Specs for 240v outlet/breaker

Rusty,

You can set timer on Leaf so it ends fully charged at any time of day. Programmable individually by days or every day the same time.

I set my timer to be fully charged at 8am every day. The charge start time will be calculated by the car so it’s fully charged by 8am in my case.

If your panel is pretty full and you need more space you can always swap out a few current breakers with twin breakers to give space for a 240v breaker like I did in my barn sub panel for the “Office” and “shed” breakers.

RustyShackleford said:

...Wife has deemed that she'll never leave the charging cable at home; we live in a relatively rural area, not super EV friendly. And it's a pain, and possibly dangerous if I don't use a GFCI breaker (which I really don't want to do*) for her to be pulling the cord out of the car and plugging in both ends, every time she comes home. Plus she'll be spending lots of time at new grandkid's house and that's 50+ miles away.

So I'll be putting in a hard-wired unit. ...

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A good strategy in general. It's nice to have a backup unit for troubleshooting and use if one develops a fault.

Jerryr said:

Rusty,
If your panel is pretty full and you need more space you can always swap out a few current breakers with twin breakers to give space for a 240v breaker like I did in my barn sub panel for the “Office” and “shed” breakers.

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Sure, I've already got a bunch of those "space saver" breakers in my panel. Siemens also has 2-slot space-savers that'll give you two 2-pole breakers, or one 2-pole and two 1-pole. I don't need to free up 2 slots anyhow, because I don't need GFCI with a hard-wired unit.

The Clipper Creek ones have unbelievable reviews at Amazon (tons of 5*, a few 4*, and nothing lower).

Just need to decide if I'm gonna run conduit w/ 8awg, or 6awg NM-B. The pain is getting conduit all the way from where it comes through the floor of the utility room to the load center; probably worth it to work with individual strands of 8 instead of the 6.

Jerryr said:

if you use THHN/THWN etc individual stranded wires in a raceway (conduit) you can run 8 AWG for 50 amps if the run is less than 100 ft.

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Ground can be 10awg, no ? Do you have an opinion on THHN versus XHHW ? (Both can handle the 50 amps at 8awg). Price is comparable (wireandcableyourway.com) and XHHW is supposedly more flexible despite thicker insulation.

So Level 3 must bypass the car's on -board charger, since it can pump an order of magnitude more juice into the car than it can accept via Level 2, right ? (If you have the quick-charge port).

Rusty,

First, congratulations on joining the EV car ownership. You and your wife will love it.

Some advice. When you pick up the car (used) make sure that the EVSE supplied is a Nissan brand with ability to both charge at 120 volt and 240 volts. That’s the ESEV that came with SL or SV with Technology option. In earlier years EVSE (charger cords) only plugged into 120 volts and supplied trickle charge. Dealers may try to put a trickle charger in the truck.

Last year I found a Nissan OEM 120/240v EVSE on eBay for $218 delivered and bought it. That’s what I have mounted in the barn of my vacation cabin plugged into the 40 amp/14-50R I installed. I keep the 120/240v one that came with my car in the trunk just in case.

At my primary house I installed an Eaton hard wired unit. It has a 24 ft cord so I can park the Leaf on ether side of my 2 car garage and the cord reaches. I installed it 4 years ago when I bought my first EV a 2015 Leaf.

I’m not sure that the supplied OEM Nissan EVSE is rated for permanent outdoor Installation exposed to rain etc. it would be best to install any EVSE out of weather. Perhaps in a garage and park close enough to run the cord under the garage door to the car. Clipper Creek EVSEs mostly have 24 ft cords that go from base to car.

Here are some pictures

My Eaton EVSE in my primary home garage installed over 4 years ago



Clipper Creek LCS-30 hard wired installed in barn. That EVSE failed and was returned.



My Nissan EVSE plugged into a 14-50R with a 40amp breaker.


Car connected to cord outside barn installed EVSE

If you decide to install an outdoor 14-50R a good choice would be this RV box. https://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-70-Amp-2-Space-2-Circuit-240-Volt-Unmetered-RV-Outlet-Box-with-50-Amp-and-20-Amp-GCFI-Circuit-Protected-Receptacles-GE1LU502SS/203393687

It has a 50 amp breaker in the box so no issue with a live outlet. Just turn off breaker any time you plug or unplug the EVSE. I put one on a temp pole at a property I used to camp at. Last week I helped a friend install one in his remote lot for his RV. We ran 8AWG in PVC conduit and protected the feed with a 50 amp breaker.

Here’s mine at my Lot I camped at.

Here’s my 5th wheel plugged into it while we were camping.

Thanks @jerryr for the pix and advice. Yes, I'm pretty sure the cord is the official one: the 14-50R plug pulls off to expose a regular 3-prong 120v plug; it is marked "Nissan", "3XB3", and "Model 296900". And it's a private-party sale and the seller seems to be a straight-shooter. But thanks for the caution.

I have to decided to install a hard-wired charger (yes, I realize the actual charger is in the car); the highly-regarded Clipper Creek HCS-40 (or HCS-50 if I can figure out how to install it without too much pain, conduit w/ 8awg of 6awg romex). So like you we'll leave the plug-in cable in the car. So no worries about GFCI-protecting the circuit feeding the hard-wired one, or shocks plugging/unplugging the thing.

RustyShackleford said:

...the highly-regarded Clipper Creek HCS-40 (or HCS-50 if I can figure out how to install it without too much pain, conduit w/ 8awg of 6awg romex). ...

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You just need to put in a 50a circuit, so 6awg (THHN or Romex), and a 50a breaker. It's your choice on whether to get one of the plug-in models or the hardwire model, but it's not harder to install than the HCS-40.

davewill said:

You just need to put in a 50a circuit, so 6awg (THHN or Romex), and a 50a breaker. It's your choice on whether to get one of the plug-in models or the hardwire model, but it's not harder to install than the HCS-40.

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I hate working with 6awg, that's all - panel is already pretty crowded; I ain't gonna do it. But with THHN or XHHW, in conduit, 8awg can be used; however, getting conduit from the floor of the utility room to the load center may be a puzzler.

You could run 8 THHN in conduit to a junction box somewhere convenient and then finish the run with 6 NM-B. Not sure if that would help as every case is different but it's something to consider.

goldbrick said:

You could run 8 THHN in conduit to a junction box somewhere convenient and then finish the run with 6 NM-B. Not sure if that would help ...

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Thanks, but won't help; inside the main panel is where I'm really loathe to have to deal with 6awg conductors (even outside the sheath). I think I can make conduit work though, transitioning to the semi-flexible stuff between the floor and the box.