Toyota CHR MK2 Design 2l Phev 2024 charging

[Louie]

Has anyone got any advice about how much heat should be generated by the three pin plug and the controller unit plugged into my CHR design and the wall socket in my garage. At the moment the three pin socket and the charger unit is generating heat something  I would describe as mildly warm. (see enclosed images).

[Cyker]

Given how hot my laptop charger gets I'd guess Quite A Lot  

Definitely needs ventilation!

 

[AndyRC]

I’m no expert but the plug on my pressure washer gets mildly/quite warm so I’d say not unusual for something taking a decent amount of current 🤔 Are there any deals to get an external charge point? I believe these run a completely separate cable to meter box 🤔

[philip42h]

13 hours ago, Louie said:

Has anyone got any advice about how much heat should be generated by the three pin plug and the controller unit plugged into my CHR design and the wall socket in my garage. At the moment the three pin socket and the charger unit is generating heat something  I would describe as mildly warm.

The 'granny' charger is designed to limit the current to 10A / 2.3kW. The 13A plug and wall socket should comfortably handle 13A / 3kW without getting warm. So, if the plug is getting hot, you would need to replace the socket.

[AJones]

The plug will be somewhat warmer than its surroundings, certainly after its been in use for an hour or more because there's some heat produced by the resistance of the fuse and the contacts between the plug and the socket. 

I would check it 15-30 minutes after you start charging and again after an hour and several hours or more. Slightly warm, mildly warm, warm is not surprising, but if it heats up quickly after plugging in, or gets noticeably hot then it needs investigating and the socket checking.

Couple of things to consider - if you want to reduce the risk of any heating of the plug/socket and you're not in a hurry to charge up, for example when charging up over night, you may be able to reduce the charging current through the vehicle settings, on the Prius in the charging settings, you can set it to run at MAX 8A. Compared to 10A it's 2A / 20% lower, but the heating is proportional to the current squared, 8x8=64 vs 10x10=100, so the heat at the plug/socket is 36% lower.

Have a read through of the charging cable manual/instructions, I have an earlier model of cable, but that one has a temperature sensor on the plug and if it starts to over heat will cut out and stop charging, so providing some additional protection.

[Cyker]

Yeah 10A is a LOT of current to pull continuously so it's natural it will get a bit warm - As long as it's just warm and not hot you're okay.

No other system will pull that kind of current for such a long period - Even the cable for my lawnmower gets noticeably warm by the time I'm done with it, and that's on for a lot shorter.

I will say, make sure the cable is completely uncoiled and not wrapped around anything when you use it - Made that mistake once with an extension reel that I was too lazy to fully unwind with the above lawnmower once (I practically burned my hand on the reel, the cable was so hot!! That was a scary oh s**t lesson...!)

 

[TonyHSD]

It will get warm of course. 
Those home charges are fine plugged directly into wall socket but if you require an extension do not use any store bought ones as they aren’t suitable and cables are too thin. Buy good quality socket, thicker cables suitable for caravans or swimming pool heaters and do your own extension and always keep these cables fully unwind and straight to reduce coil generated heat and issues. 

[Louie]

After 3.5 hours the CHR  Battery went  from 59% to 88% and only plug and charger box just still mildly warm.

I am currently awaiting a Hive external charger to be fitted by British Gas and this is part of a freebie donated by Toyota. Interestingly my power is provided by Octopus so I wonder if British Gas are going to insist on a smart meter being fitted ? and that's not going to happen to my dwelling as the only people benefiting from this are the power suppliers  judging from the horror stories I  have heard and there are many. As it stands you can decline to have a smart meter installation and cant be forced to have one. 

The only downside to having the Hive box fitted is its not secure when mounted externally and the unscrupulous can steal your electricity.

[forkingabout]

6 minutes ago, Louie said:

The only downside to having the Hive box fitted is its not secure when mounted externally and the unscrupulous can steal your electricity.

Can you not have a electrical isolation switch fitted inside? 

[AJones]

1 hour ago, Louie said:

I am currently awaiting a Hive external charger to be fitted by British Gas and this is part of a freebie donated by Toyota. Interestingly my power is provided by Octopus so I wonder if British Gas are going to insist on a smart meter being fitted ?

The Hive will have it's own smart controls, via your Wifi, it won't be communicating via a smart meter, so British Gas won't and can't insist on a smart meter.

1 hour ago, Louie said:

and that's not going to happen to my dwelling as the only people benefiting from this are the power suppliers  judging from the horror stories I  have heard and there are many. As it stands you can decline to have a smart meter installation and cant be forced to have one. 

If you have a smart meter you can access EV smart tariffs which provide a number of hours of low cost, off-peak electricity every night for topping up your EV or PHEV. If you look at something like Octopus Go, the off-peak rate is about half the normal rate, so if you're charging regularly it provides a decent saving.

https://octopus.energy/smart/go/

1 hour ago, Louie said:

The only downside to having the Hive box fitted is its not secure when mounted externally and the unscrupulous can steal your electricity.

I don't know the Hive in detail but I'd expect there's some features within their app to provide security and control who uses it.

[Louie]

That question I will have to put to the British Gas installers.