EVSE J1772 Compatibility Thread for RAV4 EV

[mudpie]

Sounds like we have a Deal!

I'll have a 14-50 outlet put outside the garage, and another on the inside for convenience and/or future expansion.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Sounds like we have a Deal!

I'll have a 14-50 outlet put outside the garage, and another on the inside for convenience and/or future expansion.

Good plan if I do say so myself.

 

[khaliss]

swapped the NEMA 6-50 with a 14-50 tonight, to finally get the 2nd CS-60 running. No more fighting to who gets to charge when needed:

 

[gary2020]

I just bought the Schneider - EVlink 2nd-Generation Indoor Charging Station Model: EV230WS

THis is an indoor unit only. 30 amps. 18ft cord.
Needs to be hardwired, but a good electrician can probably convert it to a plug.

But nice thing is it has a built in timer so you can set it to start charging after midnight or whenever you like.
So you don't ahve to worry about the car's inconsistent schedule/departure timer that many have issues with.

THe timer is set in hourly increments.

I bought mine on ebay for $676. For a while many were being sold but i don't see them anymore.
It is a 30 amp unit. Plenty good, even if the car needs a full charge overnight.
TO me, a 40A versus 30A is not a big diff since overnight, either will charge fully.
My next choice would have been the leviton from home depot for $849 but i did not want the unit to be unplugged off the wall and someone walking away with it...it's almost $1000 after tax.

For the money, i think it;s a great buy.
It is definitely compatible...i have used it for almost a week now.
THe unit is compact, the cord is heavy duty (despite it being an indoor unit)

Also get a custom skin for free to stick to surface if you like..basically a big sticker you design to put on face of unit.

I mount mine indoors and run it outdoors to where my car is parked outside the garage.
I had electrician install who put a breaker. My house is wired for up to 200 amps so this was no biggie.
Hope this helps others.

 

[Joe_EV]

From reading through this thread, it seems a new Leviton EVB40 is a safe choice for your garage, if you've got dollars and the amperage to spare, and Home Depot is now offering it direct at a lower price than Leviton's own website. Anyone having new problems with this one? And is anyone using their EVB40 with a RAV4 EV and a Prius Plug-in? It seems to me the Leviton/Toyota marketing hype for the EVB40, touting it as "designed exclusively for the RAV4 EV", unintentionally obscures an additional selling point they should be making: you can use it with a second, different J1772 vehicle! Any comments or concerns?

 

[TonyWilliams]

... selling point they should be making: you can use it with a second, different J1772 vehicle! Any comments or concerns?

Sounds great, except... what if your get a Tesla with 80 amp charging?

 

[Joe_EV]

... selling point they should be making: you can use it with a second, different J1772 vehicle! Any comments or concerns?

Sounds great, except... what if your get a Tesla with 80 amp charging?

Good point! We "future-proofed" the garage with two 90A circuits, based on what two Teslas would require - just because they are the most demanding - but we don't need to feed anything hungrier than a RAV4 EV right now. The house has a large grid-tied solar PV system and a bidi TOU meter. (PG&E was very helpful in approving a power upgrade while we were building our new "net-zero energy" home, based only on future plans with no EVs actually purchased at the time.)

Purchase of a RAV4 EV this weekend led to our considering a Leviton EVB40 today.

Anyone have new compatibility or quality issues with the EVB40 to report?

What would your RAV4 EV share a Leviton EVB40 with?
* Prius Plug-in
* Chevy Volt
* or...?

 

[miimura]

I just bought and installed the EVB40 from Home Depot and have been using it for just over a week. The cord from the unit to the car is very long and very thick - probably even thicker than the Tesla-Branded Clipper Creek units I used on the Central Coast. Basically it is a EVB32-like metal box with a big plastic housing around it. The housing covers the plug area. Here's a picture of my completed installation with the front cover removed.

The plywood was used because the Leviton mounting system assumes your electrical box is on the left side of the stud. Mine was on the right, so there was no stud to screw it into. So, I just bought a pre-cut 24" square of 5/16 plywood and screwed it into the studs with #14x2" long flat head screws. I cut out a square for the outlet plate and drilled countersunk holes into the plywood before screwing it to the studs. To mount it, I just used 1/4"x1" lag screws in the two provided holes. I did not buy the "pre-wire kit" just to get the sheet metal mounting plate. If you use that, the unit will come off the wall without tools, as supposedly required by the UL for plug-in units.

My install was easy because I had a NEMA 14-50 receptacle installed on each side wall of our garage during construction last year. All I had to do is change the receptacle to NEMA 6-50 and put up that piece of plywood. I don't think I would upgrade the circuit, even if I got a Model S.

The only complaint I have with the Leviton unit is that the white molded J-Plug requires a little fiddling and alignment to go in smoothly. The tolerances seemed better on the Clipper Creek units and they slid in the port more smoothly. The way the cord can be coiled over the unit and the pivoting J-plug holder on the front cover is nice though.

The EVB40 should work with any EV. It's overkill for the cars that have the smaller on-board chargers, but it certainly won't hurt. There's no reason you can't use it with a Model S with the J-Plug adapter too - leave the Mobile Connector in the car!

 

[Joe_EV]

Thanks miimura! FYI all, I just noticed the EVB40 is available from Amazon at the same price as Home Depot, in both the flush-mount plug and surface-mount plug versions, and they're eligible for Amazon Prime free two-day shipping. We need to get an EVSE quickly, as our PiP, RAV4 and garage door opener are temporarily sharing a 120V 20A circuit. Can't have both cars plugged in at the same time there. I may see about future-proofing that 120V circuit to 40A as well, while getting the EVB40's 240V outlet installed. Originally we'd planned to have the Level 2 box in place well in advance, but the RAV4 EV's early arrival is certainly a nice problem to have. Man, is that thing zippy!

 

[miimura]

I bought mine at HomeDepot.com because Amazon said "Usually ships in 1-3 months" at the time. That was for the "Flush Mount" EVB40-5PT (Five-P-T). The "Surface Mount" EVB40-SPT (Ess-P-T) has the plug coming out of the bottom so that it can be plugged into a surface mounted box fed by a surface conduit. Compare that to my picture above which is for a receptacle set into the wall.

Anyway, Amazon charges sales tax in California now and Home Depot had free shipping, so the total would have been the same either way. Home Depot actually delivered faster than promised. They said 3-5 days to ship and 3-5 days transit time. It ended up shipping in one day and only took one day from Sparks, NV to the Bay Area by UPS Ground.

 

[Joe_EV]

Good deal. Amazon has a few in stock for two-day free Prime shipping today, and my wife has some spare "rewards points" that will cover most of the CA tax, so I think we'll go that route. As the walls are made of SIPs, I can't install in-wall wiring or recessed outlets that weren't in the original house plans, so we'll be going with surface-mount conduit to a surface-mount plug, and the -SPT model. I'll let you know how the installation and user experience goes.

 

[Vach]

I'm not sure if this was already discussed within the thread, but I was told from a source within a different thread that the GE Wattstation is not compatible with the RAV?

 

[gary2020]

my bro-in-law has a ge wattstation for the rav4 ev.
works fine.
just be warned this unit is HUGE!
look at the specs.
i figure it has to be huge so you can wrap the wire around it.
he says it's also very heavy, so not just a big shell.

cheers

 

[waidy]

UMC is now talking to my Rav @40AmpX240V, very excited!!

 

[waidy]

For those who consider getting a UMC as your portable EVSE, please read http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/15304-Plug-Adapter-on-my-Universal-Mobile-Connector-has-melted/page7?p=340831&viewfull=1#post340831

My UMC 14-50 adapter has been "enhanced/improved" by Ingineer. The temperature readings at the 14-50 adapter during charging seems reasonable.

 

[Joe_EV]

Received the EVB40-SPT from Amazon in two days. Had our electrician install an outlet, hung the EVB40-SPT, plugged it in, and...all three lights stay on. This is not in the printed instructions.

Called Leviton, and was told I'll probably have to return the unit, but I have gathered some interesting information that I may be able to use myself.
Leviton is in New York, and apparently they all go home at 2 PM California time, so I'm waiting for a call back from a more senior tech tomorrow before trying that. I really don't want to return this to Amazon and continue to use the travel charger for another half a week. Dang. Am going to an event at Adobe HQ tonight, and hope to use one of the chargers in their garage. More soon.

 

[fooljoe]

For those who consider getting a UMC as your portable EVSE, please read http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/15304-Plug-Adapter-on-my-Universal-Mobile-Connector-has-melted/page7?p=340831&viewfull=1#post340831

My UMC 14-50 adapter has been "enhanced/improved" by Ingineer. The temperature readings at the 14-50 adapter during charging seems reasonable.

I saw Phil's long post in the TMC, but no mention of the enhancement/improvement he did. What was this exactly? Also, what type of J1772 nozzle did you put on and where'd you get it / how'd you do it?

One more thing, you have a Model S also, right? When it's setup for a delayed charge and you plug it in, does it close the EVSE relays momentarily to sample the line voltage? It baffles me that the Rav doesn't do this, and I've been dying to know if the Model S does.

Thanks!

 

[waidy]

I saw Phil's long post in the TMC, but no mention of the enhancement/improvement he did. What was this exactly? Also, what type of J1772 nozzle did you put on and where'd you get it / how'd you do it?

One more thing, you have a Model S also, right? When it's setup for a delayed charge and you plug it in, does it close the EVSE relays momentarily to sample the line voltage? It baffles me that the Rav doesn't do this, and I've been dying to know if the Model S does.

Thanks!

Phil would be the right person to answer this. I've sent an email to Phil for him to comment on his mod in this post. As for the J1772 nozzle, I suggest you get the ITT brand. At the time when I was looking, I couldn't find it online so I ended up getting the Chinese type at the tucsonev.com website. Instruction of how to order is at the website.

Model S currently does not support delay charging so I have never done delay charge on my Model S (nor my 2nd generation Rav4EV). Therefore, I am not able to tell you the relay question.

 

[TonyWilliams]

If you ever wondered how the Model S UMC is so flexible and able to handle 40 amps:

Comparison to a J1772 plug that I'm putting on the UMC:

 

[Joe_EV]

Received the EVB40-SPT from Amazon in two days. Had our electrician install an outlet, hung the EVB40-SPT, plugged it in, and...all three lights stay on. This is not in the printed instructions.

Update: I fixed the EVB40 indicator lights by opening it up and reversing a ribbon cable. This is worth its own thread, in case others are searching for this info:

Fix for Leviton EVB40 - all 3 lights illuminated
http://www.myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=393

For this thread here I'll just excerpt the results, confirming that the EVB40 is 100% compatible with the RAV4 EV (of course) and also the Toyota Prius Plug-in:

Here's the RAV4 EV indicating a complete charge via connection to 240V EVSE:

Here's the Prius Plug-in sipping only a small amount of what this charger can provide, but still cutting its 110V charge time in half: