240v charging from two 120v receptacles

His statement was not correct. The peaks are 180 degrees apart in a residential 120/240 service. 120 degrees in 3-phase 208/120 which is commercial.
Interesting, I didn't know US residential's 2 phases are actually 180 degrees apart instead of 120 degrees. I would imagine the transformer in the neighborhood just send 2 phases to each house instead.

Still 208 vs 240V apart is still charging at the same 12A constant current, so it is 15% faster using 240V. I think the biggest pain in the butt is to find the other "phase" nearby so you don't have to run long wires from one end of the house to another, or one floor to another.
 
Interesting, I didn't know US residential's 2 phases are actually 180 degrees apart instead of 120 degrees. I would imagine the transformer in the neighborhood just send 2 phases to each house instead.

Still 208 vs 240V apart is still charging at the same 12A constant current, so it is 15% faster using 240V. I think the biggest pain in the butt is to find the other "phase" nearby so you don't have to run long wires from one end of the house to another, or one floor to another.
It’s still single phase (or “split phase”) since it’s from one of the phases on the power line.

And yes it would be better to have a single 240V outlet. At least a lot more convenient, and it would be a dedicated branch rather than two random 120V lines that may very well have other loads.
 
Single phase electricity is 180° apart between L1 & L2 in a 208 situation they’re 120° apart.

Wouldn’t the amp draw be less charging at 208v since there’s a power factor loss. For example a 7500 watt charger supplied with 240 would draw 31.25A that same charger supplied by 208 would operate at around 75% making the maximum wattage 5625 with an amp draw of around 27A.

I know you also were giving an example but how would you get 12A in both scenarios there’s two different voltages
 
Single phase electricity is 180° apart between L1 & L2 in a 208 situation they’re 120° apart.

Wouldn’t the amp draw be less charging at 208v since there’s a power factor loss. For example a 7500 watt charger supplied with 240 would draw 31.25A that same charger supplied by 208 would operate at around 75% making the maximum wattage 5625 with an amp draw of around 27A.

I know you also were giving an example but how would you get 12A in both scenarios there’s two different voltages
Why would there be a power factor loss?
 
Why would there be a power factor loss?
Chargers are resistive loads to my understanding of electrical and resistive loads the charger wouldn’t put out its full potential on 208 single phase here’s an example of an electric water heater element.

The element is getting up to around 75% output
IMG_8229.webp
 
I think the reference is to higher efficiency at higher voltages. DC fast charging is more efficient, but that supposedly comes at a loss of battery longevity.

https://insideevs.com/features/711659/ev-charger-efficiency-losses/
Part of the higher efficiency comes from the higher current most 240V in the US is build for (i.e. laundry dryer or stove top), if you mix 2 120V to get 240V it will still be the same current as before. P=V^2 / R only works if you disregard the current limit.

Internal to the battery power is power and is converted up to the right voltage, regardless of it coming from higher current lower voltage or the other way.
 
Interesting, I didn't know US residential's 2 phases are actually 180 degrees apart instead of 120 degrees. I would imagine the transformer in the neighborhood just send 2 phases to each house instead.

Still 208 vs 240V apart is still charging at the same 12A constant current, so it is 15% faster using 240V. I think the biggest pain in the butt is to find the other "phase" nearby so you don't have to run long wires from one end of the house to another, or one floor to another.
So a couple questions here.

First, wouldn't the two phases simply be every other breaker in a residential panel? So just find two adjacent breakers that are near to each other?

Next question - my room breakers are 15A, all my GFI and kitchen breakers are 20A, my AC and Dryer are 30A@ 240V and my Range (which I actually don't have) is 40A. So would using 2 of the GFI's result in more than 12A each?
 
Related story. A few years ago I lost one phase of power. On the power companies side luckily. Happened at like 5AM and I recognized the issue right away, so called the power company. Since it was 5AM, one of the supervisors just got in - only one on shift that early or something. He drove over with some sort of inverter that took the single input and split it into two phases so everything worked again - until they came later that day to dig up the wire.
 
So a couple questions here.

First, wouldn't the two phases simply be every other breaker in a residential panel? So just find two adjacent breakers that are near to each other?

Next question - my room breakers are 15A, all my GFI and kitchen breakers are 20A, my AC and Dryer are 30A@ 240V and my Range (which I actually don't have) is 40A. So would using 2 of the GFI's result in more than 12A each?
The gfci would trip
 
T
Related story. A few years ago I lost one phase of power. On the power companies side luckily. Happened at like 5AM and I recognized the issue right away, so called the power company. Since it was 5AM, one of the supervisors just got in - only one on shift that early or something. He drove over with some sort of inverter that took the single input and split it into two phases so everything worked again - until they came later that day to dig up the wire.
That happens at times you lose a hot leg from the utility side and only half your house has power. That was nice of the utility company did it supply power just to your residence or the neighborhood?
 
The way the video demonstrates the charger it’s designed to work utilizing (2) 120v receptacles that are not gfci protected on opposing hot legs.
 
T

That happens at times you lose a hot leg from the utility side and only half your house has power. That was nice of the utility company did it supply power just to your residence or the neighborhood?
Yes, it was the wire from the split at the street into my house. The guy said it was smart to tell them I only had one phase when I called, or he would have not brought the inverter and I would have been without power (and AC) for a while.

When they dug it up It looked like one of the aluminum wires had been damaged by another service installer, and it took many years for it to corrode / short out. Its only in the ground a couple feet and not in conduit. All they did was splice in a new chunk. I asked why no conduit - and they said utility is too cheap. The guys that actually did the repair were contractors.
 
So a couple questions here.

First, wouldn't the two phases simply be every other breaker in a residential panel? So just find two adjacent breakers that are near to each other?
Yup. If you look at the metal thingies the breakers clip into they zig-zag down the box.

Next question - my room breakers are 15A, all my GFI and kitchen breakers are 20A, my AC and Dryer are 30A@ 240V and my Range (which I actually don't have) is 40A. So would using 2 of the GFI's result in more than 12A each?

Using GFIs will result in an uncharged car. They look for the current going out the hot pin to come back in through their neutral pin. Stealing "just the hot" will trip the outlet.

The car will demand as much current as either a preset limit done through the car's GUI or a limit imposed by the EVSE. If the EVSE doesn't "know" it's only on a 12/15 amp circuit it might try for more. If you can find a pair of 20 amp outlets unimpeded by GFI protection then yes you could get 16/20 amps from them.
 
It would be interesting if the charger was lobotomized internally. If only one branch circuit is available, it charges the car based on 15/20 amps available. If two, then it utilizes both. If three, all three. A bunch of small chargers all paralleled to make DC for charging purposes. Gets you a scalable solution for when you don't have a hard level-2 source (220V, >30A) installed.

My carpet cleaner use to have a machine that worked like this. He parked it in my hall and then ran extension cords to three rooms. Two ran heaters. One ran the motors and pumps. His machine used three circuits, independently.

Interesting, I didn't know US residential's 2 phases are actually 180 degrees apart instead of 120 degrees. I would imagine the transformer in the neighborhood just send 2 phases to each house instead.

Still 208 vs 240V apart is still charging at the same 12A constant current, so it is 15% faster using 240V. I think the biggest pain in the butt is to find the other "phase" nearby so you don't have to run long wires from one end of the house to another, or one floor to another.
Because in the US, low density neighborhoods are typically fed by a single high voltage "phase." You see transmission lines are always in threes, but within the neighborhood, only one runs down the street.

So then that one line has a bunch stepdown transformers to serve the houses. Each stepdown transformer is center tapped to provide two legs, 180 out. Same phase, opposite polarity. Residential split phase is not 2/3 of three phase. It's actually 1/3 of three phase.

But when there's a church, school, or store...they likely ran three lines of service to it. In that case you might see three transformers on a pole or a big three phase unit on the ground.

That's why the utility shakes their head if you're in a residential area and want three phase for your shop air compressor, 5hp table saw, big planer/jointer, old bridgeport, etc. They need all three phases in order to supply three phase power. The infrastructure doesn't support it. If they have two phases nearby and you don't need a bunch of power they can compromise and get it with two out of three legs.

T

That happens at times you lose a hot leg from the utility side and only half your house has power. That was nice of the utility company did it supply power just to your residence or the neighborhood?
Worse would be if a squirrel has chewed through the aluminum neutral. Two hots and a floating neutral for all the branch circuits...

In residential 240/120 split phase, the two legs are derived at the service transformer from a single supply leg. They're not really separate "phases." Same "phase" but opposite polarity.
 
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As long as it’s smart enough to draw no more than 15-20 amps (depending on the breaker rating), I suppose it’d work on paper if the plugs are on opposite phases.

No idea what’d happen if one tripped and the other didn’t. I’d pass personally. I wouldn’t intentionally overload a circuit either though. Some breakers trip, some don’t.
 
If the branches are 180 degrees apart that is true. However, it is unlikely they are 180 degrees apart. Easily confirmed with a RMS responding voltmeter.
U.S. residential 240v 1P with center tapped transformer N(Gnd). One leg tied to N (Gnd) provides 120v
Common misunderstanding.
 
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