Level 2 Portable Chargers - Recommendations

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Jamas

Jamas

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I've decided to go with a portable level 2 charger vs. a hard wired one. This will involve having an outdoor receptacle installed by an electrician as well as purchasing a high-quality portable charger. I do have a few questions:

1. I have 200 amp service, but my breaker panel is completely full. I assume I'll have to have some sort of sub-panel installed? Is this pricey?

2. For the outdoor receptacle, I believe I have two options - a Nema 14-30R or a Nema 14-50R. I assume 50R is preferable as it supports higher amperage which I assume means faster charging. Is this accurate?

3. So far, I was looking at ClipperCreek and Mustart. The only problem with Mustart is that their website says the items are all sold out. Any other recommendations, or is ClipperCreek a good choice?
 
200 amp is plenty for most installations. Portable is great as long as you secure it with a lock to protect it from getting legs. I would use the Nema 14-50R. It is rated for a higher amperage than the 14-30. The Kona will use 32 amps so the 14-30 (25 amps) is a bit small.
Your electrical panel can be modified very cheaply. The electrician, (in my case I did it myself) simply pulls out a full size breaker and replaces it with 2 half size. In the case of the car, it will take two breakers side by side. These pull from the two legs of the power supply to achieve 240vac. The electrician will size the breaker and wire to achieve 32 amps safely.
I've heard both charger brands are excellent. Be sure you get a model rated for outdoor use.
 
Jamas said:
I've decided to go with a portable level 2 charger vs. a hard wired one. This will involve having an outdoor receptacle installed by an electrician as well as purchasing a high-quality portable charger. I do have a few questions:

1. I have 200 amp service, but my breaker panel is completely full. I assume I'll have to have some sort of sub-panel installed? Is this pricey?

2. For the outdoor receptacle, I believe I have two options - a Nema 14-30R or a Nema 14-50R. I assume 50R is preferable as it supports higher amperage which I assume means faster charging. Is this accurate?

3. So far, I was looking at ClipperCreek and Mustart. The only problem with Mustart is that their website says the items are all sold out. Any other recommendations, or is ClipperCreek a good choice?
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1. A small sub panel is not necessarily pricey. Yes you can use tandem breakers (half size) breakers. I have them in my panel and it is maxed out even for those. A small 60 amp sub panel is only about $30 so if you need it its not outrageous. Generally a small box will add 4 full size breakers or 8 tandem breakers.

2. Go with the 14-50 it will charge faster and allow you to run even higher levels should you purchase a car in the future with higher charge rates. I have a 14-50 and some times I charge at 32 amps and some times at 12 amps just depend how quickly I need a charge. With covid it generally 12 amps and 70% charge as I am not driving much. if I am traveling its 32 amps and 100% charge the night before.

3. You also might look at Zencar. Its got a good reputation, is UL listed, has adjustable amps and is fairly inexpensive (under $300 USD)

https://smile.amazon.com/Zencar-NEM...keywords=Zencar+32+EVSE&qid=1596485069&sr=8-3
 
Jamas said:
I've decided to go with a portable level 2 charger vs. a hard wired one. This will involve having an outdoor receptacle installed by an electrician as well as purchasing a high-quality portable charger. I do have a few questions:

1. I have 200 amp service, but my breaker panel is completely full. I assume I'll have to have some sort of sub-panel installed? Is this pricey?

2. For the outdoor receptacle, I believe I have two options - a Nema 14-30R or a Nema 14-50R. I assume 50R is preferable as it supports higher amperage which I assume means faster charging. Is this accurate?

3. So far, I was looking at ClipperCreek and Mustart. The only problem with Mustart is that their website says the items are all sold out. Any other recommendations, or is ClipperCreek a good choice?
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Amazon has the Mustart: mustart level 2 portable ev charger 40 amp I've been using this charger (in my garage) for the past 8 months & it works well.
 
Fastnf said:
1. A small sub panel is not necessarily pricey. Yes you can use tandem breakers (half size) breakers. I have them in my panel and it is maxed out even for those. A small 60 amp sub panel is only about $30 so if you need it its not outrageous. Generally a small box will add 4 full size breakers or 8 tandem breakers.

2. Go with the 14-50 it will charge faster and allow you to run even higher levels should you purchase a car in the future with higher charge rates. I have a 14-50 and some times I charge at 32 amps and some times at 12 amps just depend how quickly I need a charge. With covid it generally 12 amps and 70% charge as I am not driving much. if I am traveling its 32 amps and 100% charge the night before.

3. You also might look at Zencar. Its got a good reputation, is UL listed, has adjustable amps and is fairly inexpensive (under $300 USD)

https://smile.amazon.com/Zencar-NEM...keywords=Zencar+32+EVSE&qid=1596485069&sr=8-3
Click to expand...
I was going to post on the tandem breakers (unless its an older Federal or Commander QBH type panel) but you beat me to it. The only complaints I have heard on the Zencar has been associated with some of the J1772 connector pins being too tight:
https://insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/16a-120v-charger.8730/#post-98873
although a detailed and positive review here comparing Khons and Zencar:
 
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I have looked into all of these and it really depends on your use case, for me, I may want to charge at say an RV hookup or I may want to charge using a dryer outlet at some point in time.

This means it needs to be switchable between 16A-32A and have different plugs.

This really only left a small handful of options and even fewer that can be operated safely, as while they can work, adapters can introduce additional heat, so I ended up going with this charger:
https://www.mustartsolutions.com/co...c-vehicle-charger-plug-in-ev-charging-station

And getting the applicable plug with it, I just ordered it, so we shall see how it does after it arrives,but it should be able to get up to around 7.8kw so we shall see.
 
I was asking myself the same question and ended buying a Tesla UMC with a TeslaTap, a 14-30 / 14-50 / 5-20 adapter for travelling (lots of rentals with 5-20 outside outlets we go to). I don’t charge at home though, not sure I would use that setup at home :)
 
CharlyM said:
I was asking myself the same question and ended buying a Tesla UMC with a TeslaTap, a 14-30 / 14-50 / 5-20 adapter for travelling (lots of rentals with 5-20 outside outlets we go to). I don’t charge at home though, not sure I would use that setup at home :)
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Looks like the specs would make for a very slow charge with that, says 1.7 kw max as near as I can tell, am I missing something?
 
cmwade77 said:
Looks like the specs would make for a very slow charge with that, says 1.7 kw max as near as I can tell, am I missing something?
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Yup but at 16A that’s 33% faster than the 12A charger. The 14-50 adapter will charge at 7.2kw and the 14-30 at 5.2kw :).
 
That is the granny cable provided for Aus/NZ, 230V at 7.1 A. It's all I need now as most days I use 10% max. If I need to get from my normal 70% to 100% quickly for a trip there's a 50kW DCFC one block away from home, but so far I've always had enough notice to charge at home.
 
KiwiME said:
That is the granny cable provided for Aus/NZ, 230V at 7.1 A. It's all I need now as most days I use 10% max. If I need to get from my normal 70% to 100% quickly for a trip there's a 50kW DCFC one block away from home, but so far I've always had enough notice to charge at home.
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I see, well that really wouldn't work for me, I could go through 10% in an hour or so.
 
R P said:
That one is only 16A though.
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There's 32A on Amazon. I gave examples for "cheaper"options for a portable evse.Especially if you're using it for home charging,still get about 3.2kW to charge overnight during off peak.
 
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