Level 1 Charger - does it work on 240v?

[Pushmi-Pullyu]

My guess is you were misinformed. Unless maybe they wired the circuit so that the outlet could later be converted to 240V. Or maybe it's a 20 amp 120V circuit and whoever passed this information on to you just got confused?

That very likely is correct. The physical differences in plugs and outlets are designed to make it impossible to plug a 120 volt appliance into a 240 volt outlet.

a typical U.S. 240 volt outlet

No responsible person would wire a 120 volt outlet to a 240 volt circuit. Talk about an electrical fire hazard!

​

 

[JCA]

My house is 8 years old and the builder put a "240v vehicle charger" socket in the garage. But it looks exactly as the other socket. I.e. NEMA 5-15 plug.

Is there such a thing of NEMA 5-15 plug at 240V? If so, this may be a plus for me. I am very tempering to just plug in the level 1 charger into that outlet.

That very likely is correct. The physical differences in plugs and outlets are designed to make it impossible to plug a 120 volt appliance into a 240 volt outlet.

a typical U.S. 240 volt outlet

No responsible person would wire a 120 volt outlet to a 240 volt circuit. Talk about an electrical fire hazard!

​

Is it possibly a NEMA 6-20 or 6-15 outlet? Both are 240V and look closer to the 120V 5-15:
View media item 347
It's also possible they ran a 240V 4-wire circuit wire, but connected a 5-15 outlet to just one leg for 120V now, and you could change to a 240V outlet in the future. Thomasz, if you post a picture of both the outlet and the circuit breaker involved, we can give more insight.

 

[Pushmi-Pullyu]

Is it possibly a NEMA 6-20 or 6-15 outlet? Both are 240V and look closer to the 120V 5-15:

I was surprised to see how many different types of 240 v outlets there are, with different slot/hole arrangements, when I used Google images to find the photo I posted above. Certainly you can find outlet types which more closely resemble a 120 v outlet, but none of them are going to fit a 120v plug. At least, I hope not!

​

 

[sniwallof]

My house is 8 years old and the builder put a "240v vehicle charger" socket in the garage. But it looks exactly as the other socket. I.e. NEMA 5-15 plug.

Is there such a thing of NEMA 5-15 plug at 240V? If so, this may be a plus for me. I am very tempering to just plug in the level 1 charger into that outlet.

Please post a snap shot of both the receptacle in the wall (the wall socket) and the related circuit breaker(s) in your electrical panel. It will probably show in the picture, but also tell us the breaker rating in A on the tip of the breaker handle.

If it looks like a regular 120V outlet (i.e. like any regular 120V plug would fit), they were probably telling you (as mentioned earlier) that it is a "beefed up" or more robust 120V AC outlet for 20A. That would make the most sense, because many EV owners have had some problems with overheating plugs and/or wall sockets (for any number of reasons) with the regular L1 charge cord plugged into a 120V home / garage outlet.

120V outlets have a longer vertical slot (neutral, voltage close to ground) and a shorter vertical slot (hot, 120 V AC measured to neutral). One indication of a 20A 120V AC outlet would be a small horizontal slot perpendicular to and part of the slightly longer slot (looks like a horizontal "T"). If that is the case, you will probably find a single pole breaker (one handle), probably 20A in the circuit breaker box for this outlet.

If it is something more exotic, we should be able to a get a better sense of what you have from the pictures.

 

[Electra]

I hope not, that would be very dangerous and against code.

I agree, but it would work perfectly for the OP. I'm thinking it's really a 6-20 or similar.

 

[KentuckyKen]

Wow! This thread is better than any “Whodunit” I’ve read. Can’t wait for the pictures. Of all the forums I’ve been on, this one has the nicest and most helpful people by far and away. Thank you all for informing me, entertaining me, and saving me a boatload of $. Gonna pop some popcorn, sit back, and wait for the pics.

 

[MPower]

Of all the forums I’ve been on, this one has the nicest and most helpful people by far and away. Thank you all for informing me, entertaining me, and saving me a boatload of $.

I agree. And you @KentuckyKen get the palm for both of these categories.

 

[4sallypat]

Please post a snap shot of both the receptacle in the wall (the wall socket) and the related circuit breaker(s) in your electrical panel. It will probably show in the picture, but also tell us the breaker rating in A on the tip of the breaker handle.

If it looks like a regular 120V outlet (i.e. like any regular 120V plug would fit), they were probably telling you (as mentioned earlier) that it is a "beefed up" or more robust 120V AC outlet for 20A. That would make the most sense, because many EV owners have had some problems with overheating plugs and/or wall sockets (for any number of reasons) with the regular L1 charge cord plugged into a 120V home / garage outlet.

120V outlets have a longer vertical slot (neutral, voltage close to ground) and a shorter vertical slot (hot, 120 V AC measured to neutral). One indication of a 20A 120V AC outlet would be a small horizontal slot perpendicular to and part of the slightly longer slot (looks like a horizontal "T"). If that is the case, you will probably find a single pole breaker (one handle), probably 20A in the circuit breaker box for this outlet.

If it is something more exotic, we should be able to a get a better sense of what you have from the pictures.

View attachment 5859

Yes, this is a 20A circuit at 120VAC (L1).

We use these at work to power our rack mount UPS in our MDF/IDF/LDF network installs.
The UPS does not have the standard home 15A plug...

 

[Andrei22]

I have taken apart the included charger and unfortunately there is no way to check if the components are rated for more then 120v. the top side of the board where the regulators and capacitors are is covered and then soldered in place and glued. I do not want to go any further as I would most likely damage it diving any deeper. Maybe the pictures can be useful to someone. I would agree with other posters and say to just get a charger designed for 120v & 240v then risk damaging something.
View attachment 2921 View attachment 2922 View attachment 2923

I have taken apart the included charger and unfortunately there is no way to check if the components are rated for more then 120v. the top side of the board where the regulators and capacitors are is covered and then soldered in place and glued. I do not want to go any further as I would most likely damage it diving any deeper. Maybe the pictures can be useful to someone. I would agree with other posters and say to just get a charger designed for 120v & 240v then risk damaging something.
View attachment 2921 View attachment 2922 View attachment 2923

Hi, on the picture of the open charger that you posted, there is opening in the plastic, for large aluminum capacitor with green dot on top, than red disc varistor beside. This varistor is to protect the circuit from over voltages, if input voltage too high it will limit it and will blow fuse and the varistor also, and the damage is minimum fuse and varistor. If varistor rating is 150v , the circuit will not work for 240v. If value is 250v or 275v the circuit is designed to work for 240v. The voltage rating will be printed on the side of this red disk varistor component, like 150 or 250 or 275. Can you check what is printed on this red part?

 

[Garry2]

Hi, on the picture of the open charger that you posted, there is opening in the plastic, for large aluminum capacitor with green dot on top, than red disc varistor beside. This varistor is to protect the circuit from over voltages, if input voltage too high it will limit it and will blow fuse and the varistor also, and the damage is minimum fuse and varistor. If varistor rating is 150v , the circuit will not work for 240v. If value is 250v or 275v the circuit is designed to work for 240v. The voltage rating will be printed on the side of this red disk varistor component, like 150 or 250 or 275. Can you check what is printed on this red part?

That mov has the writing of 160 76 on it but appears to be on the output side of main mos ic on the bottom ic101 which seems like a switch mode power supply for the charger itself. The main input capacitors are 440v rated. And the input mov are znr v10621u which are 470v rated

 

[IgLa]

Hello from Ukraine! I'm just searching the information about using Level 1 120v charger at 220v. And to be sure that the charger can run from 220v, I decided to look at the internal components. here is a photo. As you can see the main capacitor is on 400V, the input varistors V10621U 2pcs and V14621U 1pc (by datasheet: 100 to 240 V, Line–Line and Line–Ground Applications), X2 capacitor is on 310V, input diode bridge UA80 on 800V. The main charger IC MIP2E1DMC, max voltage is 700V. Seems that charger is designed for wide range of voltage, I think it can run from 220v without any problems. Any ideas guys?

 

[Mowcowbell]

If you look on the side of the J1772 end of the Honda OEM evse, it reads "120/277 vac"...

I've used my Honda OEM evse countless times on 240v power. Takes about 5.5 hours to charge a fully 'empty' battery. Pulls ~11amps @ 240vac.

I used a NEMA 6-20 extension cord, cut off the receptacle end and replaced it with a NEMA 5-20 receptacle. Plug the Honda OEM evse into the modified extension cord... at the plug end I have a NEMA 14-50 to NEMA 6-20 adapter to connect to 240v power. https://www.amazon.com/14-50P-6-15R...9Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

 

[Hoon]

I used the regular OEM charger on 240V for 4-5 months. There was no problems and it charged twice faster (obviously) than using regular 120V. It's still limited to 12-15A, so it's not as fast as 30A chargers. I had to install a new circuit breaker (20A) and some wires, new outlet, outlet adapter so that I can plug it in.

The OEM charger on 240V charges about 18% per hour (about 3kW rate). I made a custom f(x) on a calculator so I put in what my current charge level is and it would calculate how many minutes later I need to turn it off to get it to 80%. (I'm trying to keep it at 80% max)

Recently, I bought a JuiceBox Pro so I added another 50A circuit breaker and 2ft long AGW 8/3 wires and NEMA 14-50R outlet. Car charges pretty quick at over 7.2kW. Noticed the app has charge-stop at 80% kind of thing embedded.

 

[IgLa]

If I use OEM Level 1 charger and HondaLink app, can I change via app the charge current from 12-15A to 5-6A?

 

[Robert_Alabama]

If I use OEM Level 1 charger and HondaLink app, can I change via app the charge current from 12-15A to 5-6A?

Unfortunately, no. You can find a few of the first generation Chevrolet Volt chargers that will let you reduce it to 8A (charger has settings for 8A and 12A) for level 1. Several of the level 2 chargers will let you set the Amperage, but I think mine has a minimum setting of 8A, then 12, 16, 24,32.

 

[Mowcowbell]

If I use OEM Level 1 charger and HondaLink app, can I change via app the charge current from 12-15A to 5-6A?

The OEM evse only pulls 11amps, so you can safely use it on an older 15amp circuit.

 

[IgLa]

According to J1772 protocol the charge current is limited by PWM a 1khz pilot signal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAE_J1772

If duty cycle is 20% max current is 12A, I suppose Level 1 OEM charger use this duty cycle.
Duty cycle 10% corresponding 6A charge current.
My task is to limit current within 6А.
I have an idea to find a PWM generator on PCB, to made a duty cycle decreasing circuit (for example on NE555 timer), run it from original PWM. And output of decreased PWM connect to pilot signal.
Will it work correctly? Or maybe those changes couses OEM charger electronics error or something like that?
Is it worth to try?

 

[Robert_Alabama]

Curious as to why do you want to limit current under 6A?

 

[IgLa]

Curious as to why do you want to limit current under 6A?

My collective garage power supply is limited to 6А, and to extend it is not simple. Therefore 12-14 hours of night time charging will be enough for Clarity.

I think, my way is suitable for increasing charge current as well.

 

[Sandroad]

My collective garage power supply is limited to 6А, and to extend it is not simple. Therefore 12-14 hours of night time charging will be enough for Clarity.

I think, my way is suitable for increasing charge current as well.

If you are in Europe, your original question makes no sense. There is no Level 1 charging in Europe because the EU standard mennnekes plug EVSE is 230V to begin with. Also, I can't find any information about the Honda Clarity PHEV being sold outside the U.S. and Japan. I probably just didn't search correctly, but it would be interesting if it were available world-wide. And lastly, your idea of using 220V at 6A is no advantage over using 110V at 12A.