Aerovironment EVSE install information

[Petecomp1]

I'm a little concerned that SKY888 used 80 feet of 10 ga wire for his set up. That may be okay if he never opts for the 6.6 kW charger and stays with the 3.3 kW charger, but the extra cost is so little for the heavier wire in relation to the labor that I'm surprised that he didn't go with the 40A set up.

Thanks ERG4ALL, for the reply and strngly agree with you. I was hoping to impart the importance of adequate cable size in my write-up. 80 feet of 10-gage is out-of-spec and in the real world it's marginal for the 28 amp load of a 6.6Kw unit and may heat up enough to melt insulation so I would strongly encourage SKY888 to monitor the cable at first use for temperature rise. Also he'll lose some watts from excessive resistance of the smaller cable but that's a minor concern compared with fire risk. Copper is cheaper than rebuilding a burned-down house!

[smkettner]

I paid the electrician $360 for parts and labor.


my circuit breaker panel is in the basement, and we used 80 feet of 10 gauge wire, to install the EVSE in my car garage.

Will not meet NEC. You need #8 wire and 40a breaker.

[davewill]

Thanks davewill....I double checked my panel and it is indeed a 30A circuit with a 30A breaker. I got it mixed up with the central AC unit which was the 40A breaker. Looks like I won't be using the EVSE anytime soon. I plan to move in the near future so I didn't want a permanent install. Looks like I'll keep charging at public stations and use the 120v EVSE that came with Leaf. Thanks again.

Well....assuming you have a LEAF with the 3.3kW charger and not the new 6.0kW charger, the car is only going to draw 16a in any case. As a temporary measure, personally, I would have no problem with plugging the AV into the 30a circuit. It wouldn't pass inspection, but it would be entirely safe. Just don't let any cars with higher power chargers charge at your place. After you move, you can do a proper 40a circuit and install.

If you have the 6.0kw charger, then you'll just have to wait, or upgrade your 120v unit at http://EVSEUpgrade.com

[vsiev]

Well....assuming you have a LEAF with the 3.3kW charger and not the new 6.0kW charger, the car is only going to draw 16a in any case. As a temporary measure, personally, I would have no problem with plugging the AV into the 30a circuit. It wouldn't pass inspection, but it would be entirely safe. Just don't let any cars with higher power chargers charge at your place. After you move, you can do a proper 40a circuit and install.

If you have the 6.0kw charger, then you'll just have to wait, or upgrade your 120v unit at http://EVSEUpgrade.com

I do have the new 2013 Leaf S with the QC package (6.0 kw charger). It is on a lease so I didn't want to modify the trickle charger yet. If I do decide to buy the car near the end of the lease, I'll definitely go that route and modify the 120v EVSE. Now I know I need a 40A breaker and #8 wires to make it work. Thanks again davewill for your advice and help.

[nexusplexus]

Just got my AV EVSE charger installed thru the http://evsolutions.avinc.com/products/cec/ program.
Total cost was $113 for the city electrical permit . Installation was included with the charger.
Charger is the EVSE-RS with 15ft cable.
Installers used a 40A breaker and 8gauge wires. Tried asking for 50A breaker and 6gauge, but they didn't want to do it.
Since its a state program, the installers were able to charge $500 for the standard install.

[ScottoR]

... Please consider adding an inexpensive power monitor such as the EKM25-IDS on the EVSE charger circuit when it is installed...

I'm scoping an EVSE install. This is a great nugget.

Now a newbie question: how can one obtain a historical log of EVSE usage? It could be a feature of the meter or the EVSE unit. Do existing products include such capability? (How about the Open EVSE platform with, in theory, I could build?)

I installed an EVSE unit for my wife's Volt, and put a standard electric meter inline to monitor energy usage (total cost of about $61). It may not be fancy, but I'm able to monitor electrical consumption (and therefore calculate battery efficiency) by periodically recording readings in Excel and crunching the numbers that way.

I did a full write-up on the install, which would be conceptually the same for any consumer EVSE: http://s.co.tt/blog/blog/2011/06/07/ins ... -phase-ii/

Of course, you could go the more expensive route and get something with a network interface that records data automatically, and provides graphs and other info. E.g. TED 5000: http://www.theenergydetective.com/ted5000 or Powersave Genius: http://www.bestpowermeter.com/genius-en ... -ct-clamp/ (I've never used either and can't speak to their effectiveness).

I am surprised that there are no consumer EVSE units with so much as a numeric display. You'd think they would have taken a hint from the petrol world and included a per-charge KWh meter at least, akin to the number of gallons displayed on every gas pump.

Please go easy on us for being a Volt household -- I've been lurking on here because I'm considering a Leaf for myself!

Scott

[rodkar]

Please excuse me for reviving an old thread. This is simply where my search had lead me, and I figured this is a better place to ask this question than to start a new thread.

I've gone through most of the pages here. Very useful stuff to know.

--
We are getting our stage 2 charging station installed by aerovironment soon (awaiting official date confirmation) as per the state-run program (we were offered a free stage 2 charging station with the purchase of our leaf last weekend).

Even reading the fine print I've noticed some odd wording.

Apparently, we need to get a permit. I read above, another poster stated it was about $130 for him. Is it similar across the US for this permit?
Should I be aware of anything else when the contractor/electrician (pardon my ignorance here) gets to our home? The email I received also states that I'm responsible for any extra labor / time spent on obtaining the permit, etc..
Any advice here? Is this usual?

Thanks in advance!

[nexusplexus]

Apparently, we need to get a permit. I read above, another poster stated it was about $130 for him. Is it similar across the US for this permit?
Should I be aware of anything else when the contractor/electrician (pardon my ignorance here) gets to our home? The email I received also states that I'm responsible for any extra labor / time spent on obtaining the permit, etc..
Any advice here? Is this usual?

The permit is a building permit for electrical work on your house. Usually get it from the city you live in. Cost varies by city.
The contractor will charge an extra fee to pull the permit or you can request one yourself.
My permit was $120, the contractor was going to charge an extra $50 to pull it, so I obtained one myself.

[rodkar]

The permit is a building permit for electrical work on your house. Usually get it from the city you live in. Cost varies by city.
The contractor will charge an extra fee to pull the permit or you can request one yourself.
My permit was $120, the contractor was going to charge an extra $50 to pull it, so I obtained one myself.

Amazing. Thank you for that. I'll be sure to pay attention to that detail so he doesn't overcharge me.

[tinaCA]

Good luck with that - I just got the estimate for our install - $2200. Our carport is 40' from the panel even including going up through the attic. They quoted us for 100' of wiring, but the technician who visited spend about 5 minutes at our home and didn't measure anything so not sure where he got that number.