What's the best EV home charger for Clarity

P

ProspectiveBuyer

Member
So far, I've just been using regular 120 volt charging at home, but figure it's time to get a legit home charger. Is there a consensus as to what's best? I was thinking of going with Chargepoint.
 
Depends on what you want. If you want control over your phone and a wireless network to schedule and monitor charging, a lot of people here will recommend Chargepoint or maybe JuiceBox Pro. I don't do that, so you will need someone like @KentuckyKen to weigh in. I pretty much just do the dumb plug it in and let it charge without bothering with scheduling. For that you can buy almost anything. There have been threads here recommending to stay with USA manufacture with UL testing for safety's sake. Others will tell you that the imported chargers (China) have worked fine and should be trusted. The next question is how big you want/need. Some opt for 16A charging which will charge the car in about 4 hours. This can save money on wiring since you don't need as much spare capacity in your panel and wiring can probably be #10 copper. If you want to charge in about 2 hours, you will have to go with 30A EVSE with at least a 40A breaker and larger wiring. So think about what you want (both for functionality and size) and folks here should be able to help. You may need to get someone to look at your breaker panel and where you want the charger to help you with the size (amperage) question.
 
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Like Robert_Alabama I have a 'dumb' made in China non UL tested 32 amp charger. I plug it into the car every time it is in the garage and I have never unpluged the charger from its receptacle. It will fully charge the car in a little over 2 hours. I have had no problems with the charger or the car since I had the 18-97 update done to my car (this update fixed a variety of charging problems that 2018 owners reported).
 
Seems like this would be an interesting survey. I have two of the cheap (~$120) 16-amp Chinese non-UL chargers on 220 volts. I have one hardwired in my garage, and the other is hardwired at work (I supplied, and mechanic wired it in). Takes about 5 hours for a full charge.
 
I use and like the Chargepoint.

Our very own insideevs has an article on EVSEs.
https://insideevs.com/news/344002/charger-guide/

For me, it is without question to buy a quality, UL listed EVSE and make certain it is properly installed. At 32 amps, your car is almost certainly the single highest continuous amperage draw of electricity in your home when being charged and is definitely the single most expensive thing you ever have plugged in.
 
ProspectiveBuyer said:
So far, I've just been using regular 120 volt charging at home, but figure it's time to get a legit home charger. Is there a consensus as to what's best? I was thinking of going with Chargepoint.
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The site look stupid but it is made by Clipper Creek in America. UL approved and a very good price. I've owned one for over a year, no problems at all. Charges about 3X as fast as 120. Here is the site.

https://amazing-e.com/
 
I realized after driving my Clarity and charging using 120 volt charger that came with the car, that I wanted to get a faster charger. I also realized that I would probably never again purchase a car that was not electric. If my next purchase was an all electric car with a much larger battery, I wanted to be able to charge it in the least amount of time. So, I wired my garage with #4 wire which will handle up to about 80 amps, connected it to a 50 amp circuit breaker and got a 40 amp Jakayla charger from Amazon. If I need more amps in the future, I will simply replace the 50 amp breaker and get a new appropriate charger.
 
I have a 50 amp NEMA 14-50 outlet that was installed in my garage by a licensed electrician. I have two Level 2 evse's. The Honda OEM evse makes a fine Level 2 evse for the simple cost of converting a 240v extension cord with a NEMA 5-20 receptacle. It only charges at 11amps, so it takes about 5.5 hours to fully charge the Clarity battery. I recently bought a Chinese Level 2 (32amp) evse that will fully charge the Clarity battery in 2.5 hours. It has a display that will show kWh used for the session.
 
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So what is the least expensive UL certified unit that will charge at the max speed the Clarity is capable of doing?
 
BeMurda said:
So what is the least expensive UL certified unit that will charge at the max speed the Clarity is capable of doing?
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Possibly the hardwired Siemens unit sold at Home Depot, Lowes, Costco. It is 240V 30 amps. I believe it has a UL or ETL safety listing (equivalent to UL).
 
I ended up getting the JB pro as I wanted to have the 40amps in case we get a second fully EV that would support it.

I was able to get the 14-50 outdoor installed and get two rebates for total cost after govt rebates of $400CAD.

so far so good in the -15 nights we have had. My only complaints are that the cable is to thick and difficult to manipulate and the gun is hard to insert in the slot, but maybe it will settle with time.
 
I’ve heard of several complaints about the JB handle being a tight fit. You might want to try some Teflon dry lube on the plastic and a dab of dielectric grease on the contacts. Made my CP handle (which wasn’t that difficult to become with) insert like buttah. (laziness, surgically repaired wrist, and old age = I want all the help I can get)

PS: when the dry lube needed refreshing I went to a little car wax and that helped too.
 
I've been very happy with my Siemens Versicharge - made in Atlanta, GA. I got the hardwired version, 30A, and purchased a factory-refurbished unit at Home Depot for about half the cost of new.
 
For me, I'm pleased I went with a 'portable' EVSE that just plugs into a NEMA 14-50 plug. Not for portability but cost savings. Electricians will do the 14-50 for lower cost (in my case a couple hundred dollars). I bought a low cost 40 amp EVSE (which the clarity uses as 32amp).

Over to do again, I think I'd just get the 32amp charger. I was trying to do a little future proof, but reality for me is this will hopefully be my car for like 10 years and who knows what will be the thing to have in 10 years.

Also- Had I had the option even with say an existing 240v receptacle to get an adapter and cheap 16amp EVSE I would of done that. There is a huge benefit to going level 2, but in my case speed of charging just isn't that big a deal. I will say the pre-conditioning feature with level 2 is worth it. But yeah, if I had option to do level 2 (any) for say $200 or $400 total, I would. In my case, I needed an electrician minimally (anyway) because I did not have an existing plug of any type nearby (save 110v, which was also OK for my first few months).
 
I saw a reddit post about using the Tesla wall outlet for the Clarity. That's an interesting proposition - it's decent priced in Canada compared to some alternatives, and the adapter is not too pricey. Plus then you have the adapter for Tesla destination chargers etc. Anyone have any thoughts on that?
 
BeMurda said:
I saw a reddit post about using the Tesla wall outlet for the Clarity. That's an interesting proposition - it's decent priced in Canada compared to some alternatives, and the adapter is not too pricey. Plus then you have the adapter for Tesla destination chargers etc. Anyone have any thoughts on that?
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The Telsa to J1772 adapter is $200 by itself... which will pay for a 240v 16amp evse. All Tesla's come with a J1772 to Tesla adapter.
 
Robert_Alabama said:
Depends on what you want. If you want control over your phone and a wireless network to schedule and monitor charging, a lot of people here will recommend Chargepoint or maybe JuiceBox Pro. I don't do that, so you will need someone like @KentuckyKen to weigh in. I pretty much just do the dumb plug it in and let it charge without bothering with scheduling. For that you can buy almost anything. There have been threads here recommending to stay with USA manufacture with UL testing for safety's sake. Others will tell you that the imported chargers (China) have worked fine and should be trusted. The next question is how big you want/need. Some opt for 16A charging which will charge the car in about 4 hours. This can save money on wiring since you don't need as much spare capacity in your panel and wiring can probably be #10 copper. If you want to charge in about 2 hours, you will have to go with 30A EVSE with at least a 40A breaker and larger wiring. So think about what you want (both for functionality and size) and folks here should be able to help. You may need to get someone to look at your breaker panel and where you want the charger to help you with the size (amperage) question.
Click to expand...
This says it all.
 
Groves Cooke said:
Like Robert_Alabama I have a 'dumb' made in China non UL tested 32 amp charger. I plug it into the car every time it is in the garage and I have never unpluged the charger from its receptacle. It will fully charge the car in a little over 2 hours. I have had no problems with the charger or the car since I had the 18-97 update done to my car (this update fixed a variety of charging problems that 2018 owners reported).
Click to expand...

This is exactly my experience. I got a Morec 32 amp EVSE on Amazon for $269 in June. No problems. I highly recommend 32 A over 16 A because the 2+ hour charging suits our come and go retirement status plus we take the charger on long trips because we find free NEMA 14-50 outlets at hotels and restaurants.
 
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