Level 2 charging for 5-7 hours outdoors in the rain

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Kieran973

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 19, 2018
Messages
170
Location
near NY, NY
I bought a 2019 SV this week. Tonight will be the first time I use the charge timer on the car and charge for 5 hours overnight. It's supposed to rain a lot tonight, and both my car and EVSE are 100% outside and unprotected from the elements. The EVSE is a Clipper Creek that I had hardwired into the electric line. My question is: should I do anything at all to keep the charging port dry? With the charging lid open, it looks like it will take on a lot of water during 5 hours in a heavy rain storm. Or should I just trust the durability of the car?
 
The J-1772 charging protocol is designed for hard rain. The connection is only energized after and while the plug is completely inserted in the waterproof port. As long as the car isn't actually submerged it should be fine.
 
People charge in the rain all the time w/o issue as long as the EVSE is weatherproof. At my work, we have a bunch (at least 2 dozen) J1772 handles that are outside w/no cover overhead. Tons of people (myself included) have charged our EVs out there in the rain.

We also have some that are under cover (e.g. inside our parking structure). Some of those are against a wall where ran can come in. No big deal and no problem.
 
I always cover the port with plastic when rain is coming. Why not just have an additional level of water protection?
 
Kieran973 said:
both my car and EVSE are 100% outside and unprotected from the elements. The EVSE is a Clipper Creek

I've got this exact same setup, and have charged in both hard rain and snow without any issues or accommodations. Once, snow was caked in the charge area in the morning and I just closed it and went to work. No problems.
 
I personally close the outside metal charge door until it touches the J1772 handle, helps a lot for snow and I feel some for rain to keep the majority from landing on the handle. I feel leaving the outside metal cover wide open also draws more attention to it so I basically close it as much as possible when charging.
 
jjeff said:
I personally close the outside metal charge door until it touches the J1772 handle, helps a lot for snow and I feel some for rain to keep the majority from landing on the handle. I feel leaving the outside metal cover wide open also draws more attention to it so I basically close it as much as possible when charging.

yep, me too.
 
OK, good idea. I thought about doing that last night, but I wasn't sure if the metal charge door would put too much pressure on the J1772 handle. It did look like it prevents a fair amount of rain though, so I'll try that next time.
 
lorenfb said:
I always cover the port with plastic when rain is coming. Why not just have an additional level of water protection?
It's not necessary and kind of a waste of time. If the car has a problem it'll stop charging. The EVSE has internal ground fault protection too.
 
Tsiah said:
lorenfb said:
I always cover the port with plastic when rain is coming. Why not just have an additional level of water protection?
It's not necessary and kind of a waste of time. If the car has a problem it'll stop charging. The EVSE has internal ground fault protection too.

That's your view! And you rely on Nissan's extensively testing that the car's system always just stops charging with no internal failures, right?
 
lorenfb said:
Tsiah said:
lorenfb said:
I always cover the port with plastic when rain is coming. Why not just have an additional level of water protection?
It's not necessary and kind of a waste of time. If the car has a problem it'll stop charging. The EVSE has internal ground fault protection too.

That's your view! And you rely on Nissan's extensively testing that the car's system always just stops charging with no internal failures, right?

It's not a view that "The EVSE has internal ground fault protection too."

It's a fact
 
BuffaloBillsfan said:
lorenfb said:
Tsiah said:
It's not necessary and kind of a waste of time. If the car has a problem it'll stop charging. The EVSE has internal ground fault protection too.

That's your view! And you rely on Nissan's extensively testing that the car's system always just stops charging with no internal failures, right?

It's not a view that "The EVSE has internal ground fault protection too."

It's a fact

To each his own!
 
I charged last night, level 1 though, for about 8 hours and it rained over an inch during that time. All the gear out in the rain, using Nissan's charger.

As a side note, we get about 4" of rain a year, so for us, that's WET.




If it helps, I can rephrase it - I charged last night through a storm that dumped 25% of our annual rain.
 
It's not necessary and kind of a waste of time. If the car has a problem it'll stop charging. The EVSE has internal ground fault protection too.

Many of the Chinese EVSE's lack GFCI protection. As long as everything is OK they work fine but they lack the full J1772 specs.
 
If it helps, I can rephrase it - I charged last night through a storm that dumped 25% of our annual rain.

That doesn't matter. The 1" was more relevant. When I had the whole unit outside right after getting my 2013, I improvised rain protection with a garbage bag taped over the EVSE brick and the plug connection. Others have used plastic storage boxes, with cutouts for the cords placed so that rain doesn't get in.
 
Just because you can doesn't make it correct :)
Seals wear out, don't always seat correctly 100% of the time, especially as things age. I also wouldn't want to get in my Leaf to go to work, expecting and needing a certain charge level, only to find out my Leaf stopped charging for one way or another, it would be bad. No for me anyway it would be worth the extra few seconds to try and help reduce the possibility of a charging failure, of course you may feel differently and that's fine too, to each his own :)
 
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