First time charging: blinking lights on included EVSE?

[davewill]

Great!

The other two things I'm wondering about are city permits and tax rebates. I'm assuming the city cares about the circuit the electrician installs and not the EVSE, and for the tax, I assume I just need the receipt from the purchase of the EVSE (and perhaps the electrician's work). Any thoughts? I realize this varies city-to-city.

Actually in most cities they do care about the EVSE. Here they insisted on it being fully installed, which caused me problems because I hadn't closed escrow on the house yet, and was still using it at another address. The builder had installed the circuit, but couldn't get the inspection signed off until I dismounted my Blink, lugged it over to the new place, mounted it on the wall and plugged it in. Luckily, I had an EVSE upgrade to use in the interim.

The upshot is that if the electrician just says they are installing a 240v circuit on the permit and doesn't mention an electric car, then the inspector obviously won't look for the EVSE. This is what most of the EVSE Upgrade people who have circutis run do so they don't have to explain the upgrade to a city inspector.

 

[fhammond]

Actually in most cities they do care about the EVSE. Here they insisted on it being fully installed, which caused me problems because I hadn't closed escrow on the house yet, and was still using it at another address. The builder had installed the circuit, but couldn't get the inspection signed off until I dismounted my Blink, lugged it over to the new place, mounted it on the wall and plugged it in. Luckily, I had an EVSE upgrade to use in the interim.

The upshot is that if the electrician just says they are installing a 240v circuit on the permit and doesn't mention an electric car, then the inspector obviously won't look for the EVSE. This is what most of the EVSE Upgrade people who have circutis run do so they don't have to explain the upgrade to a city inspector.

That's very interesting. Sounds like I need to have a conversation with the electrician and make sure they know that I'm just looking for the circuit, not the whole installation, and that it should be permitted that way.

 

[QueenBee]

Great!

The other two things I'm wondering about are city permits and tax rebates. I'm assuming the city cares about the circuit the electrician installs and not the EVSE, and for the tax, I assume I just need the receipt from the purchase of the EVSE (and perhaps the electrician's work). Any thoughts? I realize this varies city-to-city.

Actually in most cities they do care about the EVSE. Here they insisted on it being fully installed, which caused me problems because I hadn't closed escrow on the house yet, and was still using it at another address. The builder had installed the circuit, but couldn't get the inspection signed off until I dismounted my Blink, lugged it over to the new place, mounted it on the wall and plugged it in. Luckily, I had an EVSE upgrade to use in the interim.

The upshot is that if the electrician just says they are installing a 240v circuit on the permit and doesn't mention an electric car, then the inspector obviously won't look for the EVSE. This is what most of the EVSE Upgrade people who have circutis run do so they don't have to explain the upgrade to a city inspector.

Interesting, I wonder what determines when a plugin device needs to be permitted/inspected. For example a dryer or electric range would clearly not need to be. Maybe the fact that it's mounted on the wall even though it's a plugin unit?

 

[fhammond]

Interesting, I wonder what determines when a plugin device needs to be permitted/inspected. For example a dryer or electric range would clearly not need to be. Maybe the fact that it's mounted on the wall even though it's a plugin unit?

I was wondering the same thing.

 

[planet4ever]

The other two things I'm wondering about are city permits and tax rebates. I'm assuming the city cares about the circuit the electrician installs and not the EVSE, and for the tax, I assume I just need the receipt from the purchase of the EVSE (and perhaps the electrician's work). Any thoughts? I realize this varies city-to-city.

For city permits, yes, rules vary by city. On rebates or tax credits, I'm not aware of anything Oakland provides, but it's possible. For the federal EVSE tax credit, yes you should keep your receipt, but it is only needed if you get audited by the IRS. You get that credit (it's not a rebate) when you file your income taxes next year. Since you leased, you should have no trouble getting it.

Ray

 

[fhammond]

So, as an update, I had an electrician come by tonight and the news isn't good. The short version is that unless I want to spend thousands of dollars, a proper L2 EVSE installation isn't feasible. (And I'm confident he wasn't saying this to make a lot of money: he said I should not get the work done.)

He did suggest that I could simply use the circuit that my clothes dryer is connected to, manually pulling out the dryer plug when I want to use the charger. That doesn't sound fun, so I'll probably just stick with the L1 charger for now.

One question: Would it even be possible use a 30 amp EVSE, such as the one linked below, in the outlet for the dryer?

Thanks!

http://www.amazon.com/Siemens-VC30BLKB-VersiCharge-Electric-Vehicle/dp/B0083ZZFEA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[QueenBee]

So, as an update, I had an electrician come by tonight and the news isn't good. The short version is that unless I want to spend thousands of dollars, a proper L2 EVSE installation isn't feasible. (And I'm confident he wasn't saying this to make a lot of money: he said I should not get the work done.)

He did suggest that I could simply use the circuit that my clothes dryer is connected to, manually pulling out the dryer plug when I want to use the charger. That doesn't sound fun, so I'll probably just stick with the L1 charger for now.

One question: Would it even be possible use a 30 amp EVSE, such as the one linked below, in the outlet for the dryer?

Thanks!

http://www.amazon.com/Siemens-VC30BLKB-VersiCharge-Electric-Vehicle/dp/B0083ZZFEA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It would be possible but you'd want one that was less than 24 amps as your dryer is likely only a 30 amp circuit and the one you linked to would need a 40 amp circuit.


What was wrong that would require thousands of dollars?

 

[fhammond]

It would be possible but you'd want one that was less than 24 amps as your dryer is likely only a 30 amp circuit and the one you linked to would need a 40 amp circuit.

What was wrong that would require thousands of dollars?

Ah, I see: I looked at the technical spec sheet of that EVSE and it says 40 amps input current. No good. What would be the best (i.e., fastest charging) EVSE I could get on the dryer circuit? I realized that if I got a gas dryer, I could probably permanently use the electric dryer circuit for the EVSE.

I don't have a good technical answer to your other question (about the cost of the wiring). It's an old house, with big round fuses in an old fusebox (I've learnt it's called a "dog house") outside on the house, with only one distribution inside. At a minimum, it seemed as if there was not enough physical space to install a new circuit in the outside fusebox. Too bad.

 

[RonDawg]

If it's a true fuse box, with old-school glass fuses, the electrician may be required to upgrade that to modern breakers before he can do any other upgrades to your electrical, and thus the high cost. When my father had a house he just bought re-wired, local code forced us to upgrade the 1950's era breaker box. We weren't even allowed to convert that to a sub panel and connect it to a new main panel, which I have seen in many older homes including the one I grew up in.

I don't know what an electric dryer typically draws, but according to many posts about electrical in this forum, if a particular circuit has say a 20 amp fuse, then its maximum safe sustained load is 80% of that, or 16 amps in this particular example.

The 2013 OEM EVSE can be upgraded to include the ability to select charging draw, so you can limit it for your current electrical service, then be able to "crank it up" if you ever decide to spend on a service upgrade, or travel to a location like an RV park.

 

[QueenBee]

I don't have a good technical answer to your other question (about the cost of the wiring). It's an old house, with big round fuses in an old fusebox (I've learnt it's called a "dog house") outside on the house, with only one distribution inside. At a minimum, it seemed as if there was not enough physical space to install a new circuit in the outside fusebox. Too bad.

As I'm sure the electrician recommended it's probably a good idea to replace that with all modern breakers, etc. which would also allow you install your EVSE AND you'd have room for your solar PV project

 

[LeftieBiker]

I can't seem to find a topic for general EVSE questions, so I'll ask here. I have my EVSE inside my garage, with the cord running under the big door (which is spaced up from the floor with a 2x4 in the door track) to a couple of rubber-coated hooks outside, where I park my Leaf. What I'd like to know is if I can leave the EVSE on all or most of the time, or if I need to turn it off when it isn't connected. It's my understanding that they draw little power by themselves, but I want to make sure I don't shorten its lifespan.

 

[QueenBee]

I can't seem to find a topic for general EVSE questions, so I'll ask here. I have my EVSE inside my garage, with the cord running under the big door (which is spaced up from the floor with a 2x4 in the door track) to a couple of rubber-coated hooks outside, where I park my Leaf. What I'd like to know is if I can leave the EVSE on all or most of the time, or if I need to turn it off when it isn't connected. It's my understanding that they draw little power by themselves, but I want to make sure I don't shorten its lifespan.

You didn't mention what brand your EVSE is but I think it's best to just leave it on 24/7. If you live in a lightning prone area and you regularly unplug devices during storms it would probably be wise to do the same for the EVSE but otherwise the majority of people leave them on 24/7. The only time I turn my Blink off is if it's broken and I'm not using it

 

[planet4ever]

What I'd like to know is if I can leave the EVSE on all or most of the time, or if I need to turn it off when it isn't connected. It's my understanding that they draw little power by themselves, but I want to make sure I don't shorten its lifespan.

I assume you are still using the L1 EVSE supplied with the car. Ingineer (Phil) assures us that is a very sturdy, well-built box. I think the only "lifespan" you would need to worry about is the contacts inside the 120v wall outlet. They will last a lot longer if you don't unplug very often.

Ray

 

[LeftieBiker]

That had occurred to me as well. I'm using a 15 amp power strip (not surge protector) as a 'power switch' for the EVSE so nothing has to be unplugged and re-plugged in. If I can leave it on for the days I'm using the car daily, and turn it off with the strip when I know I won't need it for a couple of days, that will be convenient.

 

[QueenBee]

That had occurred to me as well. I'm using a 15 amp power strip (not surge protector) as a 'power switch' for the EVSE so nothing has to be unplugged and re-plugged in. If I can leave it on for the days I'm using the car daily, and turn it off with the strip when I know I won't need it for a couple of days, that will be convenient.

Just make sure it's substantial and never switch it off when the car is charging and probably not a good idea to switch it off while the car is connected.

Is the power strip used to get additional distance on the cord or simply so you can turn it off? It's best to be plugged directly into the receptacle but up to you.

 

[Ingineer]

I recommend you do NOT use a power strip like this. We have had numerous reports of them melting, most are not up to the task of continuous-duty.

You do not need to unplug your EVSE when it's not in use. It uses little power in standby, and incorporates internal surge-protection, so it is unlikely to be damaged by a power surge. In fact, we've had one customer had his house directly hit by lightning, destroying most electronics in his house, including doing damage to his LEAF (plugged in at the time), but the upgraded EVSE survived, and he resumed using it after getting his LEAF back from the shop.

If you are going to be unplugging/replugging, all the more reason to replace your outlet with a spec-grade unit. I recommend people do this anyway.

-Phil

 

[LeftieBiker]

I recommend you do NOT use a power strip like this. We have had numerous reports of them melting, most are not up to the task of continuous-duty.

You do not need to unplug your EVSE when it's not in use. It uses little power in standby, and incorporates internal surge-protection, so it is unlikely to be damaged by a power surge. In fact, we've had one customer had his house directly hit by lightning, destroying most electronics in his house, including doing damage to his LEAF (plugged in at the time), but the upgraded EVSE survived, and he resumed using it after getting his LEAF back from the shop.

If you are going to be unplugging/replugging, all the more reason to replace your outlet with a spec-grade unit. I recommend people do this anyway.

-Phil

This power strip (again, NOT a surge protector) barely gets warm when in use, but I'll see about using a more robust switch. I plan to leave the EVSE on for the weekends, when the car sees the most use and I'm busiest, but I'll still like a way to switch it off that doesn't involve wresting with the plug and wearing out the outlet.

 

[Tharaka]

I am also having the same problem. Green [ready] light and the Red [charging] lights are blinking with a tick tock sound. This used to happen at times last week, but this week it seems to be happening always. This is driving me insane. There seem to be nothing wrong with the wiring or the socket since they do not get heated.

@fhammond, what is the reason for this and what was the solution that you adopted?

Any help would be really appreciated.

 

[powersurge]

you have a bad ground... To prove it, get a $4 outlet tester at Home Depot, and test the charger on a well grounded outlet in your house.. It will check out and the lights will not be flashing on the charger.

 

[LeftieBiker]

Just to clarify terms: the charger is built into the car. What you plug in to charge the car is the "EVSE" (Electric vehicle Service Equipment) or, maybe better, "Charging Cable." The only external chargers are the high voltage, high amperage, DC fast Charge ("QC") stations.