GordonED7's profile
Bronze user

Bronze user

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91 Messages

Monday, June 3rd, 2024 4:39 AM

0

Charging in the rain

The design of the charging socket on our eDeliver 7 looks like it would be safe if there was a light rain shower during charging, however, in a torrential thunderstorm downpour with strong wind, I suspect water might be forced into places it shouldn't be, ie high voltage electrical connections.

Many public charger locations are pretty bleak places, with no protection from the elements over the charging parking area, also little if any protection offered for people if they don't want to sit in their car.

For situations where I would like to charge in the rain, I've made a simple protective cover from re-used 2 litre ice cream containers, which is kept under the passenger seat, which has plenty of space left with the portable 15A charger and a few tools kept there.

The socket with our 32A charger plugged in

The rain protection cover over the cable and plug

New user

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30 Messages

7 months ago

Seems unnecessary. All EVs I have owned have had socket designs that seal well onto the standard plugs. 

Bronze user

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91 Messages

When there is no side load, yes I agree that the seal looks quite good (as in pic 1 above, at home) and light to moderate rain shouldn't be a problem.

However, with the plethora of short cables on public chargers, the plug is often pulled sideways by the weight of the cable, and the plug-socket interface is not as tight on the right side, potentially leaking in a windy downpour. I'd rather not risk it with 400VDC.

6 Messages

I've been trying to avoid charging in the rain at all since I pulled up to a charger (a Chargefox one) that turned out to be out of order with water visible inside. (This was not in an area that had suffered any flooding, just rain.) It is disquieting that so many charger are in bleak areas, even at petrol stations where the petrol pumps are under a roof.

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