Turbocord Portable EVSE Review

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sandange

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 5, 2012
Messages
907
Location
Quebec, Canada
Now most everyone is happy when they review an item when they just got it

Getting down to the beef of the matter is a review after a few years of use. -
Most people don't remember to, have the time or just don't bother.

When we bought our 2014 i Miev I decided to sell the new stock EVSE that came with it and
replace it with the Turbocord dual, portable EVSE.
Charging stations were still far and few between and we wanted to charge while visiting family & friends.
This unit suited what we needed.

The Good
Compact unit
Light weight
Charges relatively quick
Works with both 110v & 220V

The Bad
The plug configuration is somewhat awkward for adaptors.

The Ugly
I'm no expert but the unit appears to be a block of epoxy, sealed & not accessible for inspection or repairs.
It's pretty much disposable should there be a problem.

Disappointment
The warranty is 3 years.
1 month and 1 day after it expired....
My unit no longer has any LED lights working and will not charge the vehicle

I'm not a happy camper

There go any gas savings I might of had over the last 3 years.

I've appealed to the AV company to see if they can do anything for me and am awaiting a response.
 
sandange, I would hope that AeroEnvironment stands by their product and replaces it. Total encapsulation is a drawback from a repairability standpoint, but sealing in the components provides protection against moisture intrusion. In properly-designed and fabricated modern electronics, the failure rate is so low that there simply should be no internal failures.

Hmm, I just noticed the typo(?) in the thread title so I took the liberty of changing it - might change it back if your issue doesn't get resolved satisfactorily. :roll: :twisted:
 
Update...

I just had a conversation with George from AeroEnvironment

He was very pleasant and after an informative discussion & a warning not to use adapters with this unit.....
He offered a 1 time replacement unit, with out future guarantee should I continue to use a power adaptor.
I was pleasantly pleased with the service and could see how they were genuinely wanting to resolve my problem.
Now I will be shipping the old unit back to them and await the replacement.
So far thing are going very well
 
Sandy, good news that they're standing by their product!
sandange said:
... a warning not to use adapters with this unit.....
I don't quite understand that statement as this unit I think comes with a plain NEMA 6-20 plug, so to use it with 120vac you need an adapter. Adapters are needed to use it with NEMA 14-50 (RV or oven) or 10-50 (old oven) or 10-30 (old dryer) or 14-30 (new dryer), or any of a myriad of locking and non-locking NEMA 6-series connectors. Properly wired adapters are perfectly safe and can't damage the EVSE and since our i-MiEV's current draw is only 13A at 240vac, it's well within the capacity of just about any 240vac outlet.
 
The unit comes with 2 plugs, the 220 v is a hard shell adapter locked in place by a sliding tab
and is shown already installed in their product photos
I'd take some pics to share, but now I wouldn't know where to upload them since photobucket wants , a $ 400 fee to link to them , but that's another story.
As for the adapters, I agree, with you. But that's their policy, not to be used with extension cords or adapters.
 
Sandange, I'll send you a PM with a link. You can upload your pictures there and I can share them out of my Dropbox.
 
Thanks PV1, l'm on the road but will pm you later.
Needless to say, that I need to find a more permanent solution for.photo sharing.
Also that most of the past.postings photos that I linked no longer appear.
 
Apologies for the delay. Here are the pictures from Sandange:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8h9g6tp3o8o378y/AACJZBTsfBwyX4MwuMl5Q7bZa?dl=0
 
PV1 said:
Here are the pictures from Sandange:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/04jon0xlx6m1py1/AAAbZpPzUa0WPdxm70x8ruQ0a?dl=0
A picture is worth a thousand words! That special adapter with sliding lock looks like it ends in a NEMA 6-20 plug.
I'd be inclined to now make a few short pigtail adapters for use on the road, for example:
NEMA 14-50P --> 6-20R for RV parks and new ovens
NEMA 10-30P --> 6-20R for older dryer outlets
NEMA 14-30P --> 6-20R for newer dryer outlets
Also, maybe some 10-50 (old ovens) and 6-50 (old welder) to give you more options.

For years I had standardized all my EV extensions using locking NEMA L6-30 connectors with a zillion adapters for that 30A connector, but now I have the Tesla UMC which can comfortably draw 40A out of a 50A circuit (and even 80A if I hardwire the HPWC), thus obsoleting my collection... :cry:
 
sandange said:
I remember when you posted showing your extension cord & adapter so.
I followed suit and made up a set of my own using the L6 20 locking connectors
with the Turbocord these last 3 years...
Looks as though you now will need to make a 6-20R-->L6-20P adapter for using your existing adapters when your replacement arrives, or else switch out all those 20A locking connectors to non-locking..

I've yet again just updated the list of my own adapter collection and corrected a few entries as well. The only question for me still remaining is whether to tie Neutral to Ground when going from a 240vac three-prong to four-prong connector, and I will appreciate any comments regarding any possible hazard or code issues when doing this.
http://www.katiekat.net/Vehicles/Mitsi/EVSEAdaptersJoeS.pdf
 
sandange said:
Now most everyone is happy when they review an item when they just got it

Getting down to the beef of the matter is a review after a few years of use. -
Most people don't remember to, have the time or just don't bother.

When we bought our 2014 i Miev I decided to sell the new stock EVSE that came with it and
replace it with the Turbocord dual, portable EVSE.
Charging stations were still far and few between and we wanted to charge while visiting family & friends.
This unit suited what we needed.

The Good
Compact unit
Light weight
Charges relatively quick
Works with both 110v & 220V

The Bad
The plug configuration is somewhat awkward for adaptors.

The Ugly
I'm no expert but the unit appears to be a block of epoxy, sealed & not accessible for inspection or repairs.
It's pretty much disposable should there be a problem.

Disappointment
The warranty is 3 years.
1 month and 1 day after it expired....
My unit no longer has any LED lights working and will not charge the vehicle

I'm not a happy camper

There go any gas savings I might of had over the last 3 years.

I've appealed to the AV company to see if they can do anything for me and am awaiting a response.

Well, our Turbocord died after 8 years and I took it to a local electronics repair shop (ERC https://www.ercfixtv.com/ ) that I've done business with before and they attempted to take it apart only to discover (what they predicted and what the "Ugly" point above predicted) that the inside of the unit is a block of hard plastic/epoxy making the board and components inaccessible without dissolving the plastic, a cost prohibitive effort for me. I donated the unit to Goodwill.

Before this, I made an effort to contact Aerovironment ( https://www.avinc.com ) and they say they sold the division to Webasto: ( https://info.evsolutions.com/turbocord ). Webasto doesn't service our unit any more, but still sells the latest version. Neither Aerovironment nor Webasto would supply the plans.
 
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