What are you using for a charging station?

[Jasper7821]

Worked great and the J1772 handle was just a tad stiffer than the station the car came with but totally easy to insert and remove.

Thanks. Interesting. I would say my LCS-25 was way more than a "tad" sniffer. I had someone else try it and he was scared that he might be damaging things he had to push/pull so hard.

Mine defiantly is just a tiny bit tighter fitting than the stock 110 cable and feels totally normal to me.
Maybe it's a new style or something. Give them a call and see what they say. I've talked to them before and the tech was very nice and answered all my questions.

 

[WattsUp]

I was a little worried not being able to charge at 6.6kw from the $1,000 station with shipping but now that I know I can get a lot of extra miles by braking I'm totally fine charging at 5.5kw.

5.5 kW? The LCS-25 is actually a 4.8 kW device. ClipperCreek advertises it as such on their website.

Ok thanks, I thought somewhere it said it was 5.5
Oh we'll, I thought it would charge it faster but I'll live with it for the low price.

Definitely 4.8 kW. Anyway, I think 5 hours is perfectly fine, and that's only when you need a full charge.

I actually liked the LCS-25 because it only needs 20 amps, which means I can safely plug it to almost any household 240V outlet. That, and the $595 price makes it one of the best EVSE deals.

 

[Jasper7821]

Now after having my car for a few weeks I'm noticing the J1772 plug is not as easy to push in as when the car was new.
Still works ok though.
I find that if I have the rear of the plug pushed down just a bit it feels like it inserts a little easier.

 

[paulj]

Amazon currently has the following Leviton stations, any comments on preferences?

Leviton EVB22-3PT Evr-Green 160 3.8kW Home Charging Station, White
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B2GWRLQ/ref=pe_394480_30516730_pe_epc__1p_0_ti

Leviton EVB45-3PT Level 2 30-Amp Evr-Green Electric Vehicle Charging Station
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BQ7DG7A/ref=pe_394480_30516730_pe_epc__1p_1_ti

Leviton EVB32-8ML Evr-Green 320 7.7 Kilowatt Charging Station with 18-Foot Cable
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007PUGZNO/ref=pe_394480_30516730_pe_epc__1p_2_ti

Leviton EVB32-5ML Evr-Green 320 7.7 Kilowatt Charging Station with 25-Foot Cable
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007Q0YYV8/ref=pe_394480_30516730_pe_epc__1p_3_ti

Leviton EVB40-5PT Level 2 40-Amp Evr-Green Flush Mount Electric Vehicle Charging Station
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BQ7DG98/ref=pe_394480_30516730_pe_epc__1p_4_ti

Leviton EVB40-SPT Level 2 40-Amp Surface Mount Evr-Green Electric Vehicle Charging Station
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BQ7DG8Y/ref=pe_394480_30516730_pe_epc__1p_5_ti

And just for completeness:
Leviton EVC11-300 Evr-Green Portable Charger,Level 1
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004G6ZQYY/ref=pe_394480_30516730_pe_epc__1p_6_ti

Leviton A3435-PEV 30-Amp J1772 Level 2 Electric Vehicle Charge Connector with 25-Feet Cord
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CJWSUYK/ref=pe_394480_30516730_pe_epc__1p_7_ti

 

[hcsharp]

Worked great and the J1772 handle was just a tad stiffer than the station the car came with but totally easy to insert and remove.

Thanks. Interesting. I would say my LCS-25 was way more than a "tad" sniffer. I had someone else try it and he was scared that he might be damaging things he had to push/pull so hard.

@WattsUp what did you do about this? We recently ran into the same problem. A month ago our charging cable fit just fine. Now it's so tight that we stopped using it. Here's what I learned:

I've always built my own charging solutions. The one that I built for the FFE I used a good quality coupler rated for 70A. So when it got too tight I took a look at the J1772 specs and pulled out my calipers and started measuring. First I measured EV inlets from 3 different manufacturers, and our coupler fit just fine in all of them, but not in the FFE. Ah-Ha! I thought Ford's inlet has shrunk below the spec! But it's not so. Ford's inlet has, in fact, shrunk. But it's still large enough to meet spec. Then I measured the coupler and the outside diameter was too big by about 30 thousands of an inch. I had several of those connectors so I measured the others and they were all the same size, or should I say oversize. But it fits just fine in 3 other brand of inlets, just not Ford's. ChargePoint uses the same connector on many of their chargers (made by Coulomb), except they use the 32A version.

My wife gave me this look like "You built it, you fix it!" So I spent part of an evening sanding the circular part of the connector down to exactly the same diameter as the Ford 110v connector (which is undersized by a few thousands). Now everything is slick and easy.

Do any ChargePoint (Coulomb) stations ever seem too tight?

 

[WattsUp]

I would say my LCS-25 was way more than a "tad" sniffer. I had someone else try it and he was scared that he might be damaging things he had to push/pull so hard.

@WattsUp what did you do about this? We recently ran into the same problem. A month ago our charging cable fit just fine. Now it's so tight that we stopped using it.

I didn't do anything other than contact ClipperCreek a while back. They were very nice and immediately offered to exchange the entire unit, or even just the handle, to make sure I was happy. As I'd already modified my unit with a plug, I elected to use it for a while longer and see how it went, and get back to them. I haven't gotten back to them yet.

Turns out, with free charging at work, I don't use the LCS-25 all that much. I keep it in the car all the time and, at home, I actually end up using the Ford Level 1 unit, which I keep in the garage, out of sheer laziness. When needed, usually only on weekends, I almost always have enough time overnight to top-off, even at Level 1.

I would have to say, even with the light usage it's received over the last months, the LCS-25 does feel a little bit looser at this point, so I'm not as concerned as when I first got it.

Fwiw, I haven't noticed my Ford unit getting any sniffer (as you seemed to describe above). If anything, the large round part (which you seem to describe needing to sand down) has a little bit of "play", even when fully inserted and locked into the car's inlet. That is, I can "jiggle" the handle a bit. But, I'm not really sure what you mean by your inlet "shrunk" -- you mean it's actually gotten smaller since you got the car?!

Do any ChargePoint (Coulomb) stations ever seem too tight?

Not that I've noticed. All public stations I've ever used have been very easy to insert/remove. The ones we have at work (which get a lot of use) are very easy to use.

 

[michael]

I have an Aerovironment with a 25 foot cable at home, and they have AV units at my work. The function perfectly

 

[dorislindsey]

To be honest i my place i never been yet seen a charging station but in Finland i seen a lot of them where people have an electric car and do sähköauton lataus electric car charging and i think that is the reason that now a days there are many charging station in that place.

 

[Focused_Driver]

I purchased the HCS-40 from Clipper Creek and installed it myself, hardwired. I am very happy with it so far, have been charging with it daily since mid December. I figured I needed the 7.2kW rating of this unit to support the 6.6kW rating of the FFE. It has done a full charge from zero in approx. 3.5 hours so I believe what Ford said in that regard. I actually ran the car to the "battery depleted" warning and then up and down my street until it died- only got another mile after the depleted warning before it died. Pushed it home and into my driveway to get it plugged back in.

The wall unit is very simple, seems quite sturdy and was pretty easy to mount. I would have liked more than 25 feet of cord but I measured before I bought and know it would work. The cord seems to be high quality and the handle fits very well into the receptacle in the car. Unit was packaged well, came with clear instructions and all the mounting hardware I needed to get it on the wall. I felt the price was great too for a unit to support the 6.6kW rating of the car.

I bought it for $590 + S&H. Seemed like a very good price, hopefully it lasts.

http://stores.homestead.com/ClipperCreekInc/-strse-34/Charging-Station--fdsh--HCS-dsh-40%2C/Detail.bok

 

[hcsharp]

I purchased the HCS-40 from Clipper Creek and installed it myself, hardwired...
I bought it for $590 + S&H. Seemed like a very good price, hopefully it lasts.

http://stores.homestead.com/ClipperCreekInc/-strse-34/Charging-Station--fdsh--HCS-dsh-40%2C/Detail.bok

And it's made in America. The CEO and many of Clipper Creek's employees drive EVs. Their chargers are designed well and very reliable.

You can't buy a charger with a cord longer than 25' because the J1772 standard does not allow it.

 

[Gigi]

When we bought a Fusion Energi, I installed a Leviton EVB22-3PT 16 amp 3.8 kW unit not thinking that we would buy an all electric car just two months later.

I'd like to put the 3.8 kW unit up on Amazon and upgrade to a 7.2 kW unit in order to bring charging time on the Focus down. Overnight charging doesn't matter whether it is 4 hours or 6. The ability to add 21 miles per hour to the battery between trips rather than 9 or 10 per hour would be nice.

I need to run about 50 feet of heavier wire and put in a 40 Amp breaker to do the upgrade. I wonder if there is something I could upgrade or adjust in the guts of the Leviton unit that would allow it to send more juice to the car without having to replace the whole unit. Anybody know the insides of these thing?

 

[Richmond72]

I'm using the Voltec charger that was specifically marketed for the Volt. I, too, would like to upgrade some day but I cannot justify the cost right now since I have already paid to install that one twice (I moved last summer). I hear great things about the Clipper Creek chargers. My friend who just bought himself a Volt in January is installing one this week.

If you do decide to sell, you could post over on the gm-volt forum as well since the Volt will only charge at the lower rate.

 

[paw160]

Anybody know the insides of these thing?

Modifying an existing EVSE is probably not a good idea. But the key thing to check is the relay (or contactor) rating. Then I'd also check any fuses/breakers and wire gauges. If it was designed for 16A then it's unlikely that any of the critical internal components are going to be rated for 30A (since they would likely go cheaper).

The most important part though is the pilot signal. It tells the car how much current to use. If the EVSE is all analog, then I suppose you could probably change the pwm cycle by changing a resistor or capacitor (possibly). Otherwise it's much more of a hack.

Personally, I decided to build my own EVSE inspired by the OpenEVSE project. Check out their website for lots of good information on how these things work.

By the way... I am going to have some spare parts from my design and could build some copies (or supply it as a kit) if anyone is interested, just contact me.

 

[az erik]

I purchased the HCS-40 from Clipper Creek and installed it myself, hardwired. I am very happy with it so far, have been charging with it daily since mid December. I figured I needed the 7.2kW rating of this unit to support the 6.6kW rating of the FFE. It has done a full charge from zero in approx. 3.5 hours so I believe what Ford said in that regard. I actually ran the car to the "battery depleted" warning and then up and down my street until it died- only got another mile after the depleted warning before it died. Pushed it home and into my driveway to get it plugged back in.

The wall unit is very simple, seems quite sturdy and was pretty easy to mount. I would have liked more than 25 feet of cord but I measured before I bought and know it would work. The cord seems to be high quality and the handle fits very well into the receptacle in the car. Unit was packaged well, came with clear instructions and all the mounting hardware I needed to get it on the wall. I felt the price was great too for a unit to support the 6.6kW rating of the car.

I bought it for $590 + S&H. Seemed like a very good price, hopefully it lasts.

http://stores.homestead.com/ClipperCreekInc/-strse-34/Charging-Station--fdsh--HCS-dsh-40%2C/Detail.bok

I did this as well, very happy with it.