Nissan finally gets it with new 240V portable EVSE

Great to know its a 14-50. Can someone please measure the length of the cable?
I assume 25ft but I can't seem to find it listed anywhere in the specs.

junoman said:

For our brand new 2019 Leaf, after professional installation of a 14/50 circuit, with the plug in the receptacle, (but not attached to the car), there was a loud bang and the breaker flipped. Is there something special about the Nissan Leaf plug - like neutral is not supposed to be connected??

The EVSE still works fine on 110-120 but I dare not try it again on the 200 till the dealer explains what is going on. 50 amps could do some real damage to a human being.

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If you are comfortable using a voltmeter measure the installed 14-50R to make sure it was wired properly.

I worked for a company that sold equipment connected to 14-50R Receptacles. 1 out of 10 times when we went to install the equipment we would find newly wired 14-50Rs miss-wired professionally.

Here’s the diagram.

ddh1313 said:

Great to know its a 14-50. Can someone please measure the length of the cable?
I assume 25ft but I can't seem to find it listed anywhere in the specs.

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Definitely shorter than 25 feet. It’s probably 18-20 ft max. I replaced a 25 ft Clipper Creek with a Nissan 120/240v OEM ESEV and the cord was is much shorter on the Nissan EVSE. It wouldn’t reach my Leaf where it was parked but the Clipper Creek easily reached.

The one that came with my 2018 Leaf is 21 ft long...from the AC plug to the end of the connector.

junoman said:

For our brand new 2019 Leaf, after professional installation of a 14/50 circuit, with the plug in the receptacle, (but not attached to the car), there was a loud bang and the breaker flipped. Is there something special about the Nissan Leaf plug - like neutral is not supposed to be connected??

The EVSE still works fine on 110-120 but I dare not try it again on the 200 till the dealer explains what is going on. 50 amps could do some real damage to a human being.

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I second getting a multimeter to check the voltage. Also, the Nissan EVSE is very picky about voltage and won't work if it's not around 240V.

mxp said:

Why is the NEMA 14-50P plug chosen?

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My guess is because it's an RV park outlet. You theoretically could charge the car just about anywhere in the country.

Tsiah said:

mxp said:

Why is the NEMA 14-50P plug chosen?

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My guess is because it's an RV park outlet. You theoretically could charge the car just about anywhere in the country.

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It's nearly impossible to find a 40 amp plug and a 30 amp plug would be out of compliance for any charge period for more than 3 hours (by code you have to de-rate the plug 20% if it's in continuous use for more than 3 hours). That leaves the 14-50 plug as the obvious choice. The big plus is that they are as common as dirt and used in RV parks and campsites all the time. Most homes won't have one unless there's an electric range installed. It's becoming more common in new construction to include one in the garage for future EV use. Anything over 50 amps is normally hardwired to a breaker.

johnlocke said:

Tsiah said:

mxp said:

Why is the NEMA 14-50P plug chosen?

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My guess is because it's an RV park outlet. You theoretically could charge the car just about anywhere in the country.

Click to expand...

It's nearly impossible to find a 40 amp plug and a 30 amp plug would be out of compliance for any charge period for more than 3 hours (by code you have to de-rate the plug 20% if it's in continuous use for more than 3 hours). That leaves the 14-50 plug as the obvious choice. The big plus is that they are as common as dirt and used in RV parks and campsites all the time. Most homes won't have one unless there's an electric range installed. It's becoming more common in new construction to include one in the garage for future EV use. Anything over 50 amps is normally hardwired to a breaker.

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I'm guessing mxp might just be wondering why as EVs don't need a neutral, why the Leaf EVSE didn't just come with a 6-50 plug and to that I'd agree it's probably because the 14-50 standard is much more common than the 6-50 standard. Tesla also standardized on the 14-50 very early on so it's kind of a standard for higher-powered EVSEs.
I really like the L14-30 plug or even L6-30 standard as it's not nearly as bulky as the range plug 14-50 and it's a locking plug but being a 30a standard it's not really robust enough to supply the 27.5a some Leafs can pull continuously, for that you need a 40 or 50a plug and since a 40a plug is nonstandard, 50a was the standard used.

I think for the US market Nissan could have gone with a 24 amp EVSE with 14-30 plug and let the customer use an adapter if needed.
Of course it should have also been compatible with 208v.

smkettner said:

I think for the US market Nissan could have gone with a 24 amp EVSE with 14-30 plug and let the customer use an adapter if needed.
Of course it should have also been compatible with 208v.

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And actually a 14-30 plug with the neutral prong removed or not installed, will easily plug into a 14-50 outlet. Juicebox EVSEs used to come standard with a 14-50 plug without the neutral, allowing you to plug into either outlet. I believe the newest Juiceboxes come with the 50a neutral prong installed, probably a CIA thing so someone doesn't plug their 40a Juicebox into a 30a outlet. Juicebox is a lot more "UL" than they were at one time.

That's what I did with my 10-30 plugs.
Grind the neutral-ground prong so it will fit both 10-30 and 10-50 receptacles.

Now I mod 14-50 receptacles covers to take both 14-30 and 14-50 plugs, since they use the same internals.

OEM is not going to supply modified connectors. Adapter would be the limit.