First time poster, long time lurker. Background of my issue... I picked up my M3 LR AWD in September last year. I worked with friend (who is also a certified master electrician) to run 75' of 6 gauge Romex from the circuit breaker to a new 14-50 outlet in the garage so I could connect to my Juciebox 40amp wall charger. I haven't had any problems since then. This morning I woke up to an app alert on my phone from the Juicebox telling me that it was offline. Upon further inspection I found that the outlet had shorted and partially melted. I have the electrician coming this afternoon to take a look. He thinks it is just a problem with the outlet (yes I know Levitons suck...I didn't realize that until after I installed it). Based on the picture, do you think that I need to switch out the Juicebox plug as well? Any other ideas what might have caused this after 5 months with no other apparent problems?
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Charging short with NEMA 14-50 outlet
- Thread starter Sarugby9
- Start date
You can see that the plug plastic is not melted, but there is some melted plastic on the prongs. You'll need to clean all that off. Use a knife, screwdriver, and/or try burning it off. If its not easy, you can replace it.
There's a whole thread about these outlets already:
Definitive 14-50 NEMA Outlet Guide
Long story short this is a common problem with certain brands of outlets. Replace with new, and repair or replace the plug.
There's a whole thread about these outlets already:
Definitive 14-50 NEMA Outlet Guide
Long story short this is a common problem with certain brands of outlets. Replace with new, and repair or replace the plug.
Yeah. You never know what else could be wrong internally. Probably nothing, but not worth it to find out.
Yup, you should replace that. The plastic around the left pin is clearly warped/melted a bit. It might still work, but I'd be worried something inside is structurally damaged.
EDIT: If it was just the pins as others have noted and the connector base itself looked completely fine, I'd say clean it off and call it a day... that looks a little less than fine though.
davewill
Active Member
When you do replace the plug, pay attention to how you terminate the new pigtail or this will be happening inside your JuiceBox. The problem above was probably not a short, but a poor connection at the outlet that overheated from high resistance. A poor connection inside the EVSE can do the same thing (or worse).
P.S. Glad to hear you're using an OEM replacement pigtail. Should be easier to install correctly.
P.S. Glad to hear you're using an OEM replacement pigtail. Should be easier to install correctly.
With any luck, the pigtail terminals inside the juicebox are all ring terminated. Assuming it's not just bare wire or ferrules on wire, it's pretty hard to screw up that type of installation
Update...I spoke with the company that makes the Juicebox. They recommended either the Hubbel or Pass and Seymour for a replacement outlet. I could only find the Pass and Seymour in my area so I replaced it with that. I also opened up a claim with Leviton and they want me to mail back the faulty outlet for their assessment. Juicebox are going to mail me a refurbished Pro 40 $150 which I hope to then claim back with the claim from Leviton.
Pet peeve on. It didn't "short". Drives me nuts when everyone calls every electrical mishap, a short. Short's are extremely rare. Pet peeve off.
Like to see photo of back of the outlet. Could have been a wire not cinched down enough on the back of the outlet, which is my guess on what happened. Very common install error. Leviton is not as good as Hubbell, but not that bad it would go bad in 4 months. If it's stranded wire it's more prone to torqueing issues and strands can move/compress a bit over time and weaken the bond. You can make the same mistake with a Hubbell.
Be interesting what Leviton says. They will be able to tell if it was an outlet fault vs wire not cinched correctly.
I hope that Juicebox has a temp sensor on the plug, like Tesla UMC does.
I hate 14-50 outlets.
Like to see photo of back of the outlet. Could have been a wire not cinched down enough on the back of the outlet, which is my guess on what happened. Very common install error. Leviton is not as good as Hubbell, but not that bad it would go bad in 4 months. If it's stranded wire it's more prone to torqueing issues and strands can move/compress a bit over time and weaken the bond. You can make the same mistake with a Hubbell.
Be interesting what Leviton says. They will be able to tell if it was an outlet fault vs wire not cinched correctly.
I hope that Juicebox has a temp sensor on the plug, like Tesla UMC does.
I hate 14-50 outlets.
@mswlogo The wire was properly torqued. I stood over the electrician as he struggled to unscrew it this afternoon as I wanted to confirm it wasn't an install issue as well. It appears that there is a poor connection between with the pins and the clips inside the outlet. You can't see it in the picture but the white wire was also showing signs of high temp scorching. 
Once it’s cooked you can’t judge how hard it is to unscrew as a measure of how tight it was because metal started to melt. Looking at the charred end of that black wire in the background makes me lean toward a torque issue and the fact it was hard to unscrew. It’s not easy to judge.
Stranded wire (more prone)
New outlet (less likely to fail so soon)
Hard to unscrew (sign wire melted to the screw)
Charred end of wire.
All point to a torquing issue.
I could totally be wrong. But just setting expectations that it does happen. And a Hubbell does not eliminate that same risk.
That’s an interesting idea. Those flexible cords are often fine stranded and you really need to put proper crimped ring terminals (or similar).
You could replace the whole cable with the same wire that goes to the outlet if there is a proper way to terminate the #6 stranded wire in the juice box. This would assume that the Juice Box is affixed to the wall, ideally close to the outlet (box). You don’t want to treat the #6 wire to the Juice Box as a “Mobile” connection like the OEM 14-50 cord.
wirenut should make a fine connection, insulted buttsplice if you wanna get real fancy. I think if you hardwire it you most likely need a disconnect though, unless your panel is in the same room as the charger.
Not for these. Disconnect requirements only come in if the circuit is greater than 60A.
Even if a disconnect is not required, it's not a bad idea.
This is likely the type of wire inside a flexible 50A 6 AWG 14-50 pigtail.
It's very fine strand. You don't want to use wire nuts on this. You will rip the strands off and you'll have a hard time getting the wire nut to "bite".
These are usually terminated by a high compression ring terminal of some sort.
Even if a disconnect is not required, it's not a bad idea.This is likely the type of wire inside a flexible 50A 6 AWG 14-50 pigtail.
It's very fine strand. You don't want to use wire nuts on this. You will rip the strands off and you'll have a hard time getting the wire nut to "bite".
These are usually terminated by a high compression ring terminal of some sort.
Wirenut is code compliant....
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