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

I agree. If these mod instructions were available in stores they would require a prescription. Perfectly effective when done properly, but too dangerous to be over the counter.

 

Decided to leave my 110/1120v cable alone and just bought this one for 220/240 from my dryer outlet. When needed at home, I can now go from zero to full charge in 2hr/10 min (instead of 5 1/2 hrs.)
Level 2 Electric Vehicle EV Car Charger Volt J1772 NEMA 10-30 DRYER 25' LONG: https://tinyurl.com/1uvtr79e

 

Looks just like the one I've been using for about three years or so. I couldn't see it in your link, though, because it just goes to Ebay and not to this item.

Let us know how it feels plugging it into and unplugging it from the car. Most are very tight and feel like they will eventually damage the car's socket. I took mine apart to identify what was pinching and then fixed it so it's not as tight. Otherwise, mine has been flawless. With my frequent quick turnarounds, it's cut way back on my gas usage.

 

Jerry, what was making yours tight, and how did you fix it?

 

In my case, it turned out to be the big ones that carry the charge current. I just used increasingly large drill bits to open them up enough to fit better. You do have to disassemble it and do them one at a time. Keep testing the fit and go slowly. Be aware, that this will remove the plating on the connection, but that hasn't hurt anything yet for me.

Another option is to mess with the springy clips that go around these little sockets to tension them. But I was concerned about maybe breaking or otherwise ruining one of them.

All that is IF yours has the same problem and the same cause. There's no guarantee that yours will be like mine.

 

Hi Rob As a new Prius owner I was curious about your conversion so I've read everything I could find on the topic and have decided to proceed with the conversion. I already have several 240v options in my wood shop so mostly I have been looking for a simple plug adapter. Just today I found, on amazon a Levithon 5031 W 15amp combination plug Which I can use to replace my current horizontal flat pin plug that I use to power my 240v jointer and have a standard plug in the same unit to plug my charger directly into. No modifications required. $14.
I'll let you know how it works when I get the unit and install it. The larger issue it seems will be knocking a hole in the wall of my carport and building a box to house the cable when it's not in use.
Thanks for all the chatter. Bowser Barry

 

Does this mean you will be putting 240V on what is legally a 120V receptacle? If so, then make sure it is very well marked against forgetfulness and against ignorance from any other people who have access to it. Mistakenly plugging a 120V-only appliance into it could be very costly.

And don't let any electrical inspectors see it ...

 

I was alarmed, too. So I looked it up. As long as it's wired correctly, it's OK. If there's already 240 to the box, just used the top diagram. The bottom one is if you run separate 120-240 wiring to the box.

 

Interesting receptacle. However, both of the diagrams posted above show this unusual receptacle wired so the top plug is 120 and the bottom is 240. I can't think of any situation where would be acceptable (code/safety wise) to wire the top (vertical blade) plug for 240 as well.

But of corse it will work fine.

If you are going to wire a 120v outlet as 240, why not just use a normal 15amp 120 outlet? Is it to avoid adding a new box?

 

But if it is wired "correctly", then he isn't getting the desired adapter function, as the desired side gets just 120V. To be used as an adapter, it must be wired "incorrectly".

Yes, it will work just fine for his intended use. Just as long as no one else comes along and assumes it is wired correctly and ends up with a rude surprise. It is one of those things that absolutely must be corrected or disabled when selling the house.

 

Ah! I think I see your point, @rjp123 & @fuzzy1. I was assuming he would wire it correctly. But as I re-read his slightly unclear post, it does look like the intent is to make both outlets 240V. That would be such a bad idea that it didn't occur to me.

@Bowser Barry, if that's what you're thinking of doing, please, please, please don't do it. It's one thing to secure a 120V to 240V adapter to the plug on the EVSE. The EVSE won't care which voltage you connect to. But to feed 240V to a 120V receptacle is almost certainly going to lead to someone eventually plugging a 120V only device into that 240V receptacle that looks like a 120V receptacle.

[edited to fix a typo]

 

@jerrymildred hi planning on getting 2021 prime xle and was wondering if people that did the adapter by Rob are having any problems with charging thier cars. There has been less chatter about it so is it still a good option? I will be running a new 240 line with 10/2 wire to a NEMA 6-20 plug so I can plug in the Megear 2021 Level 2 EV Charger in case the adapter by Rob is not a good option.

 

I have not heard of any issues. Everyone seemed to like them. I don't know why @Rob43 has been MIA lately. He did seem to catch a lot of flack. Maybe he decided it wasn't worth it.

If you do make an adapter for your OEM EVSE, just be sure it's attached to the EVSE and not left in the outlet where someone might mistake it for a 120V source.

Also, as long as your going to the effort and expense of running a 240V line, I'd recommend a 30A line to make it a little more future proof. It's what I did. I have an L2 EVSE, so it pulls about 16A. This way I have lots of headroom and can still use the outlet if I happen to get a car with a little bigger charger even though I have no such plans.

 

Thanks for the reply. Do you use adapter or level 2 charger? The 10/2 wire is rated for 30a so that's what I'm gonna run.

 

The charger is in the car under the back seat. You can choose either an L1 (12A at 120V = 1440VA) or L2 (16A at 240V = 3840VA) EVSE to feed power to it or you can split the difference and use the OEM EVSE with an adapter to provide 12A at 240V = 2880VA.

 

I already have a 14-50 plug installed in my garage 240v 50 amp breaker -- what parts do I need to create the adapter?

 

Just out of curiosity, what is the power factor for the charger? In other words, how close is VA to watts in this usage? Somewhere I heard that for chargers like in the Prime, it is real close to unity (1.0).

 

I don't have a meter to test that. I would guess it's close to unity if it's solid state.

 

Many large-load appliances have been required to apply power factor correction. Big power supplies such as one I designed early in my career (bulletproof but expensive) just can't get away with poor power factors anymore, especially when it is not a cos-theta issue but rather a heavy harmonic issue.

But I was out of that portion of the field a bit before power factor correction became a thing.

 

When I was an industrial electrician, the vast majority of our electrical load was electric motors. They were anywhere from 1/4 hp to 900 hp. Lots in the 100 hp range. We had big banks of power factor correction capacitors.