Level 2 Charging for under $20

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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...

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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!
 
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.
 
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.
 
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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.
 
AveSharia said:
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.
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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.
 
Fast Eddie B said:
Understood. I would generally like a solution where you don’t need second adapter for your adapter! Each additional one adds another point of failure. As melted adapters show.
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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.
 
2002 said:
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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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.
 
KentuckyKen said:
Just because something can be done doesn’t necessarily mean it should be done.
How do you think your home owners insurance company will react if something happens and in searching through the ashes of your former home they find that you either modified and/or plugged an electrical device that was clearly marked as 12 Amp 120 Volt into a 240 Volt higher Amperage circuit? I can guarantee that they will eagerly use that to deny your claim while also quoting the relevant parts of the manual pertaining to the proper and safe use of the Honda OEM EVSE.
And besides, would you be able to sleep soundly knowing you and your loved ones were in the same building with this operating overnight while you slept? It might work fine forever, but if anything goes wrong, it could be a tragic, catastrophic, uncovered loss.
And all to save a couple of hundred bucks. Not worth it to me.

Don’t take my opinion on it, just talk to your underwriter, dealer, Honda corporate, licensed electrician, fire dept, and local electrical inspector. Can you guess what they will all say? But hey, it’s a free country (for now, at least).
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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.
 
David in TN said:
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.
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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.
 
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?
 
2002 said:
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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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)
 
KentuckyKen said:
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)
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I'll believe it when you tell us you have a power-cord adapter.
 
KentuckyKen said:
I got it. Your way has no possibility of back feeding the grid, requires no transfer switch, and uses a regular generator cord that is safe with no exposed prongs. Excellent DIY engineering. I’m making a note of that in case I ever need to copy it.
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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!

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As an aside, maybe a dozen or so more 240v charges with the stock cable, all to no ill effect.
 
Fast Eddie B said:
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!

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As an aside, maybe a dozen or so more 240v charges with the stock cable, all to no ill effect.
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Nice genset. Boy, you and Karen have a lot of toys for riding and flying!
 
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?
 
newbie@EV said:
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?
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Can you change the outlet? Cheaper than buying a new...EVSE (the actual charger is built into the Clarity).
 
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