Charger locking Device

Bound to Happen - Finally happened to me

This morning we traveled 86 km ( 53 miles) and parked at a St Hubert BBQ restaurant that had one level 2 charger, We plugged in at about 11:30 am. Gauge was down to about 3 bars.

Swiped my Circuit Electric charge card ($ 2.50 unlimited time) and had family near by come pick us up.

Seeing we had the same return trip but with a fair bit of hill climbing , I figured we needed a full charge to get home. About 5 hours at level 2.

We got a lift back by 5:00 pm to find that some one had removed the charger from our car
I had 5 bars of charge showing.

I was steaming,
After cooling off. I went inside to the restaurant and spoke with the manager to find out if they had a time limit or if it was them who disconnected the charger for any reason.

They were a little embarrassed and explained that
a customer had come in from out of town and tried to charge their car .

I guess they decided they were more important than us and disconnected our car
from the charger ....
I'm not sure, but I believe that when they disconnected our car, the charger terminated the session.

They were not aware they needed to swipe a charge card from Circuit Electique, and could not charge.
They requested, from the manager, a 110 v extension cord to charge up.
Leaving us with out any charging.

I explained how far I was from home, that it was already 5:30 pm & I would need 4 hours of charging to get home,
I also told them I was not angry with them but that they might consider that this kind of situation to could occur again in the future.

Just to let you know we were lucky enough to swap our Miev with our son's ICE, in order to get home and to work for the morning.
He could charge level 1 overnight at his place.

Now my question is has anyone come up with a solution to LOCK the charger to our car during charging to PREVENT some one from pulling a stunt like this again.

Possibly a locking cable or security strap or alarm device?

I can relate this to the old days of someone stealing the gas out of your tank while you were parked.
( Had to get a locking gas cap for our HONDA FIT)

What gets me steamed is that this was caused by some inconsiderate EV driver,
not some adolescent kid prankster.

The Damage
caused by this inconsiderate person
Let me see know..... this has cost me at least
25$ Gas for the ICE and
4 hours of driving
to return or sons car and pick up ours, tomorrow
The inconvenience PRICELESS

Thanks for letting me vent

I think there is a hole to insert a pin device into the charger handle which prevents the trigger from releasing the cord from the car. You might be able to find a type of lock that would fit in there. I haven't had to do it but I remember from year ago there is a hole there on the Level I cable that comes with the car. Perhaps a trailer lock might be the right size?

Steve

sandange, sorry to hear what happened
First thing I would do is print a sign saying something like:
"I need a full charge in order to get home. OK to disconnect after (time). My cellphone number XXX."
Attach it inside the right rear window or under the rear windshield wiper.
A small chain and padlock wrapped around the J1772 handle and filler door might act as a deterrent.
Sad that it was an EV'er - hope it wasn't a PHEV'er :evil:

Last edited 3/11/13 0545PDT to include phone number to sign.

I believe Steve means something like this. If the release button has no hole, ask owner to drill one :idea: When I'charge on public ch. stations I always lock my plug to be sure I'm energized enough to reach my destination.

Thanks for the suggestions , one problem is I don't think the charging network would allow us to drill their Plugs.
However I will look at my level 1 for the drilling solution.

Joe, I considered making up a car with an elastic to attach to the chargers handle with the following or something similar.

Removal of the charger from a vehicle other than by the owner is considered theft, offenders will be prosecuted,
Smile you're on video.

But that's me still venting. and would attract more attention to the charger.

I think something inconspicuous, with a lock, to disable the release button , easy on off.

I have a small combination cable lock to secure our motorcycle helmets while parked . Maybe i can McGiver something to work.

sandange, I modified my posting above to include a mobile phone number. That's what I have on my own placard.

Presumably you are using the public L2 EVSE because your son does not have a 240vac outlet and you don't have a portable L2 EVSE. In the US, most houses have split-phase 240v as the input, and half the house 120vac runs on one side of the phase while the other half of the house runs on the other 120vac. I recently made myself a dual 120vac-->240vac adapter which I actually used last Saturday as the friends we were visiting did not have a 240vac outlet in the garage, but did indeed have two separate 120vac circuits, one on each leg. The myNissanLeaf Forum has an extensive discussion on this, with a couple of excellent safe circuit schematics from EVSEUPGRADE Phil: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=4774 Cheapest solution would be to have your Mitsu L1 EVSEUPGRADEd and then make one of these adapters. The adapter I made has three lights, one for each of the 120vac inputs and the third lights up when two separate legs produce 240vac. Note that the adapters they discuss have safety features built into them, whereas my own quick-and-dirty adapter is dangerous and absolutely relies on testing each input 120vac to ensure it is properly polarized and grounded before plugging it in. Another alternative is to buy a ready-made adapter called a Quick220

Last edited 3/11/13 0645PDT to add Quick 220

@sandange

It's actually pretty rare that I find a J1772 charger that does NOT have the little locking hole. Even the one that comes with our car has the locking hole on the handle for a pad lock, just like the picture.

Truth being told, it took me easily 6 months to realize it was there. (facepalm) Glad I found it. It works fine. I keep the lock in the glove box, and the key on my key chain.

sandage said:

Bound to happen - Finally happened to me

Click to expand...

I think you're probably correct - It is 'bound to happen' from time to time

iDriver said:

It's actually pretty rare that I find a J1772 charger that does NOT have the little locking hole.

Click to expand...

I don't have a 1933 Double Eagle, but I do have one of those 'rare' J1772 plugs. The release button is waterproof . . . . it has a flexible orange PVC covering over it and no place to put any sort of lock. It's rarer still because it has a built in LED light which makes it easy to use in the dark

Not a very clear picture, but you can see my thumb on the orange button

I would suspect that if you're making a long trip which is dependent on charging at public stations, Sandage's experience isn't going to prove too rare either. It's probably best to have an alternate plan . . . . what if the charger you need is not working, or already has an EV using it for the next 5 or 6 hours? 'Opportunity' charging is one thing, but depending on a lengthy recharge to get where you're going seems fraught with pitfalls to me. Best to have a back-up portable L1/L2 EVSE along with an assortment of pigtails which will allow you to recharge most anywhere you can find a socket . . . . or 2 sockets using a Quick 240 adapter as Joe has mentioned

Don

My sons house is old and he just bought it , haven't had a chance to review the Panel or wiring yet.
I do have the modified stock charge and it does have the hole for the lock on the plug. Level1 would have taken too long.

The public charger was from the Circuit Elecetrique network and having inspected a couple yesterday, they do NOT have the hole to lock the plug in place.
The other Charger network Addenergy does have the hole for the lock.
I went to several hardware stores looking for a light gauge cable lock with a recoil system (Like a tape measure)similar to the one I have for my motorcycle helmet lock, but could not find one.

I picked up a small L bracket with a hole on either end ,with the idea to mount one side to one of the screws that holds the receiving plug in place on the car, and using the other hole to pass the cable lock through.
I'll try to install that later today and still keep searching for a cable lock, or use the one I have for now.

Don, did that come with your i-MiEV? It looks very different from mine.

iDriver said:

Don, did that come with your i-MiEV? It looks very different from mine.

Click to expand...

No - It's a plug I bought for the EVSE I built

The one that came with the car does have a hole for a lock . . . . but there are plenty of them around that don't. I would *think* that an EVSE installed for public charging would not have a place for a lock - An even worse inconvenience than what happened to sandage would be if he got there expecting to be able to charge only to find that someone had locked the EVSE to his car many hours before and he/she was nowhere to be found . . . .

Don

I spend some time in the hardware stores since the larger Charging Station Network doesn't have the hole on the trigger to attach a lock
I put together a wire cable tie down
Looks like this

L Bracket and wire cable loup, Noose around Plug Handle, Cable combination Lock in Place

http://s211.photobucket.com/user/Sandange/slideshow/miev/Charge Pistol Lock