Sorry if this is answered in archives. I didn't find it when I searched.
I just bought a 2013 Leaf S with a QC package. It's my first electric vehicle and I don't have an EVSE or charging cable except for the original 110V cable that came with the car. I happen to have an unused 30AMP 220V breaker that's unused with just enough wire (~80 ft.) that all I need to do is reroute it to the garage. So for minimal cost I can add a 220V 20AMP outlet on a 30 AMP circuit, and then just plug in a 16AMP charging cable. I think this'll suffice for this car's needs. Worst case, I'd get something like a Zencar 16A charging cable with the adapter for both NEMA 5-50 (110 Volt) and NEMA 6-20 (220 Volt). If this solution doesn't work for our needs, the charging cable would become a spare trickle charge cable. My friend who had a 2014 Leaf and now a 2018 tells me that my car is dumb in terms of determining available charging rate, and using just a charging cable like this, the car's charger will try to draw 6.6KW instead of 3.84KW and trip my breaker. He usually knows what he's talking about, but this doesn't sound right to me. In fact, on page CH-10 of the owners manual, it says "The Genuine NISSAN charging equipment communicates with the vehicle before Li-ion battery charging starts. If this communication does not occur because other equipment is being used, the Li-ion battery will not charge.". I assume part of this communication is determining available amperage. What do you think? Will my cheapo approach work or will it trip the 30AMP breaker? I don't need to be sold on the benefits of faster charging. I understand it, but if it's not needed it's not needed. Oh, and part of why I'm not leaning towards a fancy EVSE with Wi-Fi and scheduling optimization and so forth is because electric rates here are relatively cheap - $0.094 per kWh and there's no peak/off peak rate change. Thanks in advance.
I just bought a 2013 Leaf S with a QC package. It's my first electric vehicle and I don't have an EVSE or charging cable except for the original 110V cable that came with the car. I happen to have an unused 30AMP 220V breaker that's unused with just enough wire (~80 ft.) that all I need to do is reroute it to the garage. So for minimal cost I can add a 220V 20AMP outlet on a 30 AMP circuit, and then just plug in a 16AMP charging cable. I think this'll suffice for this car's needs. Worst case, I'd get something like a Zencar 16A charging cable with the adapter for both NEMA 5-50 (110 Volt) and NEMA 6-20 (220 Volt). If this solution doesn't work for our needs, the charging cable would become a spare trickle charge cable. My friend who had a 2014 Leaf and now a 2018 tells me that my car is dumb in terms of determining available charging rate, and using just a charging cable like this, the car's charger will try to draw 6.6KW instead of 3.84KW and trip my breaker. He usually knows what he's talking about, but this doesn't sound right to me. In fact, on page CH-10 of the owners manual, it says "The Genuine NISSAN charging equipment communicates with the vehicle before Li-ion battery charging starts. If this communication does not occur because other equipment is being used, the Li-ion battery will not charge.". I assume part of this communication is determining available amperage. What do you think? Will my cheapo approach work or will it trip the 30AMP breaker? I don't need to be sold on the benefits of faster charging. I understand it, but if it's not needed it's not needed. Oh, and part of why I'm not leaning towards a fancy EVSE with Wi-Fi and scheduling optimization and so forth is because electric rates here are relatively cheap - $0.094 per kWh and there's no peak/off peak rate change. Thanks in advance.