[N21HV]

I am still waiting for my Clarity to arrive but am starting to think about charging strategies. I am planning on charging overnight each day after my commute so that the car will have full charge by morning. I live in-city and do not have a garage. I do have a paved parking space next to the house off public road and I measured the distance from where the outlet is to where the charging port on the car would be to be about 13ft. There is no roof above the area so it is exposed to the element. Being in the Pacific Northwest, rain is definitely common. The outlet is GFCI protected and has spring loaded cover for when it is not in use but when something is plugged in, it remains open.
Does the factory supplied charger approved for outdoor use where they can get wet? Can the car be left charging in the rain?


Thank you in advance.

 

[2002]

I am still waiting for my Clarity to arrive but am starting to think about charging strategies. I am planning on charging overnight each day after my commute so that the car will have full charge by morning. I live in-city and do not have a garage. I do have a paved parking space next to the house off public road and I measured the distance from where the outlet is to where the charging port on the car would be to be about 13ft. There is no roof above the area so it is exposed to the element. Being in the Pacific Northwest, rain is definitely common. The outlet is GFCI protected and has spring loaded cover for when it is not in use but when something is plugged in, it remains open.
Does the factory supplied charger approved for outdoor use where they can get wet? Can the car be left charging in the rain?

The car and charger will be fine, EV's charge in the rain all the time. The connection is weather protected, you can even plug and unplug while it is raining as no electricity will flow until the plug is fully seated, and the electricity is cut off the moment you press the trigger to release it. Although the manual does say to not let the charger sit in standing water so you would want to elevate the box somehow.

However the wall outlet is a different story, you will need to install some type of weather protection over it to keep it from getting wet.

 

[N21HV]

Thank you for the quick reply. The wall outlet is such that we can replace the spring loaded cover with the shrouded type that places protective cover over the plug. It sounds like the rest is O.K.


Incidentally, is there some kind of lock on the charging plug where if the fob is not nearby, the plug cannot be removed? I am guessing the dangling charging cable that sells for hundreds of dollars may make for an attractive target for neighborhood hoodlums...

 

[2002]

Incidentally, is there some kind of lock on the charging plug where if the fob is not nearby, the plug cannot be removed? I am guessing the dangling charging cable that sells for hundreds of dollars may make for an attractive target for neighborhood hoodlums...

The cable does not come with any locking mechanism but there are aftermarket cable locks that you can buy. Actually what a lot of people do is simply park with a tire resting on the charge cable, apparently with no ill effects, but of course that probably isn't the best idea. But what I read about one person doing is they made their own little ramp from some scrap wood with a channel in the middle for the cable, so that when they drive the tire onto the ramp the cable is underneath the tire but it is not being pressed on.

 

[Kerbe]

The wall outlet is such that we can replace the spring loaded cover with the shrouded type that places protective cover over the plug.

Amazon offers any number of deep, weatherproof outlet covers in metal or plastic - and quite a few are lockable, so the cable could be "secured" to the house. As an alternative to parking on the cable, some folks have used bicycle locks to secure the J1772 end of the cable to the front wheel.

 

[4sallypat]

Charging outside is fine - the safety system in the EVSE is safe even in the rain.

However, for security of the charge cable, I have seen 2 ways to prevent theft of the EVSE cable:
1. When I was in Europe, I noticed everyone uses a thin steel cable that connects the charging head to the car. To steal it would require a pair of diagonals / cutters.
2. The charge release lever (trigger) has a small slot that you can put on a small padlock with a thin shank thru it and keeps the charger from being disconnected and stolen. Again, to forcibly remove it, you can break off the plastic slot.