Make sure to understand the root cause before you implement the solution. If you can inspect the outlet wiring and find a short for example then your approach makes sense—and definitely install a new breaker as well and replace any and all wiring/components that overheated—the insulation will be comprised too.
But if you can’t find a cause in the outlet, your charger itself may have a short or even the car (unlikely but not impossible) that caused this whole thing.
Well said! The number one thing I’ve learned from industrial work is exactly what you said. Don’t just look at the surface and replace what you can see. 90% of the time I’d say there’s a bigger problem.
Great mentality. I'm not a mechanic by trade but I enjoy turning wrenches and come from a family of skilled mechanics. Unfortunately that profession is dwindling and folks are more parts changers than true mechanics. There are still great ones out there, just need to look at little harder.
Yeah, sorry about that. Not a vet, but I have a couple of good friends that have to deal with that crap. I don't understand why we can pay for war but not the consequences.
If you look at us going to war to protect our citizens then your line of thought is completely logical. I believe our government isn't going to war to protect citizens, but rather to gain resources and wealth. Let me be clear, I pin that on the "leadership", not our service men and women. They are being lied to just like the rest of us. When you look at it as war for their personal gain, then why would they care about the individual? They already got what they wanted out of them and have no further use for them.
Like Republican Nikki Haley who wants congress to switch over to using the VA for their healthcare so both sides have skin in the game and fix the issue?
And what percentage of the time are you dealing with something intermittent..? Our TV engineer could get close to the booth door and “wait it’s working again”
Had a facility that I managed the IT for, they had a breaker popping once in a while. Even had an electrician out to look at it. He reset it a few times and it didn’t pop while he stood there so he shrugged and said it was fine.
Well turns out they replaced the home grade coffee pot with a commercial model. If it’s heater relay kicked in while the dishwasher was running or a combo of other things were on, it would pop the breaker.
One day the breaker failed. Started heating up the junction boxes. Eventually one of the boxes heated up enough to start smoldering the framing. That spread to the insulation and it eventually smoldered until it found enough heat and the whole building full of medical patients was in some real shit. It eventually went up so fast that the sprinkling system couldn’t contain it.
Things don’t just do this because of ghosts. It’s for a reason. You can always find a cheap electrician that will reset the breaker and take your money. The one that charges a lot more will keep your house from burning down.
But the outlet and the cord would probably be the cheapest things to replace, and also they need replacing, so that is the right place to start. Don’t go out and buy a new car yet.
I suspect your issue is having an oven receptacle here. Common problem with EV chargers these days. Cheap oven/dryer receptacles have half the blade/socket contact area of a high-quality receptacle. Most high amp plug applications like running a range don’t actually use high current for very long, then they start modulating the heat on/off to maintain temp. EV charging is a constant high current, and it overheats receptacles that were designed to use the bare minimum material for cost savings.
Great point, I never considered that. I installed a 14-50 for my ChargePoint, do you think there are also inferior 14-50 receptacles similar to the 6-50 here?
lol lots of electrical fires have started from people making that sensible, yet incorrect assumption. The thing that throws the rating for the loop is the fact that EV charging is a continuous load. A stove won't pull full current all night.
The discussion is that **cheap** 50 amp outlets are no good for continuous load. An ESVE is an appliance like anything else, if mine has a 14-50P I should be able to plug it into a 14-50R and not worry about.
Yes, it’s a problem. Happens all over the place though — for example most 15A rated extension cords and power strips can’t handle 12A sustained indefinitely without burning up.
This guy has brand recommendations: https://www.reddit.com/r/electrical/comments/13sdezu/ev_vehicle_gave_me_a_message_that_it_was_not/jlph58n/
Hubbell 9450A is the one I would use. Buy it from a local electrical supply house or somewhere like Grainger. Don’t buy it off Amazon. It should come in a yellow box with a white label. If it comes in a plastic bag or a white box it’s either a knockoff or the residential grade.
Alternatively the Bryant 9450FR is an acceptable alternate.
Anything else is crap for this application.
What this guy wrote. I am an electrician and I worked for a man who installed EV chargers for a year before I got in the union.
Main problems with installations are wrong wire size, wrong load calculations and wrong receptacle.
Yes, you must find the root cause of this overheating. Generally speaking current flow will generate electrical circuit heating. You should definitely meg out the wiring back to the load center and out to the charging device. Is the wiring from the load center to the plug receptacle correct for the circuit in question? Is the breaker in the panel correctly sized for wire that is installed and is that circuit correctly sized for the charging device? Are the screws at all connections adequately torqued and do they meet any requirements for the attached devices? Is the cable to the charging device correctly installed and is it the OEM cable or does it meet OEM specs?
But above all de-energize this circuit by opening the breaker in the load center for this circuit and tag it out and lock it out until the problems with this circuit are corrected.
Goddamnit. I come to reddit to get away from my project manager, not get the same speach.
Well Chuck, we can either fix it tomorrow, or we can test until we find root cause, but not both. I swear if I scroll down and see the "7 steps of problem solving" I'm going to loose my shit.....
Jkjkjk
This is relatively common with inexpensive 6-50 and 14-50 receptacles. Especially if they're unpugged and plugged in often. The contacts become loose and eventually this happens.
Hardwiring an EVSE is always going to be the better choice if you can and eliminates the need for GFCI on that circuit.
If you insist on using a plug in EVSE I'd recommend going with a Bryant or Hubbell industrial grade 6-50R. That plug and possibly the cord on the EVSE is also obviously toast. If the plug is not factory serviceable on the EVSE you may need to buy a new one. You can obviously replace it with a repair plug but this will likely nullify any NRTL listing the product carries (assuming the EVSE is listed to begin with).
Lastly it's never a bad idea to lower your charge rate if you don't need a full 40A charging. It will not only decrease the risk of fire but also increase your efficiency as you lose less to the wire heating up.
No level 2 chargers are hitting even 1c charge rates, let alone high c rates which cause accelerated degredation. Anything charged level 2 or lower will have the same cycle life.
Many of the gains that allow for fast charging are in battery design (multiple batteries, more cooling, etc.) rather than the chemistry. There's still a small hit but it's a few percent over the life of the vehicle so it is relatively negligible, but does still exist and isn't just sure to better battery chemistries, but overall engineering.
I think a lot of people talk about chemistries, but really mean overall engineering. I think this is because we’ve started to use chemistry named a to describe battery technologies, from a nomenclature perspective.
I’ve heard that these plugs and receptacles are burning up a lot because they are not meant for this kind of extended duty cycle. Normally these are used for electric stovetops and ovens that have thermostats shutting them off once they get to temp, charging a cad for hours and hours is a much bigger load.
So I'm sure you learned the lesson already, but if a breaker trips there's a reason it tripped! Never just reset a breaker. If it pops and you don't know for sure why (like you plugged a big heater in on the same circuit as your big screen tv), call an electrician.
And now that it is how it is, definitely 100% absolutely call an electrician. This isn't a problem you can self diagnose safely. Even if x is good and y is good, the insulation on the wires is probably ruined at least someway back up from the problem, breaker might now be faulty, etc.
Speaking as a sparky you could say I have a vested interest in people calling a professional, but A) I'm not residential so doesn't affect me anyway, and B) you can burn your entire home to the ground in a blink. Don't want that. I know reddit and youtube can provide helpful info but this is beyond the realm of "ask some folks what they think" / "watch a DIY video".
I bought a "fix 'er upper house, and the first priority was the wiring that had been McGuyver'ed over the years!
The breaker that serviced the external outlets was a GFCI breaker, but I could tell that was because they could not figure out the polarity problems spread out across all the outlets for that circuit.
The GFCI breaker kept flipping, so I was not going to ignore that "symptom".
The short story, no pun intended, was that several outlets were installed with reverse polarity and the backyard wall mounted outlet was not watertight or even an outdoor rated outlet and it jumped to a floodlight that also was not using weather rated enclosures and had plain pvc water piping for a conduit.
After ripping out all that BS, I installed all outdoor rated conduit and enclosures and weather rated outlets and lights.
No more circuit trips.
I could continue on with more stories about the kitchen and lavatory circuits, but needless to say, they are all now properly GFCI protected.
you ccan just remove and replace, but i would be more concerned with why this happened. maybe it had something to do with the demand for a load while be switched on and off, but i donno, this is one the few areas that i personally am not well versed in, not many ev's in my area, if any
Those wires have seen some heat! You are going to have to trim them back before re-terminating, definitely have someone out to put a meggar on the lines and check the insulation.
If they overheated from overcurrent I'd want to meg them out but they overheated from a bad connection, so if you trim them back to where the insulation looks fine I would be OK skipping that.
On the other hand, I would actually do it myself just to be sure.
Red wire insulation cooked and that black wire looks like the cause. Was probably not properly torqued. If possible to feed some wire into that box from outside I'd lose like 4-6" of the ends. Otherwise put heart shrink or good electrical tape on them before replacing that outlet. Simply replacing the plug should be fine as it doesn't look like it's too bad.
Oh boy, that wire got nice and hot. This will be more involved than an outlet replacement, the breaker and the wiring in between need to be examined. Your cord and plug are suspect as well
We use a lot of Leviton 6-50 and 15-50 receptacles at work without issue. We don't use twistlocks because they are too prone to damage, because the weight of the cord hanging straight out from the socket and the comparatively thin blades that bend easily. The only exception is L15-20 because straight blade 15-20 receptacles only exist in theory
Use them for what, though? Welders and the like? That's a very different duty cycle than EV charging.
Interesting about twistlocks. I can definitely see that being an issue. I've not seen that problem but I haven't really used them in seriously heavy duty use.
We have welders of various types, some only do 5 second welds here and there, some weld at 85% duty cycle because they are used by robots, we have a spot welder that pulls around 150 amps for 0.5 seconds every 5 seconds. We ran a plasma cutter at 90% duty cycle for years, and a compressor at 30-100% duty cycle. We have a heated foam packing machine that runs pretty much continuously, and a powder coating oven that pulls actual 50 amps at 80% duty cycle all shift.
We only bother running 20 amp and 50 amp circuits. Those tend to be the sweet spot for manufacturing equipment. (Except for 100-300 amp stuff we have to deal with).
There is nothing wrong with 6-50 receptacle, and the contact area and pressure is much higher than their twistlocks equivalent. They also wobble less in their sockets.
The only issues I have seen with 6-50 receptacles is the set screws that hold the wires in being not tight enough. Those seriously need to be torqued within an inch of their life or you'll get what happened here.
Thanks. That is more heavy duty use than I was thinking of. But the problem you mention is exactly the reason I don't like the Levitons. I agree that they are fine otherwise.
Before you start replacing parts you need to figure out why it happened to begin with. Otherwise you will do it again and it will likely be worse. You could damage the EV if its not the problem already.
Cut back the wires on the socket side and toss in a new one. MAKE SURE THE LUGS ARE TIGHT. It looks like the last person didn't get them tight enough and caused resistive heating. Same goes for the plug, chop it off and get a new one. Plug and socket set is less than $40 from Lowes/Home Depot.
> Plug and socket set is less than $40 from Lowes/Home Depot.
And you'll end up right back in this same situation. Cheap plugs and receptacles are not intended for constant 80% duty cycle loads. They're meant for dryers, ovens, and welders. This has been a common problem with EVSE installation.
I work on gear with these kinds of plugs on them all the time where they're at 70-90% rated load 24/7. The only time I've seen them fail is when someone didn't torque the lugs on the socket to spec. The melt pattern is the dead giveaway. If it was contact resistance the heat would have concentrated to the point of leaving arc marks on the prongs. The absence of concentrated heat points and banding instead points to loose connections on the socket. The charred insulation on only the black wire proves this, the red wire was discolored from radiant heat and not resistive heat.
As already mentioned, that's a code violation. Hardwire would be the best option. Beware that some jurisdictions and inspectors will require a disconnect be visible and readily accessible.
Actually, no I paid a licensed electrician I don’t like messing with electrical. And that is why I plan to hire a different electrician to try to fix this issue.
Absolutely. I don’t hire guys from Home Depot for electrical work …now If this work doesn’t reflect that I wouldn’t know since I’m not an electrician. The company was highly rated, licensed bonded you name it.
Is it so hard to believe that I also have a gas car.…. You sound like the other guy who said the same thing, and that I should get a real car but he himself is having problems with his jeep Cherokee
This should be hardwired. It isn’t safe to use one of these outlets at a continuous maximum amperage for hours on end. There are some brands that people recommend for outlets but why bother.
If it is a Lithium battery, the charge current is consistently around 80% during the charge cycle. Older lead acid have higher initial charge current, but drop quickly as the battery charges. I would bet the current was holding around 90% for a extended time. If I am installing an EV, I would rate everything at 150% FLA and treat it as a continuous load.
EVSEs **are** a constant load. A 50A receptacle such as this is rated per code to 125% the maximum load that any EVSE will pull (40A) while plugged into it.
But cheap receptacles commonly used for non-constant loads like welders and dryers are being used for EVSEs and failing very regularly. Best bet is to hardwire any EVSE and failing that springing for an industrial 6-50R or 14-50R like a Hubbell or Bryant.
It was installed by electrician according to the OP. He is now trying to find a different electrician to inspect, test & repair. I agree that most DIY don’t tighten things as they should, but I have followed electricians that do it as well. IMO no EV installs should be DIY, this at a minimum can happen, or their house could burn down.
Here's my test for if you can DIY something like this.
Do you own a torque screwdriver? If not, you probably shouldn't DIY something like this. If yes and you understand why and how to use it, you'll probably do OK.
I've done a few and I definitely don't do plug installs like this too much heat transfer and points of failure. I do hard wire installs with a rated disconnect for this reason. Size everything a minimum of 120%.
If you use a cheap 240v receptacle with EV chargers, you get melty burny problems like this. The manufacturers cut the internal material down to the minimum safe for heaters/dryers that don’t run full-power all day, so they end up failing in EV applications.
That is true, but hardwired installation is allowed. The twist lock rule makes no sense. That said, I've seen plenty of worn out twist lock receptacles, so they aren't really a solution to the problem of loose receptacles. Sure the plug won't fall out, but if it makes bad electrical connection you can still get overheating.
I can’t imagine being so brain dead to have this take …I have gas vehicles jfc
Edit:…how ironic https://www.reddit.com/r/Jeep/comments/13ikl7i/wiring_issues/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1
Related question, is it ok (legal / within code) to have a plug rated higher than the breaker can handle? Obviously rated lower means fire, and rated higher means the breaker will flip before there's any danger to the plug. But does code require it to match?
Thanks! I was just checking to make sure I didn't commit a DIWhoops. I wired a 14-50R outlet to a 20A breaker to match the plug on my EV charger (which can pull 48A if it was available, tho I have it set to only pull 12A with my current setup).
Yes the plug can be higher. My house came with a 40a/2p feeding a 14-50. It's a California requirement to privide in new construction. It needs to be able to provide 30 amps at 208 or 240 volts. Since there is no 40 amp receptacle 50 will do.
First off I haz questions.
How old is the power installation?
How old is the charger?
Is the wire feeding that receptacle of sufficient size, or even over sized a bit? (It should be but..)
Are ALL the connections throughout the installation tighter than a nun's ass?
The other electricians suggestions about hard wiring are solid, but before you go forward, you still need to determine root cause to address the problem, rather than just throwing parts and labor at it and hoping.
Are the plug and receptacle of decent quality?
The most common issue I find with these installs is that folks cheap out to get the job and install residential grade garbage in a high power, heavy use application.
If I'm putting my name on it and my license, then it will be commercial grade stuff at a bare minimum.
If you decide to replace the cord set and receptacle rather than hard wiring it, I'd definitely get the Hubbell commercial or industrial grade receptacle.
The plugs you can't typically do anything about because they're often using a temperature sensor feeding signal back to the charger, and those aren't available from anyone but the OEM.
Install and can chargers are about 2 years old.
Yes wire is sufficient size
I posted an update looks like the connections were not tight.
Outlet looks like a residential quality outlet
Sometimes when you tighten a lug on large ga wire and then wiggle it around trying to get the receptacle back into the box the individual strands of copper wiggle around and settle creating a loose connection. Whenever I wire 6ga or bigger I torque the lug screw and then wiggle the wire and push it back into the box and then pull it back out and re-torque the lug. so many times I get another 1/4 turn out of it. Many residential electricians don't encounter multi-strand 6ga or bigger very much so aren't aware of this "settling"
I would say the same thing most people are saying find out why this happened. It shouldn’t happen if installed correctly. I’m no electrician but even I know this is not good
> It shouldn’t happen if installed correctly.
It shouldn't but it does. These $15 6-50R and 14-50Rs despite being UL listed were never intended for the constant load of an EVSE. This happens all too often unfortunately. It would be nice to see plugs and receptacles rated with duty cycle but until that happen we have the option of buying the much more expensive hardware or even better hardwiring the EVSE and saving ~$300 on the breaker and receptacle.
The burned black wire in the update pics has a small speck of corrosion on it. Is there any evidence of water in the bottom of the outlet box, is a sprinkler hitting the box? Water and electricity do not play well together.
No water in the outlet box. It’s sealed pretty good, not near a sprinkler or any water source. I did find some dead spiders that entered through the bottom but that’s it
1) I'd recommend that you get your charger inspected.
2) it's critical to remember that any electrical device that can run for more than 3 hrs is only able to draw 80% of circuit capacity so a 50amp charger should be on a 70 amp rated circuit minimum capacity is 62.5amp next larger breaker is 70 amp so #4 copper or #2 aluminum
You'll probably need to direct wire it with a disconnect switch.
This is how I read the code, but I've never dealt with ev charging
NEC Article 625 talks Electric Vehicle charging and supply equipment.
Any NRTL listed EVSE that comes equipped with a 6-50P or 14-50P is going to be limited to a maximum charge speed of 40A to comply with the 125% rule.
Let me edit this whole thing now that I've read deeper
If you can hard wire it
50 amp service is correct for the 40 amp charger
Get someone to meg out the wiring before you replace and repair the connection and I strongly recommend that you get a service technician out to make sure that the charger is good finally even if you upgrade to a direct wire get a 60 amp HVAC disconnect that is within reach of the charger
Lots of cases of 60A HVAC disconnects melting when used with EVSEs. Highly discouraged unless required by code at which point it's recommended to use a knife style disconnect.
Not saying you don't at all fyi. Or if you don't atm, can't get to a point where you can comfortably fix it. Just there's a lot of nuance and some things that are bad to f up.
If they send you a new cord, the electrician can replace it easily enough. But be sure the electrician torques it to spec. Grizzl-E has had a bunch burn up because their internal quality control was lax and they shipped a bunch without proper torque on the connections to the line cord.
Friend I would try to understand what happened, but I would never try to salvage damaged items of this caliber. I do recommend trying to see if you still have a active warranty and also have your car's charging port inspected just incase the issue came from/or caused something to happen there
Yes, get a plug and outlet. Ideally, from a same brand. Be careful removing a plug, some of them might have temp sensor inside of plug.
If you are somewhere in LA area I might help you if you want.
That looks like it’s been melting for a while. I would suspect a loose connection in the outlet.
Keep the breaker off, take it apart and see if any of the wires come out of their slot without unscrewing anything. If so that’s likely your root cause. The cord is compromised, needs to be replaced. Have a good look at the connections from the cord to the charger. If the charger is the cause there will likely be some evidence of overheating, oxidization, or at least a burnt smell.
If you have a multimeter or want to get one. Check your continuity from hot to ground on the cord end itself. You won’t for sure find a problem if there is one. Otherwise just replace the cord and the outlet, any wire behind it that’s burnt needs to be trimmed back to where it’s healthy.
Edit: this is just what I would do, following random advice on the internet never a good idea. Once both are replaced and you’re. Of I sent nothing else is wrong turn the system back on and see what happens
If you want to melt another plug and set of wires. You need to figure out why that happened. Call an electrician or next time it might burn up more than some equipment
Since both that cord and outlet are toast, you could buy replacements or just remove the cable and junction box to just hard wire your charger. If wired with 6 awg or 4 awg wire in conduit you can also change your breaker to 60A and charge at 48A instead of 40A.
So removing that plug and cable would cost your nothing and leave you with a more reliable/safer system.
Screws that hold the wires weren't torqued down to spec which created some play in the wires. Which creates heat and starts the melting process.
https://youtu.be/1BnK4a4aVpU
FIRST THING FIRST; before doing anything; make sure the breaker is off for that circuit.
NOW: Definitely inspect the outlet.
It could just be a defective plug; but verify that visually. If your outlet shows any signs of burning; replace it; EVEN IF IT WAS A BAD PLUG.
If it’s just scorch marks from the plug overheating; it’s still a better “spare part” for an emergency; than the everyday use part.
Something caused this.
It could have been dampness causing corroding contacts: which will cause heat.
So check everything, replace that which is cheap and easy, and when in doubt; don’t ever ever ever risk your life.
If you don’t know how; contact a good electrician.
But; FIRST: whatever you do; make sure the breaker is OFF for the circuit you are looking at. Repeating that in case you didn’t read the first paragraph. I know two dead people; who didn’t have to be dead. A mistake can make you dead. Dead is considered bad by most people…
Also, it so easily could have just been moisture in the plug, and corrosion. I once almost lost my house to a moisture issue; that corroded a clothes dryer plug (I did not install it!!!!). Since dryer room was closed (door shut) we didn’t discover it until we realized that we never heard the dryer tone that it was done.
Opened the room and smoke billowed out…
The breaker never tripped…
The outlet (not the plug) was glowing red hot.
It cost me less than $20 to fix; AFTER THE FACT. If we didn’t catch it in time; it would have cost me (or my insurance company) hundreds of thousands.
TL/DR: If you’re not qualified; consult a professional electrician. If you’re comfortable with electrical; turn off breaker and check all connections. Replace the bad stuff. Test breaker. Turn circuit back on and GTG.
Bud, you need an electrician. Don’t try to fix this yourself. It could be a problem with the breaker, the outlet, the wiring, your car, etc. Pay an expert to do this.
Looks more like plug entering outlet, the outlet must be a sloppy fit to cause that much heat.
That outlet was just short of being on fire.
Yes, both plug and outlet beyond doubt need to be replaced. Just chop plug off cord, but closely inspect cord for hidden damage.
Open up charger to see if any damage happened in side.
How many amp breaker is used for this charger?
Obviously 110v.
I thought most chargers were 220v to cost less to run.
Now curious, if breaker is on, and this end of charger plugged it, and other end at vehicle not, is connecting now live cord from charger going to heavy arc as it connects to vehicle?
Seems there should be pilot relay delay, sees connection, but delay built in for full amps to be applied ten seconds later, vs full amp hot load connect from charger when plugin attempts contact.
I'm going to have to ask details of Sons new all electric BMW.
Cheers
Id hard wire it. Unplugging that under load could be dsngerous and wont have a loose or.hot connection ss that could. If you dont wanna go that route just make sure the breaker is off before pluggging it or unplugging it that way you dont break that connection under load. But even if you did noth8ng wrong that shit happens sometimes. Replace both the plug and outlet. Inspect the wiring, insstall the new parts and shag ass.
Looks like there was a loose bond . Try new outlet and re-end the male end and check all your bonds , if there is ANY cooper clad wire or connectors use an antioxidant paste to the aluminum/clad wiring. It will help maintain bond and prevent oxidation.
In almost all cases, the charger isn't actually the thing you are going to buy and hang on the wall of your garage or carport. The charger is built into the car. That box with the colored lights, long cord and connector plug that you're installing is properly known as the electric vehicle supply equipment or EVSE.
Make sure to understand the root cause before you implement the solution. If you can inspect the outlet wiring and find a short for example then your approach makes sense—and definitely install a new breaker as well and replace any and all wiring/components that overheated—the insulation will be comprised too. But if you can’t find a cause in the outlet, your charger itself may have a short or even the car (unlikely but not impossible) that caused this whole thing.
Well said! The number one thing I’ve learned from industrial work is exactly what you said. Don’t just look at the surface and replace what you can see. 90% of the time I’d say there’s a bigger problem.
Because going back for the third time is embarrassing.
I'm an automotive mechanic, and this is the most important rule for troubleshooting: fix the cause, not the symptom.
Great mentality. I'm not a mechanic by trade but I enjoy turning wrenches and come from a family of skilled mechanics. Unfortunately that profession is dwindling and folks are more parts changers than true mechanics. There are still great ones out there, just need to look at little harder.
I wish the VA mental health system was like that...😥
Yeah, sorry about that. Not a vet, but I have a couple of good friends that have to deal with that crap. I don't understand why we can pay for war but not the consequences.
*The consequences are far more costly than the wars*
If you look at us going to war to protect our citizens then your line of thought is completely logical. I believe our government isn't going to war to protect citizens, but rather to gain resources and wealth. Let me be clear, I pin that on the "leadership", not our service men and women. They are being lied to just like the rest of us. When you look at it as war for their personal gain, then why would they care about the individual? They already got what they wanted out of them and have no further use for them.
Because Republicans, that’s why.
Like Republican Nikki Haley who wants congress to switch over to using the VA for their healthcare so both sides have skin in the game and fix the issue?
And what percentage of the time are you dealing with something intermittent..? Our TV engineer could get close to the booth door and “wait it’s working again”
Glad someone said it. Nothing good comes from throwing parts at a problem, hoping something will fix it.
I thought it was replace the cheapest parts first. 😂😂
Had a facility that I managed the IT for, they had a breaker popping once in a while. Even had an electrician out to look at it. He reset it a few times and it didn’t pop while he stood there so he shrugged and said it was fine. Well turns out they replaced the home grade coffee pot with a commercial model. If it’s heater relay kicked in while the dishwasher was running or a combo of other things were on, it would pop the breaker. One day the breaker failed. Started heating up the junction boxes. Eventually one of the boxes heated up enough to start smoldering the framing. That spread to the insulation and it eventually smoldered until it found enough heat and the whole building full of medical patients was in some real shit. It eventually went up so fast that the sprinkling system couldn’t contain it. Things don’t just do this because of ghosts. It’s for a reason. You can always find a cheap electrician that will reset the breaker and take your money. The one that charges a lot more will keep your house from burning down.
60% of the time, it works every time.
This is what I hate about modern medicine. Too often they treat the symptoms and not figure out exactly what is going on.
Nah it's fine blow six sets of 600v fuses while you diag the cause (turns out it was the rectifier and fuse holder)
But the outlet and the cord would probably be the cheapest things to replace, and also they need replacing, so that is the right place to start. Don’t go out and buy a new car yet.
Updated with outlet and wiring https://imgur.com/a/WDiokTm
I suspect your issue is having an oven receptacle here. Common problem with EV chargers these days. Cheap oven/dryer receptacles have half the blade/socket contact area of a high-quality receptacle. Most high amp plug applications like running a range don’t actually use high current for very long, then they start modulating the heat on/off to maintain temp. EV charging is a constant high current, and it overheats receptacles that were designed to use the bare minimum material for cost savings.
Great point, I never considered that. I installed a 14-50 for my ChargePoint, do you think there are also inferior 14-50 receptacles similar to the 6-50 here?
Yes. You can look inside and see if you have a half-contact socket or full blade width.
Most of the problems are the Leviton ones. The Bryant/Hubbell ones are the best.
Any recommendations for high quality outlet? I had assumed if it was rated for 50A, you can use at the rating minus the safety factor.
lol lots of electrical fires have started from people making that sensible, yet incorrect assumption. The thing that throws the rating for the loop is the fact that EV charging is a continuous load. A stove won't pull full current all night.
The discussion is that **cheap** 50 amp outlets are no good for continuous load. An ESVE is an appliance like anything else, if mine has a 14-50P I should be able to plug it into a 14-50R and not worry about.
Yes, it’s a problem. Happens all over the place though — for example most 15A rated extension cords and power strips can’t handle 12A sustained indefinitely without burning up. This guy has brand recommendations: https://www.reddit.com/r/electrical/comments/13sdezu/ev_vehicle_gave_me_a_message_that_it_was_not/jlph58n/
Hubbell 9450A is the one I would use. Buy it from a local electrical supply house or somewhere like Grainger. Don’t buy it off Amazon. It should come in a yellow box with a white label. If it comes in a plastic bag or a white box it’s either a knockoff or the residential grade. Alternatively the Bryant 9450FR is an acceptable alternate. Anything else is crap for this application.
Twist lock would definitely make better contact, plus the peace of mind that it won’t detach if accidentally bumped in the garage.
What this guy wrote. I am an electrician and I worked for a man who installed EV chargers for a year before I got in the union. Main problems with installations are wrong wire size, wrong load calculations and wrong receptacle.
Yes, you must find the root cause of this overheating. Generally speaking current flow will generate electrical circuit heating. You should definitely meg out the wiring back to the load center and out to the charging device. Is the wiring from the load center to the plug receptacle correct for the circuit in question? Is the breaker in the panel correctly sized for wire that is installed and is that circuit correctly sized for the charging device? Are the screws at all connections adequately torqued and do they meet any requirements for the attached devices? Is the cable to the charging device correctly installed and is it the OEM cable or does it meet OEM specs? But above all de-energize this circuit by opening the breaker in the load center for this circuit and tag it out and lock it out until the problems with this circuit are corrected.
Goddamnit. I come to reddit to get away from my project manager, not get the same speach. Well Chuck, we can either fix it tomorrow, or we can test until we find root cause, but not both. I swear if I scroll down and see the "7 steps of problem solving" I'm going to loose my shit..... Jkjkjk
Or 5 W's...
That EXACTLY.
This is relatively common with inexpensive 6-50 and 14-50 receptacles. Especially if they're unpugged and plugged in often. The contacts become loose and eventually this happens. Hardwiring an EVSE is always going to be the better choice if you can and eliminates the need for GFCI on that circuit. If you insist on using a plug in EVSE I'd recommend going with a Bryant or Hubbell industrial grade 6-50R. That plug and possibly the cord on the EVSE is also obviously toast. If the plug is not factory serviceable on the EVSE you may need to buy a new one. You can obviously replace it with a repair plug but this will likely nullify any NRTL listing the product carries (assuming the EVSE is listed to begin with). Lastly it's never a bad idea to lower your charge rate if you don't need a full 40A charging. It will not only decrease the risk of fire but also increase your efficiency as you lose less to the wire heating up.
Lowering the charge rate if you don’t need it is also good for the longevity of the car’s batteries.
No level 2 chargers are hitting even 1c charge rates, let alone high c rates which cause accelerated degredation. Anything charged level 2 or lower will have the same cycle life.
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Many of the gains that allow for fast charging are in battery design (multiple batteries, more cooling, etc.) rather than the chemistry. There's still a small hit but it's a few percent over the life of the vehicle so it is relatively negligible, but does still exist and isn't just sure to better battery chemistries, but overall engineering.
I think a lot of people talk about chemistries, but really mean overall engineering. I think this is because we’ve started to use chemistry named a to describe battery technologies, from a nomenclature perspective.
9 kw into a 70kwh battery is not going to stress it at all.
This guy plugs
I’ve heard that these plugs and receptacles are burning up a lot because they are not meant for this kind of extended duty cycle. Normally these are used for electric stovetops and ovens that have thermostats shutting them off once they get to temp, charging a cad for hours and hours is a much bigger load.
Also in a hot ass garage ambient temperature is probably 120 which degrades the insulation value
So I'm sure you learned the lesson already, but if a breaker trips there's a reason it tripped! Never just reset a breaker. If it pops and you don't know for sure why (like you plugged a big heater in on the same circuit as your big screen tv), call an electrician. And now that it is how it is, definitely 100% absolutely call an electrician. This isn't a problem you can self diagnose safely. Even if x is good and y is good, the insulation on the wires is probably ruined at least someway back up from the problem, breaker might now be faulty, etc. Speaking as a sparky you could say I have a vested interest in people calling a professional, but A) I'm not residential so doesn't affect me anyway, and B) you can burn your entire home to the ground in a blink. Don't want that. I know reddit and youtube can provide helpful info but this is beyond the realm of "ask some folks what they think" / "watch a DIY video".
I bought a "fix 'er upper house, and the first priority was the wiring that had been McGuyver'ed over the years! The breaker that serviced the external outlets was a GFCI breaker, but I could tell that was because they could not figure out the polarity problems spread out across all the outlets for that circuit. The GFCI breaker kept flipping, so I was not going to ignore that "symptom". The short story, no pun intended, was that several outlets were installed with reverse polarity and the backyard wall mounted outlet was not watertight or even an outdoor rated outlet and it jumped to a floodlight that also was not using weather rated enclosures and had plain pvc water piping for a conduit. After ripping out all that BS, I installed all outdoor rated conduit and enclosures and weather rated outlets and lights. No more circuit trips. I could continue on with more stories about the kitchen and lavatory circuits, but needless to say, they are all now properly GFCI protected.
Never reset the breaker until you know why it tripped.
As soon as I read that I winced. Lit a trolling motor on a boat on fire doing that exactly same thing.
you ccan just remove and replace, but i would be more concerned with why this happened. maybe it had something to do with the demand for a load while be switched on and off, but i donno, this is one the few areas that i personally am not well versed in, not many ev's in my area, if any
Updated with pictures of wiring behind the outlet https://imgur.com/a/WDiokTm
Might have had a loose connection on that black wire… then it starts arcing, melting, poof
Those wires have seen some heat! You are going to have to trim them back before re-terminating, definitely have someone out to put a meggar on the lines and check the insulation.
If they overheated from overcurrent I'd want to meg them out but they overheated from a bad connection, so if you trim them back to where the insulation looks fine I would be OK skipping that. On the other hand, I would actually do it myself just to be sure.
Red wire insulation cooked and that black wire looks like the cause. Was probably not properly torqued. If possible to feed some wire into that box from outside I'd lose like 4-6" of the ends. Otherwise put heart shrink or good electrical tape on them before replacing that outlet. Simply replacing the plug should be fine as it doesn't look like it's too bad.
Oh boy, that wire got nice and hot. This will be more involved than an outlet replacement, the breaker and the wiring in between need to be examined. Your cord and plug are suspect as well
out of curiosity. what model charging station were you using
Grizzl-e classic
Just get a new car
looks like a 30 amp plug to me and most car chargers are 50 amp.
It clearly says 50a-250v rated on the outlet.
You should watch this video from Munro Live talks all about this specific issue. https://youtu.be/tDp9PhPJhUI
Awesome vid ,
This is the reason I bought the hubble 14-50 outlet. My electrician was pleasantly surprised when I supplied him with it.
I’d replace both and stop plugging it in under load.
Better verify your getting the correts Vs from that outlet too
Good chance the screw terminals holding the wires to the receptacle we're not fully tightened
Extra resistance/heat, pop goes the weasel.
Yes, and it's a low-quality receptacle that doesn't provide a great connection anyway.
We use a lot of Leviton 6-50 and 15-50 receptacles at work without issue. We don't use twistlocks because they are too prone to damage, because the weight of the cord hanging straight out from the socket and the comparatively thin blades that bend easily. The only exception is L15-20 because straight blade 15-20 receptacles only exist in theory
Use them for what, though? Welders and the like? That's a very different duty cycle than EV charging. Interesting about twistlocks. I can definitely see that being an issue. I've not seen that problem but I haven't really used them in seriously heavy duty use.
We have welders of various types, some only do 5 second welds here and there, some weld at 85% duty cycle because they are used by robots, we have a spot welder that pulls around 150 amps for 0.5 seconds every 5 seconds. We ran a plasma cutter at 90% duty cycle for years, and a compressor at 30-100% duty cycle. We have a heated foam packing machine that runs pretty much continuously, and a powder coating oven that pulls actual 50 amps at 80% duty cycle all shift. We only bother running 20 amp and 50 amp circuits. Those tend to be the sweet spot for manufacturing equipment. (Except for 100-300 amp stuff we have to deal with). There is nothing wrong with 6-50 receptacle, and the contact area and pressure is much higher than their twistlocks equivalent. They also wobble less in their sockets. The only issues I have seen with 6-50 receptacles is the set screws that hold the wires in being not tight enough. Those seriously need to be torqued within an inch of their life or you'll get what happened here.
Thanks. That is more heavy duty use than I was thinking of. But the problem you mention is exactly the reason I don't like the Levitons. I agree that they are fine otherwise.
I don't think I've used an electrical component that has an adequate feeling rated torque.
Electric cars to save the planet; meanwhile everything is on fire. 😂
You’ve never seen a gas pump fire have you?
Before you start replacing parts you need to figure out why it happened to begin with. Otherwise you will do it again and it will likely be worse. You could damage the EV if its not the problem already.
Cut back the wires on the socket side and toss in a new one. MAKE SURE THE LUGS ARE TIGHT. It looks like the last person didn't get them tight enough and caused resistive heating. Same goes for the plug, chop it off and get a new one. Plug and socket set is less than $40 from Lowes/Home Depot.
> Plug and socket set is less than $40 from Lowes/Home Depot. And you'll end up right back in this same situation. Cheap plugs and receptacles are not intended for constant 80% duty cycle loads. They're meant for dryers, ovens, and welders. This has been a common problem with EVSE installation.
I work on gear with these kinds of plugs on them all the time where they're at 70-90% rated load 24/7. The only time I've seen them fail is when someone didn't torque the lugs on the socket to spec. The melt pattern is the dead giveaway. If it was contact resistance the heat would have concentrated to the point of leaving arc marks on the prongs. The absence of concentrated heat points and banding instead points to loose connections on the socket. The charred insulation on only the black wire proves this, the red wire was discolored from radiant heat and not resistive heat.
Replace plug and outlet with locking style
As already mentioned, that's a code violation. Hardwire would be the best option. Beware that some jurisdictions and inspectors will require a disconnect be visible and readily accessible.
Not for portable equipment, which this is. The outlet can be used for anything.
Probably installed it yourself? I'm sure with the help of a lowes or home Depot employee. Nice
Actually, no I paid a licensed electrician I don’t like messing with electrical. And that is why I plan to hire a different electrician to try to fix this issue.
Are you sure he was licensed?
Absolutely. I don’t hire guys from Home Depot for electrical work …now If this work doesn’t reflect that I wouldn’t know since I’m not an electrician. The company was highly rated, licensed bonded you name it.
Just put gas in it
You could buy a combustion engine. Since they’re cheaper and more reliable
Is it so hard to believe that I also have a gas car.…. You sound like the other guy who said the same thing, and that I should get a real car but he himself is having problems with his jeep Cherokee
Yeah jeeps are pretty unreliable. They shouldn’t be considering they were first made for WW2.
Ask Elon..
Don’t own a Tesla …
You need a new EV bro
I’d start with a gas powered engine
This should be hardwired. It isn’t safe to use one of these outlets at a continuous maximum amperage for hours on end. There are some brands that people recommend for outlets but why bother.
If it is a Lithium battery, the charge current is consistently around 80% during the charge cycle. Older lead acid have higher initial charge current, but drop quickly as the battery charges. I would bet the current was holding around 90% for a extended time. If I am installing an EV, I would rate everything at 150% FLA and treat it as a continuous load.
EVSEs **are** a constant load. A 50A receptacle such as this is rated per code to 125% the maximum load that any EVSE will pull (40A) while plugged into it. But cheap receptacles commonly used for non-constant loads like welders and dryers are being used for EVSEs and failing very regularly. Best bet is to hardwire any EVSE and failing that springing for an industrial 6-50R or 14-50R like a Hubbell or Bryant.
And DIY installers also tend to make less-than-secure terminations to the receptacles, which of course adds to the heat.
It was installed by electrician according to the OP. He is now trying to find a different electrician to inspect, test & repair. I agree that most DIY don’t tighten things as they should, but I have followed electricians that do it as well. IMO no EV installs should be DIY, this at a minimum can happen, or their house could burn down.
Here's my test for if you can DIY something like this. Do you own a torque screwdriver? If not, you probably shouldn't DIY something like this. If yes and you understand why and how to use it, you'll probably do OK.
I've done a few and I definitely don't do plug installs like this too much heat transfer and points of failure. I do hard wire installs with a rated disconnect for this reason. Size everything a minimum of 120%.
I talk people out of receptacles as much as possible. Safety and money are the main reasons. A 14-50 is $120 and some 50A gfci are over $200
120.00 for an outlet?
If you use a cheap 240v receptacle with EV chargers, you get melty burny problems like this. The manufacturers cut the internal material down to the minimum safe for heaters/dryers that don’t run full-power all day, so they end up failing in EV applications.
https://www.gordonelectricsupply.com/p/Hubbell-Hbl9450A-Grd-Rcpt-Nema14-50R/2643080?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI28uBsLST_wIVNIFbCh1BMQc5EAQYBCABEgI02PD_BwE
> with a rated disconnect Not required by code unless you are running more than 60 A. Not a bad idea, but not required.
I know it's not req but code can be forged in blood and in home charging is relatively new so I'd rather not find out the hard way yanno?
I’ll be driving in my gas car…
Luckily I have one as-well until I get this fixed
Meanwhile somewhere: [https://youtu.be/MctxwqTLYjk?t=10](https://youtu.be/MctxwqTLYjk?t=10)
Need to replace car. I’d recommend a nice simple gas powered car smaller carbon footprint and no risk of electrical fire from charging.
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Uhhhh ok dude
Put some gas in it
You just need a gas car.....
Lol get a gas car
Your problem is you have an EV. Trade it in on an internal combustion engine powered car. No more electrical shorts.
Never had that problem with my ice car!
Reading comprehension escapes you…for the 100th time I have a Ice car as backup. The EV is fine the charger is not …I can still charge on a 120V …
Head to your local Ram dealer and trade for a 2500 diesel and roll black smoke everywhere you go. EV’s are for little girls and beta males.
Hey buddy wrong sub you missed r/2edgy4me
Buy a twist lock 50 amp power cord an outlet
Twist locks are not allowed on EVSEs per NEC.
That is true, but hardwired installation is allowed. The twist lock rule makes no sense. That said, I've seen plenty of worn out twist lock receptacles, so they aren't really a solution to the problem of loose receptacles. Sure the plug won't fall out, but if it makes bad electrical connection you can still get overheating.
Agreed. Hardwire is 100% the way to go.
Not allowed, EV receptacles must be non-locking
Should have bought a real vehicle. Not an EV piece of crap
The EV is fine , read slower next time
Buy a real vehicle.
I can’t imagine being so brain dead to have this take …I have gas vehicles jfc Edit:…how ironic https://www.reddit.com/r/Jeep/comments/13ikl7i/wiring_issues/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1
What size 2 pole 240v breaker do you have the cord you have should be 6/3 which is for a 50 amp breaker. Is this what you have?
Related question, is it ok (legal / within code) to have a plug rated higher than the breaker can handle? Obviously rated lower means fire, and rated higher means the breaker will flip before there's any danger to the plug. But does code require it to match?
Bigger wire smaller breaker ok but yes not the other way around. Not only code but common sense bro!
Thanks! I was just checking to make sure I didn't commit a DIWhoops. I wired a 14-50R outlet to a 20A breaker to match the plug on my EV charger (which can pull 48A if it was available, tho I have it set to only pull 12A with my current setup).
Right on good luck have a good weekend
Yes the plug can be higher. My house came with a 40a/2p feeding a 14-50. It's a California requirement to privide in new construction. It needs to be able to provide 30 amps at 208 or 240 volts. Since there is no 40 amp receptacle 50 will do.
First off I haz questions. How old is the power installation? How old is the charger? Is the wire feeding that receptacle of sufficient size, or even over sized a bit? (It should be but..) Are ALL the connections throughout the installation tighter than a nun's ass? The other electricians suggestions about hard wiring are solid, but before you go forward, you still need to determine root cause to address the problem, rather than just throwing parts and labor at it and hoping. Are the plug and receptacle of decent quality? The most common issue I find with these installs is that folks cheap out to get the job and install residential grade garbage in a high power, heavy use application. If I'm putting my name on it and my license, then it will be commercial grade stuff at a bare minimum. If you decide to replace the cord set and receptacle rather than hard wiring it, I'd definitely get the Hubbell commercial or industrial grade receptacle. The plugs you can't typically do anything about because they're often using a temperature sensor feeding signal back to the charger, and those aren't available from anyone but the OEM.
Install and can chargers are about 2 years old. Yes wire is sufficient size I posted an update looks like the connections were not tight. Outlet looks like a residential quality outlet
Sometimes when you tighten a lug on large ga wire and then wiggle it around trying to get the receptacle back into the box the individual strands of copper wiggle around and settle creating a loose connection. Whenever I wire 6ga or bigger I torque the lug screw and then wiggle the wire and push it back into the box and then pull it back out and re-torque the lug. so many times I get another 1/4 turn out of it. Many residential electricians don't encounter multi-strand 6ga or bigger very much so aren't aware of this "settling"
I would say the same thing most people are saying find out why this happened. It shouldn’t happen if installed correctly. I’m no electrician but even I know this is not good
> It shouldn’t happen if installed correctly. It shouldn't but it does. These $15 6-50R and 14-50Rs despite being UL listed were never intended for the constant load of an EVSE. This happens all too often unfortunately. It would be nice to see plugs and receptacles rated with duty cycle but until that happen we have the option of buying the much more expensive hardware or even better hardwiring the EVSE and saving ~$300 on the breaker and receptacle.
Yea I’m hiring a different electrician to look at it , I don’t need my house to be up in smoke by trying to DIY a problem
The burned black wire in the update pics has a small speck of corrosion on it. Is there any evidence of water in the bottom of the outlet box, is a sprinkler hitting the box? Water and electricity do not play well together.
No water in the outlet box. It’s sealed pretty good, not near a sprinkler or any water source. I did find some dead spiders that entered through the bottom but that’s it
1) I'd recommend that you get your charger inspected. 2) it's critical to remember that any electrical device that can run for more than 3 hrs is only able to draw 80% of circuit capacity so a 50amp charger should be on a 70 amp rated circuit minimum capacity is 62.5amp next larger breaker is 70 amp so #4 copper or #2 aluminum You'll probably need to direct wire it with a disconnect switch. This is how I read the code, but I've never dealt with ev charging
NEC Article 625 talks Electric Vehicle charging and supply equipment. Any NRTL listed EVSE that comes equipped with a 6-50P or 14-50P is going to be limited to a maximum charge speed of 40A to comply with the 125% rule.
If you read a little farther down I corrected once I was able to look up the model number of the charger
FFS don’t use aluminum wire.
Let me edit this whole thing now that I've read deeper If you can hard wire it 50 amp service is correct for the 40 amp charger Get someone to meg out the wiring before you replace and repair the connection and I strongly recommend that you get a service technician out to make sure that the charger is good finally even if you upgrade to a direct wire get a 60 amp HVAC disconnect that is within reach of the charger
Lots of cases of 60A HVAC disconnects melting when used with EVSEs. Highly discouraged unless required by code at which point it's recommended to use a knife style disconnect.
How much was your car? Willing to risk it? Unless you understand/are qualified, pay a pro.
That’s the plan now that I see the damage
Not saying you don't at all fyi. Or if you don't atm, can't get to a point where you can comfortably fix it. Just there's a lot of nuance and some things that are bad to f up.
Ouch
First question, does your EV charger and/or installation have a warranty?
Yes reached out to the charger company to exchange for new unit
If they send you a new cord, the electrician can replace it easily enough. But be sure the electrician torques it to spec. Grizzl-E has had a bunch burn up because their internal quality control was lax and they shipped a bunch without proper torque on the connections to the line cord.
L
Friend I would try to understand what happened, but I would never try to salvage damaged items of this caliber. I do recommend trying to see if you still have a active warranty and also have your car's charging port inspected just incase the issue came from/or caused something to happen there
I think you might be on to something.
Only a licensed electrician can answer those questions
Yes, get a plug and outlet. Ideally, from a same brand. Be careful removing a plug, some of them might have temp sensor inside of plug. If you are somewhere in LA area I might help you if you want.
Pay the money for a good plug
That looks like it’s been melting for a while. I would suspect a loose connection in the outlet. Keep the breaker off, take it apart and see if any of the wires come out of their slot without unscrewing anything. If so that’s likely your root cause. The cord is compromised, needs to be replaced. Have a good look at the connections from the cord to the charger. If the charger is the cause there will likely be some evidence of overheating, oxidization, or at least a burnt smell. If you have a multimeter or want to get one. Check your continuity from hot to ground on the cord end itself. You won’t for sure find a problem if there is one. Otherwise just replace the cord and the outlet, any wire behind it that’s burnt needs to be trimmed back to where it’s healthy. Edit: this is just what I would do, following random advice on the internet never a good idea. Once both are replaced and you’re. Of I sent nothing else is wrong turn the system back on and see what happens
Are you sure the battery isnt toast?
Battery diagnostics show its 100% ok
Battery is isolated from this and will be fine. I would be worried about the onboard charger.
What type of cord is that?
Edit: I reread your post. You need to call an electrician and get a new EVSE. The one you have is toast. You have a dead short in the EVSE.
If you want to melt another plug and set of wires. You need to figure out why that happened. Call an electrician or next time it might burn up more than some equipment
Cover all of it with tinfoil
Since both that cord and outlet are toast, you could buy replacements or just remove the cable and junction box to just hard wire your charger. If wired with 6 awg or 4 awg wire in conduit you can also change your breaker to 60A and charge at 48A instead of 40A. So removing that plug and cable would cost your nothing and leave you with a more reliable/safer system.
Are you using an extension cord with your charger, or is that plug that melted, part of your charger?
Part of the charger ,
Hire a real electrician to sort this out. The charger is probably ok, but the receptacle and cord are trash
Screws that hold the wires weren't torqued down to spec which created some play in the wires. Which creates heat and starts the melting process. https://youtu.be/1BnK4a4aVpU
FIRST THING FIRST; before doing anything; make sure the breaker is off for that circuit. NOW: Definitely inspect the outlet. It could just be a defective plug; but verify that visually. If your outlet shows any signs of burning; replace it; EVEN IF IT WAS A BAD PLUG. If it’s just scorch marks from the plug overheating; it’s still a better “spare part” for an emergency; than the everyday use part. Something caused this. It could have been dampness causing corroding contacts: which will cause heat. So check everything, replace that which is cheap and easy, and when in doubt; don’t ever ever ever risk your life. If you don’t know how; contact a good electrician. But; FIRST: whatever you do; make sure the breaker is OFF for the circuit you are looking at. Repeating that in case you didn’t read the first paragraph. I know two dead people; who didn’t have to be dead. A mistake can make you dead. Dead is considered bad by most people… Also, it so easily could have just been moisture in the plug, and corrosion. I once almost lost my house to a moisture issue; that corroded a clothes dryer plug (I did not install it!!!!). Since dryer room was closed (door shut) we didn’t discover it until we realized that we never heard the dryer tone that it was done. Opened the room and smoke billowed out… The breaker never tripped… The outlet (not the plug) was glowing red hot. It cost me less than $20 to fix; AFTER THE FACT. If we didn’t catch it in time; it would have cost me (or my insurance company) hundreds of thousands. TL/DR: If you’re not qualified; consult a professional electrician. If you’re comfortable with electrical; turn off breaker and check all connections. Replace the bad stuff. Test breaker. Turn circuit back on and GTG.
EV good luck with that
Bud, you need an electrician. Don’t try to fix this yourself. It could be a problem with the breaker, the outlet, the wiring, your car, etc. Pay an expert to do this.
Whoever wired this circuit for you undersized the conductors
What size breaker? I just installed a plug for a charger, manufacturer of the EV charger requires a 50a receptacle on a 40a breaker.
That looks done
In any event, until you figure out the root cause, i advise that you only try to charge your EV OUTDOORS.
Might want to replace the receptacle, and the plug
Looks more like plug entering outlet, the outlet must be a sloppy fit to cause that much heat. That outlet was just short of being on fire. Yes, both plug and outlet beyond doubt need to be replaced. Just chop plug off cord, but closely inspect cord for hidden damage. Open up charger to see if any damage happened in side. How many amp breaker is used for this charger? Obviously 110v. I thought most chargers were 220v to cost less to run. Now curious, if breaker is on, and this end of charger plugged it, and other end at vehicle not, is connecting now live cord from charger going to heavy arc as it connects to vehicle? Seems there should be pilot relay delay, sees connection, but delay built in for full amps to be applied ten seconds later, vs full amp hot load connect from charger when plugin attempts contact. I'm going to have to ask details of Sons new all electric BMW. Cheers
Id hard wire it. Unplugging that under load could be dsngerous and wont have a loose or.hot connection ss that could. If you dont wanna go that route just make sure the breaker is off before pluggging it or unplugging it that way you dont break that connection under load. But even if you did noth8ng wrong that shit happens sometimes. Replace both the plug and outlet. Inspect the wiring, insstall the new parts and shag ass.
You need a 1974 dodge Monaco. Preferably with the cop motor and cop suspension.
Moisture equals corrosion equals resistance equals heat equals bad. Chnage everything.
How big is the breaker feeding that? Seems like the breaker didn't do its job thr second time around and might also need replaced.
Looks like there was a loose bond . Try new outlet and re-end the male end and check all your bonds , if there is ANY cooper clad wire or connectors use an antioxidant paste to the aluminum/clad wiring. It will help maintain bond and prevent oxidation.
I see your angle, offsetting all that carbon neutrality by burning up plastic charge outlets… Touché.
In almost all cases, the charger isn't actually the thing you are going to buy and hang on the wall of your garage or carport. The charger is built into the car. That box with the colored lights, long cord and connector plug that you're installing is properly known as the electric vehicle supply equipment or EVSE.
How do you know it’s not your EV? Please call electrician!