The official "I got my Leaf" thread

[Chuy1530]

I definitely blame, in order, myself and the dealer. Not the car at all. But come on dealer, you sell a ton of leafs (they never once tried to push me to take a gas car, just newer leafs, which they had a lot of,) have a working charger.

Whoever said my wife would be trying to steal my car is right. She’s already commandeered it twice. I suddenly have the feeling we now have an “our” car and a “her” car haha. But I’ll be driving the Leaf to work which is 80% of my driving anyway.

I showed the car off to her grandparents today. They don’t get the appeal of an EV at all but both liked how it drove. “It doesn’t look weird” was the review from her grandfather which is about the nicest thing he’s ever said about an EV.

I did not expect to use the e-pedal, but after trying it out I may love it. The fact that it uses the brakes less is very appealing to me. Overall I just love driving this car, and I’ve never thought that about another car. I’m 32 and it’s only the third car I’ve ever had, and the last two were pretty much beaters by the time I got them. I was hesitant to pay up for a nicer car (yes, for me this was paying up, I’m cheap when it comes to cars) but I’m not regretting it at all.

Unfortunate to hear I can’t just use the dryer plug. For now at least the 120 is proving to be plenty, but I’ll look in to EVSEs a little down the road.

[LeftieBiker]

Unfortunate to hear I can’t just use the dryer plug.

You can. You just need to buy a Level 2 charging station or cable that draws no more than 24 amps. Order it with the correct plug installed and you can open the package, take it out, plug it in (after unplugging the dryer) and start charging your car with it. Clipper Creek has a couple of no frills units with 3 year warranties for about $400, and there are Chinese units for about half that. If you can afford it, I suggest Clipper Creek. They name the stations by the amperage of the circuit they can use, instead of their output, so just get one with the "16" "20" "25" or "30" designation. The actual charging output is 80% of the number in the name, so for maximum charge rate you'd want an HCS 30 or LCS 30 with 24 amp charging rates.

[Oils4AsphaultOnly]

Whoever said my wife would be trying to steal my car is right. She’s already commandeered it twice. I suddenly have the feeling we now have an “our” car and a “her” car haha. But I’ll be driving the Leaf to work which is 80% of my driving anyway.

Simple solution, buy another EV (a used leaf is really cheap now if your driving needs fit). When I had my first leaf back in 2013, I was thinking up of all sorts of ways to get rid of all my gas cars and live with 2 leaf's (involved renting a car for the 2-4 times a year that I'd road trip).

[DaveinOlyWA]

Unfortunate to hear I can’t just use the dryer plug.

You can. You just need to buy a Level 2 charging station or cable that draws no more than 24 amps. Order it with the correct plug installed and you can open the package, take it out, plug it in (after unplugging the dryer) and start charging your car with it. Clipper Creek has a couple of no frills units with 3 year warranties for about $400, and there are Chinese units for about half that. If you can afford it, I suggest Clipper Creek. They name the stations by the amperage of the circuit they can use, instead of their output, so just get one with the "16" "20" "25" or "30" designation. The actual charging output is 80% of the number in the name, so for maximum charge rate you'd want an HCS 30 or LCS 30 with 24 amp charging rates.

Easier way is get a Y adapter that you plug EVSE and dryer into. No unplugging needed. Just remember you can't run both at the same time. Shouldn't be tough as I only charge either overnight or first thing in the morning; neither is a time the dryer would be in use

[LeftieBiker]

I don't have a problem with doing that, but I'm reluctant to advise newbies to violate the NEC. A Dryer Buddy would also work, at some expense.

[Chuy1530]

After some further digging I’ve found a few things. One, my dryer plugs into a normal 120 plug. There is a different plug in the garage from an old dryer but it’s a 10-30.

I’m also a little suspicious that the circuit that that outlet was on may have been cannibalized for our air conditioning. My wife’s uncle does some electrical work and has a multimeter so I’m going to borrow that and see. If it is still on the 30A circuit I looked around and found some cords that I think will work for that type of plug. If not then I probably won’t bother for a while; the trickle charging is keeping me more than good.

[DaveinOlyWA]

After some further digging I’ve found a few things. One, my dryer plugs into a normal 120 plug. There is a different plug in the garage from an old dryer but it’s a 10-30.

I’m also a little suspicious that the circuit that that outlet was on may have been cannibalized for our air conditioning. My wife’s uncle does some electrical work and has a multimeter so I’m going to borrow that and see. If it is still on the 30A circuit I looked around and found some cords that I think will work for that type of plug. If not then I probably won’t bother for a while; the trickle charging is keeping me more than good.

so you have a gas dryer? Well, that complicates things a bit...

as far as "cannibalizing" the circuit? Not easily done but possible. The electrical dryer circuit will be connected to double breakers so a rather easy tell. 120 volt is "normally" a single breaker although it s possible to grab 120 from a double although HIGHLY not recommended.

240 volt AC is the norm as its more efficient than the 120 volt version

as far as adapter to cover the 10-30 Parkworld is a good place. I had 10-30 on my EVSE because that is what my house had. I moved to a newer (MUCH newer) place and just got an adapter to fit. Works fine

www.parkworld.us

[Chuy1530]

The dryer is electric but it plugs into a normal 120V plug.

There are two 30A breakers in the breaker box. I suppose I could flip them and see if it turns off my AC... But the best way for me to know for sure is going to be to go borrow the multimeter.

The good news is I’m having to leave my car unplugged some days just to keep it from getting fully charged since I like to use the e-pedal and regenerative breaking.

[DaveinOlyWA]

The dryer is electric but it plugs into a normal 120V plug.

There are two 30A breakers in the breaker box. I suppose I could flip them and see if it turns off my AC... But the best way for me to know for sure is going to be to go borrow the multimeter.

The good news is I’m having to leave my car unplugged some days just to keep it from getting fully charged since I like to use the e-pedal and regenerative breaking.

interesting. Last time I saw one of those was in a college dorm room. Have never seen one in a house before.

[jjeff]

The dryer is electric but it plugs into a normal 120V plug.

There are two 30A breakers in the breaker box. I suppose I could flip them and see if it turns off my AC... But the best way for me to know for sure is going to be to go borrow the multimeter.

The good news is I’m having to leave my car unplugged some days just to keep it from getting fully charged since I like to use the e-pedal and regenerative breaking.

interesting. Last time I saw one of those was in a college dorm room. Have never seen one in a house before.

Yes a 120v electric dryer would take FOREVER to dry anything. Subtracting the motor to spin the clothes would leave you with what, 1200w? left to heat the clothes, less than a modern hairdryer
OP, truthfully the best way to see what's what is to do as you thought, flip the breakers and see what goes off, while you could use a VOM the true test is to see what goes off. There isn't anyway your electric dryer could have a 240v part and then a separate plug for 120v that feeds everything other than the dryer heating element? I've never heard of that but then I've never seen a 120v electric dryer, sounds like Dave may have though.