Burned out wall receptacle and plug. ugh (JuiceBox 40)

[AKgrampy]

It is the strangest thing that people easily spend $60,000 on a car but will try to save a few bucks on the electrical hook up. I saw the same thing with electrical services for new houses here in Alaska. No inspector outside the city and you would regularly see someone building a $200,000 house use old used service entrance equipment.

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[Fixbear]

This is exactly why I like to have a FLIR module around and every once in a while you (or after any unplug/plug cycle) check the installation after charging for at least 45 minutes or so... Note this is my Tesla mobile charger I was checking here going to a Neocharge adaptor. Note how the wall outlet area is not even as hot as the Neocharge (intelligent switching of 1 outlet to 2 devices).

Zule, what temp scale is this. 95C is beyond the normal of 60C, max so I'm assuming it is Fahrenheit.

 

[ZuleMME]

Zule, what temp scale is this. 95C is beyond the normal of 60C, max so I'm assuming it is Fahrenheit.

Yea, Fahrenheit. Perfectly "warm" temps.

 

[Fixbear]

Correct. The Juicebox 40 was supposed to be 40, but maybe it surged or runs hot enough to melt over time.. I mistakenly set the Charge Point to 50 for a short time before lowering it to 40. I could tell at 50 the cable seemed much hotter than usual. These 14-50 receptacles really need to be rated stronger than what people use on washer/dryers. etc.

You should not have be able to set it to 50A. Upon install the electrician is required to lock it below 42A if on a 50 amp curcuit.

 

[Mrn]

I agree, the industrial versions are usually better. Ford makes the point that if you plan on repeatedly plugging in and unplugging from the outlet, make sure it's industrial grade. But another salient point is, no matter what, you need to habitually check the outlet temp with your hand and if it's warm,Ok, if it's hot, you've got a problem. And no matter what, occasionally remove power from the outlet, take the cover off and spray the contacts with contact cleaner and tighten the screws.

 

[Fixbear]

Smelled plastic melting one night and thought is was from the car. Power failure in the charger so tripped the breaker. The charging handle was burning hot. So Unplugged it and tried it again later and seemed to work. The next day the breaker went off again and this time I noticed that the 14-50 plug and receptacle in the garage had completely melted down all the plastic and burned out the whole plug and inside of the 14-50 receptacle. Scary.. thank god there was no house fire.

Removed the plug with a crow bar since it was fused in place, then removed the 14-50 plug and the JuiceBox, and then had an electrician place a new ChargePoint Home charger on the new spot after trimming the burnt areas of the 50 amp wire. Plugged that charger in the mach e and charged fine, except now I felt the cable near the charger and it was quite warm. maybe I never noticed that the charging cable gets pretty warm? Anyway, I have no idea what went wrong since this has been working firn for almost 2 years. I'm afraid to let it charge overnight now. Any thoughts on this?

The fact that the breaker tripped, means that there was a load of either more than 42Amps continuous or a surge load over 50Anps. Either way, the charger has to be condemned till replaced or repaired..

 

[dtbaker61]

Smelled plastic melting one night and thought is was from the car. Power failure in the charger so tripped the breaker. The charging handle was burning hot. So Unplugged it and tried it again later and seemed to work. The next day the breaker went off again and this time I noticed that the 14-50 plug and receptacle in the garage had completely melted down all the plastic and burned out the whole plug and inside of the 14-50 receptacle. Scary.. thank god there was no house fire.

Removed the plug with a crow bar since it was fused in place, then removed the 14-50 plug and the JuiceBox, and then had an electrician place a new ChargePoint Home charger on the new spot after trimming the burnt areas of the 50 amp wire. Plugged that charger in the mach e and charged fine, except now I felt the cable near the charger and it was quite warm. maybe I never noticed that the charging cable gets pretty warm? Anyway, I have no idea what went wrong since this has been working firn for almost 2 years. I'm afraid to let it charge overnight now. Any thoughts on this?

NEMA 14-50 plug/receptacles with 6awg conductors are rated for 50 amp max, but really should NOT be used to charge EVs at anything over 32amps. Especially the molded Plug ends that do not dissipate the heat well.

50-amp rating is for max. current, non-continuous use (less than 3 hours). plug/receptacles have less surface area in contact than a hardware connection, which creates slightly higher resistance, and resultant heat buildup over time is potentially disastrous.

using 14-50 plug/receptacle for charging at 32amps *should* be fine.
hardwired *should* be fine up to 48amps.

 

[dtbaker61]

Yes - Please let us know the brand of the 14-50. It is somewhat well known that cheaper brands (IE - Leviton) are not robust enough to handle the continuous load of an EVSE, especially if you're plugging and unplugging regularly.

Highly recommend you replace with Hubbell or possibly Eaton branded receptacle.

Leviton-R are fine at 32amps.....
Its the molded plug ends that are usually the problem from what I've seen

 

[ZuleMME]

Any 14-50 plug that's using folded metal is suspect in my opinion. Ones that are cast seem to be far higher quality. That said, the issues we see are likely a culmination of multiple higher resistance pieces in combination to generate the heat level that melts it. IE, poor outlet, poor connecting torque + folded metal prongs all in series is just asking for it.

 

[Maquis]

The fact that the breaker tripped, means that there was a load of either more than 42Amps continuous or a surge load over 50Anps. Either way, the charger has to be condemned till replaced or repaired..

It’s worse than that. A breaker is supposed to carry it’s rated load, not trip at it.

 

[DaMeatMan]

Smelled plastic melting one night and thought is was from the car. Power failure in the charger so tripped the breaker. The charging handle was burning hot. So Unplugged it and tried it again later and seemed to work. The next day the breaker went off again and this time I noticed that the 14-50 plug and receptacle in the garage had completely melted down all the plastic and burned out the whole plug and inside of the 14-50 receptacle. Scary.. thank god there was no house fire.

Removed the plug with a crow bar since it was fused in place, then removed the 14-50 plug and the JuiceBox, and then had an electrician place a new ChargePoint Home charger on the new spot after trimming the burnt areas of the 50 amp wire. Plugged that charger in the mach e and charged fine, except now I felt the cable near the charger and it was quite warm. maybe I never noticed that the charging cable gets pretty warm? Anyway, I have no idea what went wrong since this has been working firn for almost 2 years. I'm afraid to let it charge overnight now. Any thoughts on this?

It's always best to hard wire whenever possible, and if not possible you need to spend the money on a proper industrial grade outlet that is designed to actually have that much current draw run continuously, as opposed to what you find at a big box store for $20 that is designed for appliances that only peak at that current momentarily.

 

[ponEpwr]

Yikes!

I wired in the leviton outlet from Home Depot as a back up/spare in case something happens to my hardwired in chargepoint. I used it for a few weeks with the Ford mobile charger without issue. It's probably ok just as a spare on a 32amp charger? I'm thinking I'll swap it out if I have to use it as an everyday outlet down the road though.

 

[OON7]

Just make sure your insurance is paid up.

Here's how it went for me on that one lol....

 

[ponEpwr]

Here's how it went for me on that one lol....

How many amps was your charger set at when that happened?

 

[OON7]

40, reading everything here I'll be dropping down to 32 to be safe.

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