Ants in my EVSE?!?

[Tadol]

Wife plugged in tonight but after a few minutes noticed the lights on her car started flashing an error signal. Tried it a couple times, same result. Went into the utility room, and I have alot of ants in and around my AV EVSE -

Is it possible that the ants have gotten into the relay and are preventing it from closing properly? Should I flip the breaker, take it apart and clean all the ants out and when I put it back together seal it up with some sealing tape or caulking? Anyone else have to keep ant traps in their EVSE?

Not a problem I need at the moment -

 

[Dsinned]

That's a new one on me. What EVSE are you using?

 

[4EVEREV]

The AV units are pretty sealed up. I doubt that is the issue. Are all three lights on the car flashing at the same time?

 

[Tadol]

Yeah - I opened it up and realized that there was a rubber seal so no insects made it into the EVSE - which was almost unfortunate, because I reasoned I'd clean their roasted little bodies out of my relay and everything would be fine. Since that wasn't the case, I called the Aerovironment service number and explained the problem. They had me try a "reset" on the EVSE by holding in the start and stop buttons at the same time, but that didn't fix it. Luckily (?) there is a 3 years parts and labor warranty on the unit, so they should take care of it -

But the tech was supposed to call me today to schedule it, and I never got a call -

Hopefully tomorrow- got 2 EVs that need that unit operational - and I am going to have an outlet put in in parallel to the EVSE so I can plug in my Jesla if it happens again.

 

[miimura]

Hopefully tomorrow- got 2 EVs that need that unit operational - and I am going to have an outlet put in in parallel to the EVSE so I can plug in my Jesla if it happens again.

I hope you mis-spoke here. The only safe way to put an outlet is to change the AV EVSE to plug-in connection. That way you can unplug it and plug in the Jesla instead. More sticky questions - what breaker size do you have and is there an existing neutral wire? If there is no neutral, you should put a 6-50 socket. However, then you either need a 6-50 adapter for the Jesla which is hard to find, or you need to make an adapter from 6-50 to 14-30. Yes, 14-30 because if you put a 14-50 the RAV and Jesla will pull 40A and it will trip your breaker. You will be stuck with 24A charging on the Jesla if you have a 40A breaker.

 

[Tadol]

Hmmm - much too complicated. I'll rethink the plug, and just put one in at the warehouse -

But the tech came out and put in a new unit for me, and everything is working great! We even moved it a couple feet and mounted it on the exterior of the house, and now the cord will reach either EV without the extension.

But if someone comes by some night and steals my J1772 and the cord, well - I told you so! (It was the only reason I had the unit mounted in a closet under the front stairs before)