Charging cable issues

[Mmo]

I've been charging my FFE with ford cable since I've leased the car a year ago. This has been going well for the most part until this Sunday. The cable is indicating overheating and it stops charging (after about 5%). I brought it to the dealership and they have not seen the issue I am having. It charges well at the garage with my cable. So I took it back and plug the car in another garage at work today. Same overheating problem. Has anyone experiencing this before? What have you done to resolve?

[murphy]

Possibly the receptacles were wired using the push in method instead of wrapping the wire around the screws.  The push in slots are fine for table lamps but not for continuous maximum current draw.

[Mmo]

Thanks Murphy. I will look into this tonight. I welcome any other suggestions.

[Mmo]

The plug was wired correctly. I had an unused plug so I replaced it anyway but to no benefit, same problem.

[bdginmo]

If the outlet isn't warm to the touch then I'd say it is more likely a problem with the EVSE itself.

 

And Murphy is right. Wiring outlets with the back-stab method isn't very reliable.

[Mmo]

For everyone's benefit, the dealer replace my cable with a new one. So far so good, no issues. I do wonder though if this will hold up over time. The other cable had no issues before it started acting up...

[openair]

Possibly the receptacles were wired using the push in method instead of wrapping the wire around the screws. The push in slots are fine for table lamps but not for continuous maximum current draw.

I was in at home depot and home hardware the other day looking to replace an outlet and I kept getting the opposite from them. They even went as far as to say that, here in Ontario Canada anyway, regulations require the push in type and not the wire around a screw type.

 

Of course these two places often are not the brightest bunch but my only other options are industrial type electrician suppliers who may not even be allowed to sell to me.

[murphy]

All of the outlets that I have seen here always have the screw connection even when they also have the push in slot.  Did those sales people pass a test in the Canadian equivalent of the NEC (National Electric Code)?  I don't think so.  They are pushing what they have in stock.

[bdginmo]

I was in at home depot and home hardware the other day looking to replace an outlet and I kept getting the opposite from them. They even went as far as to say that, here in Ontario Canada anyway, regulations require the push in type and not the wire around a screw type.

 

Of course these two places often are not the brightest bunch but my only other options are industrial type electrician suppliers who may not even be allowed to sell to me.

 

There's actually 3 different wiring styles for receptacles. 

 

Back-stab: This is where you push in a straight wire into a small hole and a cleat automatically bites down.

 

Back-wire: This is where you place a straight wire (usually through a channel) underneath a clamp plate and then screw the clamp plate against the wire.

 

Side-wire: This is where you wrap the wire underneath the screw head.

 

I wonder if they were referring to back-stabbing or back-wiring. Back-wiring is my preference because it's easy and it holds the wire tightly while still maximizing the contact surface area. The newer Levitons allow both back-wire and side-wire. The better Leviton products don't even have the back-stab holes. In fact, I'm not sure if there are any Levitons that currently allow back-stabbing.

Edited December 19, 2016 at 08:01 PM by bdginmo