Outlet melted

Has anyone had any electrical issues? Our Leaf just melted an outlet in our garage pretty good. I'm glad it didn't start a fire.

gsleaf said:

Has anyone had any electrical issues? Our Leaf just melted an outlet in our garage pretty good. I'm glad it didn't start a fire.

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120 volt or 240 volt outlet? I haven't seen any reports of this problem. Sounds like something wasn't wired properly. My L1 charging (limited) has never caused a problem.

Yeah I'm guessing it was wired poorly. 120 volt outlet. Pretty scary for sure.

gsleaf said:

Yeah I'm guessing it was wired poorly. 120 volt outlet. Pretty scary for sure.

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Good safety check is to go around the house with a space heater and Kill-a-Watt.

Plug in the Kill-a-Watt into an outlet and set to V. Plug in the heater and turn on full blast. Note the approximate voltage drop. Repeat at all other outlets.

This technique let me find some outlets with some extreme voltage drops that I replaced or tightened.

It could expose other issues too. If more than one outlet in a room share a similar voltage drop, there might be a problem in the upstream wiring. Or, as I've also seen, a circuit breaker making a poor connection to the bus bar.

Thanks. I'll be sure to do that.

How old was the receptacle? If it was well-worn, not tight fitting anymore, that will increase the likelyhood of the outlet overheating. Corrosion/oxidation, small surface contact area, and intermittent arcing are all likely with an old recptacle and 12 amps of current. A new 20 amp receptacle from Home Depot should fix it right up, if the wiring supports it.

I'm just going to have an electrician look at it for safety sake. I'll probably return my Leaf rental too.

Here's what I've seen...

Some receptacles have a spring-loaded feature where the installer can shove the wires into slots on the back instead of the longer more secure method of using the screw terminals. I have discovered over time that the spring-loaded slot connections can develop some issues. So everytime I do work on an outlet, I rewire it to the screw terminals....

Did the outlet have rear stab connections?
Hopefully the replacement does not.

gsleaf said:

Has anyone had any electrical issues? Our Leaf just melted an outlet in our garage pretty good. I'm glad it didn't start a fire.

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That's not right. My 120 EVSE would sometimes get warm near the outlet, but never hot. Richard's idea of measuring the voltage drop is a good idea, but a simple receptacle tester http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3099774 to verify the wiring is correct (grounded, no open neutral, in phase, etc) is just as important.
I never plug in a big load appliance (toaster, space heater, or microwave or LEAF) until I've tested the outlet.

This is another reason why you want 240v, and no doubt why Nissan discourages using 120v on a regular basis.

Replace the receptacle with a spec grade 20A part and wire it to the side terminals, either under the screw or if it has a pressure plate even better. Stabbing is no bueno. I don't know why it is allowed.

LTLFTcomposite said:

This is another reason why you want 240v, and no doubt why Nissan discourages using 120v on a regular basis.

Replace the receptacle with a spec grade 20A part and wire it to the side terminals, either under the screw or if it has a pressure plate even better. Stabbing is no bueno. I don't know why it is allowed.

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.
Make sure the Electrician understands the outlet, wiring and breaker needs to handle 12A of constant draw.

LTLFTcomposite said:

This is another reason why you want 240v, and no doubt why Nissan discourages using 120v on a regular basis

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Nissan discourages 120V because of the long recharge time. The J1772 standard allows for both 120V and 240V EVSEs.

Unlike a hardwired EVSE, The 120V trickle charger included with the Leaf has no way of knowing if it is plugged into an outlet that is inadequate. Nissan is aware putting a warning sticker on the trickle charger will not prevent mis-use and niether will signing an acknowledgment form prevent us from improperly installing a 240V EVSE.

Avoid the commercial and residential grade receptacles for this application. Industrial grade is better, and not much more expensive.

For pulling maximum load for long hours, just nilly-willy replace the receptacles with something like the Leviton 5361. I use those extensively in my garages for 20A 120VAC applications.

Oh.. and avoid duplex receptacles. This is not a circuit you'd want to share.

Can you tell whether the problem started at the back of the outlet, or the front? Could you perhaps have had the EVSE dangling below the outlet, with it's weight pulling and twisting the blades of the plug? That could cause sparks at the front of the outlet, especially if there was some minor vibration of the building (wind, someone walking, tiny earthquake).

Ray

Sounds like either faulty wiring and/or an old and worn out/corroded receptacle. Was that outlet original to the house? I'd never use any of the outlets in my house for something that'll draw that much power for hours.

The voltage drop check is an excellent idea, although I fully agree with BRBarian to replace any receptacle that might get a LEAF attached to it just on principle. The couple of bucks for a new receptacle is a very small price to pay for the peace of mind...
=Smidge=

planet4ever said:

Can you tell whether the problem started at the back of the outlet, or the front? Could you perhaps have had the EVSE dangling below the outlet, with it's weight pulling and twisting the blades of the plug? That could cause sparks at the front of the outlet, especially if there was some minor vibration of the building (wind, someone walking, tiny earthquake).

Ray

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I think it started at the front of the outlet, but I'm not entirely sure. We'll ask the electrician today why it happened. I setup a couple of bins to rest the brick on so that it wouldn't have any weight pulling down on the plug, so that wasn't a cause.

If the outlet is in the garage, do yourself a favor and put in a GFCI receptacle. This may be required by code anyway.

DeaneG said:

If the outlet is in the garage, do yourself a favor and put in a GFCI receptacle. This may be required by code anyway.

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Yeah, that's the plan.

gsleaf said:

DeaneG said:

If the outlet is in the garage, do yourself a favor and put in a GFCI receptacle. This may be required by code anyway.

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Yeah, that's the plan.

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It's better to drop in GFCI circuit breakers. Stick with industrial grade stuff !!