Level 1 charger with extension cord

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curtalva

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 6, 2017
Messages
60
Has anyone charged their EV (with Level 1 trickle charger) with a heavy duty extension cord before? We are moving and we'll be renting a house temporarily while searching for a home to buy however this rental home does not have an outside receptacle that will allow my Level 1 trickle charger to reach my car. So I am wondering if it is possible to use a heavy duty extension cord with the Level 1 slow/trickle charger in order to charge my EV.

Curt
 
Technically you are not meant to, but as long as the cord is a heavy duty one it should work.

The EVSE has 2 jobs, the first is that it signals to the car how much current the car can draw. The second is that it monitors the currents in the cable and acts as a GFCI. They want you to have the GFCI part close to the outlet and a long cable to the car so that the long cable is protected. If you have a long extension cable to the EVSE and then a short cable to the car then that extension cable isn't protected by the EVSE acting as a GFCI.

You do need to use a heavy duty cable, it's going to be flowing 10-12 Amps for many hours. I'm presuming you are used to charging on Level 1 already, if you have been on Level 2 you will find it a shock - it can take almost a whole day to recharge if the battery is used heavily.
 
I have used my Level 1 charger cable in the past (gets me about 4 miles added per hour). I am currently using a Level 2 charger cable but that is necessitated by my daily commute of 75 miles. At my new location I will only have a commute of about 20-25 miles total so I can get by with the Level 1 charger for a while.

Thanks,
Curt
 
Yes I had done this for a year.
Make sure it can handle at least 15 amps. The standard cords can't handle that.
 
When I first got the car I used an extension cord. It was a 12 gauge, 25 foot cord with clear plug ends.
One day I looked closely at the female end and the interior of the plug was burnt.
It didn't catch fire, but it could have. If you *have* to use an extension cord, use the shortest one possible and I would go 10 gauge at the minimum
 
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