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I am considering buying the PHEV, does anyone know the length of the included 110 plug in cord?
Anyone know the longest extension cord you can use?I have a heavy duty 50' extension cord I plug into since I don't have a nearby socket and that works just fine.
Anyone know the longest extension cord you can use?
Included charger needs 8-12 amps.Anyone know the longest extension cord you can use?
Per code, all modern homes use 12g for 20a circuits and 14g for 15a circuits.the size of the wire inside your house is more dependant on the lenght of the cable run. I would highly doubt that any house is wired with 12g wire. More than likely it is 16
They say to not use an extension cord at all. But that instruction is written by lawyers. So, that said I've been plugging mine into a 50ft long, 14awg extension cord, and had no problems. Not warm to the touch or anything. No faults or slow charges, it works exactly the same as plugging it into the wall. (After all, the wiring inside your wall is basically an extension cord, too.)Anyone know the longest extension cord you can use?
Great infoIncluded charger needs 8-12 amps.Anyone know the longest extension cord you can use?
50 ft 16 gauge should work fine.
https://www.homedepot.com/c/factors_to_consider_when_choosing_extension_cords_HT_BG_EL
I've seen a lot of household circuits that that were 15 amp and 14 gauge wire. I've even seen installations that used 3 wire cable, and connected two of the wires to each of the hot legs of a 240 V supply, and then shared the neutral return, in order to feed a number of 120V circuits with one cable rather than two. Apparently the technique is NEC compliant, but I don't like to cut corners quite that hard.Great subject. Most household circuits are 20 amp. Take a look at your breaker panel. 20 amp circuits require, as previously mentioned, 12 gauge wire. Probably the lawyers would say no extension cord at all but the shorter the better and the larger the wire, the better. 16 gauge is smaller than 12.
You would think that there is no problem with a 16 amp max charger on a 20 amp circuit and there likely isn't; but what else is on that 20 amp circuit?
The margin can be improved by reducing the charge level through settings on the car. but here is always another BUT. If you use an aftermarket charger, it may not reduce charging current despite changing the car setting. You won't know without timing the charge or using a meter of some sort.
Has anyone found a cheap aftermarket charger that can be controlled by the car? I have a cheap Ebay one but am afraid to use it since my 20 amp circuits are 50+ years old, I haven't figured out what else might be on the circuit I use and the charger will only charge at 16 amps.
This technique is used in kitchens mostly. On the electrical plug there are two sockets and a metal tab that ties the upper and lower together. When they run a 3wire and plug in the black and red, they break this tab making the top and bottom use a different wire. This allows you to say run an electric kettle on the top part, and a coffee maker on the bottom at the same time. if you had it running off a single wire, the load would be more than the 15 amps and it would blow the breaker. You must remember that a breaker is not to protect a device that is plugged in, but the wire that is running inside the wall.I've seen a lot of household circuits that that were 15 amp and 14 gauge wire. I've even seen installations that used 3 wire cable, and connected two of the wires to each of the hot legs of a 240 V supply, and then shared the neutral return, in order to feed a number of 120V circuits with one cable rather than two. Apparently the technique is NEC compliant, but I don't like to cut corners quite that hard.
Not necessarily. Breakers and outlets are easy to change while rewiring a circuit correctly is a lot of work. If you are concerned about the wiring or just have doubts, it's probably worth taking a look at. If you are handy, you can check the wiring yourself at the breaker panel and in the outlet box to see if it's up to code for the circuit. Otherwise, having a professional look at it might not be a bad idea. As someone mentioned up thread, the breaker is there to protect the wiring, not the thing that's plugged into it. If the breaker is oversized for the circuit there is an increased risk of fire or other major problems. That would suck.I'm not sure the convention was in common use in 1964. I wonder if a 20 amp breaker is sufficient evidence the wiring is sufficient.