Cheap L2 EVSE by converting the 2013-14 Nissan L1 EVSE - $25

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After reading this post, the original instructables tutorial, and all the comments, I'm still unsure if one can use a 3 pronged 240v wall plug (such as a NEMA 6-30 which is what I have) for this mod, or if it has to be a 4 pronged wall plug (such as the L14-30 that you refer to) which I understand separates out the ground and neutral. I'm guessing that if I take a look, there are 4 wires going to into the box where my NEMA 6-30 is, in which case it should be easy to rewire an L14-30 into it, but I figured I'd make a post about it in case anyone else out there has the same question! Thanks in advance! :roll:
 
ostamb said:
After reading this post, the original instructables tutorial, and all the comments, I'm still unsure if one can use a 3 pronged 240v wall plug (such as a NEMA 6-30 which is what I have) for this mod, or if it has to be a 4 pronged wall plug (such as the L14-30 that you refer to) which I understand separates out the ground and neutral.
I don't know about this mod, but I know of exactly zero EVSEs that actually require the neutral. So that's suggestive.
 
ostamb said:
... I'm still unsure if one can use a 3 pronged 240v wall plug (such as a NEMA 6-30 which is what I have) for this mod, or if it has to be a 4 pronged wall plug (such as the L14-30 that you refer to) which I understand separates out the ground and neutral. I'm guessing that if I take a look, there are 4 wires going to into the box where my NEMA 6-30 is, in which case it should be easy to rewire an L14-30 into it, ... :roll:
It is unlikely that your 6-30 has an unused neutral conductor in the box.
Yes that is what they should have done.
Minimal cost, future flexibility.
But that is NOT what electricians do.

But not sure you need a neutral.

If you do not know, you probably should not be doing this modification which requires skill and knowledge.

I have not done this modification.

It may work.
But I did not have 100% certainty.
It is a modification that requires expertise and knowledge.

If you do not have both do not do it. :shock:
 
I'm not sure which mod this one is, but the only safe cheap mod for the L1 EVSE creates a "charge cord" that does require a neutral. That mod uses the neutral for the 120V control circuitry, so those components are still operating within the original voltage specs. Only the relay is fed with 240V to increase the voltage supplied to the car.

Cheers, Wayne
 
Still going strong.. about 15K miles and using this for over 18 months now. Thanks to the Intractable person who did this first.... All well here.

To respond to the above questions.. the Neutal is NEEDED as it is used to operate all the original circuitry at 120V - N
The current fed to the car needs 120V L1 and 120V L2 hence 240. YES no neutral is fed to the car for charging through this particular Mod. It is used only to Operate the EVSE itself.

Thanks
 
maini: From a higher safety standpoint, would you have used a non-locking plug/receptacle (like NEMA 14-15 or 14-20) if they had been commonly available? My safety concern is that a locking plug/receptacle could rip apart if enough of a pulling force is accidently applied, whereas otherwise equivalent straight pronged plug/receptacles would more likely just become unplugged. In particular doesn't using locking plug/receptacles make the most amount of sense when there is vibration present at the receptacle (such as on a generator)?
 
Ok, I'm back, finally getting started on this. The more I look for parts around work the more upset I am at myself for not doing this before now, haha. I possibly have nearly everything I need, for free, from work. I do have some questions...

1) I found a really nice 10AWG/4 wire at work, waterproof, somewhere between 6 and 7 feet in length, would 10AWG be more difficult to work with over the smaller 12AWG? Unlike the indestrutibles, and more like OP's, I plan to remove the original cord all together. I don't have a problem with going and buying some 12/4 I just would like to use this 10/4 that I found at work for free if possible. If it will be more difficult to work with, no biggie, I'll run and pick some up.

2) Why Nema L14-30? Just because it is what you needed to work with your existing clothes dryer? I have found a Nema L14-30 at work, but I think my clothes dryer is different. I didn't initially plan to use my clothes dryer outlet at home, but I don't see why I should not give myself that ability. The distance between it and the charge port on my car is less than 10'. Even though there is a door between the two, I don't see why I shouldn't allow myself that capability if I need it in a pinch. I would just leave the door open and close the laundry room door. I originally intended to use this only at work, in our shop there is an instant electric hot water heater close to where I park in the shop. Just unplug the hot water heater, plug in the EVSE. It is a Nema 10-50 plug, so now my plan is to wire the EVSE to work with my clothes dryer plug at home when I'm in a pinch and need a faster charge (I will have two EVSE's, a 110v and this 220v).

3) Tied to question number 2, I need to make an adapter, from whatever my clothes dryer is to the Nema 10-50 plug. I'm confused though, it doesn't look like the Nema 10-50 uses a ground, just neutral and the two hot's. Is that even going to work? When I wire it up, do I even wire the ground at all to the female (whatever my clothes dryer is) side?

If my clothes dryer is not a Nema 14-50 (I think it might be), then I would also want to make an adapter for use at campgrounds. My 110v EVSE at home is somewhat permanent, so it would be nice to be able to adapt the converted Leaf EVSE back to 110v for charging at our "weekend" house as well. So essentially I need to make two adapters, possibly 3, from whatever my dryer plug is to Nema 10-50, another to Nema 14-50 and then from whatever my dryer is to 110v.

4) When making adapters, is there a specific minimum length that should be used?

Thanks for the help! I've been getting by with L1 since purchase in late April, early May, nearly 6500 miles. With the winter temps cutting into range, it is becoming more and more difficult to "top off" the car during an 8 hour shift at work. Upgrading to L2 should take care of that, even if its a slower L2.
 
This mod is a "cheapskate" conversion, and doesn't change the electronics over to run off 240v. It requires a 4-wire outlet with a separate neutral and ground so the electronics can run off of 120v while the car uses 240v. That means you can't run it off a 10-30 or 10-50 which only have 3 wires (2 hots and a neutral). You need a 14-30 or 14-50, or the specified L14-30. Making an adapter to run it off of 120v should be pretty easy, though.
 
imolazhp said:
Ok, I'm back, finally getting started on this. The more I look for parts around work the more upset I am at myself for not doing this before now, haha. I possibly have nearly everything I need, for free, from work. I do have some questions...

1) I found a really nice 10AWG/4 wire at work, waterproof, somewhere between 6 and 7 feet in length, would 10AWG be more difficult to work with over the smaller 12AWG? Unlike the indestrutibles, and more like OP's, I plan to remove the original cord all together. I don't have a problem with going and buying some 12/4 I just would like to use this 10/4 that I found at work for free if possible. If it will be more difficult to work with, no biggie, I'll run and pick some up.

2) Why Nema L14-30? Just because it is what you needed to work with your existing clothes dryer? I have found a Nema L14-30 at work, but I think my clothes dryer is different. I didn't initially plan to use my clothes dryer outlet at home, but I don't see why I should not give myself that ability. The distance between it and the charge port on my car is less than 10'. Even though there is a door between the two, I don't see why I shouldn't allow myself that capability if I need it in a pinch. I would just leave the door open and close the laundry room door. I originally intended to use this only at work, in our shop there is an instant electric hot water heater close to where I park in the shop. Just unplug the hot water heater, plug in the EVSE. It is a Nema 10-50 plug, so now my plan is to wire the EVSE to work with my clothes dryer plug at home when I'm in a pinch and need a faster charge (I will have two EVSE's, a 110v and this 220v).

3) Tied to question number 2, I need to make an adapter, from whatever my clothes dryer is to the Nema 10-50 plug. I'm confused though, it doesn't look like the Nema 10-50 uses a ground, just neutral and the two hot's. Is that even going to work? When I wire it up, do I even wire the ground at all to the female (whatever my clothes dryer is) side?

If my clothes dryer is not a Nema 14-50 (I think it might be), then I would also want to make an adapter for use at campgrounds. My 110v EVSE at home is somewhat permanent, so it would be nice to be able to adapt the converted Leaf EVSE back to 110v for charging at our "weekend" house as well. So essentially I need to make two adapters, possibly 3, from whatever my dryer plug is to Nema 10-50, another to Nema 14-50 and then from whatever my dryer is to 110v.

4) When making adapters, is there a specific minimum length that should be used?

Thanks for the help! I've been getting by with L1 since purchase in late April, early May, nearly 6500 miles. With the winter temps cutting into range, it is becoming more and more difficult to "top off" the car during an 8 hour shift at work. Upgrading to L2 should take care of that, even if its a slower L2.


1) Yup a AWG 10 will work great
2) Use anything which has 4 prongs.. it will be fine.. just make sure you match the socket and plug properly
3) You definitely need Neutral as the EVSE checks for Ground before beginning to charge the car. It does not need Neutral to charge but needs neutral to run the EVSE circuit (as pointed out by all the EVSE circuit runs on 120V hence the need of one hot and the neutral). So you need to make modifications in your wall sockets if possible.
4) Keep the length of adapters 1-2 feet max.

L2 will change your life and the overall efficiency of your charging goes up a lot more.. you do a lot of service to yourself and the environment by moving to L2 charging :)
 
davewill said:
This mod is a "cheapskate" conversion, and doesn't change the electronics over to run off 240v. It requires a 4-wire outlet with a separate neutral and ground so the electronics can run off of 120v while the car uses 240v. That means you can't run it off a 10-30 or 10-50 which only have 3 wires (2 hots and a neutral). You need a 14-30 or 14-50, or the specified L14-30. Making an adapter to run it off of 120v should be pretty easy, though.

maini said:
1) Yup a AWG 10 will work great
2) Use anything which has 4 prongs.. it will be fine.. just make sure you match the socket and plug properly
3) You definitely need Neutral as the EVSE checks for Ground before beginning to charge the car. It does not need Neutral to charge but needs neutral to run the EVSE circuit (as pointed out by all the EVSE circuit runs on 120V hence the need of one hot and the neutral). So you need to make modifications in your wall sockets if possible.
4) Keep the length of adapters 1-2 feet max.

L2 will change your life and the overall efficiency of your charging goes up a lot more.. you do a lot of service to yourself and the environment by moving to L2 charging :)

Thanks for the responses. I was afraid of that answer about the Nema 10-50; I pretty much knew that was going to be the answer, but asked anyway. I'm not sure I can change the wall outlet and the plug on the tankless/instant hot water heater without raising too many eyebrows, but I might be able to, I will look further into it. There is a 480v Nema L14-30 even closer to where I park for a welder we have. Too bad I can' use that!
 
I am sure there is a way you can leverage that 480V socket.. assuming it has multiple 120V or 240V phases. Do check with a wiring Electrician or on Google on how that is exactly wired.. there might be a way to use it.. I am not an expert on commercial power or 480V stuff.

BTW: over 400 charges and all going well no problems.. cannot complain about this Mod...
 
maini said:
I am sure there is a way you can leverage that 480V socket.. assuming it has multiple 120V or 240V phases. Do check with a wiring Electrician or on Google on how that is exactly wired.. there might be a way to use it.. I am not an expert on commercial power or 480V stuff.

BTW: over 400 charges and all going well no problems.. cannot complain about this Mod...
A 480v socket will do you no good with any EVSE's I've seen. 3 phase commercial power is often 277v per leg(from neutral) and 480v between any of the 3 277v legs. Unfortunately EVSE's top out at ~260v max so personally I wouldn't want to use 277v, just too high IMO. It's possible to purchase a large transformer to convert the 480v 3 phase to 208v 3 phase but they are large, expensive and very heavy. Believe me I'd love it if I could use 277v but it's just not in the cards.
 
That makes sense... 277V could be too high for the EVSE or even the charger to handle... Unless you can leverage that for the Fast charger port CHADEAMO?? I am sure you could get that from somewhere.. but I expect that to be very expensive..
 
12A at 240V is better than 10A at 240V. In Europe EVSE is limited to 10A over household plug.
Though it should be up to 13Amps constant and 16Amp maximum.
It was limited to 10A because people were dumb enough to plug trickle charger to random
not dedicated lines and multisocket extension cords. So adding a incandescent bulb was already too much :D

When I bought my Leaf I had to charge it somehow. So i bought dedicated 160 foot extension and plugged
it into dedicated socket. Used the trickle charger. Then noticed that the cable was too warm, especially 10 feet
that were left on the drum. So after small research I concluded that cord was weak. 1,5mm² (16AWG) rated.

Its ok to use 16AWG for 16 amps but only unrolled, short and not covered. Way too dangerous for grannys.
Also voltage drop wastes energy. I lost something like 15% on that extension alone :lol:
This is why all Level1 chargers should be connected to 14AWG wired dedicated plug. Including this modified EVSE.
Circuit breaker dedicated for trickle charger should be 15A in US and 10A in EU for maximum safety, including this mod.
 
I recommend using 12AWG for the above modification... I think I mentioned that somewhere right in the beginning. I replace the original plug and wire with a 4 core 12AWG wire as that is the type of cable I found in the original 110V plug/wire.

IMO 16AWG is too less to handle 12A or in that case even 14 AWG is just borderline. 12 AWG is good and never warms up..
 
Opinions don't matter! Any 10 year old would say that thicker cable is better.
What is "borderline"? Do cables get thinner with years? Or do EVSE-s suck
more juice with time? Rating is rating. This is recommended thickness, not minimum
thickness. We don't want to waste resources on "what if" situations.

if there are no technical reasons to use 10AWG then there is no reasons to to so.
An opinion on using "more powerful" fuse is worse than sticking to recommendations.
 
arnis said:
Opinions don't matter! Any 10 year old would say that thicker cable is better.
What is "borderline"? Do cables get thinner with years? Or do EVSE-s suck
more juice with time? Rating is rating. This is recommended thickness, not minimum
thickness. We don't want to waste resources on "what if" situations.

if there are no technical reasons to use 10AWG then there is no reasons to to so.
An opinion on using "more powerful" fuse is worse than sticking to recommendations.

AWG 14 will slightly warm up and AWG 12 won't warm up... the original cable was AWG 12 hence AWG 12 is what you should go with..
By borderline I meant that its running close to its capacity.. hence some warm up.. which is not good... Any EE will tell you that warming up of wire conductor is bad and very detrimental to its conductivity hence losses growing exponentially with temperature
 
maini said:
arnis said:
Opinions don't matter! Any 10 year old would say that thicker cable is better.
What is "borderline"? Do cables get thinner with years? Or do EVSE-s suck
more juice with time? Rating is rating. This is recommended thickness, not minimum
thickness. We don't want to waste resources on "what if" situations.

if there are no technical reasons to use 10AWG then there is no reasons to to so.
An opinion on using "more powerful" fuse is worse than sticking to recommendations.

AWG 14 will slightly warm up and AWG 12 won't warm up... the original cable was AWG 12 hence AWG 12 is what you should go with..
By borderline I meant that its running close to its capacity.. hence some warm up.. which is not good... Any EE will tell you that warming up of wire conductor is bad and very detrimental to its conductivity hence losses growing exponentially with temperature
"Warming up" also wastes electricity :) I'm not saying a person would need 10 gauge for a 14a load but if your cable is getting warm to the touch, it would be best to jump to the next sized wire. Way oversizing isn't really helpful but IMO your always better to be a bit oversized than under(in wiring that is :lol: )
 
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