[PSA for North America] - 1st Priority - home charging setup - demand and specify Hubbell commercial socket receptacle

[daveo4EV]

I felt this deserved it's OWN post…

Porsche's recommendation (and other EV vendors) to use a Hubbell Commercial quality socket is 100% spot on - excellent advice and should be followed. No question, just do it - do not accept anything less.

if you only do one thing - do THIS thing…it is the best practice and worth following the advice.

original links below

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/t...-related-porsche-ntsb-article-analysis.13902/
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2022/MC-10222530-0001.pdf

 

[daveo4EV]

if you do not have a Hubbell socket - yes it's worth swapping it out - it's just not worth it to have a lesser quality socket overheating and melting while you sleep.

get the good stuff!! Swap in the Hubbell equipment even if you have an existing setup.

 

[yman182]

Yes. Use a Hubble. You don’t want your wife waking you up saying it smells funny in the garage.

that is a Home Depot “EV” plug.

 

[Tooney]

Hubbell socket needs a larger (than normal) diameter face plate and a deeper outlet box than commonly used NEMA 14-50R receptacles. Let your electrician know.

 

[WasserGKuehlt]

I'm a bit miffed about this. Having spent an inordinate amount of time here reading every.gorram.thread on the topic, I had an electrician come by to add a 240V circuit and a receptacle. I specifically asked for a Hubbell or Bryant, industrial grade one, and offered to procure it myself. I pulled the cover plate today, and it's a Leviton. I'm not sure if I'm madder at Porsche's stonewalling (and stubbornness in fixing it), or not being listened to _as a paying customer_. FFS.

As I understand, it's the unit-to-wall cable; any chance that it can be swapped on the PMC+? I'll change the receptacle to a Hubbell, _and_ I'll get a proper EVSE, but it'd be nice to keep the PMC+ in the car for trips; I don't think I can take the receptacle with me..

 

[Jhenson29]

As I understand, it's the unit-to-wall cable; any chance that it can be swapped on the PMC+?

Not unless you want to DIY it. I was going to do that as a test if I could reproduce the heat issues on the OEM cable, but mine never got excessively hot. I don’t use it on a regular basis either.

I don't think I can take the receptacle with me..

Sure you can. Buy a spare and throw it in the trunk. Or you can carry it around in a Fanny pack.

 

[whitex]

Or you could use a proper EVSE which doesn't cook your socket. Curiously, when I installed my first NEMA 14-50 in the garage I put in a cheap Cooper brand I picked up at home depot. IIRC it was $20 with a lockable the metal enclosure. I've been using it for close to a decade now with a $200 40A Tesla mobile connector almost daily (I have an HPWC too, but it's farther to drag the cable so I only plug that in when I need 80A, which is maybe twice a year). After a decade of daily charging at 40A there is no melting on it whatsoever.

To be clear, I am not saying that not to install a ceramic, industrial grade socket, as it's always better, and I will probably put one in my garage since I might want to play with Porsche EVSEs sometimes and don't want to burn the house down. That said, how is it that Tesla first ever iteration of mobile chargers can charge a car for a decade and not melt anything, yet Porsche, German engineering pride, cannot deliver the same? I absolutely get that they built the EVSE on the edge of spec, and that technically they don't violate the code, but why? Porsche EVSEs are large and heavy compared to others, so obviously weight and size reduction was not a high priority goal, even worse if you compare it to other 4.8KW EVSE's which they have become after nerfing.

I sure hope they didn't design the Taycan the same way. "We must nerf the power of the Taycan because we built it to autobahn specs, and it turns out that some US roads are not built up to that spec, and our cars are not built to handle substandard roads".

PS> Each Porsche EVSE should come with an industrial grade, ceramic NEMA 14-50 socket.

 

[bah1590]

I am lucky. My charger socket was installed a year ago and I just checked and it is a Hubbell HBL9450A.

 

[Tomato]

How much energy is also wasted each time the PMCC is used for hours each day. Must not be a trivial amount of energy to heat plastic beyond its melting point.

 

[daveo4EV]

How much energy is also wasted each time the PMCC is used for hours each day. Must not be a trivial amount of energy to heat plastic beyond its melting point.

we actually have a pretty good idea…

9.6 kW is the "raw" power feed - and according to my Taycan about 8.86 kW of that "lands" in the battery - what we don't know is how much of the 9.6 - 8.86 (0.74 kW or 750 watts) is "lost" to the vehicle's "overhead" vs. the heat of the thermals for the 10 AWG wire…

in any case the issue is clearly not a short term issue, but rather an accumulated thermal stress over time - as a cheaper socket is repeated heated up and then allowed to cool, rinse later repeat with a cheap socket and the thermal stress caused by the PMC+/PMCC power supply cable (more specfically it's plug "head") transferring heat back into the NEMA socket plastic, that eventually the socket becomes compromised enough to "fail" - leading to the visible melting due to the repeated thermal abuse caused by the Porsche power supply cable - the porsche cable itself is thermally stable and safe but it is not "compatible" with lesser quality components that are not designed to handle hours of 145F (or more) normal operating temperatures day in and day out…for hours at a time.

 

[JayGT4]

As I understand, it's the unit-to-wall cable; any chance that it can be swapped on the PMC+? I'll change the receptacle to a Hubbell, _and_ I'll get a proper EVSE, but it'd be nice to keep the PMC+ in the car for trips; I don't think I can take the receptacle with me..

Upon the recommendation in this and other threads, I'm also upgrading my home 240v charging receptacle to the HBL9450A receptacle.

I'd also like to get a proper EVSE and stop using the Porsche PMCC to charge at home. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good EVSE alternative?

Also, I assume if I install a 3rd party EVSE, then I don't need to upgrade my receptacle to HBL9450A?

 

[Archimedes]

Hardwire your EVSE. No need for a plug.

 

[JayGT4]

Hardwire your EVSE. No need for a plug.

If I go with a plug-in EVSE instead of hardwire setup, should I still upgrade my 14-50 receptacle to commercial/industrial level like the Hubbell?

 

[Tooney]

If I go with a plug-in EVSE instead of hardwire setup, should I still upgrade my 14-50 receptacle to commercial/industrial level like the Hubbell?

Yes. Hubbell 14-50R is much more robust than regular receptacles. Charging car is high electrical load which occurs for many hours at a time. Don't cheap out on the supply circuit for it.

 

[Tooney]

I'd also like to get a proper EVSE and stop using the Porsche PMCC to charge at home. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good EVSE alternative?

My plug-in EVSE is Wallbox Pulsar Plus 40amp. I'm happy with it.
Detailed reviews of EVSEs are on YouTube channel "State of Charge".

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