New owner- GFI outlet or not?

[Sptgolf]

Hi all,
I'm the proud new owner of a silver 2016 SE. I'm confused n the charging instructions. In the VW manual it says I must plug my charger into a GFI outlet and NOT to use a conventional AC outlet. However in the Delphi portable charger manual it doesn't say that.

To further complicate things, my GFI outlet in the garage is shared with 3 bathrooms and hairdryers, curling irons, etc. I'm concerned abut the amp draw at night.

I have a non GFI outlet in the garage as well that has less traffic on the circuit.

Do you guys all use a GFI outlet with the portable Delphi charger?

Thanks

 

[JoulesThief]

Use the GFI outlet. If the stock 120V charging system proves problematic with the rest of the house, find a way to add a 240V dedicated branch circuit outlet. Then add a 240V EVSE. Your car will only take 15 amps, be it 120V, 208V or 240V, because you possibly bought the cheapest charge controller version of the LE edition, unless you got the 7.2 kwh and CCS charger option for an additional $1600 sticker price, about $31,000. Your next electric car will have more range, and more battery capacity, requiring probably 240V at 30 amps, 40 amps or even possibly 50 amps current draw, because it will have the larger 7.2kwh or perhaps even by then a 10kwh charger pack.

So go back to your main electric panel and pray that your house is newer and has a 200 amp main panel, so that you can install the dedicated branch circuit in 240V.

 

[Sptgolf]

Thanks for the reply. Yes I have the 3.3kw charger. I am looking at level 2 chargers but I'm going to wait a week or two and see. This is my commuter and the daily use is less than 60 miles. Pretty sure I can get that in 12-13 hours. I also have a backup vehicle.

Set up delayed charging and it seems to be working ok so far. It seems to start at off peak times for the days I just need to "top off" so I set up separate departure times with different charging locations and i disabled "off peak" on the days when I know I need more juice. Ill report back in a week.

 

[JoulesThief]

I believe e-Golf SE's come with a 3.6kwh charger stock, not 3.3 or 3.2

 

[Porker]

Even if you decide to keep the stock 110 portable charger, I would suggest a dedicated circuit for it, like you would for any high current appliance. A washer, refrigerator, and garbage disposal are typically on their own circuit's to avoid overloading, and an EVSE runs at even higher current and usually for longer periods of time.

I believe that the Delphi unit has internal ground fault protection, so probably not completely necessary to use it on a GFI circuit. But, it's definitely not a bad idea, and either way you'll want to avoid using an extension cord.

Also, these days most garage receptacles are GFI protected, even if they appear to be a standard outlets. Sometimes it's protected on the circuit breaker itself, sometimes it is further up the circuit on a different outlet. As long as it is correctly wired, your garage outlet may be GFI protected already. This is less likely to be true if you have an older home.

 

[nsayer]

Using a GFI outlet for an EVSE is redundant. EVSEs have their own ground fault interruption capabilities. Moreover, EVSEs are supposed to have ground continuity monitoring functions that in general are incompatible with upstream GFIs (though the leakage current can be limited to an amount that won't trip most GFIs).

Unless your EVSE's GCM function leaks too much current (OpenEVSE is one such culprit, though my own OpenEVSE II variant doesn't), you can use it with a GFI outlet, but if the GFI trips when you start charging, then that's likely the reason.

Using an EVSE on a non-dedicated circuit is not a good idea, unless you can be sure that you won't exceed 80% of the circuit's rating continuously throughout charging. In other words, if you can force your EVSE to derate further than 20% - say down to 12A for a 20A breaker - and just make sure you don't use high-current devices, like toaster ovens, hair dryers, etc on the same circuit, then you'll probably be ok.

Of course, at 1.44 kW, your eGolf would take almost 3/4 of a day to charge from empty...

 

[Sptgolf]

@Joules - Yes, my main panel is a 200 amp panel, and it has a 60 amp sub panel for a detached guest room, a 90 amp sub panel for my far side garage along with other breakers.

The far side garage is where I'd like to put a new 50 amp breaker and plug in ESVE to future proof. On the sub panel there is already a 40 amp breaker for the upstairs AC, a 50 amp breaker for the downstairs AC, a 30 amp breaker for the unused dryer (plug is inside house), and 5 15 amp breakers and 3 20 amp breakers. It seems the total amps on the breakers is already way above the 90 amp breaker on the main panel.

I'm considering a few options:

-repurpose the unused 30 amp breaker and install a 14-30 plug inside the garage by the panel

-install a new 30 amp breaker and plug

-install a new 50 amp breaker and 14-50 plug

Not sure if it's ok to have a higher amp ESVE on that sub panel, although practically it should be fine if everything is not on at the same time. Need to get an electrician to look at it.

 

[JoulesThief]

@Joules - Yes, my main panel is a 200 amp panel, and it has a 60 amp sub panel for a detached guest room, a 90 amp sub panel for my far side garage along with other breakers.

The far side garage is where I'd like to put a new 50 amp breaker and plug in ESVE to future proof. On the sub panel there is already a 40 amp breaker for the upstairs AC, a 50 amp breaker for the downstairs AC, a 30 amp breaker for the unused dryer (plug is inside house), and 5 15 amp breakers and 3 20 amp breakers. It seems the total amps on the breakers is already way above the 90 amp breaker on the main panel.

I'm considering a few options:

-repurpose the unused 30 amp breaker and install a 14-30 plug inside the garage by the panel

-install a new 30 amp breaker and plug

-install a new 50 amp breaker and 14-50 plug

Not sure if it's ok to have a higher amp ESVE on that sub panel, although practically it should be fine if everything is not on at the same time. Need to get an electrician to look at it.

I am pretty sure if you are going to run a 14-50 NEMA outlet and box, it needs to be on a dedicated branch circuit line. If you plan on pulling 40 amps from your EVSE on that circuit, the max allowed, to future proof, I'd insist that your electrician pull 6 gauge copper wire, to minimize voltage loss and heat generation being generated and wasted by the wiring. Just a FYI. Don't cut corners and do it right the first time, wire is cheap, labor to repull is not.

 

[2doors]

a 30 amp breaker for the unused dryer (plug is inside house),

I'm considering a few options:

-repurpose the unused 30 amp breaker and install a 14-30 plug inside the garage by the panel

This is what I did. I too had an un-used 30A dryer circuit. For ~$20 in parts, I ran it outside to the driveway and got myself a Clipper Creek EVSE (the cheapest 240V one I think). Since I too have an SE, it matches the 3.6kW charge rate of my car.

 

[Sptgolf]

@2Doors, do you use delayed charging with your Clipper Creek? I'm assuming it's an LCP-20 or 25?

Thanks.

 

[JoulesThief]

@2Doors, do you use delayed charging with your Clipper Creek? I'm assuming it's an LCP-20 or 25?

Thanks.

Did you try using google or doing a search here?

http://www.myvwegolf.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=715

 

[2doors]

@2Doors, do you use delayed charging with your Clipper Creek? I'm assuming it's an LCP-20 or 25?

Thanks.

I have an LCS-20P, and no, I haven't tried delayed charging with it.