charging question

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kizan971

Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2017
Messages
6
So I just drove my 2013 leaf home from the dealership and it double lined on millage when I got home so I put it on 110. Now I noticed my house has a weird plug and under the cover it says 30 amps 120v. will that be more efficient for charging and can I just buy adapter to convert the end from 110 to whatever this plug is?
 
A TT-30 trailer type outlet will only provide more power if the EVSE (charging cable) can handle more than 12 amps. The cable that comes with the car is rated for 12 amps, so while the 30 amp outlet might be a little safer with a good-fitting adapter, it wouldn't charge the car any faster.
 
kizan971 said:
Thank you. looks like I need to find one that can handle 30 amps. is this considered lvl2?
Doesn't seem like it per http://www.sae.org/smartgrid/chargingspeeds.pdf

https://store.clippercreek.com/level1 has the ACS-25 (a 20 amp EVSE) but it says the connection is hardwired. You also wouldn't want to put a 30 amp continous load on an outlet that's rated for 30 amps. 24 amps should be the max safe continuous load.
 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MFVI92S/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00AAKQWKM&linkCode=as2&tag=recargo-20&linkId=F5LSCR5OQTWC4CLP

would this be a better option? im trying to obtain a 4hr charge time or less.
 
kizan971 said:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MFVI92S/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00AAKQWKM&linkCode=as2&tag=recargo-20&linkId=F5LSCR5OQTWC4CLP

would this be a better option? im trying to obtain a 4hr charge time or less.

Your outlet provides 120 volts. The above is a 240 volt level 2 charging station. You need to find a 120 volt charging station that provides more than 12 amps to the car's onboard charger but no more than 24. Don't expect four hour empty to full recharge times from a level one charging station - it isn't going to happen. Your best bet is to ask Clipper Creek if they will install a TT-30 plug on their ACS 25. That would give you almost double your present charge rate.
 
kizan971 said:
So I just drove my 2013 leaf home from the dealership and it double lined on millage when I got home so I put it on 110. Now I noticed my house has a weird plug and under the cover it says 30 amps 120v. will that be more efficient for charging and can I just buy adapter to convert the end from 110 to whatever this plug is?
Probably a dedicated 30 amp circuit. An electrician can make this a 240 volt circuit and set you up with L2 charging.

More efficient or faster than a regular outlet, no. Convert to L2 for faster charging. Clipper Creek LCS-30 would work perfect.
 
The Zencar 32A portable EVSE will supply 120v @ 24 amps if you order it with that setting:

http://www.e-zencar.net/product/evse-32a/

You can make or purchase a NEMA 14-50R to TT-30p adapter pretty easily.

120V@24A provides roughly a 2.9 kW charging rate so 4hrs of charging would add about 11.6 kWh to the pack.
 
It depends on what Leaf you drove. If it's a S model without the charge package you won't gain a thing, it maxes out at 12a @ 120v, if it does have the charger package or is anything other than a S model, you could get double the charge speed using an EVSE that will go up to 24a @ 120v. Of course if you could get the outlet rewired for 240v you could get double the charging speed again or 4x what you currently get. Note a S model without the charger package will max out at 16a @ 240v.
 
Is that somwthing I can figure out with the vin? The kid at the dealership didnt k ow muxh about the car so im not aure what it has. 1 thing I know is it doesnt have the quick charge port on top of thr normal EV port.
 
kizan971 said:
Is that somwthing I can figure out with the vin? The kid at the dealership didnt k ow muxh about the car so im not aure what it has. 1 thing I know is it doesnt have the quick charge port on top of thr normal EV port.
See specs tab of http://nissannews.com/en-US/nissan/usa/presskits/us-2013-nissan-leaf-press-kit.

CHAdeMO inlet is to the left of the J1772 inlet. It's not on top.

These may help
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=506937#p506937
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=23428&hilit=s+sv+sl+black+leather+cloth
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=484758#p484758 - no idea if this is right
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=24565&p=505401&hilit=cpo+sticker#p505401 may work. It worked on my former leased Leaf. It doesn't work on my current owned Leaf.
 
I don't feel like anyone else directly answered this --

kizan971 said:
Thank you. looks like I need to find one that can handle 30 amps. is this considered lvl2?

No. The "level" terminology relates only to the voltage. Level 1 = 120V, Level 2 = 240V.

Typical home outlets are 120V, 15A circuits. But your 120V, 30A outlet would still be level 1.
 
I have tried the Leaf's internal charger and it only cares about current. I have only tried my enhanced charger but it is likely the basic charger is similar. An electric car's EVSE is considered continuous load o you are limited to 80% of the circuit. For a 30A 120V circuit you are limited to 24A.

Over 16A (80% of 20A) violates the J1772 L1 spec but it works fine. The stock EVSE signals the car that 12A is available (80% of a common 15A plug) There is really no way to change it. Some aftermarket evse's can be set for more.

We have a member that regularly charges at 120V and high current. Even 16A @ 240VAC is faster but you use what is available.

You might look into rewiring the circuit for 240V and changing the receptacle. a 14-50 socket is the unofficial standard. In this case the neutral is ignored. Many homes hare a 30A dryer receptacle. It currently uses a very similar plug. In fact only the neutral differs. Early homes use a 3 wire plug with no ground. Since it is not used some cut the pin flush so they can plug into 30, 50, and 60A outlets. For 40A circuit a 50A unit is used since there is no 40A parts.
 
Well I was just told on FB that my model S can only handle 16A and anything else is useless. does that mean im stuck with 15 to 20 hr charge times?

I was going to do install a 40A 220-240V but not if its not going to do anything and I went to look at newer models and it doesnt say charging capabilities.
 
kizan971 said:
Well I was just told on FB that my model S can only handle 16A and anything else is useless. does that mean im stuck with 15 to 20 hr charge times?

I was going to do install a 40A 220-240V but not if its not going to do anything and I went to look at newer models and it doesnt say charging capabilities.

Leaf S has a 3.3kW charger. You should be able to go from dry to almost full in 6 hours, with a 240V 16A station.
 
kizan971 said:
Well I was just told on FB that my model S can only handle 16A and anything else is useless. does that mean im stuck with 15 to 20 hr charge times?

I was going to do install a 40A 220-240V but not if its not going to do anything and I went to look at newer models and it doesnt say charging capabilities.

I am simplifying this a bit but if your car is the 3.3 you can charge up to 16 amps at 240 volts. The stock EVSE, sometimes called the portable EVSE or the trickle charger, that plugs in to a standard 120v volt outlet will supply 120 volts at 12 amps or 1440 watts to the car. The most important part here is the watts delivered to the car, both the voltage and amperage play in to those numbers. So now if you can up that, still at 120 volts to 16 amps you are now supplying the car 1920 watts. Now if you can get a 240 volt outlet that can supply 16 amps you can supply the car with 3840 watts.

Another way to think of the voltage of 120 volt vs 240 volt is one hose or two. So if they are both running at 16 amps 240 volts is twice as much as a single 120 volt hose, bad analogy I know, but maybe it helps.

120 volts at 12 amps = 1400 watts
120 volts at 16 amps = 1920 watts
240 volts at 16 amps = 3840 watts

Think of watts is how much power is moving at a time in to the car.

So you can see the 240 volt at 16 amps will charge much faster than 120 volts at 12 amps.
 
Another possibility, if you are feeling adventurous, is to upgrade the OBC:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=21106

Doesn't sound too difficult, but really only worth it if you can get the replacement OBC at a reasonable price (list price new is just under $1000, pretty steep)
 
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