evse recommendations?

Do you have the MINI set to charge immediately, or is it set for low cost charging? It's possible it could be set for low cost and you're outside the charge window, maybe.

 

Mine is set to low cost charging, the light sequence is:
blue steady -> plug in car -> flashing blue -> flashing green for a couple of seconds -> solid green -> back to flashing green when in charging window

The flashing blue means that the vehicle is identified but not connected yet

 

I did a firmware update and it works fine now.

 

My Grizzl-e has been working flawlessly but acharger.ca charging reports have been missing since 1 July. I noticed that the update firmware button was active, so I thought I'd give that a shot. Status report indicated that it updated successfully, but now I'm in the car detected but not charging loop mentioned earlier.... So beware. FW version is now reported as 05.41. Not sure, off hand, what it was previously.

FYI, the Grizzl-e smart charger has these status lights:

 

FYI, Clearing the acharger.ca charging profile fixed this issue.

 

How are you accessing acharger.ca? No matter what browser I use, once I put in my login info it clears the boxes and does nothing. I've literally never seen past the front page.

 

I've been using Safari.... but login is not as user friendly as you may be used to. For me, when it refreshes with empty boxes it means it rejected my log in. I fat fingered either my user name or password or both but it doesn't tell me there is an error, just clears the boxes. It may be because of the blockers I run, dunno. You did sign up, right?

I think both username and password are case sensitive.

 

I followed this video and mounted it in between my garage doors. I love it, because it gets the bulky cord out of the way.


It did cost more as the electrician spent more time and money putting a conduit along the garage wall and between the door, but it worked great!

 

This info/question is a repeat of what I said in my own thread about public charging pricing, but thought it really fits better here.

I checked my home 240v plug in the garage and it is a NEMA 14-30R with a 30A breaker in the box. My welder's plug is shown, then the socket itself.



This seems to maybe be an uncommon plug type? I know the current draw is limited by the breaker and that size is limited by the wire size installed. I could pretty easily shut down the outlet and check the wire size, I think. Someone commented that the circuit might be an "intermittent use" circuit since it was used for a welder, but I highly doubt that as the home builder installed it when we ordered it without any stated purpose. That would not have been safe or to code, I would think. Is this really something I need to worry about...if the circuit can really handle 24A steady draw?

I'd like to kind of future-proof buying a "better" EVSE, even if my current outlet and it's rating can't fully use it. I like the Chargepoint, I think, but they come designed for 40A and 50A service:

"Plug-in installation with NEMA 6-50 or 14-50 outlet (14-50 currently selected) requires circuits rated 40A or 50A. "

Since the EVSE and car can only use what the outlet gives it, why couldn't you use a 30A outlet and and adapter to use the Chargepoint with my 30A circuit (https://www.amazon.com/ONETAK-Welding-Charger-Connector-Connecter/dp/B07P6THKWB/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=240v+plug+adapter+male+14-30&qid=1629424409&sr=8-6)? Or replace the outlet with a 14-50, keeping the 30A wire and breaker? Obviously I would need to be able to limit the EVSE to a max draw of 24A on this circuit. The Grizzl-e can be set to limit max draw to 24A and I presume the Chargepoint can, too.

Is this a reasonable and safe option for using my existing circuit? I know I could go with something like the Max Green 16A unit that even comes with the right cord for my 14-30R outlet, but that would be "losing" 8A of capability.

My outlet is also about midway up the wall on one side in my garage. I measured it to be about 12 feet in from the door, so I think the 23-25 foot cable length will work while my Mini has to live in the driveway. Is it OK generally to pass the cable under a garage door with an electric opener?

Thanks for any help in planning my charging while I'm waiting for my Mini to be built (probably another 2 months to go...order accepted, but not yet scheduled).

Rob

 

NEMA 14-30 is a common plug, NEMA 14 is four-wire (hot, hot, neutral, ground). I do think the smart approach is to limit the EVSE to the max amperage of 24 A, that way nobody can draw too much and the car can be left at max setting.

 

Ok so first, the intermittent use:
Continuous use is defined as a load that runs for longer than 3 hours without interruption. Most electrical loads are "intermittent" or non-continuous. Generally, the wire and breaker are selected for non-continuous use so you can only "safely" use 80% of the number on the breaker.

For example: I wanted my 14-50 outlet to support a 42A EVSE so I used wire rated for 50A and installed a 50A breaker.

For the charge point on the 30A breaker:
So the problem with this is that you can't guarantee that the charge point won't accidentally draw 40A or 50A (maybe software glitch, maybe someone charges a different car and doesn't know?). The 30A plug is just its maximum rating, it won't actually limit anything. If you draw over 30A you'll trip the breaker but that's less than ideal. If you draw 29A everything will work but the wire and other components can get hot which is dangerous.

The Grizzl-e is acceptable specifically because it has physical switches to change the amperage limit. Any other EVSE that has a physical way to limit current is acceptable, any software based limits are not acceptable (per code at least).

If you're not aware and are in the US, you can get a tax credit for 30% of the cost of the EVSE install up to $1000 (until the end of 2021) so now is a good time to get a dedicated EVSE circuit installed.

For the garage door:
I think a lot of people end up doing this? I don't know if there are any rules but I would personally make some sort of protective "bridge" for the cable so the door can't accidentally crush it (kinda like an upside down U)

 

Sorry...meant that the 14-30 is not common on EVSEs. Is it OK to buy the Chargepoint or Grizzl-e w/ the 14-50 plug and use a heavy-duty, high quality adapter for my 14-30 and call it good?

Rob

 

Something I mentioned in another post but not here is that my panel is physically maxed out with breakers. I would need to remove something or somethings to ADD a circuit. And I don't plan to stay here more than a few years (17 years already...bought it new in 2004).

Rob

 

The easiest answer is to swap the plug and get an EVSE that can limit to 24A. With the small battery in the SE that's more than fast enough for home charging

 

Assuming you physically dial down your "future-proof" 50A connector to 24A, and assuming you put a big warning tag on the adapter that lets you plug your connector's male 14-50 into your wall's 14-30R (or other 30A outlet you might choose to install there), I think that would be safe and fine.

 

Other than the Grizzl-e, are there other high-quality EVSEs on the market that also use a physical setting to limit current draw?

I've been doing some research on the SMART version of the Grizz and it seems that "smart" features are not really well implemented on it. Yet? Anyone here have one of the new Grizzl-e Smart units that can comment on this? If I go for the Grizz, would it be worth the extra $80 to get the Smart version just for future implementations and improvements? My power company doesn't do time based billing, so that isn't needed. What I was looking for was additional data about charging and consumption plus I'd like to be able to maybe tell it to shut off at 80 or 85% of charge. Stuff like that.

Thanks.

rob

 

The Charpepoint Home Flex has part of what you would want, but it's all set in an app rather than a physical setting:

• You can set a start and stop time for charging, with separate weekday and weekend schedules
• You can set the breaker amperage
• It has reports that show charging sessions individually (miles added, hours charged, and cost) by month, as well as total monthly breakdowns by cost, energy, and distance

I've been running mine only since April, but it has been rock solid. Have never had to reboot it.

 

I think I am going to go ahead with the Grizzl-e Smart charging station. They say in their FAQ that they are making their own app the will add the type of data collection I would like to see:


Are you developing a mobile app for the Grizzl-E Smart to see usage, dollars saved over gas, and charging current?

Yes we are developing our own proprietary United Chargers portal (acharger.ca) that will be available for both desktop and mobile applications. The portal is online now with limited functionality will continue further development throughout 2021. ChargeLab and AmpUp are also also developing home usage apps, as this is now becoming a trend. So I think there will be dozens of apps by the end of 2021 which Grizzl-E Smart can use.

 

I have a Grizzl-e Smart as at the time I was ordering the base unit was out of stock and the smart was a $40 premium. I'm glad I did. Its a solid unit. They offer the web page portal where currently you can monitor the charger(s) status, update firmware, generate charging history reports (charging current and kw graph over time), and set profiles (block out certain times). They have been slowly adding features. The app always seems to be a month away, but the Grizzl-e is compatible with the standards, so compatible with any app... I don't know of any apps short of the paid ones fleet owners and providers use.

The mini app itself, when it works, currently reports session usage and $ based on the electricity cost you enter. You'd have to do the math to compare with an ICE.

 

Hmm, I don’t see a clear recommendation from the group on brand/model for EVSE. There seem to be 3 mentioned the most, Grizzl-E (smart or regular), ChargePoint and JuiceBox. Can I ask you to submit a response on your setup and satisfaction level for each of these? Looking to install on a 40Amp breaker (wiring and breaker already exist). While a smart EVSE sounds good, since the Mini can schedule charging it is not mandatory. I had kind of settled on JuiceBox until reading through this thread and it seems to be in the minority…