Are there Level 1 EVSE's that are faster than the OEM one?

Thanks for the reply. Setting aside what it *should* be doing, is it likely that the EVSE *can* actually charge 15A on a 15A outlet (and 16A on a 20A outlet)? Or is the ad likely incorrect to suggest it'll do that?

 

It’s going to try to pull 16A the plug won’t matter. The main thing is the wiring in the wall. If it’s 12awg you’re fine, relolace the receptacle and make sure its a 20A breaker. Otherwise you’re playing with fire... literally.
You have a Clarity, just burn some gas if you need a few extra miles of range.


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I bought this one a while back and use it as my "traveling" cable.

https://www.amazon.com/DUOSIDA-Level-Electric-Vehicle-Charger/dp/B018A6QK7C

I keep it in the little compartment in the trunk. Has a nice long cable and I have several adapters (available cheap for RV connections) for connecting at the hangar (208 volt), RV park 110/30amp, or just a regular 110. It works from 110 to 240 so far without issue. It is slightly faster than the OEM Level 1, however the amperage draw is actually controlled by the "charger" (which is in the car) not the cable, which simply acts as a "power available" relay. There are very advanced connections that talk to the car and can vary power via communication.

More options with "adjustable current"
https://www.steam-brite.com/electric-vehicle-level-charger-240v-adjustable-25ft-nema-1450-portable-evse-zencar-home-charging-station-free-shipping-20181010-p-94169.html

https://www.openevse.com/stations.html

The Honda charger (the controller in the car that converts the AC to DC) seems to be voltage sensitive, in that the amperage decreases with the voltage (this is a good thing) within a power level (level 1 or level 2). As the voltage dynamically dropped from 120 to 110, I noted a corresponding percentage drop in current from 12 to 10 amps. This is good, as if it was a constant power/wattage charger, it would just increase the amperage to make up for the lower voltage (volts x amps = watts). The power factor (PF/VA) did go down some, so efficiency also dropped. However when you think about the safety side it is better for the charger to accept the slower charge than demand more current, potentially overloading the circuit. As a high voltage drop across a line is indicative of poor conductors, or a long run, and either way a sign that pulling maximum power out of that circuit may not be a great idea.


Cheers,

Cash

 

I'm now using the Zencar Level 1/2 EVSE Cash linked to because the variable amperage feature is really nice for my solar system. If the sun is shining brightly I can run the full 16A and if not, I can adjust the output down to match then sun input. That saves a lot of potentially heavy duty use of the storage batteries in my solar system. Because I just bough the Zencar EVSE, I now have a Level 1/2 16A Aeroenvironment EVSE without the adjustable output that I'll be selling on Craigslist.

 

I don't have a Honda Clarity, I replied to this thread looking just at the topic on its own merits, I didn't notice it was in the Clarity sub-forum. Sorry about that!

I'm not talking about extra range, just charge times with an EVSE. I actually prefer to only charge all my lithium batteries up to about 80% whether it's a car, my e-bike, my cellphone, or what have you. Range isn't usually an issue for me, so I have the luxury of babying batteries for longer life.