Can I use this outdoor electrical outlet to charge my Rav4EV

Toyota Rav4 EV Forum

Help Support Toyota Rav4 EV Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Rav4EVoom

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 1, 2014
Messages
93
Correction: wasn't able to upload the picture. just sent request to admin for permission to upload picture.

New to forum and appreciate any advise. Still waiting for delivery of my Rav4EV and started looking for charging opportunity.

Found above outdoor electrical outlet outside of garage at work. Not sure if I can use it to charge my Rav4EV? and if the Level one EVSE provided with the car will work or what I need to use it. I guess another question is if I can use it, how fast to fully charge the car on it or how much can I charge from it in an hour? Looking for a economical way to use it if possible.

I hope my image attachment is successful. If not, I am in trouble as it's difficult to describe this socket because it doesn't look like electrical outlet at home. The outlet seem to accept +45 and -45 degree angled rectangular prongs with a hole in center to accept round prong and another hole at bottom to accept an semicircular prong(bottom side of the prong is flat)

Found above outdoor electrical outlet outside of garage at work. Not sure if I can use it to charge my Rav4EV? and if the Level one EVSE provided with the car will work or what I need to use it. I guess another question is if I can use it, how fast to fully charge the car on it or how much can I charge from it in an hour?

Any advise would be most appreciated. Thanks
 
Your image file link is invalid. Try photobucket.

From the description of the outlet at your workplace, I would say, no, you cannot use it to charge a RAVEV with the 120V "OEM" charge cord that comes with the car. You can only plug that in to a standard 115V household outlet. However, if your workplace outlet is wired to a 120V AC source, and you can find a suitable plug adapter to convert it to a NEMA 5-15R, then you might still be able to use it.

The time to charge a RAV4 EV at 120V when the battery is fully depleted, will be a VERY long time. I think a "normal" (80%) charge will take as long as 44 hours, or an "extended" (100%) charge as long as 52 hours, assuming you are charging at 12A. If you are like most of us here, you will want to upgrade to a "level 2" EVSE and charge much faster at 240V, although this it will be very unlikely to be able to charge from an "available" 240V outlet, unless you go to an RV Park or have one dedicated to EV charging at home.
 



I just signed up to photobucket and uploaded the image there.

Is this the NEMA 5-15R connector you were talking about? So If I can get an plug adapter for 5-15R for the L1 cord I can use this outlet? Also upon zooming in the picture, I think I saw 30A printed upside down on the outlet. If this indeed is 30A outlet like it's marked, will it charge faster now using the L1 cord with 5-15R plug adapter?

If I can charge enough to drive 35~40 miles during working hours, it might be good enough for me to get home. :)

Thanks again for your advise.
 
TonyWilliams said:
Well, that receptacle is toast, so replace it with any 30 amp receptacle you want.

I recommend an L6-30R


Dear Tony,

Thanks for chiming in.

Do you mean the receptacle in the picture is "no good" that I cannot use it? Since the outlet is company property, Can't really change it other than plug in a EVSE.... :|

Is it correct to assume that this is not the 5-15R socket Dsinned suggested(he is probably misled based on my poor written description before I managed to upload the actual picture)?

So this is an L6-30 Socket? would a L6-30 plug converter on a Level 1 cable work? Sorry if this is a stupid question.
 
Rav4EVoom said:
TonyWilliams said:
Well, that receptacle is toast, so replace it with any 30 amp receptacle you want.

I recommend an L6-30R


Dear Tony,

Thanks for chiming in.

Do you mean the receptacle in the picture is "no good" that I cannot use it? Since the outlet is company property, Can't really change it other than plug in a EVSE.... :|

Is it correct to assume that this is not the 5-15R socket Dsinned suggested(he is probably misled based on my poor written description before I managed to upload the actual picture)?

So this is an L6-30 Socket? would a L6-30 plug converter on a Level 1 cable work? Sorry if this is a stupid question.

No, I breifly skimmed your post and somehow thought you said it was 30 amps. No, that is not an L6-30.

We think it may be this one:

http://www.stayonline.com/detail.aspx?id=4794
 
7-50 has two different size slots.... hard to tell in the pic.

Looks a lot like 30 amp RV to me. NEMA 30-TT 120 volts 30 amps.
Center hole is not shown on chart for either.

TT-30%20P-R.jpg


I think a prior owner had his RV parked there.
 
Definitely a logical idea, TT-30.

So, 120 volts, 24 amps max continuous.

NOTE: Rav4 EV is only capable of 20 amps maximum on 120 volts. That means that you could plug in any charge station, 20-80 amps capable, and the Rav4 EV will only pull 20 amps when it sees 120 volts.

You'll need an adaptor from TT-30P to what plug is on the charge cable.

But, the good news (that I previously didn't realize) is that The JESLA relay is capable of 277 volts:

Rated voltage
Max. switching voltage
Rated current
277VAC
600VAC
40A NO; 3A NC
 
TonyWilliams said:
Definitely a logical idea, TT-30.

So, 120 volts, 24 amps max continuous.

NOTE: Rav4 EV is only capable of 20 amps maximum on 120 volts. That means that you could plug in any charge station, 20-80 amps capable, and the Rav4 EV will only pull 20 amps when it sees 120 volts.

You'll need an adaptor from TT-30P to what plug is on the charge cable.

But, the good news (that I previously didn't realize) is that The JESLA relay is capable of 277 volts:

Rated voltage
Max. switching voltage
Rated current
277VAC
600VAC
40A NO; 3A NC

Yes, the picture looks like this TT-30. so I can use a TT-30 plug adapter to the L1 cord to charge the car with this socket? I guess it'll be drawing 20amp as suggested due to the 120V limitation?

Is it correct that in this case I can charge upto ~2.4kw per hour? for an 8 hour session that would be 19.6kwh(approximately 40 miles range?).
 
If the outlet is not used it probably is not a huge deal to convert to 30a 240v with a new breaker and outlet.
 
Rav4EVoom said:
upto ~2.4kw per hour? for an 8 hour session that would be 19.6kwh(approximately 40 miles range?).


About 3-4 miles added per hour at 12 amps, so 5-7 miles at 20 amps @ 120 volts.

That is with a 20 to 80 amp capable charge cable. The stock unit is only 12 amps.

The idea above is best; swap the breaker and receptacle.. Less than $20. I'd use L6-30R. Then you can pull 4.8kW (24 amps at 240 volts).

LINGERING THOUGHT: it could be 208 volt commercial power.... I'd put a volt meter on it.
 
TonyWilliams said:
Rav4EVoom said:
upto ~2.4kw per hour? for an 8 hour session that would be 19.6kwh(approximately 40 miles range?).


About 3-4 miles added per hour at 12 amps, so 5-7 miles at 20 amps @ 120 volts.

That is with a 20 to 80 amp capable charge cable. The stock unit is only 12 amps.

The idea above is best; swap the breaker and receptacle.. Less than $20. I'd use L6-30R. Then you can pull 4.8kW (24 amps at 240 volts).

LINGERING THOUGHT: it could be 208 volt commercial power.... I'd put a volt meter on it.

I wish I can do as you suggested. I am happy to pay for it since it's only $20, but unfortunately the company doesn't own the facility and will not let me make any changes to it. I'll be happy if they let me use it as is. In fact, I'll probably be the first to use it if they let me as I've never seen anyone else charge their car in the office parking and I do see plugin hybrid in the parking lot.

So if the stock cable is limited to 12amp, with a TT-30 plug adapter, would the stock cable pull more than 12amp and get damaged/burnt in the process? or it'll simply draw at max limiting current of 12amp and provide ~1.44kw per hour? It would be disastrous if the stock cable burns up.
 
TonyWilliams said:
The stock cable will never allow more than 12 amps. But, if that receptacle is 208 -277 volts, you WILL burn up the stock cable.

Put a voltmeter on it.
I see. Appreciate your suggestion. Will do. Thanks a lot.
 
Assuming it's 120V (looks like it's a TT-30, but definitely try a voltmeter to be sure as Tony suggested), you're fine plugging in the OEM cord with an adapter, but you'll only get 12 amps that way. If you get a better EVSE, like an openEVSE, Jesla, Juicebox, or evseupgraded Leaf EVSE, you could charge at up to 20 amps. The capacity of that outlet for charging is actually 24 amps, but the Rav4-EV unfortunately won't go any faster than 20 amps when on a 120V supply.

A better question is whether it's worth the hassle. I remember what it was like after getting my first EV and desperately searching everywhere for outlets to charge, but you'll soon find you won't need it. Just charge up every night at home and go about your business. I suppose it would be good to at least have an adapter to use this outlet for the very rare possibility that you'll need that extra boost at work, but I really doubt you'd ever really need it (of course just trying to get free juice is another matter...)
 
fooljoe said:
Assuming it's 120V (looks like it's a TT-30, but definitely try a voltmeter to be sure as Tony suggested), you're fine plugging in the OEM cord with an adapter, but you'll only get 12 amps that way. If you get a better EVSE, like an openEVSE, Jesla, Juicebox, or evseupgraded Leaf EVSE, you could charge at up to 20 amps. The capacity of that outlet for charging is actually 24 amps, but the Rav4-EV unfortunately won't go any faster than 20 amps when on a 120V supply.

when you say evseupgraded leaf evse, does it mean upgraded Nissan leaf OEM L1 EVSE? can it be used for both 110V and 240V source and with 20A it's pulling, it won't burn the cord/plug? Can the same modification be done to Rav4EV OEM L1 cord?


fooljoe said:
A better question is whether it's worth the hassle. I remember what it was like after getting my first EV and desperately searching everywhere for outlets to charge, but you'll soon find you won't need it. Just charge up every night at home and go about your business. I suppose it would be good to at least have an adapter to use this outlet for the very rare possibility that you'll need that extra boost at work, but I really doubt you'd ever really need it (of course just trying to get free juice is another matter...)

I appreciate your insight and I agree with you for normal commute, this would likely not be an issue. It's just that a few times a month things would come up where you need to take care of things after work before you return home and if I don't have enough charge left to do this, it can be a bit disappointing/frustrating. The one way commute to work is taking a bit more than 30 miles where I need to drive over some hills. Assuming I can get 100 miles on a full charge, I have a bit less than 20 miles before I have to head back and I might be cutting it close to empty when I get home. So, if I can get some charge some at work to add more miles to it, I would have a lot more flexibility to handle these unplanned situation.
 
Back
Top