[Stephen Cerruti]

I'm doing everything you shouldn't do, luckily I haven't burned down my house yet.

1) Don't use an extension cord. If you must, get a real heavy duty cord.

2) Set the charging intensity in the car to 80% of the AMPs for the breaker.

Don't be a doofus like me.

I had never intended this to be in place this long. My EVSE was supposed to be in place already. Stupid HOA.

 

[DeaneG]

There should be no need to set charging rate on a 120V outlet - Volvo's mobile adapter should have limited current to 12A on its own (80% of 15A).

This looks like a pretty old outlet (they do lose contact quality over time), and a cheap extension cord. Next steps - replace that outlet with a new one, and buy a nice new 12-gauge outdoor rated extension cord.

In a rental home built in 1963, kitchen outlets were so worn that plugs would literally fall out of the outlet. I wound up replacing the home's entire electrical system.

 

[DeaneG]

This is a beautiful cord if you are looking for one. 12 gauge and extremely flexible, even in cold weather: 25-ft Extreme 12/3 Heavy Duty 3-Outlet Lighted SJEOW Very-Flexible Cold-Weather Oil-Resistant Rubber Extension Cord By Watt's Wire - 12-Gauge Rugged 15-Amp Three-Prong Power-Cord (25 foot 12-Awg) - - Amazon.com

 

[DeaneG]

Any time you want to plug a car charging adapter into a wall outlet - let it run for 30 minutes or so and unplug it. Feel the temperature of the prongs with your fingers. They should be only warm, easy to hold.

 

[David]

Best thing about the ChargePoint for me is the 23 foot high quality cable that came with it. I know you need to first upgrade the wall socket to 30 or 50A, but once you do, highly recommend a CP or similar and you'll be in Charge Heaven.

 

[He Keith]

I'm doing everything you shouldn't do, luckily I haven't burned down my house yet.

1) Don't use an extension cord. If you must, get a real heavy duty cord.

2) Set the charging intensity in the car to 80% of the AMPs for the breaker.

Don't be a doofus like me.

View attachment 1112 View attachment 1113

I had never intended this to be in place this long. My EVSE was supposed to be in place already. Stupid HOA.

That extension cord looks pretty thin, was it at least 14awg? If that outlet is old it is possible the cord prongs were not sitting snug to the outlet prongs, causing a bad connection and resistance generating heat. I have heard stories of even NEMA 14-50 cheap outlets burning like you 120 outlet as most consumer outlets are cheaply made and not designed for non-stop full power draw for hours and hours and hours. I know I used a Hubbell commercial outlet for my 14-50.

 

[Vatorney3]

Dittoi on extension cords. Most are cheap and cannot handle a decent load for long. I've leraned my lesson too. And for EV charging, extension cords should not even be considered. Agree with He Keith, go with Hubbel or Bryant for outlets, etc. Worth the extra bucks.

 

[Stephen Cerruti]

Electrician started car was pulling too much and to set it to 7 amps (15 amp circuit.) He said this without knowing what vehicle was plugged in.

We're not really charging that much at home right now so the whole thing is a bit odd. I blame the extension cord as much as the car, it was a heavy duty cord, but it was an Adventure Guides camping cord and had a questionable history.

 

[DeaneG]

Electrician started car was pulling too much and to set it to 7 amps (15 amp circuit.) He said this without knowing what vehicle was plugged in.

Sometimes a "heavy duty" extension cord just means one that has thicker insulation suitable for outdoor use (to drive over or pull around a tree stump), maybe not that it has thicker conductors (12 gauge) or better terminations at the plug.

If you do want to charge faster at home, now that the outlet has been replaced (?) and with a new extension cord, try it with the car's current limit set to 48 amps. The car should draw about 12 amps as limited by Volvo's mobile charger sensing that it has a 15-amp plug adapter installed. Let the car charge for 10-15 minutes, pull the plug, and see if the prongs feel hot. If they are only warm, you are good to go.

 

[He Keith]

Electrician sounds iffy, a proper 15 amp circuit with quality outlet and quality 12/3 extension cord should be able to pull 12 amps all day every day. I had my car plugged into 120V for days when I first got it, the advantage was while it was a 15am; outlet it was 3 feet off the panel with 12/2 wire to it.

The concern with many standard home circuits and outlets is poor quality outlets and then poor quality connections. Poor or weak connections cause resistance, which means heat.

 

[DeaneG]

Electrician sounds iffy...The concern with many standard home circuits and outlets is poor quality outlets and then poor quality connections. Poor or weak connections cause resistance, which means heat.

Agreeing here - I charged all day for a couple years at work on a 15A circuit at 12 amps. It was a dedicated circuit though - if that garage outlet's circuit is shared with say a toaster oven in the kitchen, or a blow dryer in a bathroom, the breaker may trip (safely).

 

[He Keith]

Yeah tell me about it. When we remodeled the dumb electrician put the power for the island on same circuit as the main counter and if the air fryer and toaster oven cycled at same time breaker would trip. I had to move the island to a new circuit.

 

[SeattleCat]

I'm doing everything you shouldn't do, luckily I haven't burned down my house yet.

1) Don't use an extension cord. If you must, get a real heavy duty cord.

2) Set the charging intensity in the car to 80% of the AMPs for the breaker.

Don't be a doofus like me.

View attachment 1112 View attachment 1113

I had never intended this to be in place this long. My EVSE was supposed to be in place already. Stupid HOA.

Your Hoa is willing to put in charging? What state are you in? I am in wa which is not a “they have to out one in state” alas

 

[Stephen Cerruti]

I'm in a weird situation. I have a condo with a garage that is in my building but not connected to my unit.

Under California's right to charge law (yes, that's a thing) I can run a conduit with power from my panel, outside the building and into the garage.

While applying for that I learned that California's right to have solar laws applied to me and I could install solar. This results in conduit from the panels to the garage where the meters are. I can install a panel in the garage for the solar and hang a charger off it eliminating a few thousand dollars for the charger installation.

The problem is that the law and the resulting HOA rules are written poorly and the board doesn't know what they are supposed to do so they are dragging their feet. At 60 days without an approval they are supposed to automatically owe me $1000. That happens next week

 

[He Keith]

I would work with the HOA and even pitch it as a value add to add charging capabilities in the garage. They can get out in front of the wave of EVs that will eventually come. Considering how many EVs are sold in CA I am surprised these issues are not coming up more.

And is there anything CA does not have a law or governance on.

 

[DeaneG]

And is there anything CA does not have a law or governance on.

With nearly 40 million people concentrated into basically two urban areas, regulations become important.

 

[He Keith]

I get that to a point, I do believe Ca is overly regulated. If you watch Bill Maher you will see it took him over 3 years to get his solar approved after it was installed. There is a decent middle ground.

 

[Stephen Cerruti]

I get that to a point, I do believe Ca is overly regulated. If you watch Bill Maher you will see it took him over 3 years to get his solar approved after it was installed. There is a decent middle ground.

But, in fairness, that was because he installed it on a building that was constructed without a permit and not to code. That would happen in any reasonable jurisdiction.

 

[trtlmbl]

California may have lots of regulations, but in this case, the law says you can have your EV charger with minimal restrictions from the HOA.... I've found sharing the current law with the HOA in a non-threatening way is the best way to work with the HOA. (I'm on mine). A lot of the board members don't realize the law changed unless you share it with them. And, they can really, really drag their feet if they get into a snit about something. The law reads like a checklist of what you have to do for the HOA and you would hope the HOA would read it and be like, OK, we will do that. If that still fails try reaching out to your local state legislator's office for help navigating the local government and or possibly the Dept of Housing and Community Development which regulates HOA's at the state level. Law section.

 

[SeattleCat]

Come on wa state follow ca.