Egolf 2017 not charging through home 110c outlet

[Clarkster7]

I just purchased 2017 egolf and have tried to charge it using standard 110v outlet. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to work for me. The green on light on the charging cable is solid green when I connect to wall but when I connect to car after a few moments or a few minutes it starts flashing along with the top left hand red warning light. From the users guide, this appears to mean that the outlet is not grounded properly. It is an old house but I haven’t had any other problems with electrics. Any ideas on how to proceed? I have had the green charging light work in car for a few minutes before the fault comes on but generally it happens very shortly after connecting. I tried to upload photographs of the lights but I get a message file is too large.

 

[f1geek]

Congrats on the e-Golf. I love my e-Golf and have successfully charged it many, many times on L1. I suspect since you have an old house this particular receptacle may have a bad ground or the hot and neutral wires are incorrectly wired. Also, it is best if you use a GFCI outlet for the L1 EVSE, though you should be able to manage without a GFCI. EVSEs are picky and need to have good wiring to function properly. Get a receptacle tester to check your outlet. Also, try an outlet on another circuit that you know is wired properly.

 

[Clarkster7]

Thanks for tip. I tried connected to two different outlets but with same result. I do have GFCI in kitchen but not in garage. One solution would be to get GFCI outlet installed in garage. Any idea on cost for this?

 

[f1geek]

A GFCI makes an ungrounded outlet safer for you and whatever you plug into it, but if the EVSE is looking for ground on the ground pin, then a GFCI wired to an ungrounded circuit will not help you charge. It sounds like you need to get a receptacle tester (cheap- probably under $20) to determine if the outlet you choose has a ground and is wired correctly. By code any new outlet in a wet area like kitchen or garage or outside needs to be GFCI.

 

[Clarkster7]

Thanks. I will try that. I tried two different outlets so don’t know whether this is general problem with electrics in house but I suppose receptacle tester would tell me.

 

[f1geek]

It is certainly possible there are no grounded circuits in your house, and then you would need an electrician to help. I bet you have a grounded circuit somewhere, but it may not be very convenient to charge your car.

 

[Clarkster7]

I will have an electrician come out but I wondered if the settings in echargjng manager make a difference. It is set at max at mekmwbt but I see other ampage ranging from 13A down?

 

[f1geek]

The L1 EVSE you describe maxes out at 10 amps, and that’s already pretty slow, but you could certainly try charging at 5 amps. I doubt it will help, but you might as well try.

As long as the electrician is at your house, you should also get a quote for a 240 V circuit (50 amp if your panel has capacity, or even 30 amps if possible).

 

[Clarkster7]

Success! I was able to get it charge from an outlet above my washer. I have another query. If I do get 240v circuit installed, then do I need a different charger or can I still use the one that came with car. If I can use one with car, then I would need an adapter for plug ad they have different plugs. I was thinking of using the 240v outlet from dryer as cheaper option but would still need adapter plug if I can use the same charging cable. If an adapter is an option, where could I get one?

 

[f1geek]

Great to hear you found a properly wired, grounded circuit!

You can not use the L1 EVSE that came with the car on a 240V circuit. You will need to purchase a 240V EVSE (Level 2 or L2) to charge your car at 240V. The included L1 EVSE charges at 1.2 kW but you could charge as quickly as 7 kW (240V, 30 amps) with an L2 EVSE, if your dryer circuit is 40 amps. You NEVER want to pull more than 80% of the circuit rated amperage. If you have a 30 amp dryer circuit, then the maximum continuous amps you can pull is 24 amps, but that still works out to 5.76 kW, which is almost 5 times faster than the L1 EVSE.

Do NOT get an adapter plug for your L1 EVSE as 1 as it is not designed to take 240V, as far as I am aware, and you don't want to start an electrical fire.

Yes, you can use your dryer plug. There are products on the market now that allow you to plug both your dryer and a L2 EVSE into the dryer plug but the device will give priority to the dryer when drying clothes and otherwise let your car charge when the dryer is not running. These devices cost around $400-$500 and is a great idea for you to avoid using an electrician and also not taking up more space in your breaker box. You do not want to be constantly plugging and unplugging devices on a 240V receptacle because it will quickly wear out and lead to sparking and potentially a fire. It is much safer to buy a smart sharing device (below) so you can "set it and forget it" and not need to repeatedly plug and unplug devices.

Tom Moloughney reviewed these devices (on you tube) for using an L2 EVSE with your dryer:

Look at these:

https://www.splitvolt.com/splitter-switches/
https://www.getneocharge.com/

 

[Clarkster7]

Thanks. I like the splitvolt splitter switch and they also offer a charging cable so total cost on Amazon would be $618. The alternative is to get a 240V dedicated circuit which would cost probably a lot more but would be more convenient in that cable wouldn’t need to go into house but would run out of garage. I will check with electrician on quote to see price difference.

 

[f1geek]

Sounds good. Best of luck! I live in CA where it is common to have a dryer in the garage (in my case, right near the garage door, too). I can see it would be inconvenient if your dryer is not in your garage.

 

[Clarkster7]

It would only be for relatively short periods of time so I think I could live with it rather than pay electrician a big fee to install outlet in garage. Is there enough juice to run dryer and charge at same time? I wouldn’t want to trip circuits

 

[f1geek]

No, not enough juice. That is why the “smart” splitter only sends power to either your car or the dryer (never both at the same time), with the dryer getting priority.