Cheap L2 EVSE by converting the 2013-14 Nissan L1 EVSE - $25

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arnis said:
What is warming up? AWG7 would also warm up.

So how much? Now we get serious guys! Crunch some numbers to satisfy me :geek:

Go experiment on your own.. We are already satisfied with our solutions.. Cheers!!
 
I did this upgrade on my 2015 model EVSE this weekend. I used a 25' generator power cord from home depot with L14-20 connectors which was close out priced at $14. I cut the female end off with about 1 foot of cable to make an RV adapter with a 14-50 plug. Cut a few more 1 foot sections for more adapters. I used some thermistors that I had from old laptop battery packs to replace the thermistor in the original plug (yellow wires) and put one of them near the red wire splice. With the cover still off I plugged it in and charged my car. I used a IR thermometer to see if any of the new connections were hot and they were not.

This upgrade is sufficient to fully charge overnight, which the L1 charging does not do. I can still choose to use free public charging that is about a mile walk from work, but I no longer have to.
 
Good Job!!

Looks like this mod has helped quite a few folks now. I am a happy user for over 2 years and many many charges. I have 23K miles on my vehicle now. Never needed to go bigger than 12A and 240V so far. I am told charging at the slow rate may be helping my batteries from not losing their capacity. So far I haven't lost a single bar!!.

Cheers!
 
I really like this thread and how some very intelligent people have improved on this modification of a very simple pass through device that Nissan provided.
But some seem to think the leaf operates with 240vac input. When rather its 120vac inputs.
And the Nissan provided adaptor designed with components that directs multiple voltage legs at or about 120vac very basic.
I look at the mod coming out of CA for 300+$ as a friend has one so I dissected it with him with a time clock running. After showing him the differences, he understood the labor rates and component list.

I plan to make adjustment to my adaptor and build separate plug adaptor to bring single phase neutral back in.

Buts let's face it.. You could do the same with two 20ft long 8awg wires and get the same results, but the Nissan box looks nicer.

And yes I am and then some.
 
pbridges said:
I really like this thread and how some very intelligent people have improved on this modification of a very simple pass through device that Nissan provided.
But some seem to think the leaf operates with 240vac input. When rather its 120vac inputs.
And the Nissan provided adaptor designed with components that directs multiple voltage legs at or about 120vac very basic.
I look at the mod coming out of CA for 300+$ as a friend has one so I dissected it with him with a time clock running. After showing him the differences, he understood the labor rates and component list.

I plan to make adjustment to my adaptor and build separate plug adaptor to bring single phase neutral back in.

Buts let's face it.. You could do the same with two 20ft long 8awg wires and get the same results, but the Nissan box looks nicer.

And yes I am and then some.

Pray tell us the difference and the results of that dissection.
 
maini said:
pbridges said:
I really like this thread and how some very intelligent people have improved on this modification of a very simple pass through device that Nissan provided.
But some seem to think the leaf operates with 240vac input. When rather its 120vac inputs.
And the Nissan provided adaptor designed with components that directs multiple voltage legs at or about 120vac very basic.
I look at the mod coming out of CA for 300+$ as a friend has one so I dissected it with him with a time clock running. After showing him the differences, he understood the labor rates and component list.

I plan to make adjustment to my adaptor and build separate plug adaptor to bring single phase neutral back in.

Buts let's face it.. You could do the same with two 20ft long 8awg wires and get the same results, but the Nissan box looks nicer.

And yes I am and then some.

Pray tell us the difference and the results of that dissection.


No. What it is, is what it is.
 
Happy to report.. 25K miles done and almost 3 years of ownership. I have used this mod right from the beginning and have not had an issue at all. It has been in rain, dropped many times and is till robust and has shown no signs of any problems. I have to guess that I must have charge the car over 1000 times by now. Whether just topping off from 70% to 100% or going from as low as 19% to 100%, this EVSE mod has never had any issues and nothing has ever over heated. This EVSE has been used in Northern California Bay Area weather which ranges from 95F to 32F.

Cheers!! PM if you have any questions!!
 
Bringing this back from the dead. I just did this on my brand new charger with no big problems and it's charging fine. Once I cracked open the case I didn't understand what everyone's problem is. At least the way I did it, nothing inside the charger is getting more than 120v the only thing receiving 240v is the car so I'd be interested to see what these $300 upgrades do differently.


I used a 4 prong dryer cord -$22
T-20 (torx) security bit- $5 Harbor freight set I have
1w, 22K ohm resistor - $2 It was a little big probably should have used a 1/2 watt resistor but they were out.
One butt connector $2/pack I could have tried soldering it with heat shrink which would be the proper way but I had a fancy butt connector that was 12g on one side and 10g on the other so it worked pretty sweet.
3 -10g spade connectors - $2 pack. The ones on the dryer cord were too big and the cable need shortening anyway
Soldering pencil $4 and solder $3. Way more solder than I'll probably ever use.

That's it, so yea, about $25. The rest is whatever you need to get the receptacle and breaker put in. This is the first time I've ever soldered anything either so that was the most frustrating trying to figure it out. If anyone wants some pictures I can get them uploaded.
 
Good job!! The reason I used a L14 30 was because it was the cheapest 240V 30A 4 prong plug and socket available in the market or on eBay. The mod will never exceed 12A in any case. Your biggest cost was that 4 prong plug and socket. Yes working very fine for me no issues.. over 3 years now!!
 
I chose the dryer plug because it was simple, already had the cable connected to it and I could buy it right there. a bare plug was $15 at home depot, I could have bought another kind of plug for $10 online but then I'd have to wait for shipping and I'd still have to buy cable either way and wire it all up. The dryer cable is either 4 or 6' long and was a simple thing.

For anyone else when you do this mod you'll see that the 4th, red wire, bypasses pretty much everything in the charger and skips right to the exit side going to the car. The other three wires; white, black, and green are the ones that get screwed into the control panel. It still only charges at 12amps (2,880w @ 240) but that is plenty of time for most anyone (about 8 hours from dead 0%)

I'd be interested to know how evseUp reprograms them for 16amps and I'm curious how much current the wires could handle, they look like 12g so it should be good for 20a or so. Anyone know of a DIY way to reprogram the OEM charger?
 
Yes the existing J1772 and the cables can do 20A. I think EVSE upgrade might be changing the internals. the circuit inside as you noticed is heavily potted so I doubt anything can be changed. Not sure why EVSE upgrade is not setting theirs at 20A and keeping it at only 16A. Technically speaking 1 resistor in the pilot signal wire might have to be changed to provide 20A but finding that will be good amount of work. I am pretty sure the relays can easily handle 20A.
 
The older Leaf EVSEs can be upgraded to 20a as they have 12 gauge wire, the newer ones cheaped out and went with 14 gauge, hence the 16a max of the newer upgrades. It could be worse, the Volt(and maybe Bolt??) really cheaped out and use 16 gauge, limiting it to 12a max :x
 
maini said:
Very sure my 2014 came with 12AWG wire. So 20Amp should be no problem.
Yes I believe the '11-14 OEM Leaf EVSEs can be upgraded to 20a by EVup.., I think the 14 gauge wiring started in '15.
At one point the upgrades could be either 16 or 20 amps, order one with a L6-20 end and it would max out at 16a, order one with a L6-30 plug and it would go to 20a max.
Note they all max out at 12a @ 120v unless you purchase a separate 120v adapter, in this case it maxes out at 16a, not 20a like on 240v.
 
I did this mod a year ago. 9k miles of charging without issues (maybe 200 charges).

One variation: when I did the mod, I didn't have a resistor to substitute for the temperature sensor. Radio Shack is long-gone, and I didn't want to wait for mail order. So I kept the old 5-15 plug's temperature sensor wires connected to the EVSE. (I removed the other wires, and also trimmed-off the three metal prongs with a Dreml).

I made one other mod: inside the EVSE, I extended the small Control wire (which normally runs from the EVSE to the J1772 connector) to a dual-gang switchbox containing an ordinary lightswitch, and a mechanical timer switch (12-hour Intermatic). The Control wire is connected to both the switch and the timer in parallel. Turning the switch "on" closes the Control connection... as does twisting the timer.

This lets me limit charging to about 80%: at 12A 240v, the EVSE adds about 10% charge per hour to my 30kwhr battery. So if I am parking the car with 40%, and want to stop charging at 80%, I'd twist the timer to 4 hours, then inside the Leaf, hit the timer-override ("clock") button on the dash, and let it charge away. When the timer clicks-off after 4 hours, the Control circuit is interrupted, and charging stops (it's as-if you had walked to your car and pressed the thumbswitch on the J1772). For charging to 100%, I close the on/off switch, and then I let the car's normal charge timer start and end the charge. In practice, I use the on/off switch to charge to 100% all winter, and the 12-hour mechanical timer to charge to 80% most of the summer.

With a dual-gang box connected, it's not very portable. If you wanted it to be portable, I'd put a quick-disconnect between the timer box and the EVSE, and jumper that closed when travelling.
 
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