Level 2 Charger

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Taxdr1965

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Anyone get a level 2 Charger? If so which one? I might get one ,but I don’t want to put the clarity in the garage. Can these be mounted outside and can the power cord get wet or get snow on it.

I guess I could mount it in garage but then would have to have power cord coming out of the garage.

What’s the best way to do this for outdoor charging?
 
For outdoors you should strongly consider hardwired setup, but there are covered outlets you can use for plug-in models. Mine is a ChargePoint hardwired 32A 240V with a 25 foot cord. It's UL listed, installed by a professional electrician, with a 40A breaker mounted next to it, wired directly to a 50A breaker in the main box. It's been great on the side of my house next to the exposed parking pad. I routinely hook up and unhook in the rain (haven't tried it in snow yet, but someone's posted a clever hack with a spigot cover to protect the car's charge port when charging). There are a lot of great EVSEs out there, but with the amperage (and implications for safety, building codes, and insurance) I erred on the side of professional installation of a UL-listed product.
 
I got a Clipper Creek model. Our local electric company offers a free Level 2 charger to customers with EVs. Had an electrician install in outlet in the garage by the garage door. The car is parked in the driveway, and I just run the cord from the garage out to the car. The garage door closes on the cord, but shouldn't cause any problems.
 
Tahuna said:
I got a Clipper Creek model. Our local electric company offers a free Level 2 charger to customers with EVs. Had an electrician install in outlet in the garage by the garage door. The car is parked in the driveway, and I just run the cord from the garage out to the car. The garage door closes on the cord, but shouldn't cause any problems.
Click to expand...
I also recommend Clipper Creek HCS 40 or 50. I place a little piece of wood for the garage door to close on rather than the cord.
 
Outdoor charging can be a little tricky, but many public charging stations are outdoors, so with some care for safety and the right hardware, you should be fine.

I am sure there are many very good brands out there that you should consider. I personally went for a plug-in Siemens VersiCharger (mounted in the garage, out of the weather, but with a 25'+ cord) such as offered by many big box stores like Costco, Lowes, etc. and ran the connecting cord to the car, sometimes inside, sometimes outside.

I didn't need or want the much more expensive WiFi enabled chargers as I figured the HondaLink app plus the 2/4/6/8 hour charge delay button on the charger would be all I need, and if I want it I can easily get other detailed electricity usage statistics from the utility via the web.

Finally, while you can save a little at the margin to go for a hard-wired charger, the Siemens plug-in comes with a slide-off mounting rail that means you can just take this whole unit with you in the trunk on a long trip if you want. Or, if you decide to move somewhere else, just unplug this one and move it to your new home instead (protect your investment by taking it with you instead of leaving it as an attached fixture). Or, if you have a lake house or something like that, you can buy an extra mounting rail and take the charger there. Costco recently had this one on sale for a final price under $400, and other retailers put these on sale from time to time too. (Or, if you qualify as a veteran, you can take 10% off the price at the register at Lowes or HD.)

One last thing: check the warranty on the charger before you buy. Some warranties are voided by the manufacturer if you don't have it professionally installed by a licensed electrician AND pull a local building permit as well (meaning the electrical work gets inspected by the city before it is used). And, frankly, like ClarityDoc already wrote above, it's probably a very good thing to have a professional do this work for you anyway. My electrician let me buy the hardware (EVSE itself, wall box, NEMA plug, etc.) to help keep his costs to just an hourly rate.
 
Texas22Step said:
Outdoor charging can be a little tricky, but many public charging stations are outdoors, so with some care for safety and the right hardware, you should be fine.

I am sure there are many very good brands out there that you should consider. I personally went for a plug-in Siemens VersiCharger (mounted in the garage, out of the weather, but with a 25'+ cord) such as offered by many big box stores like Costco, Lowes, etc. and ran the connecting cord to the car, sometimes inside, sometimes outside.

I didn't need or want the much more expensive WiFi enabled chargers as I figured the HondaLink app plus the 2/4/6/8 hour charge delay button on the charger would be all I need, and if I want it I can easily get other detailed electricity usage statistics from the utility via the web.

Finally, while you can save a little at the margin to go for a hard-wired charger, the Siemens plug-in comes with a slide-off mounting rail that means you can just take this whole unit with you in the trunk on a long trip if you want. Or, if you decide to move somewhere else, just unplug this one and move it to your new home instead (protect your investment by taking it with you instead of leaving it as an attached fixture). Or, if you have a lake house or something like that, you can buy an extra mounting rail and take the charger there. Costco recently had this one on sale for a final price under $400, and other retailers put these on sale from time to time too. (Or, if you qualify as a veteran, you can take 10% off the price at the register at Lowes or HD.)

One last thing: check the warranty on the charger before you buy. Some warranties are voided by the manufacturer if you don't have it professionally installed by a licensed electrician AND pull a local building permit as well (meaning the electrical work gets inspected by the city before it is used). And, frankly, like ClarityDoc already wrote above, it's probably a very good thing to have a professional do this work for you anyway. My electrician let me buy the hardware (EVSE itself, wall box, NEMA plug, etc.) to help keep his costs to just an hourly rate.
Click to expand...

I second everything Texas22Step says. I got the Siemens Versicharger plug in version from Costco on sale, $389. Free shipping. Installed by electrician, $450 including 60' of wire to the box and all hardware. Western NY.
 
Like @ClarityDoc, I have the 32 Amp ChargePoint. Here’s why I like it. It has a very sleek design that takes up very little room and takes care of cord winding. Also like the glow around the docked handle that lets you know it’s status at a glance (no tiny LEDs to squint at). It’s very comforting to pull into the garage and see it slowly pulsing green to let me know it’s on my WIFi and ready to charge on my set schedule (solid green is ready w no schedule). It’s the only EVSE that is Energy Star rated. It installs easy with not only the mounting hardware included but also a wall template, drill bit and nut driver bit. The terminals are spring loaded pinch locks and so you can switch between hard wired and plug in if needed later. The boot up was quick and painless and so was the app install. Everything worked with out any hassle which was appreciated since my tech support has graduated and moved to his first job. ChargePoint customer service has been excellent every time I called with a technical question. It’s easy peasy to set a schedule and over riding to charge now is as easy as unplugging and repligging.
It’s worked flawlessly for the last 6 months and reminds me to charge every night. It gets great reviews unlike one other brand. And the kW, time, and cost tracking is informative and intuitive. It even sets rates based on your utility for its cost to charge calculation. I couldn’t be happier with it. I’ve never had a problem and my Clarity consistently charges at 7.1 to 7.2 kW/hr.

The best way I found to save money if your a DIYer is to install it and run the wiring to the breaker box yourself and then pay a licensed electrician his 1 hr service call (mine was $90). No fooling with electricity and you have proof it was done to code. All I had to do was go up to the unfinished attic and drill through the wall’s top plate (two 2x4s) and fish the wire down to a hole in the drywall that will be hidden by the EVSE. Then hook it up w the spring terminals. I then ran the wire down to the breaker box by removing a section of drywall between the studs over the breaker box between it and the ceiling. Using a tip from my plumber neighbor I replaced the drywall latter and covered it with an air conditioning return louvre.
So, open box EVSE for $450 on eBay ans $90 for electrician for a total cost of $540. And with tracking all my usage I see I’m driving for 2.2 to 2.3 cents/mile at 9.287 cents/kW which works out to be 130 to 140 MPGe for local driving. I’m not looking forward to winter reducing that but hopefully a non-heated but attached garage and preconditioning will help.
 
I also just had the ChargePoint 18' Plugin version installed a week ago inside, however, it is rated to work outside. The unit is great! The app gives me real-time updates on the charging status, its part of the ChargePoint system so everything is one app if you use their public chargers. I can sync up with my local electric provider to get a real-time cost per charge calculation.

Just like KentuckyKen said, the unit is very sleek, low profile and hardly notice it.
 

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I installed a ClipperCreek HCS40 with NEMA 14-50 plug in our garage. So far it's worked 100% of the time. I sometimes wish it could tell me how many kWh it put in with each charge, but decided that was a want instead of a need. We added 3 kW of solar panels to our array after buying our Clarity and had the installer add a dedicated 240V circuit for the charger (cost as an additional $350 which, given an electrical permit costs at least $200 here was a bargain).
 
I just got the JuiceBox 40 Pro plug-in version installed outside by my driveway. Initially I looked into getting the ChargePoint. But after experiencing their terrible customer support, and learning that using the ChargePoint plug-in version outside VOIDS the warranty, I went with JuiceBox. The JB 40 has been awesome so far! And their plug-in version is fully waterproof and covered under warranty.
 
I just took advantage of the 20% off sale for ChargePoint EVSE‘s. Waiting for it to arrive... ordered the plug-in version.
 
We got a chargepoint mounted by an electrician outside for all of the reasons listed above. Went with a 25' cord so we could charge on either side of driveway. They also put in a whole house surge protection system which I'm still not sure about, but I did it. I love the app - great reporting features, I have a time of use rate and all I had to do was enter the name of my utility and select the rate structure - this also sets the timer so I am never charging during peak hours. All in it was $1500, or by my calculations will pay for itself after 25,000 miles.
 
I installed the plug-in Siemens VersiCharge in my garage and travel with the AmazingE (Delphi Casing with Clipper Creek electronics) 14-30 charger.
 
I had Blink level 2 charger professionally installed free or charge in my garage(courtesy of department of energy), but that was back in early 2012 when I bought a Nissan Leaf...it still works fine though.
 
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