On a lark, I was wondering if I could charge Erin’s PHEV from our generator.
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@caseyliss Heads up, many generators have a floating earth terminal (not bonded to neutral). The charger will detect this as a fault and refuse to charge to prevent the body of the car to end up at live potential and hurt the user. Further googling is advised
@vpermar Yeah, I wouldn’t generally try to charge Erin’s car off this, but I wanted to see if I could (on a lark) and noticed the generator specifically says that it has a floating ground near the outlets.
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@caseyliss NEMA 6-20P versus 5-20P. One is rated for 250V, the other for 125V.
@xinmyname @caseyliss extending that correct assertion, the L14-30 twistlock on the right can be adapted to what you need. In Canada, Princess Auto would probably have it, so I guess Harbour Freight down there?
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@caseyliss Heads up, many generators have a floating earth terminal (not bonded to neutral). The charger will detect this as a fault and refuse to charge to prevent the body of the car to end up at live potential and hurt the user. Further googling is advised
@vpermar @caseyliss My #F150Lightning with a cheap Vevor EVSE had no trouble on an inverter type generator... but that's a good thought.
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On a lark, I was wondering if I could charge Erin’s PHEV from our generator. I never would, but I was curious.
At first glance, I thought I was golden. Everything lined up when it was facing me.
Then I went to plug in and realized the vertical and horizontal terminals were switched compared to the outlet.
What gives?
@caseyliss I don’t know anything about this but my guess is that it is failing successfully to keep you from burning something down.
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On a lark, I was wondering if I could charge Erin’s PHEV from our generator. I never would, but I was curious.
At first glance, I thought I was golden. Everything lined up when it was facing me.
Then I went to plug in and realized the vertical and horizontal terminals were switched compared to the outlet.
What gives?
@caseyliss Handy chart I always refer to (google "NEMA outlet chart"). Since I have an RV (NEMA 14-50), a (B)EV (also 14-50), a tumbledryer (14-30), and a homemade 240V outlet box with British outlets to use with tools I brought from the UK (that fits both 14-30 and 14-50 -- yes, SUPER up to code, lol).
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@caseyliss Handy chart I always refer to (google "NEMA outlet chart"). Since I have an RV (NEMA 14-50), a (B)EV (also 14-50), a tumbledryer (14-30), and a homemade 240V outlet box with British outlets to use with tools I brought from the UK (that fits both 14-30 and 14-50 -- yes, SUPER up to code, lol).
@leoncowle @caseyliss Why isn't that twist one here?
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On a lark, I was wondering if I could charge Erin’s PHEV from our generator. I never would, but I was curious.
At first glance, I thought I was golden. Everything lined up when it was facing me.
Then I went to plug in and realized the vertical and horizontal terminals were switched compared to the outlet.
What gives?
@caseyliss It was a real shame when you exploded, buddy.
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@caseyliss Handy chart I always refer to (google "NEMA outlet chart"). Since I have an RV (NEMA 14-50), a (B)EV (also 14-50), a tumbledryer (14-30), and a homemade 240V outlet box with British outlets to use with tools I brought from the UK (that fits both 14-30 and 14-50 -- yes, SUPER up to code, lol).
@leoncowle @caseyliss are a significant number of these actually used in normal life? Over in Sweden we have one (ok, really old ones lack ground - so two) in-home, and possibly a high-power one for big machines.
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On a lark, I was wondering if I could charge Erin’s PHEV from our generator. I never would, but I was curious.
At first glance, I thought I was golden. Everything lined up when it was facing me.
Then I went to plug in and realized the vertical and horizontal terminals were switched compared to the outlet.
What gives?
@caseyliss
And we thought usb-c was confusing… -
@leoncowle @caseyliss are a significant number of these actually used in normal life? Over in Sweden we have one (ok, really old ones lack ground - so two) in-home, and possibly a high-power one for big machines.
@mikaeleiman @caseyliss Most folks here will come across a few variants:
110-120V:
The regular 2 prong plug on many devices. Reversible.
The regular 2 prong plug on some devices, not reversible (one prong wider than the other).
The regular 3 prong plug (i.e. with a ground).
(Virtually all residential outlets, at least in recent decades, accept all 3 the above plugs).220-240V:
Their tumble dryer's plug, which might be one of a handful of different ones, but once plugged in you kinda never think about it again.
Their EV 'charger' (I use 'charger' as is commonly used, even though the wall unit is just a fancy-ish-but-dumb switch, and the charger itself is actually inside the EV).
And possibly an RV (travel trailer i.e. 'caravan', motorhome, etc) cable, which, again, might be one of about 3 different ones.So, more than other places, but not nearly as plentiful in common use as is on that chart.
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@caseyliss Handy chart I always refer to (google "NEMA outlet chart"). Since I have an RV (NEMA 14-50), a (B)EV (also 14-50), a tumbledryer (14-30), and a homemade 240V outlet box with British outlets to use with tools I brought from the UK (that fits both 14-30 and 14-50 -- yes, SUPER up to code, lol).
@leoncowle fascinating! But surely some of these drawings are wrong and one of the pair should be flipped, or they won’t fit (ie 2-20 P won’t fit 2-20R?)
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@xinmyname @caseyliss extending that correct assertion, the L14-30 twistlock on the right can be adapted to what you need. In Canada, Princess Auto would probably have it, so I guess Harbour Freight down there?
@mWare @xinmyname @caseyliss would he still need a bonded ground adapter to make the generator work with the charger when using an adapter to the L14-30 twistlock?
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@leoncowle fascinating! But surely some of these drawings are wrong and one of the pair should be flipped, or they won’t fit (ie 2-20 P won’t fit 2-20R?)
@fabienmarry 2-20P is the frontal view of the plug, ie with the prongs pointing out towards you, and 2-20R is what the outlet looks like. So, yes, it seems you’ll have to rotate the prongs away from you towards the outlet AND then turn it upside down to fit.
Other versions of the chart seemingly have it correct. E.g.:
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@caseyliss Handy chart I always refer to (google "NEMA outlet chart"). Since I have an RV (NEMA 14-50), a (B)EV (also 14-50), a tumbledryer (14-30), and a homemade 240V outlet box with British outlets to use with tools I brought from the UK (that fits both 14-30 and 14-50 -- yes, SUPER up to code, lol).
@leoncowle @caseyliss this image might as well be a representation of the US imperial system where the European metric system requires only one plug type
(I had no idea the US had more than 1 plug type…)
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@leoncowle @caseyliss this image might as well be a representation of the US imperial system where the European metric system requires only one plug type
(I had no idea the US had more than 1 plug type…)
@rfreling @leoncowle @caseyliss it's mostly because of the low wattage available from standard plugs, and then the absolute madness they come up with to compensate (240V goes into the house, after all!). Europe has other plugs but you'll never encounter them in common usage because 240V@15A is pretty good for everything you might use inside 4 walls. The 20A & 32A plugs look a lot more like an EV charger plug.
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@mWare @xinmyname @caseyliss would he still need a bonded ground adapter to make the generator work with the charger when using an adapter to the L14-30 twistlock?
@Alphacheez @xinmyname @caseyliss depends how picky the EVSE or EV is; if you're running on 208V commercial power for example (120V to neutral, but 208V phase to phase), you don't often _have_ a neutral available - so wide-input devices shouldn't be checking for a neutral-ground bond if one cannot exist.
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