EVSE Upgrade the Right Choice?

Here's my situation:

(1) 2015 Leaf S w/6kW option (purchased 12/22/2014)
(2) 36-mile daily, round-trip commute w/ free charging at work (110V)--but only for 9 months per year
(4) up to 50 miles per week non-commuting use
(4) currently RENTING a 15-year-old house w/ (a) 110V/15A outlet in garage plus (b) 240V/30A (clothes dryer) outlet in adjacent laundry room

I am thinking that the EVSE Upgrade for 2015 Nissan LEAF (high-power) [$287] plus the 10-30 to L6-30 [$30] and 5-15 to L6-30 [$25] adapters is a very good option for me. This allows me to have ONE "connector" for 110V at home or work, plus the option of charging at a significantly faster rate (from 240Vx16A) at home if needed.

Any thoughts, recommendations, sage advice and even (good-natured) ridicule are welcome.

Thanks again!


Details:
EVSE Upgrade: http://evseupgrade.com/?main_page=product_info&products_id=28:4d5b04eda5002726d55fab8ff65ae79e
10-30 to L6-30 adapter: http://evseupgrade.com/?main_page=product_info&products_id=17
5-15 to L6-30 adapter: http://evseupgrade.com/?main_page=product_info&products_id=6

In general, evseupgrade w/ cord adaptors will work fine for your amount of mileage/charging. Another consideration is messing around daily with the cord. These cords are typically dirty and take some time to pack. More than likely will want a separate evse for home and one for the trunk of the car to use on the road. Having two will minimize messing with cords. Starting with evseupgrade is good if cost is a constraint.

rogersleaf said:

In general, evseupgrade w/ cord adaptors will work fine for your amount of mileage/charging. Another consideration is messing around daily with the cord. These cords are typically dirty and take some time to pack. More than likely will want a separate evse for home and one for the trunk of the car to use on the road. Having two will minimize messing with cords. Starting with evseupgrade is good if cost is a constraint.

Click to expand...

This is a great point that I hadn't fully considered. In terms of convenience/cleanliness, it would probably be better for me to have an EVSE that simply plugs into the dryer outlet and leave it at home, in the garage.

So, now it looks like I need to look for that "dryer plug"/NEMA 10-30 EVSE...

Thanks!

MartinChico said:

rogersleaf said:

In general, evseupgrade w/ cord adaptors will work fine for your amount of mileage/charging. Another consideration is messing around daily with the cord. These cords are typically dirty and take some time to pack. More than likely will want a separate evse for home and one for the trunk of the car to use on the road. Having two will minimize messing with cords. Starting with evseupgrade is good if cost is a constraint.

Click to expand...

This is a great point that I hadn't fully considered. In terms of convenience/cleanliness, it would probably be better for me to have an EVSE that simply plugs into the dryer outlet and leave it at home, in the garage.

So, now it looks like I need to look for that "dryer plug"/NEMA 10-30 EVSE...

Thanks!

Click to expand...

If you decide on 2 units, a good choice is a ClipperCreek LCS-25. This is likely the max amp draw (24 amps) that should be placed on a common 30 amp dryer circuit. This should deliver @ 25% battery recovery per hour. The evseupgrade will come back set for 20 amps/240v, which will deliver @ 20% battery recovery per hour. Your unaltered factory cord will deliver @ 3-4% per hour on 12 amp/120v. Keep in mind that the last 10-15% of battery recovery is charging at reduced rates so higher power units might not make much difference in your case.

rogersleaf said:

MartinChico said:

rogersleaf said:

In general, evseupgrade w/ cord adaptors will work fine for your amount of mileage/charging. Another consideration is messing around daily with the cord. These cords are typically dirty and take some time to pack. More than likely will want a separate evse for home and one for the trunk of the car to use on the road. Having two will minimize messing with cords. Starting with evseupgrade is good if cost is a constraint.

Click to expand...

This is a great point that I hadn't fully considered. In terms of convenience/cleanliness, it would probably be better for me to have an EVSE that simply plugs into the dryer outlet and leave it at home, in the garage.

So, now it looks like I need to look for that "dryer plug"/NEMA 10-30 EVSE...

Thanks!

Click to expand...

If you decide on 2 units, a good choice is a ClipperCreek LCS-25. This is likely the max amp draw (24 amps) that should be placed on a common 30 amp dryer circuit. This should deliver @ 25% battery recovery per hour. The evseupgrade will come back set for 20 amps/240v, which will deliver @ 20% battery recovery per hour. Your unaltered factory cord will deliver @ 3-4% per hour on 12 amp/120v. Keep in mind that the last 10-15% of battery recovery is charging at reduced rates so higher power units might not make much difference in your case.

Click to expand...

I really like the Clipper Creek LCS-25P, but, as I understand it, I can't use this with the existing NEMA10-30 ("dryer") outlet. Since we're renting, I don't want to invest in modifications to this house. It looks like the EVSEUpgrade can be adapted to the dryer outlet. (Do I have this correct?)

LCS-25 is a 240V,20 amp (4.8kW) similar to the EVS upgrade. The 25 in the model name refers to the breaker size needed to support the unit.

If you were to order the LCS-25 with the L6-30 plug option, then the adapters from EVSEUpgrade should work fine, except for the 5-15, 120V adapter since the LCS-25P is 240V only.

If you want the extra versatility of 120 and 240 in the same EVSE, then You can just buy an already upgraded EVSE for $100 more tan the LCS-25P

I have the LCS25 and when the electrician wired it up he put it on a plug, just a simple standard male plug from home depot/lowes. Even though it's made to be "hard wired" he said that's for outside use, as long as the person knows what they are doing you can add a plug indoors no problem. I drive 90 miles a day, my wife drives 55 on my days off and the charge time is plenty for us so for you it will be overkill still.

The turbo cord is another option. I use 110v at work and it's a PIA to take out the stock brick, set it up on the curb just right (to keep it out of the rain/dirt. Then when it's snowing to dig it out... the turbo cord with a big plug and no brick part is nice.

The cheapest way to do 240v though would be the EVSE upgrade, leave it at home, drive to work without it and don't plug in. You've got plenty of range to do a 36 mile round trip. The money you'd save on power for free 110v 9/12 month charging will take a long time to reach $650.

With that little millage if it gets really hot where you are you may be better off not having it topped up at 100% in the sun every day while at work. Quick dirty math shows that on avg you'd arrive to work with 79% charge. ((84-16)/84).

I'd say that you are probably a candidate for at home 110v charging only! I drive 45 miles to work, I'm here 10hrs and I'm almost always back up to 90% from 110v charging. In good weather with good driving it's 100%, in cold (-6C) after driving fast I'll put around 45% back in in 10hrs. From your description of only 50 miles a week non commute it sounds like you'd have the car at home more than 10hrs per day and on the times that you don't get to 100% overnight at home bring the 110v brick to work.

MartinChico said:

... I am thinking that the EVSE Upgrade for 2015 Nissan LEAF (high-power) [$287] plus the 10-30 to L6-30 [$30] and 5-15 to L6-30 [$25] adapters is a very good option for me. This allows me to have ONE "connector" for 110V at home or work, plus the option of charging at a significantly faster rate (from 240Vx16A) at home if needed.
...

Click to expand...

I think that is a good choice.
Having a LCS-25 with the L6-30 plug option already in the garage plugged in and ready to use immediately will be more convenient than getting evseupgrade out of car if you are using it at work 9 out of 12 months, so you might prefer that.

If you have 240V at home, you should always be using 240V for charging, not the 120V.
It is more efficient.
No reason to use the 120V and waste power.

Plus, there are risks with 120V :shock:

As I have advised many people considering use of 120V EVSE that comes with the LEAF and other plug in vehicles:

TimLee said:

A repeat of my input from previous questions on 120 V EVSE use:
Note that Nissan recommends the 120V EVSE for limited emergency use only.
Some people have used it for a long time without problems yet, but in general that is a bad idea unless you have a newly properly installed dedicated circuit with high grade receptacle using properly tightened screw connections.

Previous info from another thread:

mikelb said:

...
Trickle charging should be safe, though, right? I wouldn't necessarily need to have the circuit certified for it or anything, should I? If I were to go to a friend's house, would I be safe plugging into their outlet?

Click to expand...

How safe 120V charging is depends on how lucky you are.
Very few garages have the correct properly installed high quality single outlet supplied by a single breaker.
Code only allows using 80% of the circuit rating for a long term continuous load.
So on a 15 amp circuit nothing else should be on the same circuit while the car is charging.
And a lot of 120V gets put in poorly using push in connections.
One person had a bad fire most likely from staples that had damaged the cable in the wall.
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=15784&hilit=+fire#p352567" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Click to expand...

MartinChico said:

This is a great point that I hadn't fully considered. In terms of convenience/cleanliness, it would probably be better for me to have an EVSE that simply plugs into the dryer outlet and leave it at home, in the garage.

So, now it looks like I need to look for that "dryer plug"/NEMA 10-30 EVSE...

Thanks!

Click to expand...

FWIW:
in 2 years I have never unplugged my evse from the wall, get the upgraded unit you will not be sorry.
if you wait a bit I'll be turning my car in and will be looking to swap out my upgraded unit

TimLee said:

MartinChico said:

... I am thinking that the EVSE Upgrade for 2015 Nissan LEAF (high-power) [$287] plus the 10-30 to L6-30 [$30] and 5-15 to L6-30 [$25] adapters is a very good option for me. This allows me to have ONE "connector" for 110V at home or work, plus the option of charging at a significantly faster rate (from 240Vx16A) at home if needed.
...

Click to expand...

I think that is a good choice.
Having a LCS-25 with the L6-30 plug option already in the garage plugged in and ready to use immediately will be more convenient than getting evseupgrade out of car if you are using it at work 9 out of 12 months, so you might prefer that.

If you have 240V at home, you should always be using 240V for charging, not the 120V.
It is more efficient.
No reason to use the 120V and waste power.

Plus, there are risks with 120V :shock:

As I have advised many people considering use of 120V EVSE that comes with the LEAF and other plug in vehicles:

TimLee said:

A repeat of my input from previous questions on 120 V EVSE use:
Note that Nissan recommends the 120V EVSE for limited emergency use only.
Some people have used it for a long time without problems yet, but in general that is a bad idea unless you have a newly properly installed dedicated circuit with high grade receptacle using properly tightened screw connections.

Previous info from another thread:

mikelb said:

...
Trickle charging should be safe, though, right? I wouldn't necessarily need to have the circuit certified for it or anything, should I? If I were to go to a friend's house, would I be safe plugging into their outlet?

Click to expand...

How safe 120V charging is depends on how lucky you are.
Very few garages have the correct properly installed high quality single outlet supplied by a single breaker.
Code only allows using 80% of the circuit rating for a long term continuous load.
So on a 15 amp circuit nothing else should be on the same circuit while the car is charging.
And a lot of 120V gets put in poorly using push in connections.
One person had a bad fire most likely from staples that had damaged the cable in the wall.
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=15784&hilit=+fire#p352567" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

If you're planning on plugging/unplugging the 240v into the dryer outlet over and over this presents risks too. If you split the plug are you going to have a switch that makes sure only 1 works at a time or are you going to leave it up to you to make sure you only use one at a time? A 120v outlet can be re installed on the cheap if the wires behind it are good and if that works for you you can leave the stock brick plugged in at all times. If there's nothing else you need on that circuit (as many garages will have their own circuit) you can put baby plugs in the other outlets to remind you not to just plug in and use it while the car is charging. If there are any lights on the same breaker you can use low watt LED.

If safety is your number 1 concern get an electrician out there no matter what you do. We can all give advice on the internet but an electrician could find any number of things wrong or right with both the dyer circuit and 120v outlets in the garage. If you're lucky they may even find one has a good run or conduit and is simple to pull new wire.

minispeed said:

If you're planning on plugging/unplugging the 240v into the dryer outlet over and over this presents risks too. ...

Click to expand...

Very important point.
The OP should NOT be plugging and unplugging from the dryer outlet.
If OP goes with evseupgrade he will need dryer outlet to L6-30 twist lock receptacle and that should stay plugged into the dryer outlet. The evseupgrade will be connected and disconnected at the L6-30 twist lock receptacle.
If goes with installed other level 2 EVSE it should also connect or disconnect there, or you could get it with plug that fits dryer receptacle and stays plugged in there most of the time.

None of the dryer or range receptacles are rated for many cycles of use.
Their use should probably be limited to less than 100 cycles before they are replaced.
Don't be unplugging and replugging more than a few times per year.

MartinChico said:

I am thinking that the EVSE Upgrade for 2015 Nissan LEAF (high-power) [$287] plus the 10-30 to L6-30 [$30] and 5-15 to L6-30 [$25] adapters is a very good option for me. This allows me to have ONE "connector" for 110V at home or work, plus the option of charging at a significantly faster rate (from 240Vx16A) at home if needed.

Click to expand...

Excellent plan.

TimLee said:

None of the dryer or range receptacles are rated for many cycles of use.
Their use should probably be limited to less than 100 cycles before they are replaced.
Don't be unplugging and replugging more than a few times per year.

Click to expand...

I would like to see some manufacturer's info on this.
Otherwise it appears to be an old wive's tale.

Worst case replace the outlet every five years.

smkettner: I also am dubious about claims (new?) 50a receptacles can't take many insertion/removal cycles. I just yesterday had a new Leviton 6-50 wall mount-type receptacle disassembled so that I could fully see/handle both of the two hot female couplers (identical, and appears visually similar in design to other 50a wall mount receptacles like the 14-50 both by Leviton and other brands), and there is nothing to me that suggests they are not robust in regard to making a electrically sound connection time after time.

That having been said, I recognize that common household receptacles are subject to damage if, say, twisted or bent male prongs are inserted, so I would say a good test of any receptacle is the amount of force required to remove a test plug connected to a spring scale. Here is a link to what appears to be an (overpriced?) 120v Receptacle Tension Tester: http://www.grainger.com/category/receptacle-tension-tester/electrical-power-testing/test-instruments/ecatalog/N-b9z" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Its possible main advantage over a "made it myself" one is that it should be safe to use on a live receptacle, but it should not be difficult to replicate the safety. Update: It has occurred to me that "Tamper Resistant" receptacles (which I think are likely to add additional frictional drag on the current carrying blades) may make this type of tester somewhat trickier to use for checking for insufficient connector pressure in the outlet.

Perhaps some of the corded EVSE sellers that have sprung up on this and other EV forums could start selling an inexpensive "Receptacle Tension Tester" that allows one to test an unknown outlet before using their EVSE?

smkettner said:

TimLee said:

None of the dryer or range receptacles are rated for many cycles of use.
Their use should probably be limited to less than 100 cycles before they are replaced.
Don't be unplugging and replugging more than a few times per year.

Click to expand...

I would like to see some manufacturer's info on this.
Otherwise it appears to be an old wive's tale.

Worst case replace the outlet every five years.

Click to expand...

There are good and bad quality outlets. I leave a 6-50 adapter in my outlet and disconnect the L6-30 end on my unit and leave the adapter in the wall, never cycling the wall adapter and the L6-30 male is designed for many uses.

Your unaltered factory cord will deliver @ 3-4% per hour on 12 amp/120v.

Click to expand...

That's 5% per hour, or 3-4 miles, not what was written above.

EVDRIVER: You wrote "the L6-30 male [female?] is designed for many uses", but an interested reader (like myself) would like a more definite number (than "many")-- and how you arrived at that number. Or perhaps you would rather just advise how to judge when this receptacle (and plug for that matter) ought to be replaced for safety reasons?

OP can use a dryer cord with a hard wired evse. That's what I did for a relative inside the garage and works great.

The 25 amp clipper reek is a good solution. I would also,look at the Siemens versicharge. It requires a 40 amp breaker, but can be dialed back to account for a smaller breaker.

http://www.amazon.com/Conntek-RL-40105-6-Feet-3-Wire-250-volt/dp/B00BHGXYRW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420121346&sr=8-1&keywords=Nema+10-30" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.amazon.com/Siemens-VC30GRYHW-Versicharge-hardwired-installation/dp/B00MFVI8UG/ref=sr_1_19?ie=UTF8&qid=1420121647&sr=8-19&keywords=Evse" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Save the Nissan 110 as a backup or for office use.

I get really scared plugging and unplugging the 10-** and 14-** plugs. They have such long prongs and it takes some force to connect and disconnect them. I'd hate to touch the prongs and get zapped. One thing I can say about the l6-30 and 20 plugs, is that this danger is not there, or at least not as much.

I have a hard wired AV unit in my house, because I have to charge my car as much as possible after work so I can get out again to do errands. But if I just were using the EVSE upgrade, which is fine for most people, I'd forget about the adapters and just properly wire a L6-30 outlet in my garage and build a hanger nearby to hang the EVSE on. Then you can disconnect it and take it with you (as well as all the adapters and extension cord) on those trips when you know you are going to need to charge in the wild. It doesn't happen very often. Most of the time your EVSE will probably just be hanging in the garage. No real need to buy 2. Just get the EVSE upgrade unless you need the capability of charging at the full 6.6 KW the leaf will support.

01 Jan. 2015 Update:

Since I charge at work for free (L-1, 120Vx15A) and I have a 36-mile round-trip commute, I'll be dragging the EVSE cord in/out of the car probably 3-4 times each week. Also, the area is reasonably secure, but crime does happen; I'm a little worried about the adapter required for an EVSEUpgrade plug to the supply outlet. (That is, I'm a little worried about a petty criminal stealing this $30 adapter cord.)

So (1) I bought a semi-used original OEM Nissan/Panasonic EVSE on eBay for US$275:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/191388775557?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I'll keep this in the car for daily use.

(2) I will probably convert my new, original-with-the-car EVSE to the EVSEUpgrade and buy adapters so I could use it with my NEMA 10-30 "dryer" outlet if I needed an urgent, L-2 charge. This will stay clean, nice, protected, etc. in my garage. (This will be rarely used, partly due to the 240V fear factor mentioned by John H, above!)

(3) When we buy a place--we are renting now--I'll install a proper, hard-wired L-2 EVSE plus as many PV panels as I can afford!

THANKS to all for the great advice.

Happy New Year!