Charging in the rain

[Neil]

I imagine this has been well thought out by BMW (maybe not given the charging issues I'm having- but that's another topic) but I'm wondering if there would be any problem charging outdoors in the rain. There isn't any rain shield above the charging port and am concerned about water getting into the electrical connections. Anyone have any more definitive information about this?

Neil

 

[TomMoloughney]

I imagine this has been well thought out by BMW (maybe not given the charging issues I'm having- but that's another topic) but I'm wondering if there would be any problem charging outdoors in the rain. There isn't any rain shield above the charging port and am concerned about water getting into the electrical connections. Anyone have any more definitive information about this?

Neil

There is absolutely no problem at all Neil. Please don't even give it a second thought. I've been charging outdoors in the rain and snow for over five years now, and so have thousands of other EV owners. I don't have a good picture of me charging in the rain, but here is one of me charging my BMW ActiveE in the snow:

 

[WoodlandHills]

Tom, worst case scenario: I am finished charging outside in the rain and accidentally run over my J1772 plug in a puddle. Will my cat on the driveway get electrocuted?
I am guessing not since the charge will be completed and the plug disconnected? No guide signal=no high voltage? I am sure that the standard requires a fully waterproof connection when pluged in.

 

[Neil]

I imagine this has been well thought out by BMW (maybe not given the charging issues I'm having- but that's another topic) but I'm wondering if there would be any problem charging outdoors in the rain. There isn't any rain shield above the charging port and am concerned about water getting into the electrical connections. Anyone have any more definitive information about this?

Neil

There is absolutely no problem at all Neil. Please don't even give it a second thought. I've been charging outdoors in the rain and snow for over five years now, and so have thousands of other EV owners. I don't have a good picture of me charging in the rain, but here is one of me charging my BMW ActiveE in the snow:

Tom, is the charging port hardware the same on the i3 as with the ActiveE? The i3 port just seems a bit vulnerable to water infiltration. Anyway, I guess I'll find out when we get our first good rain here in California, but I might be waiting quite a while for that given the drought we're in.

 

[i3Alan]

I imagine this has been well thought out by BMW (maybe not given the charging issues I'm having- but that's another topic) but I'm wondering if there would be any problem charging outdoors in the rain. There isn't any rain shield above the charging port and am concerned about water getting into the electrical connections. Anyone have any more definitive information about this?

Neil

Rain, snow, unplugged on the ground, etc. are all safe. However, flooding could be a problem. Make sure you cut off charging before the flooding reaches the bottom of the charging port.

 

[TomMoloughney]

"Tom, is the charging port hardware the same on the i3 as with the ActiveE? The i3 port just seems a bit vulnerable to water infiltration. Anyway, I guess I'll find out when we get our first good rain here in California, but I might be waiting quite a while for that given the drought we're in."

Yes, it's basically the same as it is on virtually all other EV's. Please do not even give this a thought. There are hundreds of thousands of electric cars on the roads in the US with thousands of them plugging in and charging outside in the rain every day and there hasn't been even one instance of someone getting hurt. If there was it would be all over the news. These systems have redundancy to prevent safety problems.

"Tom, worst case scenario: I am finished charging outside in the rain and accidentally run over my J1772 plug in a puddle. Will my cat on the driveway get electrocuted?
I am guessing not since the charge will be completed and the plug disconnected? No guide signal=no high voltage? I am sure that the standard requires a fully waterproof connection when pluged in."

No absolutely not. You can run over that cable every day and it will be fine. I know people that share driveway access and there are cars running over their cable every day. I wouldn't recommend that, and if you are in a situation where that happens I would tell you to occasionally inspect the cable for wear, but it's not going to have a problem in the rain as you are concerned with because once the charge is complete the cable isn't powered anyway.

"I imagine this has been well thought out by BMW (maybe not given the charging issues I'm having- but that's another topic) but I'm wondering if there would be any problem charging outdoors in the rain. There isn't any rain shield above the charging port and am concerned about water getting into the electrical connections. Anyone have any more definitive information about this?"

While it's plugged in you have nothing to worry about. I did actually have a problem once with my MINI-E a few years back. I was charging in a heavy downpour and when I unplugged I was in such a rush to get out of the rain that I left the chargeport door open. I then drove 45 miles in the pouring rain and water did infiltrate into the charge port. The car wouldn't accept a charge even after drying it our for two days so I had to bring it in for service and they needed to install a new chargeport connector.

 

[jadnashuanh]

The only electricity on the EVSE plug prior to the car asking for it is a +/-12vdc square wave...nothing that will hurt you. Only once it is plugged in and the car asks for it will the EVSE turn on the high voltage acv (on most EVSEs, you'll hear a clunk when the contactor - a relay, turns on). There is NO high voltage (120/240vac) on the plug until that happens. And, the EVSE has a built-in GFCI - that will trip when the current exceeds about 5mA (about 0.005A) to ground or through you or where it is not supposed to go, way too little to hurt you before it turns off. Most places where (at least in the USA) you might want to plug in the occasional use EVSE (garage, outdoors) also are required to have a GFCI protected outlet, so you'll have two of them in series...one or the other will work to protect you, if some weird situation occurs. IOW, it's basically a no-brainer - do not worry about it. Those on the EVSE self-reset (at least those I've seen).

Almost all of the EVSEs out there (if not all) are rated for outside use in the weather...that means rain, snow, sleet, whatever.

I would NOT run the car around town with the charging door open or take off and not use the dust cap as some people have suggested...I think that's just asking for issues. I've lived out in the desert southwest of the USA, and a dust storm, then maybe a car wash, and that dust can become almost like cement and really difficult to remove, possibly preventing you from even plugging the charge cord in! Or, throw in salt in the air if you live near an ocean...not good for electrical contacts.