Trickle Charging Extremely Slow!

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Oilpan4 said:
Technically according to NEC we are not supposed to use an extension cord on an evse.
NEC assumes we are all stupid and will use a cheap cord, melt it down and burn down our houses.

In case you are wondering how to tell a cheap cord from a good one, look for the wire size. #16 wire (16/3) is light duty and insufficient for a 12 A L1 EVSE unless it is really cold outside, and even then you are wasting energy heating the cord instead of charging your car. #14 wire (14/3) is adequate (this is the same size wire that is used for the 15A branch circuits in your house), but will still cause some voltage drop if you need a long one. #12 (12/3) is better, and probably a good minimum if you need more than 50 feet or so.
 
In case you are wondering how to tell a cheap cord from a good one, look for the wire size.

Wire gauge gives you a comparable specification and a minimum size you have to meet or exceed, but it doesn't really say anything about quality within a given gauge. It's not hard at all to find a cheap, poorly constructed 14 gauge extension cord, and I'm sure I could walk into a Walmart and find a crappy 12 gauge cord as well. The plug ends are very important once you select 14 gauge or larger: if the contacts are inadequate or the plug or socket is poorly molded, that's a bigger danger than using a high quality cord with a marginal gauge.

They also say to avoid lighted cords. I've never had any trouble with those. but I may just have gotten lucky with the one I use for our outdoor EVSE...

Oh, and remember, newbies, that as the gauge number goes up, the wire gets thinner, not thicker! 12 gauge is heavier than 14.
 
I have melted down those molded plug ends running my air compressor.
When my leaf came in and I was stuck L1 charging never even tried to use a normal extension cord. I used my 30 amp 10 gauge SO super cord. Made with an L5-30 plug and a outdoor commercial grade 5-20 modular receptacle box on the end.
Made to reach out 75 feet to run my 120v welder, air compressor, grinder, ect.
 
Oilpan4 said:
I have melted down those molded plug ends running my air compressor.
When my leaf came in and I was stuck L1 charging never even tried to use a normal extension cord. I used my 30 amp 10 gauge SO super cord. Made with an L5-30 plug and a outdoor commercial grade 5-20 modular receptacle box on the end.
Made to reach out 75 feet to run my 120v welder, air compressor, grinder, ect.

The high startup and cyclic loads from those devices put more stress on the wiring than the constant (until equalizing) load of an EVSE, which is more like an electric heater with the thermostat maxed out.
 
I was sand blasting the compressor only cycled off a few times.
It was only drawing 16 or 17 amps.
Shortly after that I converted it to 240v and put a clothes dryer cord on it.
No more problems and that was about 11 years ago.
 
Spacep0d said:
Hi there Leafers,

I'm using the standard EVSE from Nissan which came from the prior owner, purchased with the quick-charge upgrade. This thing looks brand new and the installation screws were still in the package. I have a 2018 LEAF S with the optional quick-charge package installed.

I'm using a 120v outlet for trickle charging. By my estimates, assuming 24 hours to charge from 0-151, I should get 6 miles per hour. However, over the course of many hours I'm only seeing 1 extra mile added to range, from 64 to 65 (so it's not like I'm trying to charge to 100% and seeing a plateau).

Any ideas? I want to try a different outlet, but this would require an extension cord as it's blocked by the storage cabinet that came with the garage when I bought the place.

I'm working on getting a Level 2 charger installed (collecting bids). If anyone knows a great installed in the Santa Clarita area (for a townhome, challenging install), I'm all eyes. :D

Any ideas? Is it safe to use an extension cord for a bit just to see if I can see a difference? I have a heavy duty one for garage use, but I don't know its exact specs.

Thanks!

Spacep0d

UPDATE:

Got a 12-gauge extension cord (15', shortest I could find) and tried a different outlet. The trickle-charging actually works now! At 7:30p this evening, the battery was at 62%. At 12:11a tonight it was at 80%.

Nice to see it actually working! :) I want to do a full charge just to see what kind of mileage I get at 100%, after which I'll drive it immediately so it's not just sitting at 100% for too long.

A while back I had an electrician upgrade this circuit too because my air compressor kept tripping the breaker. I'm not sure what the amperage is or of it's just a regular 120v, but it seems to be charging at a good clip for a trickle-charger.
 
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