Lucid Combined Home Charging System Installation tips!

[Bobby]

McMaster-Carr is spectacular.

But, as @DeaneG said, you may need to use chair lugs instead, If your electrician doesn't have the right tool for compression lugs. Chair lugs are totally fine; pass code and inspection and everything.

I must respectfully disagree here.

Recently, my Lucid home charging system started to have a problem: the cable and handle were extremely hot during charging. I expected them to get warm, but not over 160°. I contacted Lucid and discussed it with them. They had me open it up and take a picture of the inside. As soon as they noticed the chair lugs, they said that the installation is incorrect, and the compression lugs are required as per the installation instructions. This is despite the fact that the voltage was proper at the lugs and they themselves were nice and cool. My electrician (25 years in the trade) told me that this is ridiculous, this installation is to code, and he feels that the contractors are the problem with the system. By the way, he almost exclusively installs car chargers, although this was his first Lucid. So… Where to go from here?

After several calls to Lucid, I finally got them to agree to replace the charger. My electrician came out and installed the proper compression lugs using his hydraulic tool. He had to special order them so they would fit… The larger 2 gauge lugs have a very large hole in them so the screw the Lucid charger provides fell right through the hole, and my electrician told me that it is inappropriate to use a simple washer at a 100 amp connection. He was able to find the correct ones and now it has been reinstalled. I sent the old charger back to Lucid and I hope that they are able to find what the real problem is.

TL;DR if you install the Lucid charging system with chair lugs and a problem arises, you may have trouble getting warranty service from them. I got lucky… But only after I pushed a little harder than I should have needed.

Old and new pics below:

 

[Pragmatic]

I'm with your electrician. If the lugs were cool while charging (or shortly after) and you were getting close to the 80 amps I don't see how the lugs could cause the issue.

I could see being leery of the screw type connectors as they might loosen over repeated heat/cool cycles. But until they show a temperature rise I don't see how they can impact voltage or the EVSE's operation.

A point of interest do we know who makes the Lucid EVSE for Lucid?

 

[Bobby]

I'm with your electrician. If the lugs were cool while charging (or shortly after) and you were getting close to the 80 amps I don't see how the lugs could cause the issue.

I could see being leery of the screw type connectors as they might loosen over repeated heat/cool cycles. But until they show a temperature rise I don't see how they can impact voltage or the EVSE's operation.

A point of interest do we know who makes the Lucid EVSE for Lucid?

Good point. The first thing he checked was the screws and they were torqued properly.

 

[borski]

I must respectfully disagree here.

Recently, my Lucid home charging system started to have a problem: the cable and handle were extremely hot during charging. I expected them to get warm, but not over 160°. I contacted Lucid and discussed it with them. They had me open it up and take a picture of the inside. As soon as they noticed the chair lugs, they said that the installation is incorrect, and the compression lugs are required as per the installation instructions. This is despite the fact that the voltage was proper at the lugs and they themselves were nice and cool. My electrician (25 years in the trade) told me that this is ridiculous, this installation is to code, and he feels that the contractors are the problem with the system. By the way, he almost exclusively installs car chargers, although this was his first Lucid. So… Where to go from here?

After several calls to Lucid, I finally got them to agree to replace the charger. My electrician came out and installed the proper compression lugs using his hydraulic tool. He had to special order them so they would fit… The larger 2 gauge lugs have a very large hole in them so the screw the Lucid charger provides fell right through the hole, and my electrician told me that it is inappropriate to use a simple washer at a 100 amp connection. He was able to find the correct ones and now it has been reinstalled. I sent the old charger back to Lucid and I hope that they are able to find what the real problem is.

TL;DR if you install the Lucid charging system with chair lugs and a problem arises, you may have trouble getting warranty service from them. I got lucky… But only after I pushed a little harder than I should have needed.

Old and new pics below:
View attachment 22641View attachment 22642
View attachment 22640

That is absurd. @mcr16 can you escalate and confirm this is company policy? Plenty of us have chair lugs installed, as it passes code and inspection, but it would be insane if we could not get warranty service simply due to using chair lugs.

Brb, calling my electrician to swap out for compression lugs. =\

 

[Bobby]

That is absurd. @mcr16 can you escalate and confirm this is company policy? Plenty of us have chair lugs installed, as it passes code and inspection, but it would be insane if we could not get warranty service simply due to using chair lugs.

Brb, calling my electrician to swap out for compression lugs. =\

I think they should simply supply the lugs they require.

 

[deepakb]

See pages 20-21 of https://store.lucidmotors.com/conte...arging_Station_Guide_v2022.37(US)_(fr-CA).pdf

You need to let it complete the software update if the light is dim, or if it's bright and flashing it's either "Battery temperature sensor fault, Dead Battery, Battery not connected" - ensure you don't have a AA battery connected inside the unit, as that's only for commercial applications.

The software and firmware version are updated as per others in the forum as said. It is not dim or flashing red. it is it flashing orange. According to manual it is network connection issue and the charger should function properly. I have both wifi and hardwire connections to the system. I have also provided static IP for both the mac address. But still i see the problem persists.

 

[Negan1000]

I think they should simply supply the lugs they require.

Were you running 80A on your LHCS? How often were you charging. Wondering if this is a problem charging at lower amperage?

 

[Bobby]

Were you running 80A on your LHCS? How often were you charging. Wondering if this is a problem charging at lower amperage?

Yes.

 

[Pragmatic]

With the heat at the handle end, that's were the resistance would be. The only way I can see (and I doubt it works this way) that the lugs caused the issue were if the lugs had a bad connection causing lower voltage at the car. If the throttling is done by power rather than current then maybe the car end would get warm. Highly improbable and the feed lugs would be hot. No, I believe your issue is in the handle.

As long as the feed lugs are cool while charging, how they are connected should not matter. Code is trying to insure a low resistance connection that is robust and long lasting no matter how it is cycled. Hence the torque settings for screws, strain relief for wires and restricted components.

 

[SM_NCarolina]

I got mine installed yesterday and electrician installed everything as per the LUCID manual. Only thing that we have is running the charger at 48 Amps with 60 Amp breaker. This is to avoid adding another panel or upgrade existing panel which already maxed out. I've not done a full charge, so can't comment on whether it heats up or not.

Now I've a question - I've configured the charger to use my WiFi and with the account. Does the charger show up in Mobile app?

 

[SM_NCarolina]

A feedback from the electrician, "It is engineers at work, the charger is not designed for easy installation specifically when those thick and hard to bend wires are involved."

 

[borski]

Evidently, mine already were compression lugs on the branch circuit wires, and we only used a chair lug for the ground wire. I apologize for potentially misleading anyone; I swear they were mechanical lugs / chair lugs, but they must have changed that last minute without telling me.

Meanwhile, my electrician explained to me that the manual is unclear and specifies specifically that the branch circuit wires use compression lugs, despite calling for 3 compression lugs total in its list of required tools, so they used a mechanical / chair lug for the ground wire.

I'm trying to get them to come out and swap it for a compression lug anyway, just to ensure it is completely within Lucid's specs, but this is exceptionally annoying.

 

[DeaneG]

...Now I've a question - I've configured the charger to use my WiFi and with the account. Does the charger show up in Mobile app?

Unfortunately not yet. There's room for improvement.

 

[DeaneG]

Interesting - I have connectors very similar to chair lugs on the 200 amp feed to my home. They shouldn't be an issue.
But it's possible that compression lugs were specified in the LCHCS UL listing, so no compression lugs, no compliance with the listing requirement.

@Bobby is the new charger working better?

 

[Bobby]

Interesting - I have connectors very similar to chair lugs on the 200 amp feed to my home. They shouldn't be an issue.
But it's possible that compression lugs were specified in the LCHCS UL listing, so no compression lugs, no compliance with the listing requirement.

@Bobby is the new charger working better?

Yes, it is working perfectly.

 

[Worldwide Beagle]

Interesting - I have connectors very similar to chair lugs on the 200 amp feed to my home. They shouldn't be an issue.
But it's possible that compression lugs were specified in the LCHCS UL listing, so no compression lugs, no compliance with the listing requirement.

@Bobby is the new charger working better?

Mechanical lugs, A/K/A chair lugs are made from various quality aluminum alloys and are tin plated. Thats why HD ones are $2 and decent grade ones from Digikey are $5. Quality ones use a hex key screw. Straight blade screw mechanical lugs tend to be homeowner DIY grade. They offer no corrosion resistence. They will loosen after repeated heat cycling. They are not permanent connections. I would only use them for grounding. Or temp power.

Standard in the industry, high Quality Long barrel copper compression lugs are made from a single piece of seamless copper and then tin plated. They tend to cost 50% more than a mechanical lug of similar wire guage. They come with detailed engineering specs, specifying the required compression tool, die and required pressure. The UL approval only applies if all those conditions are meant.

Compression lugs create permanent connections between industrial cables and connection points using bolts and nuts. When you assemble compression lugs with a specific amount of pressure that is expressed for the connector and conductor, theoretically it will form a solid mass without voids that could lead to corrosion and loosening.

As someone here mentioned, I would guess the certification of this EVSE was done as an installed system, with properly pressed and Listed long barrel compression lugs, with proper tools.

 

[sbr41]

Yes, it is working perfectly.

Hi @Bobby , I had LCHCS installed yesterday. Thankfully I spent sometime the night before on this thread and prodded my electrician towards using Compression lugs. He did use compression lugs to install with some special tool (to press) he purchased specially for this installation (I don't know what that tool is called). So I am assuming the install was done right (Permit is still under process).

However, during my first charge with the new LCHCS, I noticed that the cable was very hot. Is this expected? Do you know what is the acceptable surface temperature of the cable while charging?

 

[Pragmatic]

After much stalling, while completing other home improvements, I'm ready to pull a permit and install a home charger. With all the discussion on proper lug use, I find it interesting that Grizzl-e (the charger I will install), supplies the lugs to use with their charger. They also supply a Hubbell 14-50 receptacle for plug-in EVSE's.

More suppliers should go this route to help avoid the use of improper equipment.

 

[Worldwide Beagle]

After much stalling, while completing other home improvements, I'm ready to pull a permit and install a home charger. With all the discussion on proper lug use, I find it interesting that Grizzl-e (the charger I will install), supplies the lugs to use with their charger. They also supply a Hubbell 14-50 receptacle for plug-in EVSE's.

More suppliers should go this route to help avoid the use of improper equipment.

That is truly impressive. Our next door neighbor in the Mountains just had a 50 amp outlet installed in their garage for a new VW EV. Sure enough, there was a $10 Leviton receptacle.

 

[DeaneG]

My new Enphase EVSE came with a quality receptacle, though I had it hardwired. Supplying correct compression lugs with the LCHCS would be a nice touch. They do need to match the wire gauge used though. My LCHCS is on a 60-amp circuit, so supplied lugs would've been too large and unsafe to use.