Level 1 Charging

[rsas8991]

Yesterday I saw a YouTube video from Recharge Rescue on the State of Charge channel. In the video Tom discussed the dangers of using a cheap NEMA 14-50 outlet. Because I don't use the car during the week, I park and charge my 2023 MME in my office garage using a 120 outlet. This often takes 3 days to get to 80% SOC. Does anyone think this can be too much of a draw on the outlet and can possibly cause a fire. Any feedback appreciated.

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[RickMachE]

You need to have nothing else on the 15amp circuit you are using.

 

[sukhoi_584th]

You need to have nothing else on the 15amp circuit you are using.

It should be a 20 A circuit unless it's an absolutely ancient garage. The charger only pulls 12 A so it's no problem to have other small intermittent loads like the garage door opener and some LED lights.

OP just feel the plug. If it's hot then have the outlet replaced. I regularly do multi-day L1 charge sessions and the plug never gets past being barely noticably warm.

 

[tbrumleve]

As others have said, generally if there are no other big loads on the same circuit, you’ll be okay. 12A is the max draw. 20A circuit would be better, but 15A will do okay (with the above caveats). The higher danger is the 240V high amp connector. Both can fail the same though.

 

[HuntingPudel]

Residential or commercial-grade outlets, improper torquing of the lugs, and sub-standard circuits are the problem. If this is the episode I am thinking of where a guy had a “professional electrician” install his two EVSEs and one outlet smoked out his garage, they glossed over the fact that the “electrician” repurposed a dryer circuit. Nearly all dryer circuits are 30A circuits (which is something very important that Tom did not mention). Tom mentioned that the wiring was sub-par. I am frankly surprised that the wiring hadn’t barfed on the homeowner before it did, given that the thing had been in place for several years. Even a properly torqued industrial or Ev-rated outlet would have caught fire given the sub-standard wiring.

The takeaway is this: L2 EVSEs draw a lot of juice. The circuits to which they are attached need to be properly engineered, installed, and maintained in order to be safe. Dryer circuits are none of the above.

 

[sglewiswl]

Yesterday I saw a YouTube video from Recharge Rescue on the State of Charge channel. In the video Tom discussed the dangers of using a cheap NEMA 14-50 outlet. Because I don't use the car during the week, I park and charge my 2023 MME in my office garage using a 120 outlet. This often takes 3 days to get to 80% SOC. Does anyone think this can be too much of a draw on the outlet and can possibly cause a fire. Any feedback appreciated.

I charge on L1 exclusively and my garage has 15A . My charger allows me to set the draw to 12A. At 12A I cannot run anything else. When I occasionally need 240v I have a 30A 240v in my utility room and set the charger to 24A. Just like the EV battery heat is the enemy and the lower the draw, the less heat you will generate.

 

[rsas8991]

I charge on L1 exclusively and my garage has 15A . My charger allows me to set the draw to 12A. At 12A I cannot run anything else. When I occasionally need 240v I have a 30A 240v in my utility room and set the charger to 24A. Just like the EV battery heat is the enemy and the lower the draw, the less heat you will generate.

Thank you for the reply. I am using the Ford Mobile Charger that came with the car. I don't think you can adjust the charge amperage on this device. I don't know the breaker size on the circuit but it's in a garage and is GFCI. I did speak with the super who said if I felt more comfortable, I can purchase a better receptacle, and he would swap it out. Maybe this is a wise course of action.

 

[RickMachE]

Thank you for the reply. I am using the Ford Mobile Charger that came with the car. I don't think you can adjust the charge amperage on this device. I don't know the breaker size on the circuit but it's in a garage and is GFCI. I did speak with the super who said if I felt more comfortable, I can purchase a better receptacle, and he would swap it out. Maybe this is a wise course of action.

The Mach-E charger will pull 12amps. I wouldn't buy a different receptacle.

 

[sglewiswl]

Thank you for the reply. I am using the Ford Mobile Charger that came with the car. I don't think you can adjust the charge amperage on this device. I don't know the breaker size on the circuit but it's in a garage and is GFCI. I did speak with the super who said if I felt more comfortable, I can purchase a better receptacle, and he would swap it out. Maybe this is a wise course of action.

If your receptacle is the only one on the circuit you should be fine. According to this doc from another thread the 120 is 12 A. That is similar to what I see. I use a 3rd party Lectron chargers. I chose them because I can set the draw. I suspect some do it automatically.

 

[rad1234]

Yesterday I saw a YouTube video from Recharge Rescue on the State of Charge channel. In the video Tom discussed the dangers of using a cheap NEMA 14-50 outlet. Because I don't use the car during the week, I park and charge my 2023 MME in my office garage using a 120 outlet. This often takes 3 days to get to 80% SOC. Does anyone think this can be too much of a draw on the outlet and can possibly cause a fire. Any feedback appreciated.

If the office garage is yours, take the cover off the outlets and see if the wire going into it are looped around the screws or pushed into the little slot in the back. The slots do not have as much contact with the wires, so they may overheat even at 12 amps even if it is a 20-amp circuit. My garage was set up this way, and the outlet was very warm to the touch. I rewired the four outlets on the circuit and now they are just barely warm.

I use a 240-volt charger but wanted to have the 120-volt for a backup. I had a 50-amp circuit installed but derated the charger to 24 amps out of an abundance of caution.

 

[rhougey]

Thank you for the reply. I am using the Ford Mobile Charger that came with the car. I don't think you can adjust the charge amperage on this device. I don't know the breaker size on the circuit but it's in a garage and is GFCI. I did speak with the super who said if I felt more comfortable, I can purchase a better receptacle, and he would swap it out. Maybe this is a wise course of action.

As Rick said, no reason to buy a new receptacle if you don’t suspect a possible problem. However, if the existing receptacle looks at all like its old and crusty or if the plug slides in too easily, I would go on and replace it. It should have a tight grip on the plug. Also, as has already been suggested, if it feels at all hot to the touch after the cars been charging a couple hours, and if you do have it replaced, I would also recommend side-wiring as has been mentioned already.

 

[R/L]

Monday, I took delivery of my first EV, a Mach-E Premium EX!

Installed the included charger in my garage. Using 110v L1 for now. I have 20A feeding my garage but I pulled the receptacle to inspect and found a cheap 15A. I replaced it with a commercial grade 20A.

Had an electrician buddy of mine come and look at my setup with a goal of eventually installing a 50A circuit. He said I'm fine for now charging with what I have.

Looking forward to the journey and new challenges of EV ownership.

 

[sglewiswl]

Monday, I took delivery of my first EV, a Mach-E Premium EX!

Installed the included charger in my garage. Using 110v L1 for now. I have 20A feeding my garage but I pulled the receptacle to inspect and found a cheap 15A. I replaced it with a commercial grade 20A.

Had an electrician buddy of mine come and look at my setup with a goal of eventually installing a 50A circuit. He said I'm fine for now charging with what I have.

Looking forward to the journey and new challenges of EV ownership.

Good for you. Mine's charging on L1 right now. It looks like you are in MI, if you are on DTE look at your peak vs off peak hours. Way cheaper to charge off peak and the weekend Fri evening to Monday morning are off peak. I do my long charges on the weekend.

 

[R/L]

Good for you. Mine's charging on L1 right now. It looks like you are in MI, if you are on DTE look at your peak vs off peak hours. Way cheaper to charge off peak and the weekend Fri evening to Monday morning are off peak. I do my long charges on the weekend.

I'm not on DTE. I did send an email to my utility asking if they had any EV charge programs. None available. I'm on a municipal utility and the rates are lower overall than surrounding areas. So, I got that going for me.

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