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Snaker720

New member
Joined
Jan 18, 2013
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2
How reliable are Clipper Creek Chargers. I was looking online for a charger that I could make as a portable charger and found a Clipper Creek CS-60 on Ebay. I read that they are one of the compatible chargers for the Rav4

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261156997026?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

Seems like a good deal with a three-year warranty.

I was thinking of wiring one up with a 14-50 plug. It would make traveling longer distances more manageable. Such as LA to Vegas or LA to San Francisco.
 
Snaker720 said:
How reliable are Clipper Creek Chargers. I was looking online for a charger that I could make as a portable charger and found a Clipper Creek CS-60 on Ebay. I read that they are one of the compatible chargers for the Rav4

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261156997026?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

Seems like a good deal with a three-year warranty.

I was thinking of wiring one up with a 14-50 plug. It would make traveling longer distances more manageable. Such as LA to Vegas or LA to San Francisco.

That is exactly what I did with my Clipper Creek CS-40 (reflashed to CS-50 spec, 40 amp max continuous).

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=248883#p248883
 
First, let me say, I have no knowledge of or experience with Clipper Creek chargers. Beware, I do not see where is says on the Ebay listing, that this is a "portable" unit. In fact, it say, "This charger wall-mounts (indoors or out) on a dedicated 2-pole, 60-amp, 240 volt or 208 volt circuit and supplies up to 48 amps to the electric vehicle." From this statement, I presume it must be "hardwired". Also, it does not give the rating of the J1772 connector and cable provided, so I would be careful it is rated for a full 40amps. It would be ludicrous to advertise this as a EVSE L2 "48A capable" charger if the charging cord were rated for any less. From the picture, it looks like it has really heavy gauge wires inside the cable, so you should be okay.
 
I guess I was more asking about experience with Clipper Creek chargers and reliability.

Depending on the Plug I used I guess would tell me if I could make the unit weather resistant. Some of the home depot 14-50 adapters are less weather resistant than a sealed Plug. I think that a 14-50 plug would be more common in the RV parks along the way, but now you have me thinking it might be a good idea to carry a 6-50 plug as well but that I think is mainly used for welders and Dryers if I recall right. I'll have to look more into that.

Thank you Tony for the very well written Article and Dsinned for some questions I am going to ask the seller at the Cord.

Main thing is I want something where I can go camping or traveling and not have to worry about finding the closest public charging station. Or just Charging it at the Campsite by being at a RV hook-up site if available.
 
Dsinned said:
First, let me say, I have no knowledge of or experience with Clipper Creek chargers. Beware, I do not see where is says on the Ebay listing, that this is a "portable" unit....

The Clipper Creek CS series EVSE's are absolutely not sold as portable, however, they are a reasonably well sealed box that serves the portable job just fine. The only addition is to pop on the 50 amp connector of your choice. I just had dinner last night with some guys who bought these eBay Clipper Creeks... apparently, the one unit was brand new (never used).

Nobody, to my knowledge, makes a 40amp or greater portable EVSE for J1772. The nearest product would be a Tesla Roadster Universal Mobile Connector (UMC) that costs $1500, plus you'll have to cut off the Roadster connector and put on a J1772 handle.

The Tesla Model S version of the UMC (called a Tesla Mobile Connector) is not yet available for over-the-counter purchase, but even if you had one, you'd have to cut off the Tesla Model S plug and put on a J1772.

This link is for adapters, but will give you a REAL good idea of what you might want to have in an EV tool kit.

Here's a bunch of typical plugs used in North America:

607px-NEMA_simplified_pins.svg.png
 
Snaker720 said:
How reliable are Clipper Creek Chargers. I was looking online for a charger that I could make as a portable charger and found a Clipper Creek CS-60 on Ebay. I read that they are one of the compatible chargers for the Rav4

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261156997026?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

Seems like a good deal with a three-year warranty.

I was thinking of wiring one up with a 14-50 plug. It would make traveling longer distances more manageable. Such as LA to Vegas or LA to San Francisco.


I bought one of the Clipper Creek CS-60 units from Ebay. It works fine. I installed it on a dedicated 60amp 240v circuit. The CS-60 came with one of the white Chinese Dostar J1772 connectors with an orange cable. The CS EVSE's have an contact closure input that can optionally be used to configure the EVSE to signal the car that the EVSE can only supply 6 amps, instead of the normal 48 amps that the CS-60 normally can supply (of which the Rav4 only uses 40). That control might be useful someday to put on a timer if Toyota doesn't fix the flakey charge scheduling in the car itself. Clipper Creek confirmed that my CS-60 was one of their earliest units and was one of units used in the BMW test. They said that the early units meet all parts of the J1772 standard and work fine with the Rav4. The unit that I bought was in perfect shape and seemed unused.
 
Stan said:
The CS EVSE's have an contact closure input that can optionally be used to configure the EVSE to signal the car that the EVSE can only supply 6 amps, instead of the normal 48 amps

There's actually two poles:

High/Low is the 48amp (for CS-60) high, and 6 amp low.

High/Off is then 48amp (for CS-60) high, and open (Off)

Either could be used on a timer.
 
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