I'm not aware of any EV or EVSE using the J1772 type 1 ground for neutral. This violates the standard, and would (should) instantly trip the ground fault detection in the EVSE and any upstream GFCIs.
On the type 1 (US) connector there are only 5 pins; one ground connected only to the vehicle chassis and serving as reference for the 2 small proximity pilot (PP) and control pilot (CP) pins, and the 2 AC current carrying pins. One of these will be neutral if using level 1 (120v). The PP tells the EV a cable is connected and also the status of the mechanical latch, and the CP tells the EV the supplied amperage and allows the EV to enable AC power. On the EU spec type 2, they add an actual neutral and 1 more AC pin to enable 3-phase with neutral. The combo spec adds 2 large DC only pins at the bottom for DCFC. Grounds by intended design are never supposed to carry current, they are only used for fault handling, and to provide a return for leakage and high-frequency RF. On Fri, Feb 13, 2026 at 10:23 AM EV List Lackey via EV <[email protected]> wrote: > On 13 Feb 2026 at 7:15, DOOLEY PHILIP G JR via EV wrote: > > > using a neutral pin for earth might be a misuse, but the J1772 connector > > does this. > > My first thought reading this was a bit of ignorant skepticism - why would > J1772 need a neutral pin? > > I've never used a J1772 personally, so I looked at the description here. > > http://evdl.org/docs/j1772description.pdf > > On the first diagram on page 2, titled J1772 Interface, I noticed 2 extra > pins, not shown as in use in the diagram on the first page. > > Page 3 has a full pinout for the connector. It does indeed illustrate 3 > large (presumably high current) pins. It describes them as mains, mains, > and ground/neutral. > > Combining ground and neutral that way is reminiscent of the bad old days > of > US 3-pin 30 amp clothes dryer and 50 amp electric range connectors. It's > very surprising that the J1772 designers thought that way. > > One more puzzle - > > In addition to the smaller pilot pin, there's a second smaller pin > described > as no connection. > > Now I wonder what that "no connection" pin might have been reserved for in > the original J1772 specification. Does anyone know the history? > > David Roden, EVDL moderator & general lackey > > To reach me, don't reply to this message; I won't get it. Use my > offlist address here : http://evdl.org/help/index.html#supt > > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > > First they came for the journalists. We don't know what > happened after that. > > -- Unknown > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > > _______________________________________________ > Address messages to [email protected] > No other addresses in TO and CC fields > HELP: http://www.evdl.org/help/ > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20260213/3b86c693/attachment.htm> _______________________________________________ Address messages to [email protected] No other addresses in TO and CC fields HELP: http://www.evdl.org/help/
