Duosida EVSE Just Arrived.

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I recently purchased an Esubar 240v level2 from Amazon for $299, and Love it. I've measured about a 4x faster charge rate from the 120v standard charger. I have 240v access at work, but not from home. I live in an older home and would need to re-do the entire breaker box (not economically feasible at this time). After doing some research I found that if you have 2 separate 120v outlets on separate sides (a/b) of the breaker box they can be combined to provide 240v output. Then I found this video-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uD6UGa3hh0&t=14s&index=1&list=LLU47oHNIgQYvaW7KmC1dYmw

So, after experimenting and testing- I now have the ability to charge level 2 at home and it's basically a portable option as well. I'm using 2 separate outside outlets and it's working perfectly. I plan on burying one of the lines this weekend (the other is at a lamp post) and building a weather proof box.
 
bhinesley said:
I recently purchased an Esubar 240v level2 from Amazon for $299, and Love it. I've measured about a 4x faster charge rate from the 120v standard charger. I have 240v access at work, but not from home. I live in an older home and would need to re-do the entire breaker box (not economically feasible at this time). After doing some research I found that if you have 2 separate 120v outlets on separate sides (a/b) of the breaker box they can be combined to provide 240v output. Then I found this video-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uD6UGa3hh0&t=14s&index=1&list=LLU47oHNIgQYvaW7KmC1dYmw

So, after experimenting and testing- I now have the ability to charge level 2 at home and it's basically a portable option as well. I'm using 2 separate outside outlets and it's working perfectly. I plan on burying one of the lines this weekend (the other is at a lamp post) and building a weather proof box.
Yes I do a similar thing at work but I'd really only suggest that if your 120v outlets are dedicated and preferably both your 120v circuits should be off a 240v breaker(not 2 individual 120v breakers). If not and other devices are plugged into those circuits and just one of the 120v circuits blows a breaker you run the risk of everything on the circuit that blows being in series with your EVSE :eek:
Now it's possible that the EVSE has protection for just such an event but in theory power could come inside one side of the EVSE and go out the other side and finally through all your devices plugged into the blown circuit to their neutral....
Note the best option for doing what your are doing is to purchase(or make with relays) something like a Quick220 http://www.quick220.com/
which safeguards against such series issues. If I didn't have dedicated circuits and both my 120v circuits being on the same breaker, I'd go that route.
 
You will never find a double breaker. That would be a violation. The Quick 220 devices use two opposed circuits each one having its own breaker. 16A is only doable with outlets in good condition and no other loads on the circuits.

If you ran a dedicated 240V circuit it should have a double breaker but the devices are work arounds to get double power from existing circuits. In my case when the panel was replaced the inspector made all of the 3 wire circuits have tied together breakers. My house was wired in the wire shortage days and all of the original wiring has a ground, neutral, black and red wires.

It does not really matter to me since I have a 14-50 outlet with #6 wire and a 50A double breaker. I also have a 30A outlet with a 40A breaker left over from my leaf days. It would work fine with my eGolf but why change plugs.
 
Yes but the problem without using something like the Quick220 on 2 non dedicated outlets(that aren't tied together) is if only one of the 2 breakers trip, again you have the possibility of a series circuit with everything on your blown circuit being in series with your EVSE, potentially NOT a good scenario....
In my case at work my outlets aren't dedicated but the 3 breakers feeding the outlets in the room are all tied together, one circuit blows and they all blow. The reason they did this is cost savings, they only had to run 1 neutral wire for 3 hot wires(this is commercial 3 phase power and not residential 2 phase power) and for a long run like they have in commercial buildings that savings of 2 neutral wires adds up :) works good for me though as then I don't have to worry about the outlets not being dedicated and I don't have the expense of something like the Quick220 which uses relays to safeguard against series loads.
p.s. for those technical people I know residential power isn't 2 phase but it's easiest to think of it as that in this scenario.
 
I have a Quick 220 in my work room to check the power up of my OpenEVSE's. It has a 240V fall out at 160V contactor in series with the power. If one line blew the double pole contactor would open. There must be power on both lines so in your scenario it would be safe. Now what is dangerous is the kludge the JumpBox people used to sell. Nothing is there to protect the car in the event that a breaker was to open. In most of the Quick 220V circuits I have seen posted have a 240V controlling relay. Mine certainly does.
 
bhinesley said:
After doing some research I found that if you have 2 separate 120v outlets on separate sides (a/b) of the breaker box they can be combined to provide 240v output. Then I found this video-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uD6UGa3hh0&t=14s&index=1&list=LLU47oHNIgQYvaW7KmC1dYmw

So, after experimenting and testing- I now have the ability to charge level 2 at home and it's basically a portable option as well.
If you built the contraption in that video, it is pretty dangerous. If you plug in your EVSE to the 240V outlet on the box, and then plug in one of the 120V pigtails, you will now have a live 120V male pigtail you can shock yourself with. Also, as jjeff pointed out, it is missing any protection against one 120V circuit tripping while the other 120V circuit stays live.

So please, do yourself and anyone else in your household a favor and get a Quick220 device, or build an equivalently safe version using the proper relays.

Cheers, Wayne
 
THAT IS JUST A SLIGHTLY NEATER VERSION OF THE DEVICE THE JUICEBOX PEOPLE USED TO SELL. I agree it is dangerous and a proper Quick 220 should be used.
 
It's too bad the guy in the video didn't test the 5-15 plug when his device was connected. Had he done touched that he could have likely exposed himself to enough current to kill himself.

The other thing I haven't seen mentioned is that this (and the real quick 220) only works on non GFCi receptacles so if you have garage, outdoor, lamp post, etc receptacles that this works on please fix that by replacing the receptacles with GFCI as required by current code!

Also please please stop putting anyone that comes near your contraption at risk and dismantle it. This just isn't safe.
 
Here is mine. Got it from the same vendor. I paid $165 shipped, but with 18' cable option. Here are some internal circuit board pictures. I do not see any issues. The plug on other hand... is not so great.. Will post more later.

http://imgur.com/a/HGKak
 
AntronX said:
Here is mine. Got it from the same vendor. I paid $165 shipped, but with 18' cable option. Here are some internal circuit board pictures. I do not see any issues. The plug on other hand... is not so great.. Will post more later.

http://imgur.com/a/HGKak
Thanks for those photos, look forward to more. $165 is a great deal, I couldn't tell from your photo, what type of wall plug did you have installed?
 
Just regular 120V 15A plug. I use it on 120V for now when away from home, but I can easily make L14-20P adapter to use it on 240V at home or a dryer plug adapter. Nice thing is, it fits any standard extension cord without modification. Just gotta remember not to leave it plugged in to 240V when not in use. Or label it so others would not try to plug 120V appliance into it. But I would not recommend this to people not electrically inclined.
 
AntronX said:
Just regular 120V 15A plug. I use it on 120V for now when away from home, but I can easily make L14-20P adapter to use it on 240V at home or a dryer plug adapter. Nice thing is, it fits any standard extension cord without modification.....to it. But I would not recommend this to people not electrically inclined.
+1. Personally I'm standardizing on 240v plugs on dual voltage EVSEs and to use it on 120v I have the 120v plug on one and a female 240v socket on the other. I figure if my adapter plug ever falls into the wrong hands it's much better to inadvertently plug a 240v device into a 120v socket vs the other way around :shock: Myself I wouldn't feel comfortable making an adapter plug going the other way around(120v female with a 240v male) as that could be a disaster using that converter with a 120v only device, but thats just me :)
I do see your point though about being able to use a standard relatively inexpensive 12 gauge 120v extension cord. My 10 gauge 240v extension cord only 20' cost as much as 2 50' of the 120v extension cords and isn't the nice flexible jacket as the 120v one.
 
For second part of my review I will talk about poor connector quality. I noticed that Duosida connectors are much harder to insert into the car compared to classic Yazaki plugs. Turns out the sockets in Duosida plug are made way too tight and are placing excessive friction on the pins. They are also shearing the little plastic tips on the pins of the car charge port. This excessive force wears the silver coating on the pins much faster and can cause faster pin failure. I discovered that removing small springs around each socket in Duosida plug made insertion much smoother. But then I discovered that one of the sockets was gripping the pin at 3 sharp corners - imprinting scratches into the pin surface. It took me few hours of working the socket inner surface with the shanks of various drill bits to finally produce smoother connector surface mating action. Now this Duosida plug is as smooth as my other 3 yazaki plugs. Based on this, I cannot recommend this portable EVSE out of concern that it will place much higher wear on car's charge port pins.

PIctures here: http://imgur.com/a/XbVF0

edit: imgur messed up order of my pictures.
 
Forgot to mention, the clamping force on the signal pins is ridiculously too high as well. I had to remove the springs around those sockets and stretch them out a bit. Doing that produced much more acceptable level of friction force.
 
I've read similar complaints on Amazon for the cheap EVSEs that use the Duosida ends, very hard to plug and unplug J1772 connector.
Very nice pix, I haven't had a similar experience with my cheap Ebusbar but I'm not sure who makes the black J1772 end, it's not market and probably not a Duosida, the dust cover retaining strap is crap though, mine like many other Amazon reviewers broke after <1 month of use. You can still put it over the J1772 end but it's not attached to the connector and is easily lost :(
 
I too have noticed that it was harder to plug in the duosida. I only keep it in my trunk for emergency use, and use the nissan one as my primary home EVSE. Loved the pictures!
 
Thanks :) If only Duosida could sit someone down to quality control the pins, this would be great little EVSE.
 
I sell these EVSE, I repair these EVSE, and I work very closely with the factory to improve the product. It's a lot of work! FYI there was a "bad batch" in September that had issues with compatibility with Chevy Volt and J1772 extensions like JLONG but all those issues have been addressed. Any Duosida EVSE with a solid blue light that does not charge can be adjusted. In general the product is very high quality, and I have had no issues with the pins of the connector in the J1772 handle. I think maybe folks are worrying too much? I'd rather have a tight connection than a loose one. But nonetheless I will look into it. They also make a 10-32 Amp adjustable EVSE but that is almost double the money. Unless you need that type of flexibility and the amperage diagnostics most people go with the inexpensive Duosida. (The adjustable version tells you exactly how many kWh you put in your car) So many cars have the diagnostics built in to the app or whatever. I look forward to the "JuicePlug" which will give me a second layer of diagnostics via WiFi with any EVSE.

BTW I agree that since these units are universal voltage 100-250v AC input the only way to go is to put a 240v connector like a 6-20P on the Duosida EVSE and make a short quality adaptor cable for occasional (or regular) 120v usage. I sell/make the adaptor for $25. All this info is on my website www-buy-evse.com which directs you to my eBay auction or you can buy directly from me by texting me. - William
 
wtzouris said:
I sell these EVSE, I repair these EVSE, and I work very closely with the factory to improve the product. ... They also make a 10-32 Amp adjustable EVSE but that is almost double the money. Unless you need that type of flexibility and the amperage diagnostics most people go with the inexpensive Duosida
William,
Is the adjustable 32a EVSE the one where you have to shake the EVSE to adjust the current? If so and you repair them what is your feeling about the reliability of how they are adjusted? Personally(and I've never used one) I think that sounds really hokey and potentially unreliable, again if you've seen or worked on them, are my concerns unwarranted?
I just checked your website and ebay site and didn't see the 32a adjustable EVSE listed, is that one you sell and if so what brand would it be?
 
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