US factory supplied charger on 240V?

This was mentioned on the US topic, but I thought I'd ask this in a more international area to get a wider audience.

The charger supplied with the car in the US is labeled "120v". However it seems very similar if not identical to the one supplied in most of the world where 240v is available.

Has anyone tried a charger labeled as 120v on 240v? The outlet I have where I charge is dedicated to one outlet and it would be pretty easy to switch it to a 240v breaker. I'm assuming this would give me 240v at 12A charging. A little faster charging and less lost range after pre-heating on cold mornings.

I could just try it - I mean what's the worst that could happen? :shock:

A lot of smoke? If it is not rated for 240 I would not try to use it on 240.
It won't give you 12Amps, though. It is limited to 10A. A better plan would be to get a 16A wall charging unit.

Jaap, a spec sheet for the US version in another thread says "-120-volt charging cable, switchable 8A/12A". No reason such a cable could not provide 12 amps. Might do well on 240 volt as well.

N6IO said:

The outlet I have where I charge is dedicated to one outlet and it would be pretty easy to switch it to a 240v breaker.

Click to expand...

Is the wiring that's supplying that outlet rated for that?

I couldn't find any docs on the actual charger which is a Yazaki model 9482A347. Knowing how most manufacturers work, this is likely the very same model sold for 240v, but may have some option set to disable it above some voltage. Anyone out there have this same Yazaki charger labeled for 240v use?

My main goal in using this on 240v was consistency. I bought a 120v/240v 16A charger that has a US 120V 15A (yes, 15A) plug on it. With an adapter and warning labels it can plug into a 240v outlet. I have 2 locations where I regularly charge so I was going to put a 240v outlet at each.

In one location I can easily swap the breaker since the same wiring supports 240v without neutral. Yeah 15A, 16A. Hmm... not willing to put a 20A socket or breaker on wiring for 15A, so will keep it 15A. Given the maximum power the built-in charger in the Outlander can handle would draw 15.5 amps at 240v... we shall see. My home fire insurance is paid up. But with no neutral wire, I can't use the same wiring for both 120v and 240v at the same time.

At my second location the outlet is within a foot of the breaker panel, so plan is to install a weatherproof box with both 120v and 240v outlets inside and store the 2nd charger inside when not in use.

I'm thinking best option is to try a smoke test while everything is under warranty???? #:^) I know the car would be happy with 240v.

Looks like my long winded reply disappeared before I could post.

I was able to build a 208-240 supply, but it does require logic circuits, a relay, cord and J1722 plug.

Vastly more effective than the 110 supplied cord, but maxes out at appx 3.5 kW of flow because that is size of the charger

N6IO said:

This was mentioned on the US topic, but I thought I'd ask this in a more international area to get a wider audience.

The charger supplied with the car in the US is labeled "120v". However it seems very similar if not identical to the one supplied in most of the world where 240v is available.

Has anyone tried a charger labeled as 120v on 240v? The outlet I have where I charge is dedicated to one outlet and it would be pretty easy to switch it to a 240v breaker. I'm assuming this would give me 240v at 12A charging. A little faster charging and less lost range after pre-heating on cold mornings.

I could just try it - I mean what's the worst that could happen? :shock:

Click to expand...

The EVSE is basically an extension c ord with a relay and a wire to check that the cable's connected to the car (the pilot signal). The relay coil may or may not be rated to 240VAC, and whatever circuit drives the charge current lights and accepts the button press might not be run by a power supply capable of 240VAC.

The worse than could happen would be releasing the magic smoke and killing the EVSE.

Here's a web page that belongs to an engineer from Berkeley that's been upgrading OEM EVSE boxes. The shop's well known on the MyNissanLeaf sister forum. I'll bet this is the same box Mitsubishi used on the iMiEV.

http://evseupgrade.com/
http://evseupgrade.com/?main_page=product_info&cPath=3&products_id=8

The car will definitely accept 240VAC - it has to to be compliant with the J1772 interface protocol if nothing else. I use an OpenEVSE (I assembled it when I had my smart) and it works perfectly. https://www.openevse.com/ 240V @ 14A is 3.3kW - wide open..er..throttle..sorta.

View attachment openevseoutlander.jpg

I think there are two possible problems using the Mitsubishi supplied US EVSE on 240v. Odds are there might be thyristors rated under 240v on the input circuit to protect against over voltage and transients. I saw somewhere that the repair shops are to watch for burned wiring inside due to the thyristors shorting out at 240v.

The other problem might be the control circuit - which gets power from the AC circuit. I see some home upgrade videos saying to move the power feed for the control circuit to only receive 120v from the outlet by sending one leg of that connection to ground. If that power supply isn't expecting 240v it also may fry. (I wonder what grounding issues that might cause too)

I think I'll leave it as is and try not to test it. My level 2 120/240V 15A charger has a NEMA 5-15 (120v 15A) plug on it which is SOO wrong! I ended up just rewiring my NEMA 5-20 (120V 20A) outlet next to the driveway to a 240V 20A breaker. Yeah, my bad... even more wrong. But I did place warning stickers on the outlet.

I may someday accidentally plug my Mitsubishi charger into that outlet, but I don't plan on testing it on 240V on purpose. Once I make up a NEMA 6-20 to 5-20 adapter cable I'll put the proper outlet there.

I must say I do enjoy charging at 3500 watts. If I end my pre-heat 10 minutes before I leave for work in the morning I end up with a warm car and very close to a full battery.

So Factory outlander EVSE doesn't have a varistor (I tried lightbulb tester before connecting to 240V) but it blinks fault LED once connected.
It might be because of the difference between neutral and ground. It also shows blinking fault if you plug in to 110V but disconnect the ground lead.
Can you tell the link of the video or blogs where you saw people connecting neutral with the ground? In theory it can be done if you disconnect ground on the 240V outlet so it wouldn't short it. But then my concern that car ground might be connected to EVSE ground and hence will have a 110V on it, which is not acceptable obviously.
Can you share the link where people were connecting ground to neutral?

Thanks

You are the first one I read in the forum who plug the 110V OEM EVSE In 240V!
Thank you for reporting your experience. After GM-Volt folks bragging to get their OEM EVSE working on 240V albeit @12A, we need someone like you to represent Mitsubishi Outlander...
On the other hand, the level 2 EVSE is very economical that I don’t bother to try to hack the OEM one. I actually bought an used EVSE from Craigslist. Since those EV pioneers are upgrading their EVSE to 10kW one (Tesla), there are lots offer for the 3.8kW very very affordable (~$100)

But please don’t let me discourage you! I am very curious to see your hack.

Here is some information I found in web:

https://300mpg.org/2017/09/02/amazing-e-evse-review-and-opening/
Please read the comments:
https://www.instructables.com/id/313CONVERTING-A-2013-LEAF-LEVEL-1-12AMP-CHARGER-TO/

Let us know how it goes.

Tai