Standard Prius Prime Charger (G9060-47130) supporting 240V

My assumption is that you just made up a simple adapter cable which mates with the standard NEMA 5-15 plug on the Prime's OEM "charger" and with whatever type of 240-volt outlet you're connecting to.

Using this arrangement, how much time does it take to fully charge the Prime?

The reason I ask this question is that the "charger" communicates with the Prime to tell the Prime's internal charging circuit how much power that the "charger" can provide. I don't know how the standard Prime "charger" running on a different voltage behaves -- and how the vehicle responds.

Does your 240-volt modification fully charge the Prime in about two hours? (i.e., from <10% to 100%)

 

When using this somewhat dangerous and NOT TO CODE "adapter cable" you would only charge at L2 @ 2.2 kW because the stock EVSE sends a out a pilot signal to limit the car's onboard charger to 12 Amp, 120 V or 240V.
You can do the math from there.

Or buy a proper L2 EVSE for home use and leave your stock L1 EVSE in the car.

 

maybe they have changed the evse, but the one that came with my pip requires work inside the brick before plugging into 240v. otherwise, you'd just burn it up.

 

I'm getting less and less certain of this. If the amps are the same, the heat would be the same. The only two things I can think of that might be a problem are the differences in having a hot and a neutral (120V) vs. having two hots (240V). And the ability of the components to take the higher voltage. Since an L2 charger is safe, my guess is that the neutral won't be an issue. And most electrical components I've seen that are safe for 120 are also safe for 240. But I'm not yet confident enough to use my own very expensive cable as a guinea pig.

 

Awesome! Thanks for posting. We have a lot of speculating going on here but not many real world examples.

I might go to the store and get some plugs and wire for a 110v to NEMA 6-20 plug adapter cable.

 

you would know better than me. there's the com

you'd know better than me. there's the company that converts them for a couple hundred, and there is a thread here from a member who converted his own for $5. worth of parts.

 

Is this speculation or do we know for sure that’s how the stock L1 EVSE performs when fed 240V?

It seems like only one or two people have actually done this with the Prime charger.

 

until those people report details, we don't know.

 

I just built an adapter cord and the Prime charger works at 240v. My battery was at 45% in the pic below. Seems to be "fast" charging.

 

It isn't just a matter of whether or not it will work, it's the question of how many amps will it pull too.... that reduction of time needed for recharging.

 

I don't own a kill-a-watt or have a way to measure the amperage, but judging by the charge time remaining it is the same 16A as my Duosida 240V EVSE.

When I get home after work tomorrow with 0% I'll plug this in and measure the charge time again from empty. But it's definitely "faster" charging @ 240V, near or equal to a known-working 240V EVSE.

 

Thanks... the photos really help.

The "adapter" is pretty much what I expected. And seeing the charging screen image showing a 50% charged battery with 1 hour and 10 minutes left to go seems to indicate that it's charging at an equivalent L2 rate.

Well, the math is that 240 volts at 12 amps is twice the the kw/hr as 120 volts at 12 amps. But that assumes that the vehicle is drawing 12 amps in either case.

My L2 charger indicates that the vehicle draws 15 amps during normal charging.

But why quibble... the jury-rigged (jerry-rigged for those who sail) arrangement is still going to bring the Prime to full charge in a shorter period.

More data -- such as measured current draw -- would be helpful. But it looks like burnout8488 has done the necessary field test and has verified that the Prime's OEM charger does not self-destruct when employed in this manner.

 

I prefer "jury-rigged."

@burnout8488, glad that it's working. You should put up a hook to hang the EVSE box on, though, so it isn't hanging by the wires. ... If you haven't already done so. I'm sure you were like me and in a big hurry to get a picture.

 

This is great news, wonder why Toyota doesn’t supply adapter and instructions.

 

Because the adapter is dangerous and not to any building codes.
You have a NEMA 120V outlet in your house with 240V on it.

Plug in any 120V appliance, light, heater, etc and watch the fun!!

Just open your dusty, moth filled billfold and buy a proper L2 EVSE and get the full 3.3kW charge rate. ~$200, Come on.

Or do the dirty jury......

 

No worries - I only did it for the photo and to prove that it works. I have another 240V EVSE wired up to my car in the garage, and plan to use the Toyota charger/adapter as a travel unit only.

Agreed - Toyota would never supply this adapter for obvious reasons! But, I did notice that the 120V end of this EVSE does disconnect from it. I wonder if a 240V cable exists, if we could find out who the true manufacturer of this unit is. It's held together with tri-wing screws, curious if there is a brand name printed on a circuit board inside....

I plan on leaving the adapter in my trunk - it should never get into the wrong hands.

 

Aren't many country, UK for example, have 240V outlets? What EVSE does Toyota supply with Prius PHV (aka Prime) sold in UK or other countries with 240V? Are they rated 16A or 12A?

 

Removable cable:

 

Why so many pins when there are only 3 at the wall connector?

It has a temp sensor in the plug to protect the plug and socket when things get hot due to an old wall outlet.

I know 'amp is amps' but you are passing twice the wattage through this plug and cord and the wire is probably not 240 V rated.

 

All of the cables state “300V” on them - even the short one on the EVSE for the 120V outlet.