Level 2 Charger on 20a Circuit

[buddhaauthor]

Hi all,

So, my Level 1 EVSE was stolen from outside my house, today.

I need to replace it and I just found an old Leviton EVB22-3PT Evr-Green 160 on sale at Amazon for only $100 (a heckuvalot better deal than the $250 used Level 1 EVSEs on eBay!). My plan is to use it on the 20a circuit my garage door is on (making sure not to use them at the same time). I would replace the current receptacle with a NEMO 6-20P one from the hardware store, and use the Leviton until I'm ready to upgrade to a 40a unit (and ready to spend the money on an electrician to install it).

Please say that works!

 

[tiburonh]

Hi all,

So, my Level 1 EVSE was stolen from outside my house, today.

I need to replace it and I just found an old Leviton EVB22-3PT Evr-Green 160 on sale at Amazon for only $100 (a heckuvalot better deal than the $250 used Level 1 EVSEs on eBay!). My plan is to use it on the 20a circuit my garage door is on (making sure not to use them at the same time). I would replace the current receptacle with a NEMO 6-20P one from the hardware store, and use the Leviton until I'm ready to upgrade to a 40a unit (and ready to spend the money on an electrician to install it).

Please say that works!

 

[tiburonh]

Hi all,

So, my Level 1 EVSE was stolen from outside my house, today.

I need to replace it and I just found an old Leviton EVB22-3PT Evr-Green 160 on sale at Amazon for only $100 (a heckuvalot better deal than the $250 used Level 1 EVSEs on eBay!). My plan is to use it on the 20a circuit my garage door is on (making sure not to use them at the same time). I would replace the current receptacle with a NEMO 6-20P one from the hardware store, and use the Leviton until I'm ready to upgrade to a 40a unit (and ready to spend the money on an electrician to install it).

Please say that works!

I'm not an electrician, but this sounds sketchy to me. Yes this (now nearly antique) model Leviton 16 amp EVSE should work on your 20 amp circuit (though I can't vouch for whether or not the NEMO plug you are thinking about is correct), but it seems risky to assume that no one will ever, ever open the garage door while you are in the midst of charging you car.

Above and beyond that, this unit is more of a "level 1.5" (or even level 1.25) unit than a Level Two unit. My understanding is that its maximum charging speed is only about 3.6KW/hour, which is faster than Level One but only a little more than half of the speed that the Soul EV's internal charger is capable of handling on Level Two.

Again, I am not an electrician so please take these comments more as a suggestion that you should explore this further more than a definitive "OMG don't do this" recommendation.

 

[notfred]

The level refers to the voltage, level 1 is 120V, level 2 is 240V and level 3 is high voltage DC.

In North America I've only seen 120V garage door openers. If you had a 240V 20A outlet for a welder or compressor then you could use that for the EVSE, but you can't change a standard 120V outlet into a 240V outlet without running new wiring to it.

 

[UberGandalf]

notfred is correct. Unfortunately this won't work.
http://www.leviton.com/OA_HTML/ibcG...=3QzDo0S36bdCFNJGxFwWEg&label=IBE&appName=IBE
This charger requires 240V input and your garage opener receptacle is 120V. You would have to have new wiring from your panel to the receptacle.
In a nutshell, a 120V outlet is connected between ONE of the 2 live legs in the distribution panel and the neutral.
A 240V outlet is connected to both live legs in the panel.

 

[buddhaauthor]

Thanks, guys.

I've explored the garage since posting and I discovered a subpanel with open breaker slots 15 feet from where I would mount the charger! I'm very happy. All I need is a bi-pole 40a breaker, some 10 gauge wiring and conduit, and the right receptacle and I can install a proper Level 2 charger on its own circuit. I'm going to start a new thread asking for current recommendations.