GRANNY CHARGER

[Mick Evans]

SO had my kitchen switches tripping out smelt burning in the garage on same ring main. To find the socket and wire has melted the wiring in the spur. Anyone else had this?

Been using the charger 3 months no pro lem until now.

 

[gasman]

The charger will be drawing a constant 3kw to the charger so if the connections are not tight (inside the socket) it will start to produce heat.
Get a sparky to check it out.

 

[BruceT]

SO had my kitchen switches tripping out smelt burning in the garage on same ring main. To find the socket and wire has melted the wiring in the spur. Anyone else had this?

Been using the charger 3 months no pro lem until now.

Has anything changed? different socket, plugged in longer? The granny charger does take 13A the so socket and plug are maxed out for hours. But yes I'd get it checked out, but in the mean time plug it in as close to the main board as possible, NO extension leads

 

[Thebiglad]

I only charge with the granny charger about 3 times per week and for about 8 hrs each time. For the 1st 6 months I used a std. domestic socket and on occasion it would get a bit warm, but never hot.
Subsequently I bought a higher quality domestic socket and with this new one the plug NEVER gets even warm.

 

[Mick Evans]

going to get one of these.

 

[BruceT]

View attachment 10862going to get one of these.

Do you have an electric oven, with an associated plug socket? If you do that is a fairly good socket to use, they are usually (but not always) on a 32A or 40A line from the consumer unit

 

[mourneuk]

View attachment 10862going to get one of these.

That's the one I use. No issues so far.

 

[Whiskey Foxtrot]

How long is the cable on a MG supplied granny please? Presumably they're IP rated. Thanks

 

[BruceT]

How long is the cable on a MG supplied granny please? Presumably they're IP rated. Thanks

IP67
Measuring the cables now

 

[BruceT]

Total length, plug to plug...... 4 Metres

 

[Alb]

Not the first time this has happened and there are many threads about the subject.
It's worth getting an EICR done if you've not had one recently.

 

[BugEyed]

SO had my kitchen switches tripping out smelt burning in the garage on same ring main. To find the socket and wire has melted the wiring in the spur. Anyone else had this?

All quite common sadly. BS1363 plugs are not designed for a constant 10A over prolonged periods.

If you must use a pEVSE then consider getting a CEE 16A socket installed with appropriate protection.

Been using the charger 3 months no pro lem until now.

Just like cigarette smokers - until it kills them.

 

[Jomarkh]

I would suggest a dedicated new quality 13A socket preferably on it's own 16A RCBO.
The granny EVSE draws 2.2kW which is about 10A but this is constantly for hours on end.

 

[Jto]

The charger will be drawing a constant 3kw to the charger so if the connections are not tight (inside the socket) it will start to produce heat.
Get a sparky to check it out.

It 2.2 kw it pulls

 

[Greebo12]

Has anything changed? different socket, plugged in longer? The granny charger does take 13A the so socket and plug are maxed out for hours. But yes I'd get it checked out, but in the mean time plug it in as close to the main board as possible, NO extension

SO had my kitchen switches tripping out smelt burning in the garage on same ring main. To find the socket and wire has melted the wiring in the spur. Anyone else had this?

Been using the charger 3 months no pro lem until now.

Do you mean the wire on the charger cable coming from the plug socket. If that what I am reading then there a fault with the charger. I must be honest I only experience the hyundia 3 pin charge and we left that plug in 12 hour and it would not alway pull 3kw it depended what was on in the house but it never got hot the plug never got hot .
It appear you have a fault charger cable.
To behonest your better off having a proper 7kw charge on your house as you will benefit from a cheaper kw/h tariff.

 

[JimD]

I'm pretty sure domestic 13A sockets are continuously rated. Plugging in a granny charger is little different from plugging in an electric heater (with no thermostat) for a prolonged period.

Yes, the wiring and the socket itself need to be in good condition and of the correct standard, but there really should be no problem.

 

[MichelleMyBelle]

My granny charger takes just over 1.7KW, it comes up on my smart meter and is less than I thought it would be

 

[Jomarkh]

That does seem a bit low as it should pull 2.2kW unless it is almost full orvdoing a battery balance.

 

[BugEyed]

My granny charger takes just over 1.7KW, it comes up on my smart meter and is less than I thought it would be

That's a very odd figure. Normally they pull 10A at whatever voltage you receive. Some granny's are switchable to different currents, typically 6, 8, and 10 Amps which are ~1.4kW, ~1.8kW and ~2.3kW. Is yours a standard MG one?

 

[Artaroos]

Mick E.

Food for thought for you:

You mention a Spur to the garage – does that spur run in series or parallel to your kitchen ring main that you described. (It does matter).

Most Sparkies would put a garage on a separate ring main as a matter of course, ideally with its own consumer unit. This seems like an afterthought and a parallel spur, which is OK until you start pulling bigger power.

You mentioned melting –a scorched socket is normally just replaced – the wiring is normally ok after overheating a little. (you check)

People have mentioned loose connections and they are bang on; planned preventative maintenance in places I have worked include things like thermal cameras (such as Fire brigade use) to inspect High Voltage connections monthly, to detect these issues.
Wherever two cables connect, they create heat, if the thing connecting them is loose, that heat increases.

Worst case scenario based in what I have read above in this post – you have a parallel spur to the garage from the kitchen ring. You are plugging an extension lead into that spur, to reach the car charger?

It’s impossible for anyone here to remote diagnose the problem - If you’re not comfortable with anything above, and you charge regularly, I’d suggest you get a Sparky in. Either to create a separate ring for you Granny charger / garage or advise you on a Domestic EV charger.

All the best