L6-30 Outlet in Garage, best choice for level 2 charging?

Hello I am new here, I just got a nissan leaf (6.6kw) about a week ago and we are loving it. I would like to get a level 2 EVSE soon, but was not sure what is my best option. In my garage I have an L6-30 outlet that says 240V 30A on it that we are not using.

I have found the EVSE Upgrade through the forums and it seems like it would just plug in and work and give me pretty quick charging compared to the default one I have now. Would there be any other plug in options that anyone would suggest?

Also it seems that the EVSE Upgrade is like $649 (http://evseupgrade.com/?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false, which seems reasonable. But would it be better to do the upgrade and ship my current one to them at a cheaper price? Would there be any reason to keep the current one as is? Thanks for any help you can provide!

Upgrading your current L1 is going to be cheaper than buying a new upgraded EVSE.

Here are some quick options:
EVSEUpgrade $287 + shipping
OpenEVSE ~$500 + shipping
JuiceBox ~$328 + shipping (You would need to fashion your own L6 input cable, or buy one ~$30)
ClipperCreek LCS-25P $549 + shipping

The one consideration is that keeping the L1 allows you to leave the faster EVSE in-place in your garage, and keep the L1 in your car for "emergencies".

That said, I have done this for over 2 1/2 years and have NEVER used that L1 for any emergency charging. It's so slow that it would require an odd combination of considerable duress combined with a lot of free time. :lol: YMMV.

Perhaps the better argument for having 2 EVSE is that you have a backup in case something should ever go wrong with your primary unit. L1 will do for daily charging in a pinch, depending on your daily mileage. I used ours for 3 months until we got our L2.

Sweet thanks for the quick replies guys! Seems like the EVSE Upgrade is a good option then. Just gotta decide it I wanna ship it and be without one for a few days.

Nubo said:

The one consideration is that keeping the L1 allows you to leave the faster EVSE in-place in your garage, and keep the L1 in your car for "emergencies".

That said, I have done this for over 2 1/2 years and have NEVER used that L1 for any emergency charging. It's so slow that it would require an odd combination of considerable duress combined with a lot of free time. :lol: YMMV.

Perhaps the better argument for having 2 EVSE is that you have a backup in case something should ever go wrong with your primary unit. L1 will do for daily charging in a pinch, depending on your daily mileage. I used ours for 3 months until we got our L2.

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Yeah i was thinking it could be for emergencies, but you are right about the odd combination to have to use it actually.

nicktwist said:

Sweet thanks for the quick replies guys! Seems like the EVSE Upgrade is a good option then. Just gotta decide it I wanna ship it and be without one for a few days.

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Might be more than a few days…

Notice: No outbound shipments will be made from August 15th through the 27th, inbound will still be accepted.

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Not sure why, but it looks like shipments will resume at the end of the month, and possibly not until Sept 2 because of the holiday.

Notice: No outbound shipments will be made from August 15th through the 27th, inbound will still be accepted.

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Thanks for the notice! Oh man that kinda sucks, well I guess I could do the $75 thing and have them ship me one first then I ship them mine back.

How does that Clipper Creak one compare? Have you guys heard good things? It seems to be cheaper by $100 for a new one compared to the evse upgrade one.
http://www.clippercreek.com/store/product/charging-station-lcs-25p-nema-l6-30-2/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks for the suggestions

The only thing I dislike about the LCS-25 is the fact that it's 20A instead of 24A. Seems rather moot, but it's just something that really irks me. Why would you run it at 20A if you require a 30A circuit? Rawr!

Otherwise, I probably would have bought one.

Most of the high power ones are going to be hardwired. A few of them (JuiceBox) use a 14-50 outlet. The 14-60 outlet is pretty rare, and NEMA doesn't have any outlets for higher amperage.

nicktwist said:

Hello I am new here, I just got a nissan leaf (6.6kw) about a week ago and we are loving it. I would like to get a level 2 EVSE soon, but was not sure what is my best option. In my garage I have an L6-30 outlet that says 240V 30A on it that we are not using.

I have found the EVSE Upgrade through the forums and it seems like it would just plug in and work and give me pretty quick charging compared to the default one I have now. Would there be any other plug in options that anyone would suggest?

Also it seems that the EVSE Upgrade is like $649 (http://evseupgrade.com/?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false, which seems reasonable. But would it be better to do the upgrade and ship my current one to them at a cheaper price? Would there be any reason to keep the current one as is? Thanks for any help you can provide!

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Or you could just do the below for just $25 and get a 12 A L2 charger.. you might have to change your outlet but that is very easy if you know what you are doing. Any electrician can do it for you.
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=16948" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

mctom987 said:

The only thing I dislike about the LCS-25 is the fact that it's 20A instead of 24A. Seems rather moot, but it's just something that really irks me. Why would you run it at 20A if you require a 30A circuit? Rawr!

Otherwise, I probably would have bought one.

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It may have been built to be usable on 25 amp circuits.

If you really care about those last 4 amps, it looks like the OpenEVSE or perhaps Juicebox are adjustable to that level. Of course, if you charge at 20 amps instead of 24 amps, you will get slightly less than 70 percent the warming of wires and connections, lowering the risk of problems. You will also be slightly easier on the battery in the car.

The LCS-25P can be ordered with a L6-30, so it is just a plug in, with 3 year warranty and UL listing.

nicktwist said:

Notice: No outbound shipments will be made from August 15th through the 27th, inbound will still be accepted.

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Thanks for the notice! Oh man that kinda sucks, well I guess I could do the $75 thing and have them ship me one first then I ship them mine back.

How does that Clipper Creak one compare? Have you guys heard good things? It seems to be cheaper by $100 for a new one compared to the evse upgrade one.
http://www.clippercreek.com/store/product/charging-station-lcs-25p-nema-l6-30-2/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks for the suggestions

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You missed the point.
All operations shut down until after the 27th (vacation?)
No $75 pre-order until after the 27th unless you did it prior to the 15th.

Clipper Creek has very good reviews, if all you want is 20 amp, 4.8 kW from the outlet charging and are wanting a new EVSE the item you have listed will work and is cheaper than evseupgrade's price for a new 20 amp modified EVSE.
He has to buy the EVSE which have often been very expensive in low volume and then modify. His current limited time $649 price is a lot lower than in the past.

But you have the 6.6 KW from the wall on board charger on your vehicle.
Occasionally at home you may have a need for the faster charging so better to buy and install a L2 EVSE that supports the faster charging.

TimLee said:

Clipper Creek has very good reviews, if all you want is 20 amp, 4.8 kW from the outlet charging...But you have the 6.6 KW from the wall on board charger on your vehicle.
Occasionally at home you may have a need for the faster charging so better to buy and install a L2 EVSE that supports the faster charging.

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I believe that the on-board charger only accepts 6.0 kW, so the difference between a 20 amp and a 30 amp charger is effectively the difference between 4.8 kW and 6.0 kW. In a major recharge situation, going from 20% SOC to 100% SOC, this is the difference between 5 hours and 4 hours charging time. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

To the OP: From everything I've read, the Clipper Creek units are well made in the USA, have a good warranty, and are less expensive than most of the competition. The LCS-25 has a long charging cable and comes with a plug that matches your existing outlet. This makes it portable if you want to take it on a trip. I think it's a good match for your needs.

billg said:

I believe that the on-board charger only accepts 6.0 kW

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6.6kW. It's output is 6.0kW. It's not 100% efficient. In fact, by those numbers, it's just shy of 91% efficient, which is actually pretty good.

mctom987 said:

billg said:

I believe that the on-board charger only accepts 6.0 kW

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6.6kW. It's output is 6.0kW. It's not 100% efficient. In fact, by those numbers, it's just shy of 91% efficient, which is actually pretty good.

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OK, let me try again.

The LCS-25 installed on a 30 amp 240 volt circuit will output 20 amps continuous, or 4.8 kW. A 30 amp EVSE installed on the same circuit will output 24 amps continuous, or 5.76 kW. If it takes 5 hours to charge using the LCS-25, you will save less than an hour using a 30 amp EVSE.

To take full advantage of the 6.6 kW capability of the on-board charger, you would probably have to go to a 40 amp circuit and EVSE, which would output 32 amps continuous, or 7.68 kW. However, since the car will only accept 6.6 kW, you have a lot of wasted capacity.

Do I have it right now?

alanlarson said:

mctom987 said:

The only thing I dislike about the LCS-25 is the fact that it's 20A instead of 24A. Seems rather moot, but it's just something that really irks me. Why would you run it at 20A if you require a 30A circuit? Rawr!

Otherwise, I probably would have bought one.

Click to expand...

It may have been built to be usable on 25 amp circuits.

If you really care about those last 4 amps, it looks like the OpenEVSE or perhaps Juicebox are adjustable to that level. Of course, if you charge at 20 amps instead of 24 amps, you will get slightly less than 70 percent the warming of wires and connections, lowering the risk of problems. You will also be slightly easier on the battery in the car.

The LCS-25P can be ordered with a L6-30, so it is just a plug in, with 3 year warranty and UL listing.

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But there aren't any 25 amp circuits in the US?
Are they used somewhere else in the world?

Does seem strange there are very few 24 amp options.

Very unlikely that 20 amp, versus 24 amp, or even 27.5 amp (most LEAF on board charger can draw at 6.6 kW from wall ,6.0 kW to battery) would make any difference on battery life.

Overall speed difference between 20 or 24 or 27.5 is pretty modest
Lowest cost is evseupgrade if you can wait, just be Extremely cautious using 120V. See fire thread http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=15784&hilit=+fire#p352567" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
Costs go up from there.
Fastest 27.5 amp 6.6 kW charging will probably require electrical work, breaker, cable, outlet.

Yes, you have it right billg.

billg said:

To the OP: From everything I've read, the Clipper Creek units are well made in the USA, have a good warranty, and are less expensive than most of the competition. The LCS-25 has a long charging cable and comes with a plug that matches your existing outlet. This makes it portable if you want to take it on a trip. I think it's a good match for your needs.

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Thanks Billg, that is what I will probably go with! Appreciate all the great feedback guys! this is a good forum!

I was mistaken of the outlet though, it looks to be the standard 10-30 dryer outlet. I contacted clipper creek and they said i will need to do the following:

"We do not have any plug in 240V stations with the NEMA 10-30 style plug. The NEMA 10-30 receptacle is typically wired with 2 hot lines (Line 1 and Line 2) and a Neutral. All of our 240V stations require 2 hot lines (Line 1 and Line 2) and a earth ground. The ground is passed through to the vehicle for safety grounding during charging.

You should be able to have an electrician change out the outlet cover to something like a NEMA 14-30 or a NEMA L6-30 and then go with the corresponding plug in LCS-25P. You would also need to have a ground wire ran as our stations require a ground. It would not be advisable from a safety stand point to utilize the 10-30 receptacle with an adapter for the LCS-25P."

I really do not know anything dealing with electrician work and dont wanna take any chances. Does the above sound accurate? Would you guys know what I should expect to pay for something like this? Should I create another topic you think? Since we are going a little off the topic now. Thanks!

nicktwist said:

I really do not know anything dealing with electrician work and dont wanna take any chances. Does the above sound accurate? Would you guys know what I should expect to pay for something like this? Should I create another topic you think? Since we are going a little off the topic now. Thanks!

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Pretty accurate and still on topic.
But the neutral conductor in the cable should end up connected to ground at the panel in most installations.
Should be low cost for electrician to change the outlet and repurpose the neutral to be a ground with proper bare copper or green coding at both ends and confirm it is directly connected to ground at the panel.

Because the neutral is ground a lot of people do just buy or make an adapter.
Better to change the outlet and make the neutral a code compliant ground.

TimLee said:

Pretty accurate and still on topic.
But the neutral conductor in the cable should end up connected to ground at the panel in most installations.
Should be low cost for electrician to change the outlet and repurpose the neutral to be a ground with proper bare copper or green coding at both ends and confirm it is directly connected to ground at the panel.

Because the neutral is ground a lot of people do just buy or make an adapter.
Better to change the outlet and make the neutral a code compliant ground.

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Thanks TimLee, appreciate the confirmation! I guess its time to find an electrician...so yelp i suppose? any suggestions for someone in San Diego...anyone? hehe...thanks!

nicktwist said:

Thanks TimLee, appreciate the confirmation! I guess its time to find an electrician...so yelp i suppose? any suggestions for someone in San Diego...anyone? hehe...thanks!

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It's trivial to make a NEMA 10-30P to NEMA 14-30R or L6-30R adapter yourself for ~$20. I'm in San Diego can help.

eHelmholtz said:

It's trivial to make a NEMA 10-30P to NEMA 14-30R or L6-30R adapter yourself for ~$20. I'm in San Diego can help.

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Awesome I will PM you! Thanks!