[Treehugger]

Has anyone done the L1/L2 conversion? This was posted in 01-07-2016 by Chris Tx for the 2016 Volt. The EVSE has safety torx screws for the back cover, so hard to remove to check that components are the same as the 2016 model.

 

[bentbiker]

See http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?218442-2016-Volt-120v-EVSE-is-L1-L2-Conversion-Capable. You don't need to get inside.

 

[chevyman142000]

Been using the EVSE that came with my 2017 as L2 since March of 2016 with no problems!

 

[Loboc]

Harbor Freight has safety torx bit set. However, I don't believe you need to check the guts.

 

[2VoltFamily]

Has anyone done the L1/L2 conversion? This was posted in 01-07-2016 by Chris Tx for the 2016 Volt. The EVSE has safety torx screws for the back cover, so hard to remove to check that components are the same as the 2016 model.

you don't need to check the internal components. Just check the model number.

 

[Chris TX]

Yep, no need to disassemble Johnny Five!

Adapter is plug and play with the EVSE.

 

[Shivetya]

I simply purchases a 6-20 adapter and have been using the original connector with it without issue

 

[NickHark]

Has anyone done the L1/L2 conversion? This was posted in 01-07-2016 by Chris Tx for the 2016 Volt. The EVSE has safety torx screws for the back cover, so hard to remove to check that components are the same as the 2016 model.

I use two adapters built by Chris TX. no modifications to the cable are required.

 

[[email protected]]

I have been happily using Chris TX's adapter for my 2017 Volt since January. Love it! 220 is so much better.
Have had no problems so far.

 

[glasspilot]

Has anyone done the L1/L2 conversion? This was posted in 01-07-2016 by Chris Tx for the 2016 Volt. The EVSE has safety torx screws for the back cover, so hard to remove to check that components are the same as the 2016 model.

Tree, I have a 2017, I think it was made in June 2016. I made Chris's adapter and it works fine. When you first plug it in look for the light to turn green, then plug into your car. Then enjoy fast charging!

 

[wyounger]

I didn't have access to 240 in the garage and am renting, so didn't want to go to the expense and surgery on someone else's house to get 240. But I realized that I had two 240 circuits in the garage (one for the garage door opener and one for everything else). Since 120 is just half of a 240 circuit, I realized if I made a Y-cord (a homebrew extension cord with one female end but two male ends, one to go to each 120 volt circuit) I could bring my own 240 volts together. This only works if your two 120 volt circuits are on opposite phases (halves of the mains power from the utility); otherwise this setup gives 0 volts. I had that issue at first, but was able to swap breaker positions around in the panel to get those two 120 volt circuits on opposite phase. The female end of the Y-cord has the 5-15 connector so the stock EVSE plugs in (and it likes it just fine). Also note that this setup only works if there are no GFCIs involved; it trips them every time. And of course note that the female end of such a cord needs a big red warning tag on it to indicate that it is not carrying the expected 120 volts. This allows 12 amp charging at 240, so it doubles charging speed with very little expense and no permanent modification to building w

For the wires and male ends of the cords, I bought 14 gauge extension cords (12 is best, 14 is ok for maybe 25 feet max, and I'd say 16 is marginally dangerous at any meaningful length for this much load). I cut the female ends off the extension cords, stripped them to bare wires, and put one hot to each of the hot and (usually) neutral pins in the female connector, and a single ground to ground the connector. This meant I could even cut the cords to desired length, since the 120 outlets were not equal distances away. Make sure your 5-15 female connector is super duty so the strain relief will be big enough to accept and clamp on to your two cords where one is usually expected.

 

[2VoltFamily]

I didn't have access to 240 in the garage and am renting, so didn't want to go to the expense and surgery on someone else's house to get 240. But I realized that I had two 240 circuits in the garage (one for the garage door opener and one for everything else). Since 120 is just half of a 240 circuit, I realized if I made a Y-cord (a homebrew extension cord with one female end but two male ends, one to go to each 120 volt circuit) I could bring my own 240 volts together. This only works if your two 120 volt circuits are on opposite phases (halves of the mains power from the utility); otherwise this setup gives 0 volts. I had that issue at first, but was able to swap breaker positions around in the panel to get those two 120 volt circuits on opposite phase. The female end of the Y-cord has the 5-15 connector so the stock EVSE plugs in (and it likes it just fine). Also note that this setup only works if there are no GFCIs involved; it trips them every time. And of course note that the female end of such a cord needs a big red warning tag on it to indicate that it is not carrying the expected 120 volts. This allows 12 amp charging at 240, so it doubles charging speed with very little expense and no permanent modification to building w

For the wires and male ends of the cords, I bought 14 gauge extension cords (12 is best, 14 is ok for maybe 25 feet max, and I'd say 16 is marginally dangerous at any meaningful length for this much load). I cut the female ends off the extension cords, stripped them to bare wires, and put one hot to each of the hot and (usually) neutral pins in the female connector, and a single ground to ground the connector. This meant I could even cut the cords to desired length, since the 120 outlets were not equal distances away. Make sure your 5-15 female connector is super duty so the strain relief will be big enough to accept and clamp on to your two cords where one is usually expected.

Saw this on youtube where someone had done this and even saw a box you could buy it set up. Forgot what it was called.

 

[bentbiker]

Saw this on youtube where someone had done this and even saw a box you could buy it set up. Forgot what it was called.

Are you thinking of this?

 

[2VoltFamily]

Are you thinking of this?

Yep. Something like that. Pretty expensive.

 

[Guest]

At my work place there are split duplex L1 charging receptacles.

For us in Canada that usually means 2-separate 15A breakers. This is a commercial building, so the voltage between them is 208V.

I am planning a pair of male plugs to single female 15A u ground to interface to the Volt 2 supplied evse tat happens to be 208/240 compatible.

With my set up I can epoxy the two plugs together so there is never a risk of one plug being pulled with the evse attached and somehow still being energized.

This gets me a full charge in 4 or so hours, so being out on site in the morning for half the day does not see me ICE'ing my way home.