Charging via 13amp

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Nufkin

Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2011
Messages
12
Hi there,

I'm sorry if this has been asked before, I did a search and couldn't find the answer.

There is a chance that I will be charging my Leaf through a 13 amp socket - this isn't as bad as it sounds as I am a Brit so we have more power going through our normal domestic sockets. However, I remember reading somewhere that if you use 13 Amp sockets you cannot use the timed charge.

This seems odd to me as surely this is just a matter of the onboard charger accepting or refusing the connection.

My worries are that we won't be able to time it for off-peak energy costs and that each time the car will charge to 100% rather than 80%.

Anyone have any experience of this?
 
Sorry. Just to confirm. I am talking about plugging into a normal wall socket and not using a EVSE at all.
 
Nufkin said:
Sorry. Just to confirm. I am talking about plugging into a normal wall socket and not using a EVSE at all.

Gary means the mains cable/adapter box thingie that comes with your LEAF. It's actually referred to as an EVSE, even though it's only one in the most rudimentary way.
 
Yes, the "box" (or "brick") in the supplied "charging cord" does some required "interfacing" with the LEAF. Without that "hand-shaking", the LEAF will refuse to charge.

But, the "short end" of that "e-fuel" cord would normally plug directly into your typical 13A wall socket.

However, just using your own simple extension cord from wall socket to the car (no "EVSE" box) will not work.

How do you refer to that Nissan-included "charging cord"?
What term to you use?
 
How many hours of off peak charge time do you have? If you want to charge to 80% you should have no worries.
You should be able to set the start time and 80% charge level and just let the Leaf handle it.
 
Here, we call the "device" an EVSE or a "charging dock". Some call it a "charger", but the actual Charger is in the LEAF.

The EVSE-Hose (e-hose) is just a "safety" extension cord to pass the AC power to the car.

Here, we call the 120v version "Level 1" (L1) and you do not have that in the UK. Our 240v version EVSE we call "Level 2".

Our Nissan-supplied Level 1 (120v) EVSE is set to "offer" 12 amps to the EV because our common household "circuits" (mostly the circuit breakers) are only rated for 15 amps short term, or 12 amps "continuous" use.

I think your Nissan-included EVSE will "offer" 13 amps, right?

Edited to fix L1 & L2 description.
 
Here is the answer given on the UK Nissan LEAF FAQ page to that question:
'LEAF can be charged from a standard 13 amp house socket (using the supplied cable assembly). At this rate it takes 10 hours to charge from empty to full. Nissan recommends you get a home charging box installed - which is a dedicated and safely installed 16 amp vehicle charger. It also reduces your charging time down to 8 hours for a full charge. We are working with potential partners to develop an offer for the home charging box. Your Nissan EV dealer will be able to assist you with these chargers closer to receiving delivery of your LEAF.'
In the UK, we do not appear to use the term EVSE or identify Level 1, 2 and 3 power sources. You will see that Nissan UK even erroneously refer to the 16 amp power source as a 'charging box' and 'charger' whereas, we all know that the charger for a 230v input is within the car. I think that the US term EVSE is far more appropriate.
I hope this helps! Bob.
 
The difference between 13 and 16 amp charging (they mention 10 and 8 hours from "empty" to 100% full) is ... most likely not significant for most users.

The added (guessing $2000) expense for the small extra charging speed (at ONE fixed location) is ... primarily good for "those" that have extra money to spare.

NOTE: If you are one of "those", PLEASE send me $500 or $1000 (or more, and via PayPal is OK) so that I can prove EVDRIVER wrong, buy a LEAF outright, and collect about 795 pizzas from him). :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
blobm said:
Here is the answer given on the UK Nissan LEAF FAQ page to that question:
'LEAF can be charged from a standard 13 amp house socket (using the supplied cable assembly). At this rate it takes 10 hours to charge from empty to full. Nissan recommends you get a home charging box installed - which is a dedicated and safely installed 16 amp vehicle charger. It also reduces your charging time down to 8 hours for a full charge. We are working with potential partners to develop an offer for the home charging box. Your Nissan EV dealer will be able to assist you with these chargers closer to receiving delivery of your LEAF.'
In the UK, we do not appear to use the term EVSE or identify Level 1, 2 and 3 power sources. You will see that Nissan UK even erroneously refer to the 16 amp power source as a 'charging box' and 'charger' whereas, we all know that the charger for a 230v input is within the car. I think that the US term EVSE is far more appropriate.
I hope this helps! Bob.

See so it takes 10 hours from zero to 100%. But you (OP) probably will start with more than zero and you are aiming for 80%. So you are really charging more in the 60% zone and should easily fit into the low TOU rate from ~12a to ~6a (?).
 
That's really cool. My daily commute is 22 miles total.

Every other month or so I will head on a longer trip of 65miles to one of two places. One place is motorway most of the way (although a large portion of this is restricted to 50mph) and the other place is long winding single lane roads but is a bit up and down. I believe both of those journeys should be possible - at least until the pack starts to wear down over 3 years or so.

I guess I just need info on how badly the British weather will effect our range.

So, most of the time I plan to charge maybe every other day. I imagine I will be charging from 30-35% up to 80%.

Thank you all.
 
Nufkin said:
That's really cool. My daily commute is 22 miles total.

Every other month or so I will head on a longer trip of 65miles to one of two places. One place is motorway most of the way (although a large portion of this is restricted to 50mph)

Nufkin, you'll want to keep your speed down to 65mph on the motorway regardless. I just did a 70mph trip and the LEAF sucked down ~20% more juice than it did at 65mph.
 
mwalsh said:
Nufkin, you'll want to keep your speed down to 65mph on the motorway regardless. I just did a 70mph trip and the LEAF sucked down ~20% more juice than it did at 65mph.
70mph should use a bit more than 10% energy than 65mph... 20% is too high...
 
garygid said:
Our 240v version we call "Level 2", and ours is set to "offer" 12 amps to the EV because our common household sockets are only rated for 15 amps short term, or 12 amps "continuous" use.

Gary,

I think you mis-typed here. My measurements show my LEAF consistently drawing 15.5a while charging as the initial generation LEAFs have only a 3.3kw (3.7kw measured) power converter in them. The L2 EVSE in my garage is capable of passing 30a (listing maximum) and is fed by a 240v, 40a branch circuit (technically, the EVSE could be rated as high at 32a on a 40a branch circuit but it's not for some reason).

Malcolm :geek:
 
mwalsh said:
drees said:
70mph should use a bit more than 10% energy than 65mph... 20% is too high...
And yet it did. I went down from ~7 miles per bar on the SOC graph to no more than 5 miles per.
Well, that is 40% more energy - even worse than your quoted 20%. That would mean that if you get 85 miles range at 65 mph, you'd only get 60 miles range at 70 mph. My calculations show that you would have to drive 80+ mph to drain the battery in 60 miles.

Something is not adding up here. (And we're getting OT)
 
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