Granny Charging

[salty]

Oh dear. I did wonder whether you were jinxing things from all your postings saying "mine has been fine".

Yep, probably put the mockers on it, but it had been fine, up to that happening.

IMHO as "granny" charging works for you @salty, I'd get a Commando socket installed - then you can super-granny charge up to 16A without any overheating issues.

Think I'll, look into that.

 

[mikgle]

Yes, its what ive done, on a dedicated 16A circuit.. works well!

The 16A commando socket i meant..

 

[MG Clive]

Yep, probably put the mockers on it, but it had been fine, up to that happening.

This could have been a disaster @salty, well done spotting it before it became more serious.

 

[salty]

Definitely looks like overheating of the fuse connection within the BS1363 plug - you can clearly see the melted plastic at that position.

It certainly looks like there is a heat source on the fuse cover in the back of the plug as the plastic has bubbled, so may well indicate a poor connection.

That certainly looks like, why happened.

 

[Everest]

I find if you discard the fitted fuse and fit a live ammo round instead its a good tight fit (please DONT do this!)

 

[Everest]

The thing is, charging from a BS1363 plug and socket was just about OK when people were driving early EV (thinking Leaf, Zoe, original Ioniq, i3 etc.) which had 20-30kWh of battery and hence charging times were much shorter than they are now.

The BS1363 design of plug is mostly OK for long-term low current applications or say boiling a kettle for 2 to 3 minutes. They are not really up to long duration, high-load, usage, especially after 2 to 3 years usage, weakening of internal metal connections, tarnishing of contacts with damp etc.

As I mentioned on a previous thread, the contact at the fuse is a particular weak spot. IMHO, it would be better not to have a fuse in the plug at all, but to have your dedicated 13A socket (it is dedicated, isn't it ) on a 10A MCB instead, thus protecting the wire from overcurrent problems - but of course, that is not BS7671 compliant.