Ideas for a reliable alternative to Leviton - need help and ideas.

Just think, how many future customer that you will have, that will be influenced by your negative comments. How stupid of Levitron. Maybe somebody above Robert can fix the problem............

 

What a pain.

Unfortunately, I cannot help. My interest in getting a charging-station faces the reality of moving. It doesn't make sense going to that effort, then having to do it again in a new garage.

I've been watching the GE Wattstation, hoping their next generation will ultimately mean Wi-Fi abilities that homeowners will be able to take advantage of. Being a real-world data junkie, charging info would be nice.

 

Nissan uses News & Events: Nissan North America Selects AeroVironment To Install Home-Charging Stations For Nissan Leaf - AeroVironment, Inc. (AV) . But their Nissan branded and generic one ( Electric Vehicle Home Charging Stations : Charging Station : EV Solutions) definitely can't put out 10 kW. From the data sheet, it's 30 amps max, so it should be able to output 7.2 kW at max.

BMW chose them too (News & Events: BMW Group Selects AeroVironment To Provide Electric Vehicle Charging Solution For BMW ActiveE Introduction in Major U.S. Cities - AeroVironment, Inc. (AV) ).

 

I am lost, as usual. Why can't you use 110 V wall plug, in the meantime. Or do you believe you need 220 Volts, for a quicker charge. Hooking up 220 to your dealership or at home is relatively simple. Any Electrician can handle it, ( minus any beauracratic complications)

 

I have the Schnieder EV2430WS, $800 at Home Depot, see link. Works well, and 30A capable (6.6KW), close to the 10KW the RAV4EV can use... If you need a true commercial 10KW capable EVSE, there are only a few choices, Clipper Creek CS-70 and above, or build your own (which I am doing as well with the OpenEVSE project, costs about $700 DIY for a 75A capable unit (18KW)

Home Depot:
Search Results for EV charger at The Home Depot

Clipper Creek (excellent quality, but expensive): EV | Volt | Electric Vehicle Charging Station | ClipperCreek, CA

OpenEVSE project (DIY, but excellent design and works well): open-evse - Open Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) - Google Project Hosting
30A OpenEVSE I built: EVSE_by_mwolrich - open-evse - A portable EVSE built with an Open EVSE board. - Open Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) - Google Project Hosting
75A OpenEVSE design, I am building one now in preparation for a Tesla Model S in the Spring: EVSE_Example75A - open-evse - An EVSE built with a Open EVSE board. - Open Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) - Google Project Hosting

OpenEVSE now has an adjustable pilot signal that can be matched to your circuit ampacity, so if you build a portable unit, it can be used on whatever you find in the wild, be it a 20, 30, 40, or 50 Amp circuit.

 

TY Dianne, crystal clear now, I can see it gets vastly more complicated with 50 cars. I wonder if the country's direction may change if we have a new President. Long term goals are almost impossible with our political system.

 

Ahh... Thanks for the explanation.

FWIW, Nissan dealers that sell Leafs (not surprisingly) use Nissan-branded Aerovironment units. I don't follow EVSEs that closely on mynissanleaf.com, but they seem reliable, unlike the Blink units from the Ecotality project. There's some discussion of various brands of EVSEs at My Nissan Leaf Forum • View forum - EVSE - Charging Equipment.

When I was last at a BMW dealer, I also saw a BMW branded version of the Aerovironment unit. Looked identical to the Nissan one except for the BMW "decoration" on the faceplate.

It's good that you're treating the batteries properly. Some Nissan dealers are torturing Leaf batteries by leaving them fully charged and topping them off. Some of them are in hot areas, which makes things even worse.

 

I'm pretty happy with my Nissan-branded Aerovironment EVSE. It just simply works. If you do go with the Aeroenvironment units, be sure to order the units with the 25 foot cords to give yourself maximum flexibility. The 15-foot cord that came with my unit means I have to back into my driveway to plugin (I park in the driveway and the unit is mounted on the front of the garage).

One would think that with the number of PiP's available on the lot, Leviton shouldn't have any trouble finding a PiP to test whether the replacement unit(s) are working properly.

 

Toyota could come out with a combo charger cord. Either ~120V or ~240V. And there are ~120V 30A RV outlets they could accomodate, too. It is not rocket science, and most or all of the circuitry is already in the current cord. (The 30A RV accomatation is a little more complicated).

Maybe next year??

 

Until you solve this issue for good, you can keep all of your new inventory charged up to 50-60% of the full battery charge. Then you can top off the batteries in 1-1.5 hours before selling. This way the batteries won't sit fully charged for a long time.

 

(+1)

 

Dianne, I'm guessing the problem was not with the Leviton unit, but with the circuit/wiring/breaker feeding the Leviton box, and the problem only reared it's ugly head when something was plugged in for an extended period of time.

(sort of) Speaking of RAV4-EVs, I saw one yesterday on the road on I-280 up here in the Bay Area. Since it had MFG plates on it, I'm guessing it's a demonstrator/review model. Looked nice. My how the RAV4 has grown up all so big. I had a '96 bought new in June of '96. Drove that car for 9 years and 150K miles. Still see it being driven by the guy I sold it to 7 years later.