V2L function to power the house?

[Everest]

Nice; 2kW of heating for 7p/hour

 

[Rolfe]

Not an unqualified success. After a couple of hours I realised the plug on the secondary extension lead I was using to get the power all the way into the living room was overheating and the fuse would probably have blown if I'd left it any longer. The basic concept is sound, but that extra extension lead is not good. The actual VtL adaptor and the heater plug into the other end of the problem adaptor were both fine though. Some warming on the latter but nothing to get alarmed about.

I'll remove the problem plug and fit a new, heavier-duty one and give it a shot while monitoring the situation more closely.

 

[Rolfe]

Hmmm. The hot live pin of the plug has caused a bit of damage to the plastic plate of the extension lead socket where it was plugged in. It seems to be superficial and just cosmetic, but I think I should have it checked by an electrician and probably get that plate replaced before I try anything heavy-duty again.

I can see where I made a mistake that may have caused this. The socket has a cover, a lid, designed to keep everything dry if it's used outside. I flipped it shut without really thinking about it. This has obviously prevented the heat from dissipating though, and caused the plug to go into meltdown. Only the plug suffered real damage though.

 

[Bam Bam]

Not an unqualified success. After a couple of hours I realised the plug on the secondary extension lead I was using to get the power all the way into the living room was overheating and the fuse would probably have blown if I'd left it any longer. The basic concept is sound, but that extra extension lead is not good. The actual VtL adaptor and the heater plug into the other end of the problem adaptor were both fine though. Some warming on the latter but nothing to get alarmed about.

I'll remove the problem plug and fit a new, heavier-duty one and give it a shot while monitoring the situation more closely.

The socket for our washing machine and dishwasher stopped working a few weeks ago.

Had an electrician around yesterday who traced it back and found that a connector for the wires on the circuit had melted/burned. Left black marks on the wall above and below.

Now fixed and working. Waiting in trepidation for the invoice from the electrician, though. He was here for several hours so it will be over £100.

Serious stuff, electricity.

 

[wattmatters]

This sounds a lot like the early days of EV adoption, did they have fuel stations before they built ICE powered cars? No, the adoption of a car that could travel further than a weekend hobby toy for the rich and started to replace the horse, the town store and town stables became fuel suppliers and mechanical workshops.

Fuel stations in the early days were not govt subsidised though.

This is a different transition and without massive govt policy support and $$$, it will take far too long.

A truck vs horse and cart transition was a completely different paradigm, the massive increase in transport effectiveness and efficiency is obvious and clearly a lot of money was to be made by having a fossil fuel distribution system.

An electric truck is not improving transport effectiveness all that much, so the $ imperative is far less obvious. At least while fuel is available.

Anyhoo, apologies for the diversion as this is about V2L.

Hmmm. The hot live pin of the plug has caused a bit of damage to the plastic plate of the extension lead socket where it was plugged in. It seems to be superficial and just cosmetic, but I think I should have it checked by an electrician and probably get that plate replaced before I try anything heavy-duty again.

Likely quite a high resistance connection resulting in heat build up, which in turn increases resistance. It does not take much, a slightly loose or partly worn socket or pin, dirt, corrosion.

MG's V2L needs to be used carefully and once you start introducing more connections (plugs/sockets) and long leads, it's just adding more voltage drop to a supply with an already lower than normal voltage.

When I used it with a long lead (2.5 mm² wire) and for long periods, I was confining power draw to under 1.2 kW to trickle charge the home battery. I would not be pulling 2+ kW for long periods, it's just asking for trouble.

Same applies to using extension leads/plugs when charging. To be avoided where possible.

 

[Rolfe]

The socket for our washing machine and dishwasher stopped working a few weeks ago.

Had an electrician around yesterday who traced it back and found that a connector for the wires on the circuit had melted/burned. Left black marks on the wall above and below.

Now fixed and working. Waiting in trepidation for the invoice from the electrician, though. He was here for several hours so it will be over £100.

Serious stuff, electricity.

I'm fairly convinced the main reason for my problem was closing that lid, rather than leaving it open so any heat generated could dissipate in the cool hall. There was very little heat around the plug of the heater itself, which was open to the air in the warmer environment of the living-room. The damage to the socket plate does look merely cosmetic.

 

[T1 Terry]

Not an unqualified success. After a couple of hours I realised the plug on the secondary extension lead I was using to get the power all the way into the living room was overheating and the fuse would probably have blown if I'd left it any longer. The basic concept is sound, but that extra extension lead is not good. The actual VtL adaptor and the heater plug into the other end of the problem adaptor were both fine though. Some warming on the latter but nothing to get alarmed about.

I'll remove the problem plug and fit a new, heavier-duty one and give it a shot while monitoring the situation more closely.

Here is a You Tube video on just this type of problem .
The one advertised is the same when acting as a heavy duty extension cord from a V2L as well as for a charger

T1 Terry

 

[Rolfe]

Yes. The cable from the car to the house is what he is showing as a heavy-duty cable. The problem came at the plug that was plugged into its socket. I genuinely think it might have been OK if I hadn't stupidly closed that lid.

 

[T1 Terry]

Yes. The cable from the car to the house is what he is showing as a heavy-duty cable. The problem came at the plug that was plugged into its socket. I genuinely think it might have been OK if I hadn't stupidly closed that lid.

Fair enough, was that the plug on the appliance itself?

T1 Terry

 

[wattmatters]

I genuinely think it might have been OK if I hadn't stupidly closed that lid.

Lid or no lid, if it's generating that much heat at a plug/socket interface then it's not safe to use.

 

[Rolfe]

Lid or no lid, if it's generating that much heat at a plug/socket interface then it's not safe to use.

It was the plug of a second extension lead, not the appliance itself. And I take your point. If I try that again with a new plug I'll stand over it with my hand on the thing.

 

[T1 Terry]

It was the plug of a second extension lead, not the appliance itself. And I take your point. If I try that again with a new plug I'll stand over it with my hand on the thing.

Was the second cord another 2.5 mm² marked cable and the bigger 13 amp plug? If not, you run a real risk of the insulation melting on the cables just after the plug a presenting a serious hazard regarding fire and getting a nasty shock ....
Not a pleasant experience for most people, and I doubt the GOD/King in the US will get to experience that while seated in one of those special chairs ..... where they strap to person that is about to have their special crown fitted ...... so they don't run away I guess .....

T1 Terry

 

[Rolfe]

Was the second cord another 2.5mmsq marked cable and the bigger 13 amp plug? If not, you run a real risk of the insulation melting on the cables just after the plug a presenting a serious hazard regarding fire and getting a nasty shock ....
Not a pleasant experience for most people, and I doubt the GOD/King in the US will get to experience that while seated in one of those special chairs ..... where they strap to person that is about to have their special crown fitted ...... so they don't run away I guess .....

T1 Terry

I realise it wasn't a good setup. Fortunately I noticed before any real damage was done. I'll be more careful in future. (The insulation was fine though, the part that heated was the live pin and the fuse.)

 

[Everest]

After a couple of hours I realised the plug on the secondary extension lead I was using to get the power all the way into the living room was overheating and the fuse would probably have blown if I'd left it any longer.

absolutely not! A fuse will only blow when there is significant overload of current flowing through the wire (as I recently detailed in this posting; see the detail and graph in that posting). A fuse will not protect you from a fire due to overheating of a bad (=high resistance) connection.

Granny charger plug burn out | MGS5 EV Forum

The basic concept is sound, but that extra extension lead is not good.

It is worse than "not good". For your own safety never use an extension lead for a high load appliance. e.g. heater, granny charger etc.

Lid or no lid, if it's generating that much heat at a plug/socket interface then it's not safe to use.

This ^^^^ 100%.

I'd recommend having a suitably long V2L cable made up so that you can plug the 2kW heater directly into the V2L's socket. The V2L cable should have minimum of 2.5 mm² cross section cable. The heater itself should be ideally a Class 2 (doubly insulated) device.

 

[Rolfe]

Yes, I had realised the fuse wasn't protecting against the overheating. I totally take on board what you are saying.

 

[Martinonline]

Whilst I agree with @Everest about his circuit theory I do not believe that using an extension cable is totally 'verboten' for higher current devices. It must depend on the design and manufacture of the cable and its connectors. Cheap extension leads with plastic plugs and socket(s) indicate cheaper conducting elements and must be avoided.

I used a moderately heavy duty 10m extension lead to an outside socket to granny-charge my Trophy for the year before I got an EVSE with no problems. (See image in another thread.) Last November when my gas boiler failed I ran two 2kW heaters to keep the house warm using (non-plastic extension leads) for over a week.

As ever you pay for quality because copper costs.

 

[MaxLogun]

I live off grid have 15kwh home battery storage and 7kw of solar, over the winter months primely Dec to Feb odd days in March I use the V2L to top up my home storage battery which obviously inturn runs my entire home through a 10kw inverter so the vehicle is not directly running my home as any high current draw is automatically assisted by my home battery though the inverter. I slso have turned down the input from the V2L to only draw 1.5kw so as not to work the vehicles own inverter to hard for long periods, been running my system like this for over 3 years now works very well.

 

[DWR]

There is a buzz around 'balcony solar' and using batteries (with inverter) as a source of power for the house electrics. Can I do the same with my car's V2L facility.?

Q

 

[stevemgevcom]

in the US you can have the wall box fitted to power your house from a new leaf (VtoH and VtoGrid enabled) via the chademo lead/connection BUT the BIG BUT IS it cast about $6000 so until it it becomes the norm its a no go here in the UK and by the time it does (slow government) we will probably all be dead, you see they will have to work a way to tax it.

 

[Everest]

Whilst I agree with @Everest about his circuit theory I do not believe that using an extension cable is totally 'verboten' for higher current devices. It must depend on the design and manufacture of the cable and its connectors

For those of us who can choose or make a suitable high quality extension lead; for example using quality heavy duty plug and 2.5mm2 arctic cable or similar (as discussed - see link below), then I agree. But, from my experience the vast majority of extension leads are not suitable for sustained usage of 2kW or more, hence my advice to avoid their use completely.

Granny Charging | General Chat Forum

BTW: Everest is a female Siberian Husky, though more of a tomboy than Skye. Despite being the oldest, she is enthusiastic, kind, and helpful