Using the Primes 120v Charger at 240 Volts, Cost $20 !!!

Is this diagram correct? Am I not connecting anything to the Y terminal?

 

I forgot. I have a 14-50r outlet.

 

Rob43[/QUOTE]
Rob,

Thank you for making me a charging adaptor so that we can charge our Prius Prime at 240 volts. We tried it out today and it worked exactly as promised. It connects directly to our original Toyota charging cable and fully charged our empty battery in 2 hours and 30 minutes! We love how heavy duty your adaptor is, made with pure copper cord and other high quality parts. (See photos attached). This is going to make our lives so much easier. Many thanks!

 

Really nice attachment.

 

I got one on Rob43’s adapters last week. I works like a charm!

 

Lets start by talking about the NEMA 5-15R, 120 volt outlet.

As you see, one blade is 'hot': attached to a X or Y wire. About half your house will be X and half Y to balance the load. (if your house has 3 phase, there is a 3 way balance, but few residential properties are 3 phase)

The other blade attaches to neutral (W at 0 volts) so the difference is 120 volts and there is a safety ground, G, also 0 volts but ideally never used

When we look at NEMA L6-30R and 6-50R, we see straight forward 240 volt outlets, they have both Hot wires, each 120 volts out of phase, so there is 240 volts between X and Y. Again, there is a safety ground, because we value safety!

Now NEMA 14-50R is more complicated, It has both X and Y, so can provide 240 volts to the range top and oven elements, but it also has a W wire so we can run a 120 volt light in the oven, or behind the range. As always, we have a safety ground!

You can find commercial adapters that can make a 14-50 into a 'real' 5-15R since it can tap X, W and G, but that is NOT what Rob43 is doing. He is making a 240 volt nonstandard 5-15R (Actually 5-20R as he uses higher amperage parts) By making one blade X as you would expect but the other blade Y, not W. He also uses G as a safety ground. This gives us 240 volts for charging the Prime in a outlet that LOOKS like it should only have 120 volts. He stickers it with High Voltage warnings for those who can read.

I own one of Rob43s adapters and it works fine. If you own one, here is my advice:

Keep a close eye on it when you charge cable is not plugged in. Ideally locked up, as it is nonstandard in ways that will damage most 120 volt electrical gear and may cause them to catch fire.

Never attach a 120 volt extension cord to the adapter. If you attach a 20 foot extension cord to Rob43s adapter, the High Voltage warning labels are 20 feet away from the person who needs to read them. If you need an extension cable, get a 14-50 extension cable, so it is obviously 240 volts.

Use a dedicated circuit for all charging, adding the 12 amps of the charger to the amperage of your dryer or stove may overload your circuit! Ideally you only want to load a circuit 80% for sustained use. (you can have a 1875 hair dryer only because no one drys their hair for 5 hours, a hair dryer is not a sustained load. Cooking turkey dinner or recharging your car will be a sustained load, do not get too close to 100% load for them)

If possible, use a GFCI circuit, either in the outlet or the breaker. This detects when the safety ground is actually being used, and safely shuts down the Hot wire. Better a non working outlet, than a burned down house.

If you are not confident, use a qualified electrician.

 

Wow,
That post above Jimbo was a bit misleading the way I read it, until I started to write my reply. Than I realized what you were writing about when you said that the adapter plugs into what looks like a 120 volt plug.

True, dat, the adapter plugs into the 120 volt Nema 5-15 of the OEM EVSE cable, which is UL rated at 120 volts 15 amps.

The adapter converts that 120 volt plug in the EVSE, to use 240 volts from a Nema 6-50R or 14-50R or what ever standardized Nema plug someone already has in their house / garage to plug into for using their OEM EVSE. The most common being the Nema 14-50R.
At least as far as I gather from Rob43 posts so far.

I'm in no way the last word on what Rob43 will provide in his adapter(s) and any mistakes I've made in my post I hope he will correct if and when he notices.

It might be easier for most to understand the phase offset when the discussion turns to 3 phase and the reasons for it's general usage.

 

vvillovv, it is complex, as we desire a 240 volt receptacle that normally deploys 120 volts, so no 'standard' graphic shows the wiring we wish.

I have every faith that Rob43 is doing his best, but I can't get around that 'nonstandard' is to some degree 'less safe'. And so I offer ways to make it safer, in implementation.

 

I understand and you are quite right, the adapter is not a standardized item and sufficent warning(s) to that effect are well worthwhile, in my opinion!
Some appropriate warnings people might want to use in the general area of these setups are (again, in my opinion)

Warning 240 Volts
Non Standard Adapter in Use

Warning Keep away from children

Or perhaps even trying to find a cap that fits over the 5-15 120 volt outlet when not in use.
I face the same issue while I'm grid charging my hybrid battery packs, except the warnings are for High Voltage DC
and just like your concern about the potential to overload a 240 volt circuit (if it's possible to run 2 large appliances on one 240 volt circuit) the possibility of fire is very real if a certain set of guidelines are not followed,

And I've talked with linemen who handle both 2 phase and 3 phase drop lines on a regular basis and some of the stories are interesting to me, becasue it's not typically shared with general public,
As a kid, I often heard stories about those who work on the high tension wires and watching youtube videos of TV and microwave repairs is enough to scare the pants off of the most frightful monsters that come to our doors trick or treating today and me.

 

Hi Rob43 - I sent you a PM (actually I think it's called "Start a Conversation" on PriusChat... ) I'd like to order one of you adapter cables too! Thanks, Peter

 

I have been using my new 240V cable from Rob for the past 2 days, and it is amazing! I can now quickly "top off" my charge anytime during the day and have a full battery for more errands. I use my stock Toyota charger that came with my Prime. I can recommend Rob's 240V cable as a quality item, sturdily constructed, that works!

 

Can you make them in Black instead of the bright yellow?

 

Both. So that whole 'adapter' is black. Don't need the unnessary attention.