120V Charging on Maintenance Outlet?

Discussion in 'General' started by LennoxConner, Mar 20, 2020.

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  1. LennoxConner

    LennoxConner New Member

    I'm planning on charging my EV using the a Level 1 120V charger. The outlet nearest to the driveway is the maintenance outlet that was installed 5 years ago to meet code with with condenser installation of my mini-split system.

    Can I charge off of this outlet? How do I tell if I can or can't?

    I attached an image of my breaker box. The breakers marked 'heat pump' were put in with the mini split system.

    Thanks!
     
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  3. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web Well-Known Member Subscriber

    What is the EV or specifically, the maximum L2 (aka., 240 VAC) current or power rating?

    If you have a NEMA 5-15 outlet, it should support 12 A charging without a problem.

    Bob Wilson
     
  4. craze1cars

    craze1cars Well-Known Member

    If it was properly installed, yes you can use it to charge the car. Whatever photo you attempted to attach does not appear in your post.
     
  5. LennoxConner

    LennoxConner New Member

    For the gen 2 EVSE specifically, you can make or buy a plug adapter and use it as a level 2 charger. It doesn't have the full amperage capacity of a normal L2 EVSE, but it will still charge significantly faster.
     
  6. Gsbrryprk8

    Gsbrryprk8 Member


    Power can’t be increased in a given (i.e. the same) circuit with just an adapter.

    I can’t see your pics on my device, so I’ll assume a 120V 15A circuit, which can deliver a theoretical max of 1.6kW power (P=IV). Take away 20% for safety and another 10-20% in AC-DC conversion, the actual DC power delivered is around 1.2kW. The same 120V in a 20A circuit delivers around 1.6kW. No adapter will change this. A new circuit breaker can, but only if the wiring will allow higher loads.

    I trickle charge using a 120V 15A dedicated circuit, giving about 4 miles of drive distance per hour of charge, 40-50 miles on an overnight charge. Whether this will suffice depends on your needs.


    Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
     
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  8. @Gsbrryprk8 I believe what @LennoxConner was talking about is that the standard 120V granny cable that comes with some cars is actually auto-switching and can take 240V. Mine is one of them, so I built myself two adapters, one from NEMA 10-30 to NEMA 5-15 and the other one from NEMA 14-30 to NEMA 5-15 to be able to plug the standard granny cable into the 240V outlets and charge with 2.6kW instead of 1.3kW. It is still only 12Amp, since that is the maximum of the EVSE, but you're effectively cutting your at home charge-time with the granny cable into half by spending about $15-$20 in parts instead of buying a full-fledged 30-40Amp Level 2 EVSE.

    Just saying, however, only do that if you know your way around electrics and only use components that can handle the power!
     
  9. ladicker

    ladicker New Member

    The two factors to consider are the wire size leading to the maintenance plug and the circuit breaker size. For a 15 amp circuit you need a minimum of 14 gauge wire. Larger wire and circuit sizes are accceptable. The max continuous amps for a circuit breaker is 80% of the circuit breaker rating. So if you have a 15 amp circuit breaker it can handle 12 amps continuous load. You don't say what the amp rating on your level 1 charger is or what EV your charging. My Hyundai Kona level 1 charger is 12 amp max. It works on all 15 amp circuits
     
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  10. ladicker

    ladicker New Member

    dedicated circuits (15 amp) and code indicates 15 or 20 amp. I'm using the stock BMW i3 OUC which is charges up to 12 amps so I believe this is good...
     

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