Leviton EVB32-M8 EVSE L2 Charger

[Dsinned]

Anybody have any opinions on getting a Leviton EVSE L2?

Tomorrow, I am going to install a Leviton EVB32-M5 ($1099, Home Depot) rated at 240Vac, 32A (7.7kW) in my garage. I am hooking it up to a spare 240V 40A dedicated circuit at my breaker box on the side of my house. I also got the installation kit, EVK32M ($79, Home Depot).

This particular charging station has a very bulky 25' long charging cable with a J1772 connector. The cable has 8AWG conductors, and a 12" NEMA 6-50P plug-in input cable. The charging station weighs a whooping 35 lbs, but is designed to be mounted vertically on a wall with using the mounting plate that comes with the installation kit. There is a cable holder beneath the main unit for coiling the slack in the charging cable so it does not lay on the floor. This product seems of very high quality and well designed.

As most of us know, in California, we qualify for reduced TOU "off peak" electric rates; at least those of us in Northern CA where PG&E operates residential utility services. The tier 1 baseline rate is only 3.7 cents per kWh between Midnight and 7am. A full charge ~44 to 52kWh (standard vs. extended) would therefore cost less than 2 bucks per charge and should take ~6.5 hours; maybe more depending on the AC line voltage and IR losses thru the 25' long cable and efficiency of the RAV4 EV's built-in AC/DC charger.

 

[aramps]

I know this is not timely to help Dsinned but I just self installed an EVB40 (also bought from Home Despot, and dropped shipped from Leviton post haste). Install was quick and easy. I modded the case to suit my needs (moved the location and orientation of the plug) and ran a 50 amp circuit from the panel to a 240V outdoor outlet just close enough to reach the EV when parked in the driveway.

Frustratingly the charger handle seemed to have been damaged (internally) via a short drop (<3ft) - it now no longer charges, nor shows fault status. Significantly the car does "see" the charger. The pilot line shows 12V (which is why the car sees it I am guessing) but it's not registering the voltage drop/resistance I am guessing that either something came loose with the drop (i.e. bad connection) or that the switch inside the handle failed as a result of it.

After switching off the circuit breaker I opened it up and noticed nothing obviously wrong (nothing broken, no disconnected wires), did a quick "push all connections to re-establish connections" check, and reassembled it, but still no dice.

I called Leviton's Toyota specific line. Let me tell you first and foremost, I was very happy with their help and advice. A real person who really knew what they were talking about on the phone is a lost art these days. I indicated that I'd prefer instructions to fix it myself rather than a service call or replacement unit. I got a follow up call from a local rep the next day (yesterday). They indicated they were talking about my request but needed mgmt buy in for what I was asking for.

They assured me that this would be covered under warranty regardless, but they'd let me know today how they'd handle it.

I doubt they're going to willingly let me play with (relatively) high voltage equipment, but I'm glad that they're considering it and they really a making a good impression on the customer service.

So, from my data point, this is a win and I recommend it. I do wish there some more info on the ability to draw data from the box (there are clearly terminals that are providing some system measurement in their PCB). I'm going to be building my own EVSE via open EVSE here in the coming weeks so I can have some web-enabled data access. I'll update that elsewhere when the time comes.

 

[TonyWilliams]

The proximity signal resistors (150 ohm and 330 ohm) are in the handle. When you dropped it, I suspect there was an issue here.

When you push the button, you should show 150 + 330 = 480 ohms. Otherwise, it should show 150.

 

[aramps]

Just following up on this thread.

It was not the drop that caused a problem - apparently I overheated the wires inside the box - possibly as a result of re-positioning the mains cord so it would hang the way I wanted it without having to tweak the angle.

First of all, let me say that Leviton has frankly been awesome about all of this and they deserve a lot of credit for being cooler than I would have thought a giant company could be.

If I could do it all over again I'd replace the 10 gauge wires inside the box with 6 or some such - it's quite likely that the problem was caused by inadequate connection as it wraps through the induction/choke coil. Leviton tech said it's fine to run 6 gauge 40 amp 240 volt if the wire is rated to (as I recollect) 90C. Fine, I'd be happier with a bigger wire anyway.

They did indicate that I voided my warranty by opening the box (duh!) but gave me the option of taking the old one back or keeping the one that was already temporarily installed. I opted for reducing the shipping costs even though I'll still have to open this one up and make it the way I want (with bigger wires to boot).

It was very interesting to me that the voltage was sufficient to see the car even though one wire was toast - I'd've thought that a bad leg would show a fault.

Again, props to Leviton for being so cool - it's obvious they're learning about their product in the real world and seeking to really understand things so they can make things right on a forward going basis.

 

[Naveed123]

off peak" electric rates; at least those of us in Northern CA where PG&E operates residential utility services. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[Dsinned]

As the warranty is almost up, I modded mine to wire it to an inexpensive (~$10 on ebay), reasonably accurate, external electrical measuring and display device. The display has LCD readouts for both ACV (up to 300V) and current (up to 100A) with dual LCD readouts. While charging my RAV4 EV, the readouts generally indicate up to 240V and 32.0A (~7.7kW). Of course, this is normal and to be expected. This indicating device is quite small with digital readouts that are still large enough to be seen from about 10' away, even in the dark, because it has a backlighted display window. IMHO, something like this should have been included in Leviton's design, as part of the front panel, because it very inexpensively provides what I feel is useful electrical output ACV and current information while charging a vehicle!