Blink outdoor?

[AmarilloLeaf]

the simple answer is yes. the more complex answer is that it is best if it is not in the sun at all or at least shady most of the day.

dont ask me why--that is what I was told and mine is set up outdoors mostly in the shade.

My guess is that 1) the LCD touch screen would be hard to read in the sun, and 2) direct sunlight would probably age the display prematurely.

The internals should all be fine outdoors, even in the sun or rain.

[rhover]

I was relieved to have the San Diego city inspector "release" (approve) my Blink EVSE today. He took the card showing the property line setback, the printout showing the building line setback, and the wiring diagram and load calculation sheets that SunWest emailed me. In addition, the SunWest installers had left me a sheet from SDGE - "Electric Overhead Meter & Service Location (Construction Copy)" which had a site plan depicted and instructions for the Service Attachment Point and/or Meter Location: "Customer to install 40 amp sub-meter base with lockable cover on SOUTHEAST wall, WEST of existing main meter panel location. Sub-meter base must be within 25 feet of existing main panel on the same wall and must provide and maintain all required clearances. City inspection and approval required." The inspector also took that sheet - seemed to be looking for that site plan. I remember an SDGE guy had come to our house a few weeks before SunWest and wanted to look at the utility panel - he must have prepared this sheet for SunWest.

Fortunately our house has a pretty long driveway as the inspector seemed to be saying that "the driveway is only a way for a car to get to the garage - it's not a parking lot". (This despite half the people in my neighborhood always having one or more cars parked in their driveway - such a restriction would be discriminating against EV owners.) He measured the distance from the curb to the garage and pronounced the distance good enough. This was the second outdoor EVSE he had inspected, and he said the other one did not pass. If that was yours RevBrent, did you have that SDGE construction worksheet - perhaps from Baker Electric? That might be the site plan that the inspector was looking for.

The inspector then had me open up all the panels that had been installed (or I would have had to call SunWest to open them). The inspectors apparently must be hands-off now (after an accident occurred some time ago). When he was satisfied everything was copacetic, he left a voicemail for SDGE that the EVSE sub-meter was released. I will probably call SDGE as well to make sure the second meter installation can be done quickly (trickle charging is so slow!).

Has anyone else in San Diego encountered city inspectors restricting outside installation of electric chargers if the outdoor parking spot is not big enough and the building is not set back far enough from the street?

I was contacted last week by Bill Blindell from Ecotality a week after Sunwest installed a Blink charger outside my garage. He said there's a code restriction only in San Diego (of all the cities where they've installed) that said the parking spot (minimum 18' x 8-9.5' depending on surrounding walls) for an external charger has to be a certain distance from the street, and until I got clearance documents from the city, they couldn't call for the inspector to check my installation, and so I wouldn't be able to get the 2nd meter either. He said I would need to go to the San Diego Development Services office and the Zoning Office to get a print out and a card indicating that the Property Line setback (often 10') and the Building Line setback (often 15') were OK. He said this issue has held up a small number of installs/inspections in San Diego and that changing the ordinance was unlikely...

...I just got off the phone with Bill Blindell again today, and he said the city inspector will apparently be looking for paperwork showing Property Setback (something like 10' away from the street) + Building Setback (perhaps 15') + Legal Parking Space (8-18' depending on orientation and obstructing walls?) before the building and electric charger - so possibly 43' total from the street. Hopefully anyone else who is planning exterior installation won't have any difficulties with this issue. If you have any experience with this, I would love to hear about it.

Yes, I spoke with Lynne Landers at Baker Electric earlier this week and had the same discussion. So, like you, I went downtown and had to get my property line and setback information. Luckily for me it was all okay, but only by about 2 feet. Some of the complications in my setup is that I have a 1924 Craftsman home and so most of the ordinances were not in place when my home was planned and built! But again, luckily my driveway is a "legal parking place." Sheesh-

[RevBrent]

I was relieved to have the San Diego city inspector "release" (approve) my Blink EVSE today. He took the card showing the property line setback, the printout showing the building line setback, and the wiring diagram and load calculation sheets that SunWest emailed me. In addition, the SunWest installers had left me a sheet from SDGE - "Electric Overhead Meter & Service Location (Construction Copy)" which had a site plan depicted and instructions for the Service Attachment Point and/or Meter Location: "Customer to install 40 amp sub-meter base with lockable cover on SOUTHEAST wall, WEST of existing main meter panel location. Sub-meter base must be within 25 feet of existing main panel on the same wall and must provide and maintain all required clearances. City inspection and approval required." The inspector also took that sheet - seemed to be looking for that site plan. I remember an SDGE guy had come to our house a few weeks before SunWest and wanted to look at the utility panel - he must have prepared this sheet for SunWest.

...If that was yours RevBrent, did you have that SDGE construction worksheet - perhaps from Baker Electric? That might be the site plan that the inspector was looking for.

Congrats rhover! Although the ease of your inspection now gives me an even greater pause...CORRECTION.

Now, are you able to tell if SDGE wrote the site plan or is there a possibility that SunWest did? What does the site plan look like? A sketch, blueprints, or a computer print-off of original construction plans for your home?

Thanks-

[rhover]

Now, are you able to tell if SDGE wrote the site plan or is there a possibility that SunWest did? What does the site plan look like? A sketch, blueprints, or a computer print-off of original construction plans for your home?

Thanks-

This "Electric Overhead Meter & Service Location" planning sheet has the SDGE logo in the upper lefthand corner, and it appears to have been faxed to Ecotality a couple of weeks after it was made, and then faxed again - presumably to SunWest as the "Customer" to install the sub-meter. I'm guessing this is how SDGE tells its contractors where and how it wants the EVSEs installed. It's a landscape format sheet (vs. portrait), and the left side has the project description and specifications in text table form whereas the right side has a 4.25" square diagram of my house, plot and cul-de-sac with 7 neighboring plots in outline only. The house is a simple outline of the first floor with the existing meter and proposed new meter location identified at the back of the garage and a dashed line from them to the street (I think showing the wire to the utility pole). The driveway is not depicted, nor are there any measurements shown. It's not a hand-drawn sketch so it's probably either a drafting drawing or part of a computer graphic.

When I called the inspector in the morning to find out what timeframe he was coming by, he specifically asked if I had a "site plan". Then when he was here, he read the text description and checked that it agreed with the diagram and the actual installation. This simple diagram seemed to suffice as a "site plan".

Hope that helps.

[davewill]

In addition, the SunWest installers had left me a sheet from SDGE - "Electric Overhead Meter & Service Location (Construction Copy)" which had a site plan depicted and instructions for the Service Attachment Point and/or Meter Location: ...

Congrats rhover! Although the ease of your inspection now gives me an even greater pause about the capabilities of Baker Electric. They indicated that I needed to secure a site plan on my own, but from your description that does not seem correct. I'm currently not getting information from anyone and I'm debating if I need to call Ecotality to prod the process along.

Now, are you able to tell if SDGE wrote the site plan or is there a possibility that SunWest did? What does the site plan look like? A sketch, blueprints, or a computer print-off of original construction plans for your home?

Thanks-

It's a sketch, showing the service feed from the street, the placement of the current meter, and the placement SDG&E wanted for the second meter. If you're not getting a second meter, then you wouldn't get one. It would not show the other details rhover indicates are needed because of the outdoor parking issue. I would expect your contractor to prepare any documentation needed, it's part of their job to do it to code, and to facilitate the inspection.

[RevBrent]

This "Electric Overhead Meter & Service Location" planning sheet has the SDGE logo in the upper lefthand corner, and it appears to have been faxed to Ecotality a couple of weeks after it was made, and then faxed again - presumably to SunWest as the "Customer" to install the sub-meter. I'm guessing this is how SDGE tells its contractors where and how it wants the EVSEs installed. It's a landscape format sheet (vs. portrait), and the left side has the project description and specifications in text table form whereas the right side has a 4.25" square diagram of my house, plot and cul-de-sac with 7 neighboring plots in outline only. The house is a simple outline of the first floor with the existing meter and proposed new meter location identified at the back of the garage and a dashed line from them to the street (I think showing the wire to the utility pole). The driveway is not depicted, nor are there any measurements shown. It's not a hand-drawn sketch so it's probably either a drafting drawing or part of a computer graphic.

When I called the inspector in the morning to find out what timeframe he was coming by, he specifically asked if I had a "site plan". Then when he was here, he read the text description and checked that it agreed with the diagram and the actual installation. This simple diagram seemed to suffice as a "site plan".

Hope that helps.

Got it! Called SDGE and was able to get this emailed to me...it just came in. I will call the inspector to see if this suffices. Out of curiosity, who was your inspector? Do you have his name?

I'm still really confused why neither Baker Electric or my inspector was able to specify to me that what was missing was this copy from SDGE. If it wasn't for this forum I would have been lost 5-6 times during various portions of my Leaf purchase, Leaf financing and now BLINK install. The short of this is...thanks everyone.

[davewill]

I'm still really confused why neither Baker Electric or my inspector was able to specify to me that what was missing was this copy from SDGE. If it wasn't for this forum I would have been lost 5-6 times during various portions of my Leaf purchase, Leaf financing and now BLINK install. The short of this is...thanks everyone.

There seems to be terminology issues. The Sunwest guys told me they weren't going to install my second meter because they didn't receive a "work order" from SDG&E. Luckily*, I had been sent a "Electric Overhead Meter & Service Location" identified as "Customer Copy", and brought it out. They said, "That's it!" and proceeded to install the second meter box.

* Doubly lucky as it turns out as on the first one SDG&E sent, the drawing showed my neighbor's house rather than mine. I had to have them redo it. That mistake, uncaught, would have cost me lots of aggravation, I'm sure.

[PDXLeafer]

Outdoor install mods: These show the cover that I put over mine - not to protect it from the weather, but to protect the outdoors from the bright LED light

[RevBrent]

Well, darn. After getting a copy of my Electric Overhead Meter and Service Location from SDGE, I called Baker Electric and it turns out the inspector already had a copy of that with the permit. I'm stuck and just waiting to hear from a Sr. Inspector to verify that my installation is ok. This is frustrating.

[rhover]

Take heart RevBrent - I got a call this morning from Bill Blindell at Ecotality. He said that more people are complaining loudly to the city. It sounds like eventually they will allow people to charge (and park) their electric cars on their driveways (like everyone already does with their ICE cars).

As for the second meter for my EVSE, SDGE hasn't yet come by, but Bill said that 48 hrs (the quote from SunWest) was optimistic - more like 2-4 days. Then I got a response from James Earp at EVStudy@sdge.com, he said my second meter would be installed on Mon May 16. Not quite sure if that was already scheduled, or only because I had contacted them.