Plug in Charge Station with Both NEMA 14-50 and L6-30 ?

Hi,

New to the forum. I am looking to pick up a used 2013 Leaf in the near future. I have spent a lot of time searching, but thus far have not found a solution. Does anyone make a plug in charging station that I can use with both a NEMA 14-50 outlet and L6-30 Outlet? Having to get an adapter is ok. I plan to use the higher amp NEMA 14-50 in my garage but I also have access to L6-30 outlet at work. Is this possible?
Thanks for your help!

You will just have to make an adapter. NEMA L6-30 receptacle at work? then a NEMA L6-30 plug on a 8-3 cord section (black, white, green) and then a box, most likely a 4x4 deep one with a NEMA 14-50 rectptacle in it, to plug your EVSE into.

Is the EVSE capable of being "turned down" to a lower amperage? (such as the Siemens units that allow this to be down from the front panel) If not, you are technically overloading the circuit as it is only a 30 amp, which should be limited to a 24 amp max load. Other issue is the use of the box on the adapter cord. This will be non-code compliant, FYI.

Charles

I actually heard back from a rep with Clipper Creek. They do not have a unit that would work under this scenario. To plug into both, the unit would have to be able to adjust to only draw the lower amperage. Their units will not adjust. My best bet with their unit would be LCS-25P with L6-30 plug installed and then get an adapter for the 14-50 outlet needs. This works, but I would not get the full charge capability of the 6.6kw charger in the leaf only being able to draw 20 amps.

Jesla maybe? But it is about $1k.

You should be able to use any 24A charger, and just use a home made adapter cable. That way you would never exceed 24A draw whether you were plugged into a 30 or 50A circuit. Or you could get a charger that has the ability to manually change the settings/Amp draw, but that is not fool proof. For instance if you do not change the setting and you last were on a 50A circuit and then tried using a 30A circuit, the charger could draw Amps than the 30A circuit is designed for.

Any adjustable EVSE will work for you - the adapter part is trivial. Options include: openEVSE, EVSEupgrade, juicebox, JESLA, GE DuraStation, Siemens Versicharge, etc. As Firetruck41 noted, the advantage of the Jesla is it's "automatic" - when you put on the appropriate adapter it'll automatically know to adjust the pilot signal for the outlet you're using. Unfortunately it costs at least twice as much as some of the other options listed.

If we're talking about charging a Leaf, however, you're only going to gain 4.5 amps going from the L6-30 to the 14-50, so you might as well just leave your EVSE set to 24 amps. That said, I'm not aware of any EVSEs capable of doing 24 amps that aren't adjustable, so you'll have the capability to up the amps even if you don't use it. Firetruck41 makes a good point that you have to be diligent about derating your EVSE when plugging into the 30 amp outlet - especially with a work outlet. If you start tripping breakers at work you might expect to see your charging privileges go bye-bye.

If I were you I'd just get a high-power EVSE to leave at home (adjustable is still a plus even if you plan on leaving it at home most of the time), and get your Leaf's included EVSE upgraded by evseupgrade.com to take with you and plug into the L6-30 when charging at work. You can do both for less than the cost of a Jesla, and even if you find the perfect EVSE to use at home and work you'll soon tire of unplugging the thing and lugging it around all the time.

Strongly recommend you get a UL listed EVSE. This is the highest draw device in your home, and you will probably be using it while you sleep. You should sleep better knowing it was built by professionals and passed UL testing. [This rules out Junk Box, and other hacks.]