I charge with supplied charger and a standard outside outlet w hinged plastic cover. Anyone ever experience doing this in a driving rain? I anticipate such a condition this fall and wonder, not overly concerned about such.
You can charge in the rain, downpour or not. If rain does get somewhere it should not it'll just trip and stop charging.
What do you mean, like I said, if rain gets where it should not it will interrupt the charge tripping the GFI in the EVSE and stop the chraging while plugged into the 110v outlet you are talking about, or any 110v outlet. Basically, even if you are using an outlet on your house or wherever which is not 'good' there is a GFI built into the EVSE so you are protected. It's basically a non issue, whether is is raining hard or not.
My external outlet has a GFI on it. If you do not have a GFI outlet that you are using, it may be worth the upgrade to ground that outlet and get a GFI. I did a full house upgrade of my electric.. Have an old 1950s that had no grounded outlets. Was just one of the upgrades I did on the house.
He said in his first post his outlet does have a hinged cover on it. I've seen some hinged from the side which is stupid but if it is hinged on top and the cord can come out the bottom it's all quite the non issue.
I've had an outdoor "flash" water heater for many years, and the cord is protected with the same hinged cover I use for my EVSE. The water heater's never had a breaker trip from rain, and every time I've inspected inside the outlet area, it's bone dry. Anyway, I charge outside with confidence. The EVSE itself is GFCI-protected, the outlet is weatherproof, and the circuit itself is GFCI. So I'm confident that it's safe.
Doesn't this protect against leaks only downstream from the EVSE? I don't see how it could protect against a leak from a non-GFI outlet direct to the human, skipping around the EVSE. I.e. don't use an old fashioned non-GFI outdoor outlet. Make sure the outlet itself meets modern GFI codes, upgrading if necessary. (Note: I don't have a PiP, and could be missing a few details.)
You're correct that most electric codes require that the outlet or the circuit itself must be GFCI if it's installed outdoors. However, this is only a safety issue when you plug and unplug the charger (EVSE) into the outlet. I keep mine plugged in all the time, so if it's raining, my point of contact is when I attach the charger to the car, and the charger has its own GFCI anyway.
If I were leaving my wall wart outside in the elements, whether it be rain, sunshine, or hungry squirrels...I would build or buy a little protective box around it.
What are you talking about, the evse itself, the little box? The whole thing, cord and all? Make a 'bubble boy' out of the whole evse, I don't get it. I meant where he plugs into the outlet has a hinged cover over it. If you mean covering the small box inline with the evse you could. Is it necessary, far from it.
if its a 120 volt outside plug, its GFCI protected which means that in the event something should happen, it will simply trip the breaker. i have charged many many many (i live in the Pacific Northwest and drove an NEV for 3½ years as my daily commuter before getting my Leaf) times in the scenario you have outlined and my "supplied charger" for my Zenn was nothing more than a lime green extension cord. no protection on it whatsoever.
the GFCI working as designed will detect a leak downstream because there will still be a current spike. power should be disabled quick enough that you might feel a bit of bite but nothing close to serious pain
Here is mine. Simple and cheap: $117 in materials, and (sadly) $173 in permit fees. This covered the new GFCI circuit breaker, the cable, outlet, cover, various bits, and the two hook things you see. The EVSE came with the car.
