bobkart
Well-known member
The generator is this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NXYLUM2 . . . it's rated at 7.2kW continuous. The L2 EVSE is the ClipperCreek LCS-25P . . . it should draw ~5kW at most. I used an adapter from the generator's L14-30 outlet to the 14-50 needed by the EVSE. I confirmed 'straight through' continuity for all four conductors of the adapter. I also used a ground-neutral bond plug as previous tests with the OEM L1 EVSE confirmed the need for this.
The charge session started normally, but checking the dashboard showed only 3kW instead of 6kW as I get with this same EVSE when plugged into the wall. Then after about five minutes the charge session ended. Power light on the EVSE was still on. At first I though I had broken the onboard charger, but both the OEM L1 EVSE and the LCS-25P still worked from the wall. So I tried again with the generator, and got the same shutoff after about five minutes. This time I noticed that the green 'plug' light on the dash was still lit (but not flashing), so the Leaf knows there's an EVSE connected. I *never* use the charge timer, but I hit the Charge Timer Off button and charging started again. It also seemed to work to unplug and replug the J1772 connector. I confirmed that the charge timer is OFF, but got this same five-minute shutoff on several retries. Hitting the Charge Timer Off button consistently restarted charging.
My best theory so far is that the generator output is drifting outside of some acceptable range and that's causing termination of the charge session. Not sure if it's the EVSE or the onboard charger making that call. Also not understanding why the five-minute part is so consistent; if it's just due to 'random' generator output variations, I'd expect less consistency in that number.
The 3kW-versus-6kW symptom suggests that the voltage is low, but ClipperCreek recently confirmed that this EVSE will check that there's at least 185VAC on it's input, when I asked them if I could use in with 120VAC input. Measuring that voltage would be a likely next step for me . . . maybe it sagging too low is what's terminating the charge sessions, and being low at all is what's making the Leaf think it's being charged at only L1 voltage levels.
Any ideas/advice/suggestions welcome . . . this is just for use in power-outage situations, so not too concerned about getting this working more flawlessly.
The charge session started normally, but checking the dashboard showed only 3kW instead of 6kW as I get with this same EVSE when plugged into the wall. Then after about five minutes the charge session ended. Power light on the EVSE was still on. At first I though I had broken the onboard charger, but both the OEM L1 EVSE and the LCS-25P still worked from the wall. So I tried again with the generator, and got the same shutoff after about five minutes. This time I noticed that the green 'plug' light on the dash was still lit (but not flashing), so the Leaf knows there's an EVSE connected. I *never* use the charge timer, but I hit the Charge Timer Off button and charging started again. It also seemed to work to unplug and replug the J1772 connector. I confirmed that the charge timer is OFF, but got this same five-minute shutoff on several retries. Hitting the Charge Timer Off button consistently restarted charging.
My best theory so far is that the generator output is drifting outside of some acceptable range and that's causing termination of the charge session. Not sure if it's the EVSE or the onboard charger making that call. Also not understanding why the five-minute part is so consistent; if it's just due to 'random' generator output variations, I'd expect less consistency in that number.
The 3kW-versus-6kW symptom suggests that the voltage is low, but ClipperCreek recently confirmed that this EVSE will check that there's at least 185VAC on it's input, when I asked them if I could use in with 120VAC input. Measuring that voltage would be a likely next step for me . . . maybe it sagging too low is what's terminating the charge sessions, and being low at all is what's making the Leaf think it's being charged at only L1 voltage levels.
Any ideas/advice/suggestions welcome . . . this is just for use in power-outage situations, so not too concerned about getting this working more flawlessly.