[Maflagulator]

I built this arrangement for myself, and when I showed it to my brother, he asked me to make a "travel kit" for him as well since he's on the road a lot.

I'm curious how many others would be interested in obtaining a "Plug-N-Play" Plug kit for their Level 2 chargers.

I built them using about 15' of rubber 12/3 cord wired directly into the unit, then using a TwistLock plug at the end, which plugs into a matching TwistLock receptacle with about 15" of cord and an appropriate NEMA 14-series plug to let you draw power from a clothes drier outlet at anyone's house that was constructed after 2003.

I intentionally omit the installation of the "COMMON" blade. Not only because the SPX charger does not use a COMMON line, but also because this pin is what acts as the KEY for allowing a NEMA 14-30 plug to fit into a 30 amp NEMA 14-30 receptacle, or a NEMA 14-50 plug for a oven/range to plug into a 50 amp circuit as code-compliance states. Having the pin installed for one style will block it from fitting the other style. Most RV/Campgrounds that supply power will have a NEMA 14-50 outlet for 240v usage. Being void of this pin now allows you to use the same plug for clothes driers using the current "code" NEMA 14-30 outlets, and an RV park's NEMA 14-50 outlet. While these cables obviously are not "UL" certified, the SPX 240v charging station does not draw more than 15amps, eliminating any concerns of a component being "under-rated".



Need to connect to a clothes drier outlet at an older house using this socket?

I also built an adapter for connecting to an older style clothes drier outlet, NEMA 10-30, that does not have a ground but uses a "COMMON" instead. To obtain the required GROUND, I run a pig-tail out of the plug to allow you to connect any extension cord that can reach any 120v outlet to simply tag into it's GROUND connection which leads back to your breaker panel:

ONLY the GROUND lead is used on the 120v pigtail connection. The other two blades are not terminated beyond that connector.


Don't like the idea of leaving your Volt unattended? We didn't either, so we took the idea that was suggested by a member of this site and use "pipe insulation" that you can get from Home Depot, allowing you to seal the window up and keep your charging station secured INSIDE the vehicle and out of the weather. More importantly, away from "those damn meddling kids!" that might want to mess with your charging station.

Is this an accessory that any of you guys might be interested in at all?

Post here, or email me direct with any questions at: mr.maflagulator AT gmail.com

~Best,
Scott

 

[Joule Thief]

Scott, your work looks clean, but I'm afraid you're not the first. Here's a couple other similar threads:
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?6431-portable-220-charger-avcon-adapter-rig
and
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?14403-Portable-SPX-220-Charger-Install

Personally, I think folks are better off getting the EVSE Upgrade or Power Xpress if they really need portability. The Voltec is too clunky IMO but at it's price point I see why some will do this.

If you're offering to build these for others I would caution that you are exposing yourself to a LOT of liability here. Especially by taking the keyed connectors off so the plugs are interchangable between 30A and 50A sockets and also borrowing ground from another outlet. I understand this works, but I personally would not take on that risk. The guy that does the EVSE Upgrade makes people sign a waiver.

Unfortunately NEC 625 only allows cord and plug installations for L2 EVSEs to be indoor use only. This is why there are no off the shelf portable L2 EVSEs.

 

[Toasty]

im just scared the spx unit is not built for moving back and forth all the time

 

[Maflagulator]

If there were a massive interest, I would gauge how I went about "production" of them. I don't actually expect much more than a few people willing to offer "donations" for the plastic and metal objects we are discussing. A little liability loophole that a guy that I used to work with taught me a few years ago regarding how he used to sell "illegal" radar jammers "legally" was by selling the customer 90% of the parts on one invoice, then the remaining 10% components that made the device function on a separate invoice, and shipped separately. Perhaps something similar could work here, where the "donator" would have received an adapter that cannot function until they complete the assembly and screw the final lug down onto the terminal in order to make it a fully operational adapter. If something goes wrong....I simply provided someone with a combination of parts that were only partially assembled. What they do with that is up to them. Similar to how I obtained these parts from my local hardware store. I can't go after the hardware store for selling me a few pieces that I chose to assemble into something that may not be up to code.

I think that there's still a lot of people with ANY interest in having adapters like these that are hobbyist still. The EV ownership is mostly comprised of Hands-On people like myself, with the market slowly growing with the "Average Joe" that has no clue or interest in something like this. Those are the customers that need to be buying something UL certified of course. My brother and I are just happy to have the freedom of choice as to what fuel we put into our vehicles and how we go about that.

IMHO, the reality of the only reason that the NEMA 14-30 and NEMA 14-50 have a pin that makes them not interchangeable is so that an oven that will draw more than 30 amps is not plugged into a drier outlet that has a 30 amp breaker on it in the service panel. The Volt can't pull more than 15 amps, so there's never really that same concern here. Again....I'm not a certified electrician, so if anyone contacts me at this point should know what they are getting into if they wanted "assistance" with their own "Travel Kit" assembly.


~Scott

 

[Joule Thief]

IMHO, the reality of the only reason that the NEMA 14-30 and NEMA 14-50 have a pin that makes them not interchangeable is so that an oven that will draw more than 30 amps is not plugged into a drier outlet that has a 30 amp breaker on it in the service panel.

Yes, the point of the pin being different is to prevent someone from plugging a 50A device into a 30A outlet. But it's not because the 30A outlet has a 30A breaker. It's because the outlet uses 10AWG wire which is only rated to 30A (or 40A if you use 90C insulation). If you pull more current than that you risk overheating the wire and causing an electrical fire. This is why the breaker is 30A, to prevent the wire from overheating and causing fire when someone decides to remove the pin from the 50A plug and plug it into a 30A receptacle. Which is also why the NEC is maintained by the National Fire Protection Association. 50A outlets typically use 6AWG wire (or possibly 8AWG w/ 90C insulation) which supports anywhere from 50-75A. So the difference between 14-30 & 14-50 is more than just the breaker.

Like you say the Volt won't pull more than 16A so it's not really an issue. But I'd still be cautious about doing this for others (especially for profit).