Using a 3 pin 'emergency' charger

[Siatbury]

Hi all -Newbie her
Picking up our first EV on Friday. It's the MG5 LR. It may take 4 to 5 weeks to get a home charger installed. How practical is it to use the 3 pin cable? Any tips appreciated. Looking forward to learning more about EVs on this forum..

 

[Lguk]

You'll need a good extension lead and a well wired socket. I used the one thats on my electric hob isolator - seperate circuit and heavy wiring. The plug to top/socket can get warm and you should keep a close eye on it.
Think kettle boiling continuously for hours.

A full charge 0-100% is in the region of 26 hours.

I calculated my daily commute (70 miles total) at 3mi/kWh required 30% charge. On a 7kW charger that's around 3 hours. On the granny that's 9 hours give or take. The purpose of my home charger is to do that 3 hours of charge in the 4 hour octopus Go window at a third of my usual unit rate.

 

[Jomarkh]

Just monitor the plug top to see if it gets warm, use a good quality new socket and as short as possible extension cable full unwound.
Have you had a smart meter fitted? I would get that done ASAP by your current supplier and if you are think of a night tariff start the switch at the same time.
It work for me Bulb swapped my meter two days before I switched to Octopus.
You could also use a supermarket EVSE but you will nee the PodPoint app to 'confirm' the charge.
Have a look at Zap-map to find charge points.

 

[Alun26]

A standard ring main should be okay as it is technically fed by 2 2.5mm T&E cables.

 

[5teep]

I used the granny charger for months before I finally got a 7kw wall box installed.
As others have said, make sure any extension lead is heavy duty and the socket you run from is in good condition. The charger pulls 2.5 KW which is not huge but it runs for a long time so keep an eye on it for the first few charges to make sure the cable or socket are not overheating.

 

[jds1972]

I used the granny charger for months before I finally got a 7kw wall box installed.
As others have said, make sure any extension lead is heavy duty and the socket you run from is in good condition. The charger pulls 2.5 KW which is not huge but it runs for a long time so keep an eye on it for the first few charges to make sure the cable or socket are not overheating.

i got an extension lead from toughleads and can reccomend, i have the opional letter box connection so you can run it through the letter box.

 

[Hairyfool]

If you look at the toughleads web site you will see that the "EV" extension leads are a waterproof socket box with a standard 13A socket in it. This is because no ordinary rewireable socket is good enough for the continuous load of recharging a car.

The only downside is because they have a cover heat will build up faster due to no ventilation. Leave it open in fine weather and regularly check it if you have to close it.

 

[Siatbury]

You'll need a good extension lead and a well wired socket. I used the one thats on my electric hob isolator - seperate circuit and heavy wiring. The plug to top/socket can get warm and you should keep a close eye on it.
Think kettle boiling continuously for hours.

A full charge 0-100% is in the region of 26 hours.

I calculated my daily commute (70 miles total) at 3m/kwh required 30% charge. On a 7kw charger that's around 3 hours. On the granny that's 9 hours give or take. The purpose of my home charger is to do that 3 hours of charge in the 4 hour octopus Go window at a third of my usual unit rate.

Thanks for the help and advice much appreciated!

 

[Siatbury]

Just monitor the plug top to see if it gets warm, use a good quality new socket and as short as possible extension cable full unwound.
Have you had a smart meter fitted? I would get that done ASAP by your current supplier and if you are think of a night tariff start the switch at the same time.
It work for me Bulb swapped my meter two days before I switched to Octopus.
You could also use a supermarket EVSE but you will nee the PodPoint app to 'confirm' the charge.
Have a look at Zap-map to find charge points.

Thanks for that advice- it sound viable to use the three pin for a few weeks

 

[Siatbury]

i got an extension lead from toughleads and can reccomend, i have the opional letter box connection so you can run it through the letter box.

That's good advice- I have an a garage with a good wired up plug so I should be OK

 

[Geo68]

Cant get a home charger, live in a flat with looped supply and no off road parking. Public charging for me. I knew this before I bought the car so will suck it and see.

 

[leDoc]

I had mine for about two months before I got a pod point charger fitted at home. Apart from a couple of InstaVolt charges I managed by stopping at Tesco every other night a reading a book
Since having it fitted I have only used the pod point once to balance the battery. Still use Tesco for the free charge
Tbh I do take pleasure out of telling work colleagues how much I am saving

 

[Richard P]

We used the socket in the garden for the granny charger for 5 months before I had my QubEV 7KW charger installed. Worked fine though could take over 24 Hours for a full charge. The 7KW unit is a real bonus though!

 

[Kayged]

Hi all -Newbie her
Picking up our first EV on Friday. It's the MG5 LR. It may take 4 to 5 weeks to get a home charger installed. How practical is it to use the 3 pin cable? Any tips appreciated. Looking forward to learning more about EVs on this forum..

I used Tesco's free 7kw chargers while waiting for my charger to be installed, just plugged it in each time we went shopping and used the DC chargers if we were going to do a long trip.

 

[tonyleonard]

Hi all -Newbie her
Picking up our first EV on Friday. It's the MG5 LR. It may take 4 to 5 weeks to get a home charger installed. How practical is it to use the 3 pin cable? Any tips appreciated. Looking forward to learning more about EVs on this forum..

Just make sure when you use an extension lead that it is water proof. Tony

 

[Tim Falkiner]

I live in Australia. My MG ZS EV (42.5 kwh 265 k range) only gets light use so I only have a granny charger and only charge overnight about once a week. One hour's charge gives me 12 km so when the car gets down to 100 km range I put it on charge, say, at 6 pm and by 9 am the following morning it is full. 12 km/hr charge by 15 hours equals 180 km of charge - 100 km plus 180 km is greater than the 265 km it can hold. This charging pattern will change when I get my solar panels, Telsa 2 battery and Zappi charger.

 

[Elec Car Aust]

Hi all -Newbie her
Picking up our first EV on Friday. It's the MG5 LR. It may take 4 to 5 weeks to get a home charger installed. How practical is it to use the 3 pin cable? Any tips appreciated. Looking forward to learning more about EVs on this forum..

Hi Siatbury, Congrats on the new EV and dont worry about delay in fixed home charger install. We have the portable charger (EVSE) and it's been working fine for nearly 2 years now, our usage doesn't need the expense of having a charger installed. Just make sure you have good wiring and socket. We done a video here on charging with these - . Also have another couple of videos on fixed home chargers and CSS fast charging you might find useful. Australian based but charging globally is same.

 

[Siatbury]

Thanks for the tips..

 

[Siatbury]

I had mine for about two months before I got a pod point charger fitted at home. Apart from a couple of InstaVolt charges I managed by stopping at Tesco every other night a reading a book
Since having it fitted I have only used the pod point once to balance the battery. Still use Tesco for the free charge
Tbh I do take pleasure out of telling work colleagues how much I am saving

I can see already I don't need to rush a home charger installation but will wait to get a good deal

 

[Harry]

Hi all -Newbie her
Picking up our first EV on Friday. It's the MG5 LR. It may take 4 to 5 weeks to get a home charger installed. How practical is it to use the 3 pin cable? Any tips appreciated. Looking forward to learning more about EVs on this forum..

Quite practical depending on your daily needs. Look at the power input accepted by the car and work out what that means in kWh added per hour and how long you need to leave it on charge overnight - or longer (starting after getting home from work?) to cover your daily need. So if you need to cover 100 miles in a day and your efficiency is 3 miles per kWh (which is pessimistic) you would need to add 34 kWh to cover it. If the granny charger is giving 3kW power input that would need 11 hours or so. 50 miles daily would need 6 hours etc.