of mass destruction, I have drunk the 240V Koolaid and am now a full fledged cult member. It’s now a backup plan if my Level EVSE 2 dies. (Cue up Star Wars Imperial March)
     
    David in TN and 2002 like this.
  16. insightman

    insightman Well-Known Member Subscriber

    I'll believe it when you tell us you have a power-cord adapter.
     
    Terry L Cripe likes this.
  17. KentuckyKen

    KentuckyKen Well-Known Member

    Just waiting on the ol’ ChargePoint to die and even then I admit I’d have to try it out more than a few times before I could go to sleep while it’s charging.
     
  18. Finally got around to purchasing a generator of adequate capacity, and I’m proud to say it opens and closes the hangar door with no muss or fuss!

    [​IMG]

    As an aside, maybe a dozen or so more 240v charges with the stock cable, all to no ill effect.
     
    Robert_Alabama likes this.
  19. Sandroad

    Sandroad Well-Known Member

    Nice genset. Boy, you and Karen have a lot of toys for riding and flying!
     
  20. newbie@EV

    newbie@EV New Member

    All the links to 6-20 male to 5-15 female adaptors are broken...Searched and found they should've never existed?

    I have a 6-20R outlet and don't want DIY a new plug. So best bet is buying a new charger?
     
  21. Did you try searching for a 6-20p to 5-15r adapter?

    They are available on Amazon.
     
  22. insightman

    insightman Well-Known Member Subscriber

    Can you change the outlet? Cheaper than buying a new...EVSE (the actual charger is built into the Clarity).
     

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