Home 220v connection

You need to get an level 2 EVSE installed at home or get your/or a EVSE (charging cordset) upgraded to support 220+ volts. See EVSE Upgrade - Products.

DO NOT only use an adapter to try to plug your stock EVSE into a 208+ volt outlet. At best, it won't work. At worst, it'll be damaged.

Nissan has reported that they've received stock L1 EVSEs that were blown due to people trying to use adapters to run them at >200 volts. pEEf (guy who runs evseupgrade.com) chimed in and said "we can fix those!"

 

isn't 220 volts two 110volt lines? Just connect one "hot" leg of the 220 volt and ground as the other leg to give you 110 volts. Electrical engineers chime in any time

 

Seems like the hard way to get 120V. I don't think the point is that the person has only a 240 plug available; they would really like to USE the 240V, which will fry the stock EVSE.

 

openEVSE if you are a DIY person.

open-evse - Open Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) - Google Project Hosting

 

Just sent my charger into EVSE Upgrades


iPhone ?

 

How much does it cost to send charger into EVSE upgrades ?, I like to do myself, but I need to refresh my 'soldering' skills.

 

think it's around $250.?

 

$239+$20 for 120v adapter +$25 for insured UPS shipping to them.

Will probably pay another $200 to my electrician to upgrade the outside outlet to a 240.

Way cheaper than the $2000 plus city license to install L2 charger. Sucked not having my EVSE for a week.


iPhone ?

 

please let us know how it works when you get it back. the time without it is what's been holding me back too. but, i can send it when i go away for a few weeks without the pip.

 

I have it back already! I'll take pics. I'm waiting for the electrician to call me back to do the outside plug upgrade. I'm still using the 120v outside. We have a 120v at work too. So I had to have the 120v adapter.

The city of Pasadena did EV all over the city about 10 years ago. So it's all old tech. Luckily all the parking garages and spots still offer 120v plugs.


iPhone ?

 

how long did it take from the day you sent it until it came back? is it your original cable? the adaptor is just a different plug type? thanks!

 

As others have said, you can’t just put a 220 plug on a 110V appliance. You can either send it in as chesleyn did and have it professionally converted, or just buy a 220 V unit that can be just plugged in and not hard wired. If you already have a 220 outlet in your garage just plug and play, that’s it. I’m not sure but knowing Toyota if you should have a failure, and you do modify the unit that came with the car it might void your warranty on the car, or at least parts of the EV system. You spent over $32,000 on your PIP; a few more dollars spent on professional equipment might just be the cheapest way to go in the long run.

 

Well I decided to place my order during my holiday from classes. Of course this was the week that EVSE Upgrades also went on vacation. They returned after labor day, so I sent mine in just after labor day. I called and he said they had a backlog of a few weeks of work, so it took about 9 days for mine. Sent it on a Tuesday UPS (2 days from SoCal to Berkley, CA). They returned it the following Tuesday. 2 more days UPS to SoCal and I got it this Thursday.

I will go outside and take pics of the EVSE upgrade and 120v adapter.

 

So you can see the adapter just is a small extension cord for a 240v to 120v

The EVSE will detect if it is plugged into a 240 or 120 and supply the energy based upon what it is plugged into.

iPhone ?

 

thanks man, very nice! how long to charge on 240v?

 

Thanks for the pictures. Where can I order one ?.

 

EVSE Upgrade - Order

• Add-on 120 volt Adapter - Required … ​
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• EVSE Upgrade (for your EVSE)EVSE Upgrade (for your EVSE)$287.00​
• Item number: UG2​
• Item price: $287.00​
• Options: EVSE Upgrade Options: A…EVSE Upgrade Options: Add 16 amp (rev2) capability + $48, .:​
• Quantity:

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I think PK was just observing that this is basically how you get 120V in your house. A typical electric service is 240V, with two out of phase 120V hot lines, and a neutral that's locally tied to earth ground. To get 120V, you can take either hot line individually and the neutral. To get 240V you technically just need the two hot lines, though in modern code you'll also usually get a neutral and ground as well in a 4 prong socket. Older ones just had three prongs, no ground analogous to the two prong ungrounded 120V sockets.

If you only have a 240V plug in your garage, you should be able to get an adapter that takes one hot leg, neutral and ground and lets you plug in a 120V appliance. It would basically be the opposite of cheslyn's adapter above. The only way I can see this causing a problem is if the 240V socket is wired incorrectly (which happens) and gives you the two hots on the adapter instead of a hot and neutral. This would put the full 240V into your 120V appliance and blow it up. At the very least you'd want to measure the voltages coming out of the adapted socket before plugging into it to make sure its what you expect. 120V hot to neutral, 120V hot to ground, 0 V neutral to ground. Another concern would be if you only have a 3 prong 240V socket, as then there is nothing for the ground pin on the 120V socket to connect to.

So you should be able to run the 120V charger off the 240V socket if you need to, but you won't get any benefit out of it. To get faster charging you need a 240V compatible charger as others have said.

Rob

 

Bisco, when I called the guys in Berkeley, they said that the Prius can only charge at so many volts, so they do not do a full upgrade on our EVSE.. also because of the wiring, it could not handle the fastest charge. I'll let you guys know how fast it charges once I can get my electrician out here to upgrade the plug.