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Post by philcanberra on Jun 12, 2014 21:06:06 GMT 11
Hi Phil, Thanks for sharing that, I have seen your OpenEVSE build on their site, I just didn't know who you were I am currently building my own, but I am still waiting on a part to come in that was missed originally. Hopefully only a few more days, all else is built now. Here is the thread where I mentioned it: ozleaf.proboards.com/thread/297/wall-chargers-suggestons?page=2I was also thinking to enhance it a bit... good thing is you can with OpenEVSE. Oh wow! You are getting one of the pre made boxes and all. Super stuff. A bit jealous! I recently 3D printed a J1772 socket and installed on the front so now we can plug the charger plug and have no strain on the wires. We were hanging the cord over a hook and the stuffed the control wire. Long story I had to cut it and make the cable 3cm shorter. Lesson learnt.
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Post by Jim Hare on Jun 12, 2014 21:58:29 GMT 11
How cool is that - " I recently 3D printed a J1772 socket"
Oh how I love this day and age!!!
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Post by riddick on Jun 13, 2014 11:20:01 GMT 11
Oh wow! You are getting one of the pre made boxes and all. Super stuff. A bit jealous! I recently 3D printed a J1772 socket and installed on the front so now we can plug the charger plug and have no strain on the wires. We were hanging the cord over a hook and the stuffed the control wire. Long story I had to cut it and make the cable 3cm shorter. Lesson learnt. It is a really nice box, small and cute. But still not finished, arrghh! My missed part was posted but got lost in the mail, so Chris had to resend it. I have already 3D printed the J1772 socked even for my Nissan EVSE that we are currently using. I was worried how the wife may break it as she tossed it on the floor. It is super expensive to replace. I will post some pics in the original thread once finished.
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Post by Mickey Louse on Sept 29, 2014 22:31:45 GMT 11
I don't own a Nissan Leaf just yet but have been doing research about this car for past month. I am still quite confused about the whole charging business. My questions are: 1. If I buy a new Leaf now is it the version 2 or version 1? 2. The backpack that comes with the Leaf is the "trickle charge"? which do a full charge in 20hrs? and it plugs into the normal wall outlet? 3. If I buy a level 2 charger like E station J1772, do I need to install a 32 amp circuit? I am just trying to find out how much it is going to cost as I plan to move house in the next couple years so forking out large sum of money to install the special power outlet for the car is going postpone my plan of owning an EV
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Post by Phoebe on Sept 29, 2014 23:13:33 GMT 11
I don't own a Nissan Leaf just yet but have been doing research about this car for past month. I am still quite confused about the whole charging business. My questions are: 1. If I buy a new Leaf now is it the version 2 or version 1? 2. The backpack that comes with the Leaf is the "trickle charge"? which do a full charge in 20hrs? and it plugs into the normal wall outlet? 3. If I buy a level 2 charger like E station J1772, do I need to install a 32 amp circuit? I am just trying to find out how much it is going to cost as I plan to move house in the next couple years so forking out large sum of money to install the special power outlet for the car is going postpone my plan of owning an EV Welcome to thre Forum, Mickey Louse. Can't answer all your questions but I can tell you that the backpack that comes with the LEAF is a 'trickle charge', but it doesn't take 20 hours to full charge. It takes about 8 hours. It doesn't plug into a normal wall outlet without an adaptor because it has a 15 amp plug on it. Nissan insists you have a dedicated 15 amp circuit to plug that into. An adaptor will let you plug into a normal wall socket, but the LEAF draws 9.7 amps so it gets a bit dangerous if anything else is plugged into that circuit. I waited until I moved house before I bought my LEAF so I didn't have to install a 15 amp circuit twice.
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Post by Feng on Sept 29, 2014 23:18:37 GMT 11
Hi Mickey, Phoebe beat me to the punch but I'll post what I had written up anyway... 1. If I buy a new Leaf now is it the version 2 or version 1? Version 1. The updated model isn't available here and there's no news of it ever being available. When I got mine a year ago I had the same uncertainty but in the end it's still worth it if you can live without the 6.6kW charger and slightly improved range. Just make sure the car's exterior is in good shape and the battery is in good condition since they've been sitting in a yard for two years. When we recently had a meetup an owner's battery was over 10% degraded and he had done less than 7000km. 2. The backpack that comes with the Leaf is the "trickle charge"? which do a full charge in 20hrs? and it plugs into the normal wall outlet? Trickle charge (aka level 1) doesn't apply to us here, it usually refers to US 120V charging. The supplied EVSE is a level 2 and charges at 9.75A but has a 15A plug. You either have to get a sparky to install a 15A socket at your home or use an adapter to make it fit a 10A socket. It takes around 9 hours to charge from completely empty depending on conditions. 3. If I buy a level 2 charger like E station J1772, do I need to install a 32 amp circuit? I am just trying to find out how much it is going to cost as I plan to move house in the next couple years so forking out large sum of money to install the special power outlet for the car is going postpone my plan of owning an EV I don't think you need to, others here might be more qualified to answer that. The LEAF's on board charger can only handle 3.3kW so you would only need about half of that amperage. Unless you're futureproofing you can get away with a 16A circuit (please correct me if I'm wrong anyone). Maybe we're just biased but I don't think there's a single dissatisfied owner here. Except for a small handful of owners with heater problems who got them fixed under warranty, but they still seem to love their cars. Hope these answers help with your decision making!
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Post by jacky on Sept 30, 2014 7:09:04 GMT 11
I don't own a Nissan Leaf just yet but have been doing research about this car for past month. I am still quite confused about the whole charging business. My questions are: 1. If I buy a new Leaf now is it the version 2 or version 1? 2. The backpack that comes with the Leaf is the "trickle charge"? which do a full charge in 20hrs? and it plugs into the normal wall outlet? 3. If I buy a level 2 charger like E station J1772, do I need to install a 32 amp circuit? I am just trying to find out how much it is going to cost as I plan to move house in the next couple years so forking out large sum of money to install the special power outlet for the car is going postpone my plan of owning an EV As a recent new LEAF owner, I shared your confusions. Should we have a FAQ for potential buyers/new owners thread? For "trickle charge" EVSE, it charges at around 2400W depends on your home's voltage. In my case, I have 250V most of the time and thus it charges close to 2.5kW. With E station it can charge at 3.3kW due to the car's charge as feng said. Although the car can only draw around 16A, the E station allows 32A current. It should be installed with 32A circuit. (Correct me if I am wrong.) If you really want to go for a 3.3kW charging solution, CliperCreek offers a cheaper option (USD549 + < $100 shipping). It draws 16A and allows the LEAF to charge at 3.3kW. There are discussions about this EVSE in this forum.
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Post by Jim Hare on Sept 30, 2014 9:07:29 GMT 11
Hi Mickey,
Everything has been well covered above. I'll cover the collective reality of charging in general.
Depending on your daily commute, and whether you expect to exceed the daily range, charging for most is a non-issue.
We have the Origin level 2 charger, which does charge faster than the supplied EVSE (takes about 6 hours) but the added speed doesn't really come into play very often.
When you charge overnight, which is also great if you have access to off-peak electricity, it doesn't really matter if it takes 6 hours or 8 hours as you're sleeping through it.
We set the charge timer to start around 1am and either go to 80% or 100% charge depending on our driving needs.
In addition, the LEAF usually won't be near zero anyway, making the charge time even less.
The truth is you quickly develop charging patterns and it becomes a painless and even fun part of your routine. You can also monitor range and control charging from a smartphone.
And as the network develops, it will be easier to charge away from home if needed.
As Feng said, we haven't heard of an unhappy owner. As with any car a couple have had service hiccups, but even in that regard the LEAF wins out as it requires virtually no regular servicing and service visits are much much cheaper than petrol cars.
Jim
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Post by gabzimiev on Sept 30, 2014 9:53:01 GMT 11
Although the car can only draw around 16A, the E station allows 32A current. It should be installed with 32A circuit. (Correct me if I am wrong.) it actually wants a 40amp circuit because you always slightly oversize the breaker and the e station requires a RCD too. but yes the reason for it is because it allows 32amps if someone turns up to your house with their new BMW i3 it will charger faster than 16amp it does closer to 30amps. because your wall unit will say it can. the EVSE dictates the maximum current, then its up to the car how much it can pull.
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Post by caskings on Sept 30, 2014 12:10:01 GMT 11
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2014 21:44:08 GMT 11
There's also going to be a dribox for the jaycar unit so that it becomes like the ampfibian - $250 but at half the price
Alternative is to get 10 amp holden evse for $350. Which already has a 10 amp socket fitted.
Feng has one for his leaf
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Post by southernvolt on Oct 1, 2014 1:34:29 GMT 11
This is the one I use and it's working fine.
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Post by mickeylouse on Oct 1, 2014 21:43:40 GMT 11
Thanks for the info. I will keep finding out more about EV in general before taking the dive. I like the idea of EV but it seems our government aren't doing much to encourage this new technology to be taken up..as compare to other countries.
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