Outside Charging

Good discussion and very relevant. Hopefully the standards bodies have considered weather, elements, and thugs. Hopefully a car will wail like a banshee if unplugged or the cord is cut. Unfortunately we might hear about a stolen charge cord.

 

I have to ask, are you being paid to spread FUD, or is it a natural talent?

You sound as if you think the engineers were all raised in the Atacama desert in Chile, so had never heard of rain.

[ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atacama_Desert[/ame]


Instead of reading about the J1772 standard, you prefer to speculate wildly that no-one thought of how to safely charge a car battery.

Why? Does some one have a gun pointed at you forcing you to buy a plug in car?

 

This can be good if you read the answers.

 

Ah, still looking for something to counter the fuzzy sweater/static electricity problem?

 

Sorry, I don'tn feed fire to the trolls..............

 

Marathon Man, Do you think that municipalities accross the Nation and the World would install EV chargers outside for the public to use if they were not safe?

 

Relax. We want you to contribute.

No high voltage transfers from the ESVE cable to the car until 5 to 10 seconds after you plug it in. And its weather sealed. When unplugging, you first depress a button which physically unlatches the connector AND kills power.

I'm going to install an ESVE outdoors permanently at my home, probably on a pole. I might bolt the ESVE unit to the pole to prevent theft, but I have cameras on my house and insurance and a cocker spaniel/poodle attack dog.

 

I wish that there was a font for sarcasm. If you really are that worried install a properly rated and protected disconnect inline before your charger. More than likely there will be a disconnect installed anyway you could use this a safety measure. Turn off the disconnect prior to plugging or unplugging your car. You could also leave the disconnect in the off position when you are not at home to mitigate the risk of someone being hurt by tampering with your charger.

 

That reminds me about the time I replied to someone about the safety of the chainsaw I wanted to use to cut down a really dangerous wet eucalyptus tree in my yard (something called a paper eucalyptus, it sheds and split and falls on cars and roofs) ... I said "here's my plan! I'm using boots, gloves, goggles, and then I am standing across the yard while my son cuts down the tree!!"

I too wondered about the plug-cord being taken but I understand it locks on somehow? Or, will lock in place?

 

No one has seen the production EVSE that Toyota will be supplying with the PiP, so it's impossible to know if they have the J-1772 handle with a locking mechanism supplied. The Panasonic unit that comes with the Leaf does have the ability to use a small padlock to lock the handle to the J-1772 inlet, time will tell this story.

 

Those looking for a second 120v Toyota charger might be surprised to find that its gonna cost pretty close to a 240v charger.

 

Checkout the Legrand Level 1 from Home Depot, $500

Tools & Hardware - Auto - Electric Car Chargers at The Home Depot

 

Don't buy it. Wait for prices to fall.