Please can ask those good people lucky enough to have spent some time with the Prius PHV, did you ever recharge the car in the rain? I note in the owner's manual's TonyPSchaefer was kind enough to scan for us that mention is made of using weather-proof power outlets and to avoid rain water running down the power cable into the car's plug-in socket. I can also imagine looking out of the window one winter's morning and seeing a few inches of snow on top of the recharging plug / vehicle socket. I was just wonder if anyone had had the PHV recharging outside during bad weather? Or any thought's on this subject. Thank you.
having done quite a bit of outdoor electrical work, i would think if both ends of the charging cord are higher than the middle, the rain will run to the center away from the plugs. it would probably be wise not to plug it in unless wearing shoes.
We do this sort of thing all of the time in boats. The cords and connectors are made for it. Assuming you don't do something stupid, like falling overboard holding the live cord, all is good. Tom
There's a current leak detection device built into the charging cord about 2-3 ft from the wall socket end of the plug. The vehicle plug is also well sealed. Only once a positive connection is made w/o faults will charging begin. Any current leak will trip a GFCI like current interrupter. It's also "required" for those of us testing to plug into a GFCI equipped/protected outlet for charging.
Thank you, that's the part I wanted to hear. I had noted when I was reading the manual, that the cable incorparated current leakage trip and it occured to me this could become problamatic if the vehicle plug was, shall we say, of cheap construction. To expand on my thinking, I imagined for example, owning the car for 5 years and how plugging it in every night, might in a less robust piece of equipment cause a bit of wear and play (clearence) to appear between the vehicle plug and socket. Therefore introducing a path for water ingress and subsequent problems of the cable continually tripping and vehicle being left uncharged. I don't think anybody would be to happy to wake up in the morning expecting their car to be fully charged only to find a rain storm during the night had caused the cable to trip out and the car was only a half or a quarter recharged. My thanks to everyone for their replies.
As everyone has already over stated - electricity and water CAN be mutual friends. The RAV4-ev public chargers work just fine in the rain. I saw one photo (wouldn't do this myself though) of a guy barefoot in the rain, plugging into the public charger. Now THAT's good drama btw ... salt water is a MUCH better conducter than fresh water (usually more minerals) ... and yet welding under water has been done safely for decades & decades. NOW ... since we've laid that urban legend to bed, consider all the people running around the landscape with 20 or more gallons of toxic explosive fuel ... killing people DAILY via fiery death yet ... no big deal? .
Again, thank you everyone for your replies, the Wiki link about the SAE J1772 connector was particularly interesting. Part of my work is in the Water treatment industry, so I wasn't too concerned about the safety aspect, being fairly sure that they would not release on to the market a system that might harm people. But I was concerned that the system might be problematic to use during winter months and that if the system was not robustly constructed it would be in a tripped state more often than charging, thus leaving the vehicle 'uncharged' more often than not, for months of the year. It is my understanding that the PHV has three battery packs. Two for the EV, which can only be recharged via the plug-in connector and the third battery pack for hybrid operation. Therefore, if you are unable to keep the two EV battery packs charged (ie because the cable keeps tripping due to water ingress) you rapidly end up in a situation of just hauling around the dead weight of these two battery packs, with the subsequent penalty to your hybrid gas mileage. In which case the year-round economic's of the PHV start to look questionable, compared to an 'ordinary' (wonderful ) Prius. But if the good people, lucky enough to have spent some time with the PHV consider the system robust, them I think I will start saving my pennies , (most probably for the GEN IV Prius PHV). Thank you all for your help.
No worries! Toyota uses same plugs in here Finland too, and we have lot of experience of plug in heaters at winter times. Biggest problem is if winter time weather is near 0 degrees Celsius. All plug places get so much ice that it’s hard to open without breaking things. Believe or not but we pour hot water to open those iced plugs/hatches. With current leak detection and good quality plugs, there are no problems.
Everyone's already answered the question. But I asked one of the Toyota friends responsible for getting me the PHV about charging in the rain. They were confident that it would be no problem, but all the same, they said, if you can charge between storms that might be the best strategy.
Easier said than done with the unpredicable English weather...... having just dodged another mid summer downpour!
Hey guys, Didn't your mother ever tell you never to get near electricity when their is water around? You could get a lethal shock. I'm shocked that the lawyers representing vehicle manufactures of electric or hybrid cars don't require a large warning label on the front and center of the dashboard stating - Never Operate This Vehicle During Inclement Weather Where Rain, Snow, or Humidity Above 90% is Possible. Never Wash This Vehicle with Water! Always Wear Thick Rubber Insulated Gloves and Boots When Operating This Vehicle! Keith
