Fast Low Cost Charging - All EVSE Questions Answered!

[planet4ever]

I just tested it at 120V and 240V and it works great! I have an eMonitor system (http://www.powerhousedynamics.com/) so I can see how much power individual circuits were pulling and I confirmed that at 240V it pulled the same amount of power as the Blink charger (not that there was any doubt). At 120V the car was pulling about 1460 Watts.

With your eMonitor running at 120v and 240v, and the same EVSE running at both voltages, you should be in a good position to confirm or rebut the claims DaveinOlyWA has been making about differences in charging efficiency between 120v and 240v. He says he used to see 75% efficiency at 120v by comparing wall kWh to miles divided by dash miles/kWh. He now sees about 82% doing the same thing (with different equipment at a different time of year) at 240v.

I sure would like to see some definitive measurements on this, and yours would be about as comparable at possible.

Ray

 

[Ingineer]

We are finally getting close to being caught up with the flood of orders we received after our closure. All received orders should be complete soon, thanks for your patience!

Our site has been updated with order functionality for both new EVSE and advance replacement order options.

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING BEFORE ORDERING:

NEW EVSE ORDERS
If you want to order a brand new converted EVSE for a LEAF or Volt we now have units in stock and will be shipping new orders over the next week. If you are ordering the Volt upgrade please note that it introduces a problem for the LEAF if using a charger timer, so we do not recommend LEAF owners order the Volt upgrade.

Units are shipped in the order placed and based on our stock on hand each week. You will receive a tracking notice when your order ships. Please be sure to send us your waiver form or your order will not ship!

[Order Here]

ADVANCE REPLACEMENT ORDERS
If you are located in California, must orders take 1 to 2 days to ship, so most customers do not need this option. However, if you cannot be without a charge solution, we are offering an advance replacement service. There is a $75 fee for this service (includes shipping) and a refundable $600 deposit. We ship you an upgraded EVSE to your specifications in advance. Once you get your new upgraded EVSE you simply ship yours back and once we receive the unit in resalable condition we refund your $600 deposit. Note: You must ship your EVSE out to us within two (2) business days after receiving your upgraded unit, or you may be assessed late fees. (This allows us to continue to provide the service to other LEAF owners.) All the options and charges are listed on our order page. Orders are shipped in the order received. You will receive an email containing tracking info when your order ships.

[Order Here]

Thanks!

-Phil

 

[hill]

We are finally getting close to being caught up with the flood of orders we received after our closure. All received orders should be complete soon, thanks for your patience!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . snip
Orders are shipped in the order received. You will receive an email containing tracking info when your order ships.

[Order Here]

Thanks!

-Phil

I'm the sacrificial guy . . . held of on the 2nd gen upgrading until the flood susided. Now, if I could just finish up my isolation transformer / gfi / spoof / mod
:lol:
Here's to hoping your vacation doesn't wear off too fast, with all of us bugging you -

 

[PhatBoyG]

If we want to order a second EVSE ourself from the local dealer (to ease the burden on your source) to send in and have upgraded, what is the actual Nissan part number to order?

 

[z0ner]

If we want to order a second EVSE ourself from the local dealer (to ease the burden on your source) to send in and have upgraded, what is the actual Nissan part number to order?

http://www.pluginamerica.org/accessories/nissan-29690

 

[Ingineer]

If we want to order a second EVSE ourself from the local dealer (to ease the burden on your source) to send in and have upgraded, what is the actual Nissan part number to order?

FYI: We now have plenty of stock on new units, I guess Panasonic got their production caught up. Either way is fine by us!

-Phil

 

[tps]

My modified EVSE came today! Thanks, Phil, for the speedy service. Now if I can just get Hertz to honor the LEAF reservation I made with them...

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

Now that these modified units have been out there for a while have there been any problems reported? If I do get to place my order next week I'm thinking about telling them to take their overpriced AV unit and jump in a lake, and just go with the modified L1 unit.

 

[QueenBee]

Now that these modified units have been out there for a while have there been any problems reported? If I do get to place my order next week I'm thinking about telling them to take their overpriced AV unit and jump in a lake, and just go with the modified L1 unit.

Do it!

 

[Volusiano]

Now that these modified units have been out there for a while have there been any problems reported? If I do get to place my order next week I'm thinking about telling them to take their overpriced AV unit and jump in a lake, and just go with the modified L1 unit.

The only problem as Phil mentioned is if you intend to use the modified EVSE on your Leaf with the Leaf timer on, don't order the Volt compatibility option. Phil said it's been causing some problem when used in the Leaf timer mode. I tried to ask what the problem is but haven't received an answer yet.

 

[youngr3]

Got my 16 amp modified system back from Phil a couple of days ago. In anticipation I had previously installed a sub-panel plus a dedicated 120 volt outlet and a 240 dedicated volt outlet. I checked out the system on the 120 volts and 240 volts and both worked great. Now I can use the Blink or if it is on the "blink" I have options as backups. I also installed a couple of breakers and a 240 volt system at my daughter's home, 70 miles away, so now it is possible to take the Leaf when we go visit our grandsons!

Thank you Phil for making this possible!

 

[Ingineer]

Now that these modified units have been out there for a while have there been any problems reported? If I do get to place my order next week I'm thinking about telling them to take their overpriced AV unit and jump in a lake, and just go with the modified L1 unit.

Sorry for the Delays in answering questions, I am out at the Green Drive Expo in Madison for this weekend, and we also have one of our customer service people out.

Out of the hundreds of units we have done, we have only had 4 units need warranty service. 2 of these were our fault, just dumb mistakes early in the production process. Now we have a quality control system and testing to catch stuff like this, so we haven't had any problems like this since. The other 2 were due to defective components that either slipped out of their manufacturers like that, or failed due to a power surge, act of god, etc.

We've also received a few units in where people attempted to do their own DIY upgrade and blew up the power supply. One was even from a well-known automotive journalist! We have repaired and then upgraded these for people without any additional charges.

I have only ever seen one un-modified Panasonic EVSE failure so far. We were also able to repair/upgrade it for it's owner. I have never seen one leak water or be damaged by a drop or drive-over event. I cannot say the same for the Voltec EVSE that ships with the Chevy Volt however!

All in all I have to say the EVSE, whether upgraded or not, is a very reliable piece of hardware as compared to most consumer products made these days!

The upgrade was engineered to be as reliable as we could make it. For instance, the critical power supply components are German-made and UL listed, not Chinese. We stand behind our work and will repair them fast if you do have any problems, but I doubt you will!

-Phil

 

[Ingineer]

The only problem as Phil mentioned is if you intend to use the modified EVSE on your Leaf with the Leaf timer on, don't order the Volt compatibility option. Phil said it's been causing some problem when used in the Leaf timer mode. I tried to ask what the problem is but haven't received an answer yet.

Sorry for not seeing this sooner. I honestly can't answer this question fully yet. There have been only a few reports of this, so I just don't have much information. As soon as I received more than one report, I started recommending that LEAF owners avoid the Volt upgrade. Once I know the true problem and it's cause I will come up with a fix. Unfortunately it's hard to test this stuff, as I have to have a Volt and a LEAF around for testing, neither of which I own!

The Volt upgrade has been tested extensively by Volt owners and is reliable and fully functional. However, we have very few customers out there that own both and are reporting any problems.

The report I received basically said that the LEAF would charge fine "manually" with a Volt unit, but sometimes when a charge timer was set in the LEAF, the charge would not work properly.

Then again, this could actually be a LEAF problem, as many people have reported charge timer problems with almost all makes of EVSE's. Still, I thought it fair to warn our customers.

-Phil

 

[Volusiano]

The report I received basically said that the LEAF would charge fine "manually" with a Volt unit, but sometimes when a charge timer was set in the LEAF, the charge would not work properly.
-Phil

Thanks for passing along the info to us, Phil.

I assume there must be plenty of users out there using the modified EVSE as their main regular charger for the Leaf in timer mode. If you're reading this and you also had the Volt compatibility option installed, can you report back on whether you're experiencing any issue with using it on the Leaf timer or not? The more data points Phil can get on this, the more it can help him figure out if the few vague reports he received so far are valid or not.

I ran a quick test on my Rev2 EVSE (with Volt compatibility) on my Leaf with the timer on and it seems to work just fine. But I admit that this is just a quick test and I don't use my Rev2 EVSE on a regular basis.

I wonder how those people who reported the problem to Phil really know that's it's really due to the Volt compatibility in the first place, unless they also have another modified EVSE without the Volt compatibility (highly unlikely) to do A-B comparison to be certain.

 

[sgvleaf]

"Additionally, If you have an unused dryer outlet at home it can be easily changed to work directly with the upgraded unit, no adapter needed."

What needs to be changed to my dryer outlet in order for it to work with the upgraded unit? I just put in an order for the L2 charger but haven't shipped it off yet. I have an unused dryer outlet in my garage I was planning to use. Do I need to have it changed?

 

[GeekEV]

It's easy enough for anyone with a modest knowledge of electrical wiring to swap the outlet for an L6-20 one, I'm sure that's what was meant by that. The one advantage of using an adapter though, is that you can take it with you and use it at someone ELSE's house.

 

[Ingineer]

What needs to be changed to my dryer outlet in order for it to work with the upgraded unit? I just put in an order for the L2 charger but haven't shipped it off yet. I have an unused dryer outlet in my garage I was planning to use. Do I need to have it changed?

As GeekEV pointed out, you can either change the outlet, add another, or use an adapter on the existing dryer outlet.

If you are competent to change the outlet it's an easy job and it's low cost (maybe even cheaper than the adapter) and take only about 5-10 minutes. I would recommend anyone intending on semi-regular charging go ahead and put the L6-20 in rather than use an adapter. I think it's safer and more reliable.

If you don't want to take on the outlet install, GeekEV can sell you a nicely made adapter.

-Phil

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

Sorry for the Delays in answering questions, I am out at the Green Drive Expo in Madison for this weekend, and we also have one of our customer service people out.

Out of the hundreds of units we have done, we have only had 4 units need warranty service. 2 of these were our fault, just dumb mistakes early in the production process. Now we have a quality control system and testing to catch stuff like this, so we haven't had any problems like this since. The other 2 were due to defective components that either slipped out of their manufacturers like that, or failed due to a power surge, act of god, etc.

We've also received a few units in where people attempted to do their own DIY upgrade and blew up the power supply. One was even from a well-known automotive journalist! We have repaired and then upgraded these for people without any additional charges.

I have only ever seen one un-modified Panasonic EVSE failure so far. We were also able to repair/upgrade it for it's owner. I have never seen one leak water or be damaged by a drop or drive-over event. I cannot say the same for the Voltec EVSE that ships with the Chevy Volt however!

All in all I have to say the EVSE, whether upgraded or not, is a very reliable piece of hardware as compared to most consumer products made these days!

The upgrade was engineered to be as reliable as we could make it. For instance, the critical power supply components are German-made and UL listed, not Chinese. We stand behind our work and will repair them fast if you do have any problems, but I doubt you will!

-Phil

Thank you for your forthright response. A followup question I have related to this is whether the pilot signalling/handshake indicates the voltage, or only the available amperage. The reason I ask is whether, despite all the quality controls in the modification, is there is any possibility of damage to the car if the EVSE fails in some manner? For example, the car is "expecting" 120v and it gets 240v. I think the answer is no, but can you confirm this?

 

[smkettner]

What needs to be changed to my dryer outlet in order for it to work with the upgraded unit? I just put in an order for the L2 charger but haven't shipped it off yet. I have an unused dryer outlet in my garage I was planning to use. Do I need to have it changed?

As GeekEV pointed out, you can either change the outlet, add another, or use an adapter on the existing dryer outlet.

If you are competent to change the outlet it's an easy job and it's low cost (maybe even cheaper than the adapter) and take only about 5-10 minutes. I would recommend anyone intending on semi-regular charging go ahead and put the L6-20 in rather than use an adapter. I think it's safer and more reliable.

If you don't want to take on the outlet install, GeekEV can sell you a nicely made adapter.

-Phil

I think the building code will also require the breaker to be changed to a 20a. Save the old stuff as you may want to convert back to sell the home.

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

Is there any reason the plug on the modified EVSE cannot be changed to L14 and just not connect the neutral? Sorry if this was answered previously.