Portable charger

[RJSATLBA]

A random thought when unplugging the (UK) 13A charger and coiling the cable to stow it in the boot in case I wanted to use it while away for a couple of days....

...why is the cable from the unit to the type 2 connector much thicker and heavier than the cable from the 13A plug to the unit? I can see no sense in there being two different capacity cables.

 

[jelloslug]

A random thought when unplugging the (UK) 13A charger and coiling the cable to stow it in the boot in case I wanted to use it while away for a couple of days....

...why is the cable from the unit to the type 2 connector much thicker and heavier than the cable from the 13A plug to the unit? I can see no sense in there being two different capacity cables.

Chances are the conductor that is being used for your type 2 connector is actually rated much higher than you can actually use. We have some Clipper Creek units at work and they have huge cables that go to the J1772 connector simply because they can go to 80 amps.

 

[jadnashuanh]

While the control signals don't need to be a very big wire because they do not carry much current, the two acv wires' sizes will vary based on the maximum current available. A 32A unit requires those wires to be in the neighborhood of 8g, whereas, 13A only needs to be in the 14g range. An 8g wire, not counting insulation, is 2x the diameter of a 14g wire. Now, throw in a longer cable, and to minimize resistive losses, sometimes that dictates using a bigger wire as well.