Portable EVSE Recommendations

[Fisher99]

I will be picking up a 2014 i3 in a couple of weeks and am on the fence between sticking with standard Level 1 charging at home or going Level 2 charging. I have 240v available, so that's not an issue. But I don't want to spend $500-$600 on an EVSE so am thinking that if I go Level 2 I would go with a portable unit since portables seem to be much cheaper.

I'm looking at the unit in the link below. If anybody has any feedback on the Morec unit, I'd love to hear it. Or if you have recommendations for other similarly priced units. There are numerous 16a units that are cheaper but I would want to go with a 32a unit.

https://www.amazon.com/Morec-Upgraded-Portable-220V-240V-Compatible/dp/B07DHFH8LW/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_2_sspa?crid=11HZ3Z5XDT6JR&keywords=morec+32+amp+ev+charger+level+2&qid=1558563123&s=gateway&sprefix=morec%2Caps%2C252&sr=8-2-fkmrnull-spons&psc=1

 

[gt1]

You can tell this is a Chinese product, their quality and support are inconsistent. Maybe great, maybe trash. They also often pay for Amazon reviews, so they are not a good indicator of quality. The contactor looks small.
I would pick openEVSE, it is priced very close.http://openevse.com/stations.html
Their self assembly kits are even cheaper. I've been using one for almost 3 years.

 

[vreihen]

I assembled my $375 OpenEVSE kit last week, and added a Home Depot electric dryer power cord for the input so it can be portable if necessary. I powered it up to check the electronics, but have not tried to charge the car with it yet. (Hanging it outside the garage is a project for this weekend.)

I wasn't impressed with the weather seal in the case they supplied. Other similar cases I've used have a rubber "string" gasket in the slot, but their case didn't come with one. I may try to add one in the future, if I can find the rubber "string" somewhere.

The kit was not beyond the ability of anyone familiar with screwdrivers and hand tools, but does require a fine phillips head screwdriver that some auto/home repair toolboxes might lack. I have assembled plenty of electronics kits in the past and even designed/built my own 3D printer, so this kit was pretty easy for me. The biggest problem was getting all of the wires and current donuts into that tiny case so that they looked neat to my OCD eyes.....

 

[Anonymous]

I would not buy any EVSE that wasn't UL Certified.

 

[Fisher99]

I might be changing my thinking on this a bit and instead look at purchasing the TurboCord. Not as fast as a 32a L2 charger but much faster than L1 charging and it is UL listed. My one concern is that while the cord itself is weather/waterproof, I would want a rainproof cover for the outdoor NEMA 6-20 outlet, and since the plug on the TurboCord is so large, a standard outdoor outlet won't work. Going to have to research this a bit more.

 

[Anonymous]

On the Tesla board it showed this - a NEMA 3R cabinet modifed to accepted a NEMA outlet, with hole cut for the cord, and can be completely closed when in use. The cabinet is even lockable - which would help prevent the Turbocord from growing legs and walking off during the night :roll: .

View attachment Outlet box.jpg

On the car end, have seen someone post using a golf bag rain hood rigged over the charge port on the car, but can't find the pic now.

A DSLR Camera rain hood might work as well - with some velcro tabs added just inside the port. to hold it in place.

https://www.amazon.com/Movo-Raincover-Protector-Photographic-Equipment/dp/B01LMZL6HC/ref=pd_rhf_se_p_img_4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=S4XBPJYPP5FV6BQBCHW3

Someone also rigged a faucet freeze guard to do the job.

View attachment snow cover.jpg

Lowe's Home Improvement stores for $2.98. It's made by Creative Plastic Concepts and is a near perfect fit for the i3's charge port opening,

 

[Fisher99]

Some pretty creative options! The NEMA 3R cabinet is pretty slick and might be just what I need.

Although I am now also looking at the AmazingE portable. Since it uses a regular plug, instead of the TurboCord's big box/plug, I can use pretty much any waterproof outlet cover on that end. It's a bit more $$$ but apparently has many ClipperCreek components and seems to get very good reviews and ratings.

 

[Fisher99]

Well, after waffling back and forth on various options, I ordered the 240v-only version of the TurboCord today. Price has been marked down to $199.

 

[Obioban]

I use the $199 240v 16A turbocord at work. Seems to work fine-- I get ~85% charge on my 94aH over the course of a work day (9 hours), vs ~30% from the BMW 120V charger.

 

[Fisher99]

I just started tracking my charging using the TurboCord and I seem to be getting about 14% to 16%, or around 14 miles of charge per hour. Last night, for example, I went from 32% battery to 99.5% battery and from 22 miles to 78 miles in 4 hours, which works out to an average of 16.9% per hour or 14 miles per hour.

 

[i3Houston]

This one!

https://www.costco.com/AxFAST-Level-2-Portable-Electric-Vehicle-Charger.product.100489580.html

 

[robthebold]

I'm considering one of those. And my dryer backs up to the outside wall to my garage. So I don't even need to promise myself not to plug in my car charger when running the dryer, I can just use a hole saw to cut through the wall and plug in one at a time right through the breach. When I'm not charging the car, I can just stuff rags and things in the wall to keep pests and weather out!

But seriously, since I'm the only one who operates the dryer, it really shouldn't be a problem to install back-to-back outlets.

 

[Anonymous]

really shouldn't be a problem to install back-to-back outlets

You could also just add a splitter.

https://www.amazon.com/Parkworld-886603-Splitter-Receptacle-4-Prong/dp/B07CVSSYQL/ref=asc_df_B07CVSSYQL/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312151235663&hvpos=1o4&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8635758754005398217&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9026840&hvtargid=aud-643191255296la-585493942279&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=61525452429&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=312151235663&hvpos=1o4&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8635758754005398217&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9026840&hvtargid=aud-643191255296la-585493942279

 

[RostHaus]

Now that I'm built(and rebuilt) a couple EVSEs, I don't think that many of the Chinese units are inferior to the big brands

As for portables I would recommend buying one that can accept 120-240v , My current favorites are Dousida and Khons; those typically have TUV and UL certifications.

But if you want a strictly budget evse that can accept 240v, get a used EVSE from the Fiat 500e. They can be found on eBay around $150.

 

[RostHaus]

On the Tesla board it showed this - a NEMA 3R cabinet modifed to accepted a NEMA outlet, with hole cut for the cord, and can be completely closed when in use. The cabinet is even lockable - which would help prevent the Turbocord from growing legs and walking off during the night :roll: .

Outlet box.jpg

On the car end, have seen someone post using a golf bag rain hood rigged over the charge port on the car, but can't find the pic now.

A DSLR Camera rain hood might work as well - with some velcro tabs added just inside the port. to hold it in place.

https://www.amazon.com/Movo-Raincover-Protector-Photographic-Equipment/dp/B01LMZL6HC/ref=pd_rhf_se_p_img_4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=S4XBPJYPP5FV6BQBCHW3

Someone also rigged a faucet freeze guard to do the job.

snow cover.jpg

Lowe's Home Improvement stores for $2.98. It's made by Creative Plastic Concepts and is a near perfect fit for the i3's charge port opening,

Since I park outside, I went with tetherless EV outlets instead. I wanted to keep as little as possible in the elements

This is my mounted test box. But its two outdoor Type2(euro) outlets wired to an Openevse and JuiceBox that are in the garage. Then I made some Type2 to Type1(J1172) adapter cables. its a simple plug in and walk away. While I'm not really worried about theft the cables, as they are useless in the USA, the outlets do lock the cables into place when charging.

 

[robthebold]

really shouldn't be a problem to install back-to-back outlets

You could also just add a splitter.

https://www.amazon.com/Parkworld-886603-Splitter-Receptacle-4-Prong/dp/B07CVSSYQL/ref=asc_df_B07CVSSYQL/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312151235663&hvpos=1o4&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8635758754005398217&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9026840&hvtargid=aud-643191255296la-585493942279&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=61525452429&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=312151235663&hvpos=1o4&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8635758754005398217&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9026840&hvtargid=aud-643191255296la-585493942279

Didn't know they made those, but I was mostly kidding about putting an actual hole right thru the wall into the garage. I my wife asks, I was totally kidding.