I have a Siemens Versi Charge in my garage. I charge my Rav4 EV with it, and on occasion, my lonely little PlugIn as well. My best friend's borrowing my PlugIn the past few weeks... with gas at $4.10+ here, she loves her 4Runner but has been spending $100 a week on fuel. I lent her the PlugIn a few weeks ago, and she's amazed that she is only spending $27 a week on fuel. I bet she'd spend less if she'd plug it in. Gonna get her hooked, LOL! Anyway, my Versi Charge is, and has performed flawlessly. If you'd like an alternative power plug, I also bought the JESLA cord fror traveling. Love Love Love it! Quick Charge Power I have used it to recharge quick at a trailer park, an RV center, a hotel, and even a laundromat! And, mostly, my sister-in-law's dryer port too...
Another follow up. It seems the heat problem is only on clears days in the winter when the sun is low on the horizon. Now the sun is higher, hits the charger at a different angle, and no problems.
I'm not sure I understand what internal circuitry is required inside an L2 charger, except a switch and a GFI.
Let's not call it a "charger." It is merely an electrical SUPPLY device with GFI protection (and some stuff to communicate with the charger in the car). Charger is built into the car. In theory, one could take an AC line cord and connect it to the right conductors of a J-1772 to charge the car. Too many people are under the impression that EVSE is a "charger." Let's not perpetuate that misconception.
Lots of chit-chat between the EVSE and the charger in the car. For example, the EVSE tells the car what the maximum current draw from the EVSE can be, and the charger tells the EVSE when it wants the power turned on/off. See SAE J1772 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I understand the need for that type of circuitry in the car, but I'm not sure why it's also required in the EVSE supply station.
I have a technical background, and the majority of users on this site probably care enough to understand that difference, but try explaining that to a non plug-in owner, or even a non hybrid owner. You'll just sound like one of those smug holier-than-thou prius drivers. I know the difference and know it's an EVSE, but it's much easier to call it a charger for the majority of people.
I don't agree with the concept that to protect the fragile minds of those looking at EV or PIH technology, we must simplify to the point of misstating facts. You're saying it's better to knowingly proffer incorrect statements to people in the interest of keeping them from perceiving us as "holier than thou." The link to the "holier than thou" video is interesting, but not relevant - there, a Prius owner was expressing an opinion, and very rudely. She deserves the castigation heaped on her. You seem to be saying we have to be proactively polite to the point of misrepresentation. I respectfully dissent.
I'm not trying to be disrespectful here, I'm just saying I don't think it's a huge deal whether or not we call it a charger or an EVSE. I think there are bigger fish to fry in order to get more of the general public to make the switch to plug-ins, and attempting to explain this minor technicality difference to them doesn't seem worth it. For the majority of people it's confusing enough to explain to them the difference between 120/240v and 16/30/40amps, I don't feel like correcting them every time they say charger instead of EVSE as they already have a hard enough time understanding the whole thing.
The charger in the car needs to know how much current it can pull and not overload the EVSE, so the EVSE signals how much it is willing to provide. This depends on things like the type of wall plug and the size of its wiring, which the charger otherwise would not know. For safety reasons, power is not present on the J1772 plug until the charger in the car asks for it. I think these are the major "smarts" in the EVSE.
I didn't know it was that complicated. I know the wall socket charging cord draws an amount of current safe for a 15A 115V circuit. I assumed that the EVSE was rated for twice as much current, thus the 1.5 hour charging time, vs the 3 hour for 115V circuit.
Here is a link to the basic of EVSE. J1772Basics - open-evse - The Basics of the J1772 pilot protocol - Open Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) - Google Project Hosting There are some DIY kits to build your own EVSE.
