Problem with EVSE Upgrade unit

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jim0266

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 17, 2017
Messages
82
Location
Akron, Oh
A buddy swapped his EVSE Upgrade unit for my stock L1 unit plus $100. I tested the unit a few weeks ago by plugging it into my 120V at home and it worked correctly. I only tested it for few minutes and didn't let it go for a few hours.

I L2 charge at home and work and have only used my L1 charger once in the past year. My plan for the upgrade unit was to use it at my mom's house, which to is about 65 miles away, by plugging it into her dryer plug. I might only do this a few times a years so this was an inexpensive way to get into this.

Yesterday I made the journey. All seemed good at first. The car was charging normally off her dryer connection. When I checked back an hour later the dash lights were off. I unplugged the connector from the car and plugged it back in. Charging continued. After about another 10 minutes the car stopped charging again. I could not get the car to charge any longer. I switched to the L1 connector and it would not charge off that either. Nothing amiss on the EVSE LED lights. All normal.

All this time I still see the charging icon on the dash, so the car could see something plugged into it.

Luckily there are a two good L2 charging options at my halfway point. I prepared for this test run by charging there on the way down in case I ran into any issues a my mom's house.

I'm charging with the EVSE Upgrade unit as I write this. 45 minutes later it's still working.

Since we made the unit swap my buddy's Leaf was hit and totaled. His unit has a lot of use on it and the cord is pretty twisted. I'm thinking of just swapping back and having my unit upgraded. I don't feel I can trust the unit now.

Any ideas of why my car might have refused to charge off it yesterday and if I could have done anything?
 
Sounds like a wiring issue at your Mother's house.

Is the house old? anything else on the same circuit?

If it charges for a period then stops, that is indicative of overheating
 
The house is about 55 years old. Her washroom was redone a few years ago. She went from full-size washer and dyer to a stackable W&D and relocated them to the opposite wall.

She added a breezeway to the back of the house then built a garage that attaches to the breezeway. When I plugged the unit in a 120V plug in the washroom the device show a fault error. Same issue when I plugged it into a outlet in the breezeway. When I plugged the unit into an outlet in the garage there was no fault error on the device.

I have no idea what is on what circuit. I can ask the guy who does all her work if the dryer unit is on its own circuit.

Thanks!
 
jim0266 said:
The house is about 55 years old. Her washroom was redone a few years ago. She went from full-size washer and dyer to a stackable W&D and relocated them to the opposite wall.

She added a breezeway to the back of the house then built a garage that attaches to the breezeway. When I plugged the unit in a 120V plug in the washroom the device show a fault error. Same issue when I plugged it into a outlet in the breezeway. When I plugged the unit into an outlet in the garage there was no fault error on the device.

I have no idea what is on what circuit. I can ask the guy who does all her work if the dryer unit is on its own circuit.

Thanks!

Well, a recent remodeling "should" be up to code which means dryer circuit should be alone and well up to covering the needs of the EVSE.

As you already know; if its a wiring issue, the fault is immediate but your charging for 10 mins before it shuts off is almost certainly an overheating issue...

Have you checked the breaker sizes to make sure they are 30 amps?

But the reality is if the EVSE works fine everywhere but your Mother's house...
 
Adding to this in case it helps someone down the road.

First, a shout out to Mark at EVSE Upgrade. Emailed them on Sunday afternoon via their website. Mark emailed me on Sunday and offered to call that day but we could not work it out.

I emailed him some images of the unit and cable. Below are his emails:

That cable is VERY kinked and twisted and if it is not the cause of the issue it likely will fail soon.

If a green light is on the EVSE before charging and after it stops then the cable is working properly. However, if the upgraded cable is very twisted the 18G wire may be compromised and when the cable main conductors expand they may be causing the pilot wire to "open" at the bad connection point and cause the charge to stop. In this cause there would be no fault light on the EVSE or the car. If the breaker is not tripping and there is no red fault on the evse on the 240V outlet then it is likely a compromised pilot wire.
 
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