WARNING: Extension Cords

https://images.esfi.org/Reaching-to-Safety-Use-Extension-Cords-Properly.jpg

https://www.esfi.org/resource/extension-cord-safety-tips-478

 

Side note to this thread:
Numbers like this above ^, and other EV reviews such as "The Kia Niro EV takes 9.5 hours to recharge on a 120V outlet" are telling a worst case story.

People casually read this about an EV and think, "9.5 hrs? Ain't nobody got time for that"....

Why do they use the numbers for 'Zero to Full Charge' ?
The only way for an EV to plug into a charger at 'Zero' is if it arrives on a Flat Bed Tow Truck.

You Recharge at night only the amount you used that day.

And as mentioned above:
'an astute Home Inspector' would definitely FLAG an extension cord with 240V on the typical 120V end.
Hide that thing when they're around. NOT to code.

 

There are also those that think you can't use the car until it's fully charged.

 

On a related note, since all EVs have similar efficiency, 120V charging is probably good enough for most people who drive a typical amount per day. Most people seem to be putting in 40A circuits for their Teslas. But if 120V works for us, it would work for them too, for the most part.

Faster charging is more comfortable, of course, since it requires less planning ahead. But 40A is overkill for pretty much everyone.

 

That's just not true! An older Model S or X will use around twice the energy of my Prius Prime to drive the same distance.

That is true.

Depends on how much you drive per day. I have a friend with a Model S that charges over night on 120V about once ever 2-3 days. I have another friend with an 85 mile round-trip commute every day in a Model 3. At around 4 miles per hour of charging, he would need 21 hours or so to charge every day so he charges at home on L2.

 

Maybe calling it the same efficiency is an oversimplification, but it's the same order of magnitude.

There's always an exception. 85 miles a day is far more than average. Average is about 32 miles round-trip. Of course it depends on where you live, but I can only think of one person at my work with a 90 mile round trip commute, one 60 mile, several 40 miles, and most are less than that.

 

Well, yeah, but that's like saying every car gets between 10 and 100 miles per gallon. I think a factor of 2 is a lot!

That's true, but I actually have a friend who used to work in Santa Barbara and his commute was 115 miles each way from the other side of the mountains. Ouch!

My current commute is about 30-40 feet.

 

FYI/heads-up -- Just ordered a 50' 12/3 Husky off HomeDepot - $19.88
We won't use it for Prime charging at home (maybe on future road trips?), but is a just in case purchase - SCE might implement blackouts during high wind/fire weather in our future, so we can use it for powering our fridge with a cheap inverter also recently purchased.

 

You may want to acquire a few orange warning cones so that when you string your extension cord across the sidewalk, parking lot or lawn at your motel or camp ground, you won't cause an unmarked tripping hazard.



One or two of the small ones might be all you need -- just as a courtesy to others.

 

How old is your fridge? If it has an across-the-line start induction motor, you'll need at least a 2000W inverter to start it. If you have a modern "inverter" one, it might complain about the power quality from a "modified sine wave" (i.e. square wave) inverter.

 

It is not that old (but is likely an 'old' design/model), nor that big (20.5 cu ft), top freezer (more efficient) and no ice maker, or other features. States 6.5 Amp "full-load" on the door sticker. I'm aware that true startup could be 2-3x that load? The inverter is rated 2000W peak.
Yes running long-term on a cheap inverter could damage it. But the fridge was cheap and this is simply a just-in-case setup for power outages that we haven't experienced. It doesn't make sense to buy a pure sine wave inverter that costs almost as much as the fridge and who knows if we would ever need/use it.

 

Just try it. There's no way to know if there's an in-rush current at startup or not or if it will simply choose to not run at all on a modified sine. You have to try it and see. My 2000W started up an across-the-line start fridge so you should be fine from that point of view.

 

There is a way to measure this. A clamp-on ammeter with a Max Hold function.
Just because the inverter will power the start up demand once or twice doesn't mean it's a reliable long term set up.....

 

If inrush is a problem, it can help to oversize the battery cables. That way the voltage drop in the cables is low and doesn't cause the inverter to shut down because of undervoltage.

 

THAT IS SCARY...
I'd like to know how you were measuring the temperature?

 

Infrared thermometer.