Is regular 40A Charging Safe for my Rav?

[gmcmurry]

I came across the LEFAN Level 2 40 Amp Charger. (available a variety of places, Amazon, Ebay)
I have been using the Jesla Charger with a variety of adapters and it is great.

I wanted to make a sort of permanent hookup at home and take the Jesla around with me because it has such a nice variety of hookup configurations.

I hadn't heard of anyone charging their Rav4 EV with a 40 Amp J1772, so I wonder if there is a reason.

I tried it on my own Rav and it seems to be fine. I am indeed pulling 40 Amps @ 240. I have a 50A RV plug in my garage which has a current monitor. When you plug it in, the current goes up slowly and levels off at just about exactly 40 Amps.

There is a part of me that hopes, through some further investigation, I might find the current is adjustable. I might not want to pull 40 Amps from my home panel every time I charge the car. If it is at a time of day where my home AC is on, and maybe one or two of my pool pumps, I will be pulling a hell of a load.

I would be interested in any of your thoughts.

Greg

 

[miimura]

I have had a Leviton 40A EVSE since I first got the RAV in April 2013. I think I paid like $900 for it. I used to use the car's timer to charge off-peak in the middle of the night. As some point, I got the JuicePlug and its timer and current control is nice to have, but it's kind of primitive. For example, it has to let the car draw full current for a few minutes when you first plug it in so that it can boot up, connect to the internet and find the settings. Then it goes to sleep until its supposed to charge.

If I was going to buy something now, I would buy a JuiceBox or ChargePoint Home unit. Having the ability to charge at 40A is nice, but I would routinely charge at 32A.

I also have a 1st Generation Jesla and used it to charge our e-Golf daily for 2+ years until we returned it at the end of lease. Now it's just the travel cord for the RAV and hasn't been used in the 3 years that we've had the Model 3.

 

[alflash]

Try to implant the circuit for change the pilot-signal* duty cycle. This will make it possible to regulate the charging current.
* https://code.google.com/archive/p/open-evse/wikis/J1772Basics.wiki

 

[asavage]

I use a 2017-vintage OpenEVSE, set for 40A. I keep thinking I'll use its scheduler to tailor the time and rate, but 3.5 years on . . . still haven't gotten around to it. It just works.

If the battery is warm and fairly discharged, I see 40A pulled for a while. I also charge weekly at one end of a 80 mile round-trip to visit a relative, and I installed a second OpenEVSE 40A at her house. When I arrive, I plug in immediately (so I can run the heater full blast on the ride home, if I wish), and it generally tops out at 38A: the battery isn't all that discharged, though warm enough to charge.