Nissan L1 EVSE third-party upgrade to both 120V and 240V

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nader said:
Based on your other post about adapters (very helpful btw) it looks like you can convert a dedicated 120v outlet to a 240v by swapping wires to create 2 hot wires. Is that possible? I imagine there would be wiring changes at the service panel too.

Yes, you can do this. You need to purchase a new 2-pole breaker, a new L6-20 outlet, and some red electrical tape.

First, be absolutely sure that it is a dedicated circuit! Use extreme caution!

1. Cut power to the service panel feeding the circuit.
2. Shut off and remove the original single-pole breaker (15 or 20A).
3. Locate the white neutral wire and remove it from the Neutral Bus bar.
4. Use red tape to cover the white wire so that it's now clearly red.
5. Verify power off and Remove the old outlet.
6. Tape the white wire here as well.
7. Connect and install the new 240V outlet. (Black to X, Red to Y)
8. Install the new 2-pole 15 or 20A breaker.
9. Wire the black and (now) red wires to the 2 screws on the breaker.
10. Replace the panel cover, restore power, and then turn on the new breaker.

-Phil
 
GeekEV said:
On a 120v outlet this mod is of little value to you. It's only useful if you have access to a 240v outlet.
Why would you say that? A typical 60% charge (from 20% to 80%) for a 120v-type user would need between 8 and 9 hours at 16A, but between 11 and 12 hours at 12A. I would consider that highly useful. Even for someone like me, who expects to use a 40% charge or less most of the time but has a 7 hour TOU rate window, the 16A bonus would cut cost if you were limited to 120v.

Actually, in my case I am now planning to put in a 240v L6-20 socket (and neglecting to mention it to the city, since I only have to run about a foot of wire to an outlet box and add a dual breaker). That will keep me comfortably within my 7-hour window even at 12A.

Ray
 
planet4ever said:
GeekEV said:
On a 120v outlet this mod is of little value to you. It's only useful if you have access to a 240v outlet.
Why would you say that? A typical 60% charge (from 20% to 80%) for a 120v-type user would need between 8 and 9 hours at 16A, but between 11 and 12 hours at 12A. I would consider that highly useful. Even for someone like me, who expects to use a 40% charge or less most of the time but has a 7 hour TOU rate window, the 16A bonus would cut cost if you were limited to 120v.

Actually, in my case I am now planning to put in a 240v L6-20 socket (and neglecting to mention it to the city, since I only have to run about a foot of wire to an outlet box and add a dual breaker). That will keep me comfortably within my 7-hour window even at 12A.

Ray
Because the post you quoted was old, and he already decided NOT to offer higher charge rates. The mod is limited to 12amps, 120v or 240v.
 
davewill said:
Because the post you quoted was old, and he already decided NOT to offer higher charge rates. The mod is limited to 12amps, 120v or 240v.
Actually, Dave, your post that I quoted was dated today, and was in response to nader, also dated today:
nader said:
Still reading through all 48 pages of this thread so I am not sure what the outcome is but I would be interested. I have a 20amp 120v outlet in my garage that is begging to be used.
But I agree that your answer makes sense once you add the explanation that it will not be useful because you believe the 20A option is not going to exist.

Ray
 
planet4ever said:
davewill said:
Because the post you quoted was old, and he already decided NOT to offer higher charge rates. The mod is limited to 12amps, 120v or 240v.
Actually, Dave, your post that I quoted was dated today, and was in response to nader, also dated today:
I was referring to the original post by Ingineer (that I now see was quoted by nader) asking if there was interest in higher charge rates.
 
I suspect even if the pilot authorized 20A on 120V the charger would still only pull 16A max. It might not even go over 12A!

I have not tested this yet, but I will at some point.

-Phil
 
garygid said:
I thought somebody did test up to 16A on 120v, but not absolutely sure.

Offer 17 and higher (AV offers 30) and the LEAF draws only 16A.

This is on 240v, but I haven't seen anyone report what happens on 120v, have you?

-Phil
 
garygid said:
planet...
Charge times you list are for 240v, not 120v power.
Please enlighten me as to why that is true. I said:
planet4ever said:
A typical 60% charge (from 20% to 80%) for a 120v-type user would need between 8 and 9 hours at 16A, but between 11 and 12 hours at 12A.
I was assuming that 100% would be about 27 kWh at the wall so 60% would be about 16 kWh. Going only to 80% there should be no slowdown at the end.

(16 kWh) / (16A * 120v) = 8.3 hours
(16 kWh) / (12A * 120v) = 11.1 hours

Of course we don't know that the onboard charger would do 16A at 120v, even if Phil's magic told it it could, but that was the assumption underlying my estimate.

Ray
 
Sorry, you are correct.
I missed the 60% part. :(

Full charge at 240v/16A is near 8 hours, and near 20 hours at 120v/12A, but these times MIGHT also include some "equilization" time.

QC might be only 15 minutes!
WHERE are the QC stations!!

Good work, Gary
 
garygid said:
Sorry, you are correct.
I missed the 60% part. :(

Full charge at 240v/16A is near 8 hours, and near 20 hours at 120v/12A, but these times MIGHT also include some "equilization" time.

QC might be only 15 minutes!
WHERE are the QC stations!!

Good work, Gary

Based on the analysis I did on the CAN bus and using the official Nissan scantool (Consult III+), I believe DC QC is limited to 30kW. (At least it was with a pack around 55 degrees F internal temperature.)

The car I analyzed had it's battery ECU reporting a discharge power limit of 110kW and a charge power limit of 30.34kW. The SOC was around 50% (I have the exact number logged).

It's possible that the charge power limit might increase once the pack warms up, but I have yet to test this.

I'd bet money that at least initially, it's not going over 30.34kW!

-Phil
 
OK. Here is my question. Without getting into the science of it. Ingineers awesome upgrade(which I will buy as soon as I get my car in a week or so. Be cool if I could just take a spin to Beserkely and swap mine for one of his :roll: ), is 1kw less output than most of the L2 EVSE's I have been looking at. What is the difference in typical charging rates?
 
Using the simplest math, we know the current LEAF's internal charger has a max rate of 3.3Kw. The L1 EVSE has a max draw of 12A, which at the modified 240v works out to 2.88Kw. Therefore, 2.88Kw / 3.3Kw = ~87% of the rate of a "normal" EVSE *for the LEAF*. Obviously the number would be different if used with other cars...
 
Thanks G-EV!

He is correct, that's what you should expect.

UPDATE:
We WERE accepting units dropped off/picked up, but this was difficult to handle logistically and are no longer offering this service. In order to keep prices low, we are now only accepting shipped units. For people in the Bay area, this means that if you use UPS shipping it only takes 1 day. So that usually means you can have your EVSE back in your hands 2 days after you ship.

-Phil
 
rawhog said:
Thanks for the feedback guys. So then I can use ~87% of charge times as well I suppose?
It would probably work better if you used 1/87% or 115%. For example a charge that would take 8 hours on the normal L2 EVSE would take 8/87% or 8*115% or 9.2 hours.
 
Here's an obviously novice question. Is Nissan's L1 EVSE designed for the entire planet, but simply "enabled" for 120V (U.S.) or 240V (Europe) when shipped? In other words, does this upgrade simply tap into the European components already inside? Or are they entirely different animals, depending upon the side of the ocean to which the LEAF is destined to be delivered?

I ask because, if it is a "generic" cordset, I suppose that someone visiting Europe could conceivably buy one from a Nissan dealer, bring it home, and swap the plug to accommodate an array of U.S. 240V adaptors. I am probably missing a crucial detail, however. :?
 
Ingineer can obviously provide more details, but my understanding is that a majority of the components are shared, with a few that are 120/240 specific. What Ingineer has done with this mod is identify what those are and replaced them with universal parts.
 
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