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

Sometimes I think it might be nice to look at my phone and see how far the charge has progressed. But I can already get a "good-enough-for-my-needs" approximation by looking at the time on my watch. And like you said, @chickenhawk, unless you want to pay for it, it's a temporary feature anyway.

 

I just got a rav4 prime and I see the provided charger is same for both prius prime and rav4 prime. model number is G9060-47130. I just received my order from amazon to make the pig tail adapter that is being used to charge at 240 volts. I got the same parts that one of them has posted here at priuschat.
Currently I have 240v NEMA 14-50 R using #6 gauge wire connected to 50amp breaker. How is every one's setup? Do I need to reduce the amps at the circuit breaker before using this adapter? as the provided Toyota charger only accepts 12amps.

Thanks

 

Ok, I couldn't wait and tried it out and it worked fine. As mentioned in my previous post, got Rav4 Prime XSE premium which has 6.6 Kwh charger. Before trying with the adapter, I tried with 120v and it showed 4h 10mins to complete as I already had few miles. Then tested the adapter to check the voltage and it was giving 240v and with ground as expected, so I plugged in my toyota charger and plugged in to the rav4, now it shows 3 hrs 10 mins to complete. That's only 1 hour gain. I was expecting half the time, as it should charge at 2.88 kwh rate instead of 1.44 kwh. Is this seems right?

Thanks

 

Yeah, your circuit breaker amp is not the number of current flows into the circuit. It is the upper limit of the circuit that will shut down. Having over protection has no bearing in using EVSE rated lower than the circuit allows. You should be fine for the future when you may need to use 40amp EVSE for a larger battery on a BEV.

 

That doesn't seem right to me. It should charge twice as fast at the same amperage and double the voltage. The EVSE, if it's like mine, is limited to 16A whether you feed it 120V or 240V. Is it really cold? That might slow it down. Also, I don't know what's available on the RAV4 Prime vs the other Primes, but if you had set the car to a lower current limit between switching voltages, that would increase the time needed on 240V.

 

@jerrymildred and @Salamander_King
Thank you for the reply.

I have set the current limit to max in the setting which is 32amps, since I have the xse premium package with 32amps 6.6 kwh charger. Engine was cold, I did not use it for long, just plugged in to see if it works and removed it after few minutes.

Also, for the adapter, I am using 12 gauge wire, is this ok to use it or should I change it to 10 gauge or 8 gauge wire?

 

Do you mean 32A 6.6kW charger? Kilowatts hours are a measure of capacity, not rate of charge.

Use the size wire called for by the current rating of the outlet you have installed. I'm assuming, since the car has the 32A charger, you have a 50A wall receptacle. (I've never heard of a 40A receptacle.) It should be a 6-50R assuming the EVSE has a 6-50P plug on the end. (It might be a 14-50, but it will be 50A to carry 32A.) Since it's possible to plug in something that pulls 50A, you need wires that can carry 50A, which would be #8. And that, in turn, requires a 50A breaker to protect the wires.

 

Sorry, yes, I have used #6 gauge wire, NEMA 14-50R and 50 Amp breaker. I was referring to the #12 gauge wire that I used for the 240v 14-50p to 240v 5-15R adapter to use it with the stock Toyota 120v charger. Should I upgrade the pigtail adapter wire to be 10 gauge, or 8 gauge ? since toyota charger is limited to 12 amps even at 240v.

 

Depending on the insulation and environment, #12 is good for either 25A or 30A. That's a little undersized if the charger will be pulling 32A. You could try it if it's a short piece and check the temperature frequently, but I'd not sleep well unless I used #10 on that.

 

@rv4prmxe If you look at the info pic the info should be correct on your car, as it will take 4.5 hours on 220v to fully charge the vehicle.

 

He has Rav4 Prime XSE premium with upgraded 6.6 kW onboard charger.

 

@rv4prmxe ..sorry didn't see you had upgraded charger but full charge on 240v is 2.5 hours which is improvement over 4.5 hours on lower 3.3 charger @240v

 

congrats on the RAV4 Prime, I would have liked getting that one but I couldn't pass up on the deal on the Prius Prime now.

It will be a really cool car to go camping in with that large of battery pack


This guy goes off road camping with the Prius

 

I will be using this #12 gauge wire adapter only with the charger provided by Toyota which is limited to 12 amps even at 240v, even though my car supports up to 32amps when used with a charger like Juicebox or Grizzl-e.

To be safe side I will update this to #10 gauge or #8 gauge to be safe side, as I just need 1 feet cable for the adapter.

Thanks

 

Yes. Main reason for getting premium package was to get that 6.6 kwh, so that I can charge in 2.5Hr. At home may not be that useful, as I will charge at night, but it will be helpful when I need to charge after coming from out and need to go out again, or when using the public charger.

For this I already have #6 gauge wire with 50 amp breaker and 14-50p plug. In order to use the stock Toyota provided charger @240v I created that adapter from 14-50p to 5-15R @240v, for which I used #12 gauge wire. Which I am planning to replace it with #10 gauge instead.

 

I don't see the need to upgrade to 10 gauge wire in your custom adapter. 12 is already larger than required. What gauge is Toyota using in the input cable? I would match that.

 

I see its actually using 2X 14 AWG and 1 X 12 AWG. I didn't notice it before.

Thanks

 

12 AWG= 20A max, 10 AWG = 30A max. I would stick with the 10AWG for extension adapter.

 

I took a look at my Toyota ESVE yesterday and the input wire says 2 x 18 AWG + 3 X 14 AWG. I assume the two thin18 gauge conductors are for the signaling. So seems Toyota uses 14 gauge for the power wires in the adapter that comes with the 2021 Prime.

14 ga is good for 15 amp circuits according to NEC, but I would have thought they would bump it up one size in a flexible cord. At any rate, 12 gauge would be super safe.

 

You assume correctly. I've had the handle apart. Little wires to little pins; big wires to big pins.