Portable Charger.

[climateguy]

Hey, wondering if you can toss me in that direction with a brand or model? I'm about to start looking for a 2nd mobile charger.

I'm considering the Grizzl-E Mini. The claims for it are interesting, given the price of $399. I use a Grizzl-E Level 2 wall charger at home and it has been trouble free.

4 adapters are included: 5-15P, TT-30P, 14-30P, and 6-50P. It "automatically measures input voltage to operate as a Level 2 charger at 240V or a Level 1 Charger at 120V", delivering 7 to 40 amps. You can limit it to a specific amperage so as to not trip breakers in iffy locations.

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[TaxmanHog]

I know this might sound crazy. I just bought a 23 Lightning Platinum

Assuming you bought the 23 Platinum as new not used, you're entitled to a coupon code to secure a FCSP 80amp EVSE, are you pursuing this?

 

[Iroc34a]

Assuming you bought the 23 Platinum as new not used, you're entitled to a coupon code to secure a FCSP 80amp EVSE, are you pursuing this?

Bought it used. Hell, the dealer didn't even want to give me a portable charger. Until I told them I was leaving. But they relented.

 

[Maquis]

I'm considering the Grizzl-E Mini. The claims for it are interesting, given the price of $399. I use a Grizzl-E Level 2 wall charger at home and it has been trouble free.

4 adapters are included: 5-15P, TT-30P, 14-30P, and 6-50P. It "automatically measures input voltage to operate as a Level 2 charger at 240V or a Level 1 Charger at 120V", delivering 7 to 40 amps. You can limit it to a specific amperage so as to not trip breakers in iffy locations.

Keep in mind the Ford EVs will not charge at over 12A on 120V regardless of the EVSE.

 

[Newton]

I'm considering the Grizzl-E Mini. The claims for it are interesting, given the price of $399. I use a Grizzl-E Level 2 wall charger at home and it has been trouble free.

4 adapters are included: 5-15P, TT-30P, 14-30P, and 6-50P. It "automatically measures input voltage to operate as a Level 2 charger at 240V or a Level 1 Charger at 120V", delivering 7 to 40 amps. You can limit it to a specific amperage so as to not trip breakers in iffy locations.

I have that, it seems solid. One thing that I am not crazy about is that it does not automatically sense the adapter that is attached, these are all just adapters that go from 14-50 to whatver, the same that you can buy on Amazon. So you have to connect your phone to their wifi (no bluetooth or apps) and connect to 192.128.1.4 (IIRC) to bring up the web page to set the amperage limit. This seems a little 1990s home router-ish. It doesn't even bring up its web page automatically when you connect to it like any hotel router is able to.

It might be possible to connect it to your home internet, it seems to have many of the right settings but I see no way to rename it other than the hard coded IP address - which means you might have to play around with subnet settings and address reservation. It is like their programmer put in the absolute bare minimum effort for a feature that is critically important if you are playing around with adapters and connecting something that can draw 40 amps to a 20 amp circuit.

It is not a problem for me, but I have been doing networking since (and before) the state of the art was to hook up UNIX-based computers using dial up modems. I have instructions written out for my wife but it is a bit disappointing.

It does seem to automatically limit its amperage when it detects 120V, but the Ford adapter already does that.

ATH1

 

[climateguy]

One thing that I am not crazy about is that it does not automatically sense the adapter that is attached, these are all just adapters that go from 14-50 to whatver, the same that you can buy on Amazon. So you have to connect your phone to their wifi (no bluetooth or apps) and connect to 192.128.1.4 (IIRC) to bring up the web page to set the amperage limit.

The manual says the device "will automatically detect the outlet power and adjust settings when the input cable is plugged into the outlet".

Are you saying that if you plug into, for instance, a 220 volt 30 amp outlet, you need to reset the maximum output amperage using a clunky WiFi setup or the device will just automatically draw more amps than the outlet can provide as if the outlet was a 220 volt 50 amp?

 

[marc_hanna]

The way the J1772 standard works is that there is a communication wire in the cable that when plugged in, the on-board charger and the charging station confirm voltage and maximum amperage as part of a handshake and then charging can commence. Maximum voltage and amperage for level 1 is 130vac and 15 amps. To my knowledge Level 1 will run as low as 105vac. Level 2 has a broad range of amperage and as part of the handshake will only run at the lesser of the charge station or the on-board charger. The standard will not allow the on-board to draw more amps than the charging station plus there is a circuit breaker in the charging station that will trip if there is too much draw. The most amperage I’ve seen in a Level 2 is 100amps, but usually these are dialed down to lower amps based on the electrical service. This can be done with the Ford charge station pro as well. There is a numbered dial inside the station for which you can turn down the maximum allowable amperage.

To be clear, the charging station (or EVSE) is not a charger; it is a glorified safety switch. It monitors amperage, voltage and imbalance between conductors as a basic function. The charger is built into the car and manages the flow of electricity into the battery.

Level 3 is DC charging, and is the most varied in connector type. CCS, Chademo, NACS and others. This requires a conversion of AC to DC in the charging station. This is a much more sophisticated system.

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