Charging from a granny lead, dangers???

[Archev]

My very kind neighbour would probably be OK about this, particularly at the point where I offered to pay for the electricity (this has never been mentioned). I don't know how long the free box five miles away is likely to stay free for, but it's next to a nice café and that could be a cheap solution to a temporary outage too.

All sorts of things to consider. I think it's likely that I will get a wall box eventually, but I want to be sure it's the right decision before I order one.

I employed Granny a few times at home with my ZS mk1 plugging in to a socket in the garage using a short extension cable. I had no issues other than slight warming of the plug tops/ socket.
Then I used it once with a longer extension cable at a chalet we rented. This was for a longer duration and the feed taken from the cooker switch / socket. Again a very slight warming but otherwise fine.
I have a Rolec wall box and use the ev energy app timed to charge only during my 10 hour off peak times. Each 7 kWh charge gains a point and 30 points gives a £5 Amazon voucher. So always leave home at least on 80 to 85% charge and allow it to carry on to 100% for the mornings we travel farther away and reset / balance then too.
All told the 5LR is now costing about £20 odd per month to fuel.
Over its approx. 16000 mile time with us it’s cost about £150 but the first half of that was mostly on free chargers away from home.

I employed Granny a few times at home with my ZS mk1 plugging in to a socket in the garage using a short extension cable. I had no issues other than slight warming of the plug tops/ socket.
Then I used it once with a longer extension cable at a chalet we rented. This was for a longer duration and the feed taken from the cooker switch / socket. Again a very slight warming but otherwise fine.
I have a Rolec wall box and use the ev energy app timed to charge only during my 10 hour off peak times. Each 7 kWh charge gains a point and 30 points gives a £5 Amazon voucher. So always leave home at least on 80 to 85% charge and allow it to carry on to 100% for the mornings we travel farther away and reset / balance then too.
All told the 5LR is now costing about £20 odd per month to fuel.
Over its approx. 16000 mile time with us it’s cost about £150 but the first half of that was mostly on free chargers away from home.

I’ve spent ALL night charging my car on my backup backup charger ?!!
My granny exploded just after the wallbox was hit by a meteorite ?‍ So I’ve spent the whole night in the pyjamas and wellies guiltily shovelling my backup reserve ton of coal into the boiler of my 1910 steam engine to power the generator and just around then I woke up, rushed out to check - all is well, Granny’s fine, wallbox resplendent, car sitting with 205 miles of happy tiger miles in the tank and my porridge is just about ready ? - happy days everyone ?

 

[Yorkshire Hillbilly]

Yeah, there's some fairly compelling evidence regarding the proper loss when granny charging. Power to pennies ratio, it's s still cheaper for me to granny charge at 32p/kWh. If you're on Octopus and have a smart meter it's even cheaper still. Sadly, I live in an old council house and the leccy meter cupboard isn't big enough for a smart meter ?

 

[Dwigt]

I've unfortunately not got off street parking so have to rely on a granny charger when my car arrives.

I'll be running the cable through my letter box and out onto the main road, I intend on getting a wire cover so that people don't trip over the cable as it runs past the pavement, but I also need an extension, what are people's recommendations? It would be nice if the extension couldn't be unplugged without some sort of key (prevent hooligans from unplugging the charger).

 

[Yorkshire Hillbilly]

I've unfortunately not got off street parking so have to rely on a granny charger when my car arrives.

I'll be running the cable through my letter box and out onto the main road, I intend on getting a wire cover so that people don't trip over the cable as it runs past the pavement, but I also need an extension, what are people's recommendations? It would be nice if the extension couldn't be unplugged without some sort of key (prevent hooligans from unplugging the charger).

Yeah... don't do that.

Get an outdoor socket fitted on a separate fuse spur.

Plugging it into the same sockets that draw power from a single fuse would be too dangerous, in my opinion. Especially if you started so if you then started boiling the kettle, making toast or running the washing machine.

Before I got my MG4 I used to charge my EV6 from public charging points only. Especially Lidl. Just keep popping in and watching YouTube for half an hour.

 

[Dwigt]

Yeah... don't do that.

Get an outdoor socket fitted on a separate fuse spur.

Plugging it into the same sockets that draw power from a single fuse would be too dangerous, in my opinion. Especially if you started so if you then started boiling the kettle, making toast or running the washing machine.

Before I got my MG4 I used to charge my EV6 from public charging points only. Especially Lidl. Just keep popping in and watching YouTube for half an hour.

That would be a permanent change, correct? My landlord might not be so happy about that.

As for Lidl, aren't the 7kW public chargers going to take hours?

 

[Diggsy]

That would be a permanent change, correct? My landlord might not be so happy about that.

As for Lidl, aren't the 7kW public chargers going to take hours?

I’d imagine your landlord would agree to an outdoor socket, so long as it’s properly fitted etc. If anything that would add to the property rather than detract from it which is what most landlords are concerned about. Worth an ask at least

Edit - as for the other query, yep it would take a few hours to fully charge on a 7kw charge point, obviously depending on the amount of charge you need to add etc

 

[Ian Key]

That would be a permanent change, correct? My landlord might not be so happy about that.

As for Lidl, aren't the 7kW public chargers going to take hours?

Either you or your landlord can get a grant for the instillation of a charger

Electric vehicle chargepoint and infrastructure grant guidance for installers

Guidance for installers about the OZEV electric vehicle chargepoint and infrastructure grants

www.gov.uk

 

[Lovemyev]

That would be a permanent change, correct? My landlord might not be so happy about that.

As for Lidl, aren't the 7kW public chargers going to take hours?

I actually think that the landlord should be happier with granting permission for you to get an outside socket professionally installed by an electrician, rather than passing an electrical extension cable through the letter box and having it plugging into a common domestic outlet inside of the house.
It just less of a risk to all concerned really.
Having an extension lead hanging through the letter box presents a certain amount of risk really, this is not an ideal situation on a regular basis.
The ideal solution is to have a externally rated IP outlet installed.
Which could be installed inside of a lockable enclosure ?.
This would be wired onto its own dedicated circuit inside the property.
If you ever decided to move home, the outside socket could be isolated at the consumer unit and locked off or disconnected, removed or made safe.
As you will be charging fairly frequently this has to be seen as the safest way of conducting the process.
Maybe have an electrician look at the job first and give you an idea of the cost and the level of work / disruption required to the property, to install what you require ?.
Then approach your landlord with the plan on a page and see how he reacts.
Depending on your level of charge when first plugging in your car, this Granny unit could be pulling power from the same socket outlet inside of the house for hours and hours on a regular basis.
I fully understand that many members do this on a regular basis with no issues at all, but many of them will be doing this at their own properties.
Anything that COULD pose any type of risk to the landlords property, or any other person(s) has to be considered carefully, purely from a liability perspective.

 

[Rolfe]

I've unfortunately not got off street parking so have to rely on a granny charger when my car arrives.

I'll be running the cable through my letter box and out onto the main road, I intend on getting a wire cover so that people don't trip over the cable as it runs past the pavement, but I also need an extension, what are people's recommendations? It would be nice if the extension couldn't be unplugged without some sort of key (prevent hooligans from unplugging the charger).

Someone in my village did that. He had to get special permission from the council to do it, and I'm told it wasn't easy. There is now a public charge-point very near his house and I haven't seen the cable crossing the pavement recently. I suspect the permission has been revoked now that the charge-point is there.

This guy used a heavy rubber cable guide/protector. I dread to think what a wire cover would be like.

You need to find out whether what you propose is even legal.

 

[tsedge]

I believe Dwigt is in Essex, found this from Essex Highways website:

Electric Vehicles | Essex County Council | Charge your electric car in Essex

Charge your electric car in Essex. Get information on electric cars and the list of charging points in Essex.

www.essexhighways.org

 

[MG4 64kw SE]

My current charging solution is to use work chargers, as it's not possible to install one at the apartment (apparently). I'm fully remote, so just pop in to top the car up a few mornings per week, with occasional rapid charge top-ups.

I'm fairly keen to get an extension lead to use the granny charger, running the extension out of the window down to the car park. This wouldn't be every night, more when I need to top-up before a long journey and haven't been able to get in to work. In order to achieve this, I'm considering the following items:

View attachment 16902

However, on to the point of the post: I've read various horror / scare stories, mostly around fire risk, regarding charging from a granny lead for long period (overnight), though not sure how much credence to give them. Surely, if there was a real, significant danger, not so many people would be using granny leads to charge at all? Is anybody here able to offer a reasonably balanced view of using a granny lead (perhaps with extension) overnight and if there are any real safety concerns?

Read that it may be sensible to use a socket tester and RCD. Just feeling a bit unsure about going ahead with this solution.

We have charged a Nissan leaf from an outside normal plug socket (in the shed). Using a ‘tough’ lead for several years. No issues.

 

[Rolfe]

I'm charging my MG4 using a granny lead from a power point in my garage with no issues. The garage power points are metal-cased affairs that look as if they're designed to take heavy loads.

The point is that (a) I don't need an extension cable and (b) I am not trailing wires across a public pavement. It's all happening on my own property.

 

[tsedge]

Some UK councils have blessed trailing cables over the pavement if they have a trip cover. Some are putting in ducts to enable this. Others have done nothing.

Overhead is also an option in some countries: the wires are held over the pavement by a boom so people can walk under.

 

[Dwigt]

I believe Dwigt is in Essex, found this from Essex Highways website:

Electric Vehicles | Essex County Council | Charge your electric car in Essex

Charge your electric car in Essex. Get information on electric cars and the list of charging points in Essex.

www.essexhighways.org

View attachment 17016

Oh now it makes sense what the smart meter guy who came by recently was talking about, he mentioned this, guess I can't install the socket even if I paid an electrician and got my landlord on board.

Either you or your landlord can get a grant for the instillation of a charger

Electric vehicle chargepoint and infrastructure grant guidance for installers

Guidance for installers about the OZEV electric vehicle chargepoint and infrastructure grants

www.gov.uk

While attractive, not possible now as @tsedge pointed out it'll break Essex County rules. I will however save that link for the future.

I’d imagine your landlord would agree to an outdoor socket, so long as it’s properly fitted etc. If anything that would add to the property rather than detract from it which is what most landlords are concerned about. Worth an ask at least

Edit - as for the other query, yep it would take a few hours to fully charge on a 7kw charge point, obviously depending on the amount of charge you need to add etc

There are some 150kW chargers about a 5 minutes drive from my house so those could be of use if I need a fast top up, otherwise Lidl have some 10 minutes walk away from me that are 7kW, can leave the car overnight.

The council promised to install some chargers 5 minutes walk away almost two years ago, I might bother my local MP about that to see if he/she can speed things up.

Thanks for the information guys, the property I'm at doesn't even have a front yard so would definitely be reported/spotted pretty quickly and isn't worth it, guess I'll have to rely on public chargers till I move into my own property.

The Octopus Energy tracker tariff prices were pretty nice though, been under 30p since I joined sometimes even as low as 16p.

 

[Lovemyev]

We have charged a Nissan leaf from an outside normal plug socket (in the shed). Using a ‘tough’ lead for several years. No issues.

The key point to remember here, is that it is very likely that you are charging from a point in your shed outside at your own property.
The OP was wishing to charge his car via an extension lead passed through the letter box and then plugged into a standard three pin outlet in a RENTED property.

 

[Yorkshire Hillbilly]

That would be a permanent change, correct? My landlord might not be so happy about that.

As for Lidl, aren't the 7kW public chargers going to take hours?

Lidl chargers are usually 50kw so pretty nippy. I use these for 15/20 minutes all the time to top-up. I only really charge up fully if I'm doing long distance. Little and often works for me.
*I never use any of the supermarket 7kw chargers as it's pointless. I'm never in the shop for longer than 30 minutes and it's a right faff getting my own cable out. Pod Point chargers at Lidl are your best bet then possibly Gridserve if you have one local.

 

[Dwigt]

Lidl chargers are usually 50kw so pretty nippy. I use these for 15/20 minutes all the time to top-up. I only really charge up fully if I'm doing long distance. Little and often works for me.
*I never use any of the supermarket 7kw chargers as it's pointless. I'm never in the shop for longer than 30 minutes and it's a right faff getting my own cable out. Pod Point chargers at Lidl are your best bet then possibly Gridserve if you have one local.

I've got BP Pulse at 150kW at my local BP and the rest are unfortunately pod points at 7kW, only 22kW charger I've got is at the gym.

If anything I'll be "forced" to exercise more ?

 

[Lovemyev]

Charging from the BP rapid charger is likely to be expensive, you are likely to have the same running costs of a fossil car if you are not careful.
You could reduce the price slightly by signing up to the BP subscription ?.
Using the rapid will be fast ( as long as it’s working or not in use of course ) but remember that constant rapid charging is not recognised as beneficial for long term battery health.
Also, you are unable to carry out a battery balance cycle from any rapid charger.
Being able to charge either from home, or at your place of work is a massive privilege, both in cost and convenience with regards to EV ownership ( for now at least ).

 

[Dwigt]

Charging from the BP rapid charger is likely to be expensive, you are likely to have the same running costs of a fossil car if you are not careful.
You could reduce the price slightly by signing up to the BP subscription ?.
Using the rapid will be fast ( as long as it’s working or not in use of course ) but remember that constant rapid charging is not recognised as beneficial for long term battery health.
Also, you are unable to carry out a battery balance cycle from any rapid charger.
Being able to charge either from home, or at your place of work is a massive privilege, both in cost and convenience with regards to EV ownership ( for now at least ).

My intention was to only use rapid chargers (150kW+) in an emergency, I intend to mostly use the 22kW charger at my gym and I've just discovered there's one free Pod Point unit (7kW) in a retail park near me that offers 5 hours free parking.

 

[Lovemyev]

My intention was to only use rapid chargers (150kW+) in an emergency, I intend to mostly use the 22kW charger at my gym and I've just discovered there's one free Pod Point unit (7kW) in a retail park near me that offers 5 hours free parking.

Brilliant !.
You can’t get cheaper than free I guess ( for now anyway ).
You know of course that the onboard charger in the car will only permit 7 Kw’s to be extracted from the 22Kw unit at the Gym.