Home charger

[davewill]

So you would not actually get the Tesla home EVSE?

Since I already own a perfectly good 30a EVSE, no. I'm not going to magically triple or quadruple my daily drive just because bought a Tesla, and even if I did, the 30a EVSE could handle the load.

 

[GetOffYourGas]

So you would not actually get the Tesla home EVSE?

Since I already own a perfectly good 30a EVSE, no. I'm not going to magically triple or quadruple my daily drive just because bought a Tesla, and even if I did, the 30a EVSE could handle the load.

This is a great example of the "learning curve" we all have to through with BEVs. Just because the car has more capacity does not mean you have to charge the full capacity every night. You're really just topping off the car from that day's driving. The EVSE should be sized to accomodate your daily driving/recharging routine, not the car's maximum capacity. (Hint: If the former is greater than the latter, the EV is not right for you!)

 

[smkettner]

For me it would be about the connector. I would gladly use an adapter for public charging but not at home with a $90,000 EV.
Besides the OP mentioned future proofing... to me that means being ready to use the higher powered equipment when available.
Otherwise there may not be much need for more than a 20 amp circuit.

 

[davewill]

For me it would be about the connector. I would gladly use an adapter for public charging but not at home with a $90,000 EV.
Besides the OP mentioned future proofing... to me that means being ready to use the higher powered equipment when available.
Otherwise there may not be much need for more than a 20 amp circuit.

For some people, there wouldn't be, although I think 16a charging might prove a little limiting with a 60 or 80kWh battery. At 30a you could charge from flat to full overnight, not so at 16a. I might buy an extra J1772 to Tesla adapter to leave attached to the EVSE at home, but otherwise I wouldn't be bothered by using my lowly Blink to charge a $90,000 car.

 

[mazdaboi]

The blink has a max charge of 7.2kWh...correct? It shouldnt be bad for a Tesla or any other EV not limted to our 3.3kWh Leaf Charger. Teslas standard charger is 10kWh and their special dual charger at 20kWh would be the kicker for using a standard EVSE. At that price point it does benefit to add the supercharging and dual charger kit onto the order at ~$2700. well worth it. But i do come back to my original statement, a standard 5-7.2kWh EVSE would be ok for a Tesla driver who does not completly deplete the battery each day, even for a charging station away from home (friends, family home)

 

[dgpcolorado]

The blink has a max charge of 7.2kWh...correct? It shouldnt be bad for a Tesla or any other EV not limted to our 3.3kWh Leaf Charger. Teslas standard charger is 10kWh and their special dual charger at 20kWh would be the kicker for using a standard EVSE. At that price point it does benefit to add the supercharging and dual charger kit onto the order at ~$2700. well worth it. But i do come back to my original statement, a standard 5-7.2kWh EVSE would be ok for a Tesla driver who does not completly deplete the battery each day, even for a charging station away from home (friends, family home)

I trust that you mean 7.2 kW, not "7.2 kWh". Yes I know I am being picky but kW is a unit of power and kW•h is a unit of energy; they are very different things. Power (watts, joules/second) is the rate (work/time) at which energy is used/generated and energy (watt•hours) is the amount of power used/generated over a unit of time (work).

Energy = Power x time = (work/time) x time = work

 

[smkettner]

With a solid 200+ mile battery the most I could imagine I would ever need at home is 16a 240v.
As long as it had the Tesla connector on it

 

[Ingineer]

FYI: Both the Voltec Level II and the Pass & Seymour Legrand Level II are limited to 16a. These are essentially the same crappy units made by Lear, complete with barely adequate 14AWG cord. Definitely not "future proof"!

I would not be comfortable marketing a 16A unit with only 14AWG cable, especially that cheap coiled stuff that Lear uses.

The original Lear units were recalled after many reports of smoke/heat/fire. The new units GM is now using are made by Clipper Creek with a Delphi label.

Also, the Lear units are not designed to be portable, and will not survive long if you attempt to use them in this manner.

-Phil

 

[Deleted member 3147]

With a solid 200+ mile battery the most I could imagine I would ever need at home is 16a 240v.
As long as it had the Tesla connector on it

Depends on how many KWh is required to get you 200 miles. Don't assume it will be as efficient as the Leaf. The new RAV4 EV has a 40KWh(?) battery to go ~120 miles. a 200 mile version would require about 67KWh. At 3.3KW, you'll need at least 20 hours to deliver 67KWh. There goes your overnight charging.

 

[smkettner]

Very rare for me to need 200 miles two days in a row combined with no destination charging.

 

[Weckel]

In Spain there is a company that has developed a charger for the Leaf, J1772 works and costs € 484 ($ 626).

http://renovablesdelsur.es/detalle/vehiculos-electricos/cargador-de-pared-para-coche-electrico-j1772---evse-wallbox/436/940" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[GetOffYourGas]

With a solid 200+ mile battery the most I could imagine I would ever need at home is 16a 240v.
As long as it had the Tesla connector on it

Depends on how many KWh is required to get you 200 miles. Don't assume it will be as efficient as the Leaf. The new RAV4 EV has a 40KWh(?) battery to go ~120 miles. a 200 mile version would require about 67KWh. At 3.3KW, you'll need at least 20 hours to deliver 67KWh. There goes your overnight charging.

Very rare for me to need 200 miles two days in a row combined with no destination charging.

I'm with smkettner on this one. Just because a car has a 67kWh battery, doesn't mean that you need to add 67kWh to the battery every night. I would wager a guess that most of the time this is needed, you'll be going on a trip. In those cases, you'd want to use DC fast charging on the road anyway.

As an example, I lived with L1 charging in my Leaf for months. It might take 20+ hours to charge from empty to full, but my car never charged for more than 4 hours/night. Why? Because I didn't deplete the battery every day! In the end, I bought an L2 EVSE, but only for convenience (mounted in the garage versus coiled and packed in the trunk).

 

[mwalsh]

In Spain there is a company that has developed a charger for the Leaf, J1772 works and costs € 484 ($ 626).

Looks like someone has been exploiting the Open EVSE Project pretty good!

 

[PorlockJunior]

Apologies for taking it off the current train of thought, and for a newbie sort of question, but it's at least on topic:

These threads about EVSE etc are full of current ratings and all. I actually know what an ampere is and how X of them relate to the ratings in my breaker box and on the incoming line. What I'd really like to get, somewhere, is what is *really* needed for input current, given the equipment chosen and the results one wants to get, and not tripping any breakers.

... Omit rant concerning reluctance of salespeople everywhere, like the Aerovironment website, to diclose vital tech data...

OK, Blink is not allergic to tech data. Good, points for them! So on less than a 40A circuit it can be set to lower drain and obviously operate slower. I assume this is, like, linear. So on a 20A circuit, drawing 16A, it would be 16/30 = 8/15 as fast, maybe. Now, is the little number the car shows for how long it will take to charge based on the 40A (30A draw) setting? So the 7 hours to full charge would become 105/8 hours? 13 hours and change.

Or have I still got it wrong?

 

[davewill]

...Now, is the little number the car shows for how long it will take to charge based on the 40A (30A draw) setting? So the 7 hours to full charge would become 105/8 hours? 13 hours and change.

Or have I still got it wrong?

Still a little wrong. The '11-'12 LEAF cannot charge any faster than 16a@240v no matter how much capacity the EVSE has. Since virtually all the L2 EVSEs in the world can do at least 16a, charge times will always fall in the range of the "little number". If the EVSE did do less (some of the upgraded L1 EVSEs only do 12a, for instance) then it would take longer.

Note: the LEAF's prediction tends to be quite pessimistic, so don't be surprised if the car finishes an hour or more earlier than that.

 

[Ingineer]

The current versions of the Leaf will draw a maximum of about 16A when on 240v, regardless of charge station used. This drops to about 12a on 120v. If you happen to have a 208v circuit (some commercial locations only), you may see up to 18A.

We sell an upgrade (link below) to the OEM charging cord that will charge at the full 16A rate when on 240v. It only requires a 20A outlet (L6-20) minimum, and this means that even a totally dead Leaf (rare) will be done in about 7 hours. Typically it will be done in under 4 for most owners.

Of course, it actually only takes about a minute of user interaction. About 30 seconds to plug it in when you get home, and about 30 seconds when you leave. Just like your cell phone.

-Phil

 

[PorlockJunior]

Thank you both! I knew this was a good forum.

OK, this is precisely the real live info I was looking for. No doubt it is available somewhere, even somewhere that my eyes have passed over, but it's not there if you don't find it.

So, I could get, say, the Blink, and run it on a 20A circuit and get all the performance I want, until a new car with higher charging capacity comes along? To which I adapt by upgrading the supply and setting a switch on the device. (Having perhaps had a new 20A line installed at first, but with overdesigned conductor for a time when overall capacity gets improved.)

*Added*
The rest is BS, having already been answered. Thank you again.
*deleted stuff*

 

[davewill]

...So, I could get, say, the Blink, and run it on a 20A circuit and get all the performance I want, until a new car with higher charging capacity comes along? To which I adapt by upgrading the supply and setting a switch on the device. (Having perhaps had a new 20A line installed at first, but with overdesigned conductor for a time when overall capacity gets improved.)

*Added*
The rest is BS, having already been answered. Thank you again.
*deleted stuff*

The only rub is that adjusting the Blink's power level requires a super-secret handshake apparently, and there's no instructions out there to change it yourself.

http://www.blinknetwork.com/file/297/IM0001_L2_R_WMv1.3.pdf

Input power
IMPORTANT: Electrical power to the blink must be installed by a certified electrical contractor
who is familiar with local codes and standards that apply to the installation of structural components
and electrical equipment. Minimum size and color-coding requirements must be in accordance with
any applicable state or local code, and the National Electrical Code.

Voltage/Phase 208-240 VAC/1 phase (120 VAC to GND)
Rated Current 30 Amps (maximum); 12A, 16A and 24A available (WE-30C/K)
Circuit Rating 40 Amps; settings at 15A, 20A and 30A available

CAUTION: The blink EVSE’s factory default current setting is 30 amps. If the device is connected to
a lower current setting, a qualified blink technician must adjust the device settings and reset the unit
before use.

Your guess is as good as mine whether you can get a "qualified blink technician" to come out and reconfigure your Blink on request. Any special reason why, if you're going to install conductors good for 40a, that you don't go ahead and install the breakers for 40a, as well?

 

[PorlockJunior]

The only rub is that adjusting the Blink's power level requires a super-secret handshake apparently, and there's no instructions out there to change it yourself.

Arghhh.

Any special reason why, if you're going to install conductors good for 40a, that you don't go ahead and install the breakers for 40a, as well?

Main breaker box fully populated now, for 100A. Could probably squeeze out a new 220/20 by rearrangements, without large effort.

Main house input rated 125A. Could put in another 20 outside present breaker box, I understand. 40A begins to look expensive.

Also, allergic to contractor jobs that turn out larger and more ambitious than the minimum that one can safely get away with.

The clever mod to the standard EVSE begins to look really attractive.

Afterthought: The Blink guys probably have to make changing the switch a secret procedure for qualified techs only, in response to restrictions -- hypothetical -- meant to keep somebody from mismatching his unit to its supply. Paranoia about amateur electrical work has its merits, sad to say.

 

[davewill]

Don't know how handy you are with wiring and electronics, but have you considered going the OpenEVSE route? That would get you full flexibility to configure the unit any way you wish, and keep the costs down.

Links for OpenEVSE:
http://code.google.com/p/open-evse/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=6546" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;