New guy...

[kweiske]

I'm getting a 2018 i3 REX delivered to me in a couple of hours. It's in great shape, 14K miles, and in protonic blue, which I really liked.

I'm replacing a totalled Plug-in Prius.

A couple of years back during some home remodeling, I asked my contractor to pull wires for an EV charger from my breaker box to my outside wall (since they had the floor open and a clear path). Unfortunately, I didn't know much back then (nor did he) and he pulled 2 wires capable of 30 amps each instead of 50 amp-capable wire. I'm looking for a good 25 amp charger, not too concerned as I'll mostly be charging overnight. and have REX if needed.

Anyways, hello to you all!

 

[EvanstonI3]

Some chargers can be set to charge at a fixed rate lower than max. For L2 the car will only draw 32 amps, but that would exceed your wiring. I have a GRIZZL-E classic and it can be pre-set to charge at 40, 32, 24 or 16 amps max. Get one and have them set it for 24 amps. That gives you the 20% overhead needed for continuous duty use.

https://grizzl-e.com/home-products/

Someone else may have a better option for you. (you can also set the charging for L2 in the car to only be "reduced" and I think that is 24 amps but I am not certain)

 

[mojo]

Agreed - I've got an EO Mini Pro charge point and that has an internal rotary switch that allows the installer to set the max charging current that the EVSE will allow the car to take. It can be set anywhere from 32A in 2A steps all the way down to 6A.

I believe that pretty much every EVSE will have a similar feature.

 

[SSi3]

Off the top of my head these are the other L2 units that have adjustable amps:
https://store.en.flo.com/products/flo-home-g5
https://www.chargepoint.com/en-ca/drivers/home

 

[kweiske]

Thanks for all of the replies!

I got my car this morning and started looking through the manual. It seems that the car can be configured only for 16 amps and 32 amps. So, I could run a 30 amp breaker on an L6-20 plug and support a charger that runs at 16 amps.

Better than nothing, and it should be fine for what I need. We have a gas SUV for longer trips and trips with the whole family, my car sits idle most of the time as I work from home.

 

[alohart]

It seems that the car can be configured only for 16 amps and 32 amps. So, I could run a 30 amp breaker on an L6-20 plug and support a charger that runs at 16 amps.

That's similar to the charging set-up I've been using with 2 i3's since 2014. I configured my JuiceBox EVSE to output a maximum of 16 A. There's no need to set the i3's maximum L2 charging power to 16 A because the EVSE would limit the current it provides. In fact, limiting the i3's maximum charging power would handicap its charging when using a public AC Level 2, so it's best to leave the i3's maximum charging power to 32 A, "Max".

 

[mojo]

There's no need to set the i3's maximum L2 charging power to 16 A because the EVSE would limit the current it provides.

To be pedantic, the EVSE has no way to limit the current that it provides (other than there being a circuit breaker that trips at the highest permissible current for the circuit).

In this situation, the EVSE advertises to the car how much the car can take from the charge circuit, and it's the car that does the limiting.

But the overall effect will be the same - doing it that way won't cause the car to limit its max charging rate when using other (more capable) chargers.

 

[alohart]

To be pedantic, the EVSE has no way to limit the current that it provides (other than there being a circuit breaker that trips at the highest permissible current for the circuit).

Pedantic is good Thanks for reminding me how the negotiation between the on-board charger and EVSE works.