Adding a Brusa charger under the hood for '11/'12s

[JasonA]

Or what about phenolic grade sheets? This stuff is commonly used as gasket material on things like engine intake manifolds... Should be plenty tough for this application.

On our aviation and RC stuff that requires high voltage and vibration isolation, G10 or its close relatives of FR-4 laminated epoxy/fiberglass board is great in these situations.

Have tons of flying drones, helis etc with sensitive electronics and nothing but CNC G10 cut frames and it's great. I could see it working possibly in this application. I have seen custom cut covers out of solid G10 billet blocks.

And if we need a water jet guy, I can help

 

[KillaWhat]

Went to the dealer to price the "Valve Cover" gaskets.
The short version:

They cannot sell you one.
They don't have a part number.

Nothing in there has a part number.
It's one part.
Whole Deal!
Period!
(Not even a spare cover screw)

The long version of this is here:
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=13136" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So, it looks like It's HDPE or one of its relatives for me.
I'll check out the G-10 (Thanks)
I'll keep you posted.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Is this going on a Wiki Somewhere?

As a first-gen driver with nearly 37,000 miles on the clock, we're interested... And frankly, the 2013 doesn't have anything we want (apart from 6.6 kW) so this seems the more cost-effective solution.

It is a 6kw charger not a 6.6kw charger and NIssan needs to correct this false advertising. Adding a Brusa will yield more to the pack than a 2013 LEAF charging system.

Is Tesla also false advertising 10kW and 20kW ?

 

[TonyWilliams]

I'd love to meet up with you guys this weekend and help out any way I can with the programming/hookups(I'm good like that ) but I may have to ICE it for that long of a drive

Well, from Sylmar to the DC CHAdeMO at Residence Inn in San Juan Capistrano, it's 80 miles. At 55mph with cruise control on, you'll make it in about 90 minutes. Then, you need 40 miles of range to 577 S. Vulcan Ave, Encinitas, which should take about 30-40 minutes, then arrive in Encinitas and leave it on the Blink. You can catch a ride for the Brusa part of the party, and then you're car will be all filled up for the return.

 

[KillaWhat]

You can catch a ride for the Brusa part of the party, and then you're car will be all filled up for the return.

I'm jealous! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: Brusa party sounds like great fun.

Ordered a variety of "gasket" material including some cast HDPE today.

Should have this puppy mounted by next Monday if all goes well.

What did you think of the bracket design?

In talking to the Aero-Plastics guys, they saw no reason that the bracket couldn't be made out of cast 1/8" HDPE instead of aluminum.

In fact, being plastics guys, they thought the whole thing could be made from high tensile strength plastics.

 

[JasonA]

I'd love to meet up with you guys this weekend and help out any way I can with the programming/hookups(I'm good like that ) but I may have to ICE it for that long of a drive

Well, from Sylmar to the DC CHAdeMO at Residence Inn in San Juan Capistrano, it's 80 miles. At 55mph with cruise control on, you'll make it in about 90 minutes. Then, you need 40 miles of range to 577 S. Vulcan Ave, Encinitas, which should take about 30-40 minutes, then arrive in Encinitas and leave it on the Blink. You can catch a ride for the Brusa part of the party, and then you're car will be all filled up for the return.

I don't have DCQC on mine

That's why I'd love to parallel a few Brusa's together!

I'm living in a 3.3kw only world right now

 

[KillaWhat]

I'm living in a 3.3kw only world right now

In this thread, we are right there with you.
Hopefully not much longer.

 

[91040]

I am interested in this as well. Jealous of those who got the chargers for around a grand.

If anyone wants a ride, I will probably stay overnight in Costa Mesa, Friday, then go to the morning meeting in Encinitas. Hope to attend the Brusa bash but must be back in Costa Mesa by 7:30pm.

 

[JasonA]

I'm in! However I'll be ICE'in it in our PZEV :shock: since I'd have to leave at 5am on 100% and then stop and charge for 2-3 hrs in Irvine (hey!! where my car first came from!! Irvine Nissan!!!) and then go on from there.

But I'll bring any dev tools and laptop goodies, etc for the Brusa team! I'm prob going to order my unit here in a few minutes after hearing from Jeremy but I don't know if I'll get it by Sat.

Jason

FYI: Just let me know anything I should bring..

 

[KillaWhat]

I'd love to meet up with you guys this weekend and help out any way I can with the programming/hookups(I'm good like that ) but I may have to ICE it for that long of a drive

Well, from Sylmar to the DC CHAdeMO at Residence Inn in San Juan Capistrano, it's 80 miles. At 55mph with cruise control on, you'll make it in about 90 minutes. Then, you need 40 miles of range to 577 S. Vulcan Ave, Encinitas, which should take about 30-40 minutes, then arrive in Encinitas and leave it on the Blink. You can catch a ride for the Brusa part of the party, and then you're car will be all filled up for the return.

I don't have DCQC on mine

That's why I'd love to parallel a few Brusa's together!

I'm living in a 3.3kw only world right now

I'm bored.
I'm waiting for my spacer / gasket material, so I set out to install the through-plate gland for the charger output.

I was struck by how easy this hookup is, and how physically small the #12 wire-ring end is.
This got me thinking about JasonA's statement about stacking Brusa's, which before this I thought was preposterous.

Well.......... It's not!
If you are going to put in one Brusa, why NOT put in TWO?

I had always considered it to be a "fit it under the hood size problem" , probably my fixation on the word "stacking", so I went looking.

Not counting the wiring access (plugs) the footprint of the Brusa is 13 1/8" X 9 7/8.
So, if you turned them sideways (Plugs Out), you would only come 3 1/4" farther forward, which is just 1 1/8" forward of the current inverter cover.

I turned mine, slid it as far back as I could, and the hood closes!!
(My hood closes. Don't buy another $$$ Brusa until YOUR hood closes please!.)

So if you installed the Brusa's side by side, leaving an inch or so to get your output wires between the Chargers and through your mounting plate, that's a total width of (9 7/8 X 2") + 1" (+ a pinch) = say 21" total width?

I went under the hood again, with my plate still mounted, and started fooling around with placement.
It's doable!!

If you are willing to relocate the small tank on the passenger side (and there is plenty of room to do it), and relocate the brake fluid tank on the driver's side to say, behind the Battery (we are moving it anyway)) I can see a comfortable 22 1/4" of space in there before you need to fool with the AC Line or encroach on the battery!

It really is Doable.

You should swap out the J1772 socket for say a 70 amp unit (increase the wire gauge, etc), but you can get one for under $100 (China), and the rest of it is all the same challenges for one Brusa as a pair... Right?

So, not preposterous.
I apologize.
If you are really going to do it, the internal bracket remains unchanged, but you may want to redesign the mounting plate NOW so it can be used later (now?) for a pair of Brusa's.

Oh.... and you need a pair of Brusa's
(Fricking 9.9Kw!!!.... In EV charging math that's an easy 10KW.
In Fiat EV math that's like .....12Kw isn't it? )
:lol:

Addendum: EVSE
I built an "open EVSE" early on.
I overdesigned it... why not.
I used a 70 Amp J1772 and cable, and a 60 Amp contactor.
It's run on 6 gauge copper, and its 4' from a subpanel.

All I would need to do is go back and remember how to adjust the Pilot signal.
I think it's dip switches :roll:

 

[JeremyW]

Thank you KillaWatt for all your hard work on the mounting pate(s). I don't have a need to go above 30A since that's what most of the public EVSE's are around here. But for those who have more desire for RV park use or don't have CHAdeMO, it looks pretty good.

If all goes well I'll have a wall mounted 30A EVSE installed today. Waiting on the landlord and his electrician...

I've also been reading the service manual, and brainstorming about how we are going to 'have our way' with the J1772 inlet. Fortunately the Brusa does have temperature monitoring, so if we stick a little thermistor on the inlet the Brusa can back down automatically if things look a little too warm. I know you ordered some sealed connectors KillaWatt, did you come up with a way to "tee" the AC inputs?

 

[TonyWilliams]

Thank you KillaWatt for all your hard work on the mounting pate(s). I don't have a need to go above 30A since that's what most of the public EVSE's are around here. But for those who have more desire for RV park use or don't have CHAdeMO, it looks pretty good.

Actually, Jeremy, you might want two for those 30amp EVSE's out in the wild. You can add a second J1772 and use two 30 amp EVSE's.

I like it A LOT!!!

I'm wiring up some spare 50 amp NEMA 14-50's for my house. How many cars do I need to charge at Tony Little Workshop?

 

[KillaWhat]

Actually, Jeremy, you might want two for those 30amp EVSE's out in the wild. You can add a second J1772 and use two 30 amp EVSE's.

Before I read this, I was thinking....

Around here, L2 EVSE usually travel in packs of 2 or 4.
Add that second J1772 socket (especially if you don't have a ChaDeMo installed up front), and you have yourself 10Kw public charging!

Jeremy. I wasn't going to do anything fancy with the J1772 interface.
Pull it out of the car, stagger the connection points, strip back some insulation, wrap the Brusa wire around 5 or 6 times, solder it up nice, cover it in RTV, slide heat shrink tube over it, and attach to the watertight Metripack connectors, and stuff it all back into the Orange convoluted tubing.

If you specify exactly what you want for a temp sensor, I'll silicone? it onto the back of the socket and run it to a mini metripack connector at the same time.

How are we going to "switch" the +12VDC to the Brusa when we want it to charge? Is it obvious, and I 'm just not seeing it?

I'll post pictures if you want when I tap the J1772

 

[KillaWhat]

Oh;

Just noticed that metricmind is showing that it has the Brusa's on sale for $1775.00

It also says that they will design a charging profile for your application, and email it to you for FREE??

http://www.metricmind.com/price-list/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[davewill]

Oh;

Just noticed that metricmind is showing that it has the Brusa's on sale for $1775.00

It also says that they will design a charging profile for your application, and email it to you for FREE??

http://www.metricmind.com/price-list/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That's a 1.6kW unit that's labeled $1775. The 3.3kW unit is labeled "inquire".

 

[KillaWhat]

Oh;

Just noticed that metricmind is showing that it has the Brusa's on sale for $1775.00

It also says that they will design a charging profile for your application, and email it to you for FREE??

http://www.metricmind.com/price-list/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That's a 1.6kW unit that's labeled $1775. The 3.3kW unit is labeled "inquire".

Rats!

 

[EVDRIVER]

Is this going on a Wiki Somewhere?

As a first-gen driver with nearly 37,000 miles on the clock, we're interested... And frankly, the 2013 doesn't have anything we want (apart from 6.6 kW) so this seems the more cost-effective solution.

It is a 6kw charger not a 6.6kw charger and NIssan needs to correct this false advertising. Adding a Brusa will yield more to the pack than a 2013 LEAF charging system.

Is Tesla also false advertising 10kW and 20kW ?

Never tested the output.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Is Tesla also false advertising 10kW and 20kW ?

Never tested the output.

I'll give you the Cliff Notes version: at 250 volts, the Tesla charger will pull 40 amps (10kW) from "the wall". At 277 volts, the amps drop to 32, keeping the 10kW pull from the wall.

Below 250 volts, it will continue at 40 amps, thereby going below 10kW from the wall.

 

[Ingineer]

Most manufacturers of chargers and power supplies state the output capability, not the input. This recent trend to quote consumption is "cheating" and also encourages inefficient design. For instance, using this flawed logic, I could add a 3kW dummy load to your 2011 LEAF and call it a 6.8kW charger!

Nissan had it right in 2011, when they called it a 3.3kW charger. That is the amount that usually makes it to the battery. In fact, it actually produces more than 3.3kW in most cases! When doing so it's consuming about 3.8kW.

For 2013 they initially (correctly) called it a 6kW charger, but now they are falsely calling it 6.6kW.

The OBC in the Tesla is actually capable of running at 277V/40A, so when doing so it would be consuming 11kW, and would actually put out about 10kW.

-Phil

 

[TonyWilliams]

For 2013 they initially (correctly) called it a 6kW charger, but now (along with Tesla) they are falsely calling it 6.6kW.

-Phil

The bigger number is going to win, unless (or until) there is regulation to the contrary.