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If you can't install a level II charger...

2535 Views 6 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  notbatman
Hi folks,
Loving my Moonwalk Gray w/ white top and mirrors, and Black Victory spokes. However, it's the dead of winter and you know what that means--less range. If you're stuck with using the supplied granny cable to charge at 10 amps max, this could lead to some frustration on a tight schedule. We have no garage yet and the driveway is 30 feet from the house, so eventually I'll build a carport and install a Level II charger there. Right now the ground is frozen solid, so no go this season.
I found a compromise that's working so far. It's a Level I charger from Me Gear that is rated at 18 amp. This runs well on my house outdoor electrical outlets that are 20 amp and charges the Mini ~twice as fast as the supplied 10 amp charger. Now back to having some driving fun.
Cheers!
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Hi folks,
Loving my Moonwalk Gray w/ white top and mirrors, and Black Victory spokes. However, it's the dead of winter and you know what that means--less range. If you're stuck with using the supplied granny cable to charge at 10 amps max, this could lead to some frustration on a tight schedule. We have no garage yet and the driveway is 30 feet from the house, so eventually I'll build a carport and install a Level II charger there. Right now the ground is frozen solid, so no go this season.
I found a compromise that's working so far. It's a Level I charger from Me Gear that is rated at 18 amp. This runs well on my house outdoor electrical outlets that are 20 amp and charges the Mini ~twice as fast as the supplied 10 amp charger. Now back to having some driving fun.
Cheers!
Sorry, folks. My typo. The Me Gear Level I charger is rated at 16 amps -- not 18 amps. But still faster than my 10 amp charger.
The Me Gear Level I charger is rated at 16 amps
I was intrigued by this idea of a 16Amp charger. Till I saw the reviews with melted plugs. I am sure there will be more a=of these and they will improve, but the ones avail to day looks kinda sketchy. they shouldn't be selling them with converter one ft extension cords. IMO

My garage hovers around freezing most of the winter. My SE is on the stock slow charger and doesnt seem to be having any issue getting a full charge on. I dont drain the battery very much tho - mostly short trips.
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I was intrigued by this idea of a 16Amp charger. Till I saw the reviews with melted plugs. I am sure there will be more a=of these and they will improve, but the ones avail to day looks kinda sketchy. they shouldn't be selling them with converter one ft extension cords. IMO

My garage hovers around freezing most of the winter. My SE is on the stock slow charger and doesnt seem to be having any issue getting a full charge on. I dont drain the battery very much tho - mostly short trips.
Yeah, there's the safety issue of course. The NEMA 5-15 plug so far does not get hot, and it's on a 20-amp outlet, the same ones I use for outdoor equipment like leaf blower and power tools. Yesterday I ran the battery down to 22 miles and charging to full took 18 hours, which calculates to running at ~13 amps or ~5 mph. I can live with that--especially as my daily commute is 50 miles RT. Just no long trips on a Sunday night, and a ChargePoint account just in case.
An alternative is rewiring the outlet for a 240V 6-20. This will need need outlets on that circuit, and a 2 poke GFCI breaker in your breaker box. Could be worth losing your outdoor 110 until your carport is done? My SE charged from 6% to full in 8hr39min on a 6-20 a few days ago.
I'm currently using a Tesla UMC-2 with a J1772 replacing the stock connector. So far, it has worked perfectly on 2/3 GFCI outlets.
Yep, I cut that a little fine...
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An alternative is rewiring the outlet for a 240V 6-20. This will need need outlets on that circuit, and a 2 poke GFCI breaker in your breaker box. Could be worth losing your outdoor 110 until your carport is done? My SE charged from 6% to full in 8hr39min on a 6-20 a few days ago.
I'm currently using a Tesla UMC-2 with a J1772 replacing the stock connector. So far, it has worked perfectly on 2/3 GFCI outlets.
Yep, I cut that a little fine...
Ha! Considering my better half's assessment of my construction speed, your point is well taken.
Cheers!
No issues charging with either the Mini-supplied 10-amp cable or the Me Gear 16-amp cable. There is the expected, slightly faster charge with the Me Gear, so that's my daily charger during the week. However, the Mini-supplied cable is in the boot for weekend road trips where an outlet is handy. Comparing the reported state of charge between the two methods, I notice that the slower 'cable' results in the Guess-o-Meter reading around 115 miles at 100% and the faster 'cable' resulting in a GOM reading of 100-111 miles.
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