SoCal Branch Year 4 LEAF-Gatherings - See Year 5

[TonyWilliams]

I'll see everybody in the morning in Santa Ana.

Tony

 

[Boomer23]

Amazing gathering this morning. We had to keep adding tables to accommodate everyone.

But it was more amazing because I think that it was the first of our meetings where the number of non-LEAF EVs almost equaled the number of LEAFs.

I had to leave early, but as I count it there were perhaps six LEAFs: mine, 90410, Brian and Andy, Dori, John and the nice folks who bought the silver LEAF from our friend with the new Tesla.

And there were two Teslas, and I think four RAV4 EVs at the time I left. Was there one more RAV still to arrive (Michael)?

So by my count, at least an equal number of other EVs to the number of LEAFs. Pretty cool and a real commentary on the dynamics of our little EV community three years on from the arrival of Mike's first LEAF at one of our meetings back in early 2011. Also a real growth in RAV4 EV adoption all of a sudden. Two had been picked up just yesterday!

 

[garygid]

Yes, a great Gathering, at least 3 Teslas, I think, and 17 people. A
Rav4EV just 2 days old, 2011 and 2013 LEAFs, and a 2nd generation
(previously tested) LEAF. Too many discussion subjects to count,
and a multi-rotor (Quad and Hex) copter fly after the Gathering at
a nearby park, just across the street from a quite large graveyard.

With Tony and Jason coming from opposite ends of Far Far Away,
and Richard and Sara from Up Close, we had people from all over
the map.

Thanks to all for sharing your lives, it makes everybody richer.

 

[TonyWilliams]

With Tony and Jason coming from opposite ends of Far Far Away,
and Richard and Sara from Up Close, we had people from all over
the map.

Thanks to all for sharing your lives, it makes everybody richer.

I think Allen might have almost as far to go. I drove 86.6 miles in the Rav4 EV to the gathering, with 55 miles of rated range remaining at 65mph. I stopped in Irvine spectrum for exactly 1+59 to recharge the beast on 198 volts * 30 amps = about 6kW. That added about 33 miles of rated range to complete the trip, however I slowed to 55mph to go home.

It cost me $38.50 for two hours of games at Dave & Busters for my two kids, plus $2 for the recharge on the GE Wattstation.

 

[garygid]

One thing became ever more clear at the Gathering, that logging the CAN buses
of the Rav4EV and the Tesla S is an important next step, and I am not
up to date on what has been accomplished to date.

The Chademo to Tesla adapter is of interest, but it is apparently not yet available.
Logging the Tesla charging port will be of interest, in each of its approximately
four (or five) different operating modes. I presume that it has different firmware
modes internally to support J1772, etc, where the two "control" pins are used
differently for each mode.

Apparently the Rav4EV has only one charging mode, J1772, up to 70 amps
or so?

 

[garygid]

It looks like February 8th in Cerritos and the 22nd in Santa Ana
would be best for our next Gatherings. Comments?

If somebody has an extra "orphan" adapter for J1772 to Tesla S,
we might be able to do some surgery and examine the signals with
an oscilloscope, design appropriate sniffer circuitry, and then attach
some charge-port logging device. Of course others are probably
way ahead of us.

I will start a thread in the Off Topic section if this forum,

and add links there to the "outside" world.

 

[JasonA]

Yes, this event was an amazing turn out! :shock: We just missed our one regular with a certain lic plate and sticker on the rear window and that would have been a total full house!

Fun going to the field and doing a little flying afterwards. I think many are interested now or on board with trying to figure out the S/Rav stuff.

Maybe we can also start getting a group of multirotor/quad enthusiasts going in the group as well!

It was 63 miles from my house, then around the parks for flying, meet with Dory for a bit in Cypress(45min 32a charge), and then to Carson to pickup my HOV stickers and then up to Valencia.. 201 miles total for the day! :shock:

Next stop.. Cerritos!

 

[TonyWilliams]

Apparently the Rav4EV has only one charging mode, J1772, up to 70 amps
or so?

It has a single 40 amp Tesla charger; the sane one used in the Superchargers (4 chargers on each phase, 12 total) and the Tesla Model S, X, and Mercedes Benz B-Class ED.

 

[JeremyW]

We just missed our one regular with a certain lic plate and sticker on the rear window and that would have been a total full house!

Sigh, yes it looks like I missed a good meetup... had other obligations that morning though. Sorry guys, next time!

 

[TonyWilliams]

If somebody has an extra "orphan" adapter for J1772 to Tesla S,
we might be able to do some surgery and examine the signals with
an oscilloscope, design appropriate sniffer circuitry, and then attach
some charge-port logging device. Of course others are probably
way ahead of us.

Nothing to learn there; it's 100% J1772.

1) Proximity pin with 150 ohm and 330 ohm resistors on a printed circuit card

2) Circiut card also has transmitter for opening Model S charge port door

3) Two power pins

4) One ground

 

[garygid]

Aren't the resistors (#1) in the J1772 handle/plug, with the Proximity
signal just passing through the adapter?

The transmitter (#2) must be in the adapter, powered by
the 12v in the J1772, but it will open any car's charging cover?

Or, is the owner's RFID also required nearby?

 

[garygid]

Our LEAF family is growing up, with some of our family evolving
with the times, and now arriving in their Rav4EV, or Tesla EVs.
As with any good family, we welcome and enjoy the "growing up",
since it enriches the group, and provides a better perspective
of the future.

So, the LEAF in the title for the Gathering evolves to LeRaTe?

 

[Boomer23]

Our LEAF family is growing up, with some of our family evolving
with the times, and now arriving in their Rav4EV, or Tesla EVs.
As with any good family, we welcome and enjoy the "growing up",
since it enriches the group, and provides a better perspective
of the future.

So, the LEAF in the title for the Gathering evolves to LeRaTe?

I suggest that LeRaTe is a bit too cryptic to attract newbie EV folks. How about something like "LEAF+all EV"?

 

[TonyWilliams]

Aren't the resistors (#1) in the J1772 handle/plug, with the Proximity
signal just passing through the adapter?

The transmitter (#2) must be in the adapter, powered by
the 12v in the J1772, but it will open any car's charging cover?

Or, is the owner's RFID also required nearby?

No RFID required. The transmitter is NOT in the adaptor. It's directly under the disconnect button. Yes, just like J1772, the proximity conductor just passes through the adaptor (all five conductors do).

 

[garygid]

I suggest that LeRaTe is bit too cryptic to attract newbie EV folks. How about something like "LEAF+all EV"?

I agree, maybe "LEAF or EV"?
Simple but not very elegant.
Other ideas or suggestions?

One cannot "Search" for short or frequently used words.

 

[garygid]

Tony,

 The transmitter is NOT in the adaptor. It's directly under the disconnect button. 

I guess I do not understand where the disconnect button is, since it
is not on the J1772 plug and not in the adapter. That leaves the
"button" to the left of the charging socket on the Tesla S, if that
is a button? But, why would it "transmit" if it is on the car?

Maybe this is some "release" button on the FOB for the Tesla?
I will speak with a Tesla S owner about charging disconnect.
Thanks.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Tony,

 The transmitter is NOT in the adaptor. It's directly under the disconnect button. 

I guess I do not understand where the disconnect button is, since it
is not on the J1772 plug and not in the adapter. That leaves the
"button" to the left of the charging socket on the Tesla S, if that
is a button? But, why would it "transmit" if it is on the car?

Maybe this is some "release" button on the FOB for the Tesla?
I will speak with a Tesla S owner about charging disconnect.
Thanks.

Tesla Model S UMC disassembled. It's a bit difficult to disassemble because they used two plastic exterior shells and filled it with a black plastic material. There's really no air in there (or a place for water). It is fully "potted".

The aluminum top piece (with TESLA on it) is just glued on, and pops off easily, but probably not without bending. The six holes you see in the black exterior shell directly under the aluminum bit are what I drilled "looking for screws". Of course, they don't use any!

Those holes were where they injected the black plastic that you see all around all the wires. Even the circuit card for the J1772 proximity switch and the remote control for the charge port door is "glued in" with this black plastic.

Wire colors:

1) Red - Neutral or Line 2
2) Black - Hot Line 1
3) Green with Yellow strip - ground/earth wire
4) Purple - pilot signal
5) Blue - 3.3 volts to power remote control transmitter from UMC "box"
6) Green - probably ground for the remote control transmitter (this does not leave the UMC plug handle)
7) Orange - proximity

S1 is the switch for the J1772 proximity circuit. R1 is the 150 ohm resistor that signals the proximity pin is connected to the car. When the S1 switch is pressed (closed), the 330 ohm resistor R2 is added in series to R1, creating 480 ohms to ground (150 + 330) which signals to disconnect. Yep, that simple.

S2 is the switch for the transmitter that opens the Model S charge port. It is powered from the UMC with 3.3 volts from the blue wire.

Left to right, proximity pin, ground pin, pilot pin

Aren't these beautiful? They feel SOLID! They don't have any anti-rotating devices. Industry standard 4 indent crimp. No seals around these pins; they just sit in the plastic holder.

The other pins except the two power pins do have seals around them. Those parallel conductors in each power pin are about 12 gauge (sorry, I don't know the metric equivalent)

See the lining in the socket of the lower power pin? I don't have a very good picture of the center coaxial pin in the socket. It's made out of a different material than the socket, which is likely a copper alloy.

 

[garygid]

Wow, I am going to have to remember to not loan you anything "to explore"! :lol:

More seriously, a very nice job of dissection, investigation, and picture taking.
Thanks.

I was thinking about using a J1772 EVSE with the Tesla S adapter:
There, the Proximity signal, which changes when the "unlatch" button
on the J1772 plug is pressed, asks the Tesla S to unlock the
adapter so that the adapter can be removed from the car.

And, the Tesla charging plug has the same Proximity circuit
to ask the car to unlock the plugged-in Tesla plug, but the added
S2 also activates the transmitter (embedded in the Tesla plug)
to request the open-charge-hatch operation from the car as one
approaches the Tesla to plug in to begin charging. Nice.

Presumably, neither the open-hatch nor the unlock-adapter
requests are honored without the owner's RFID present.

Thanks again.

 

[MichaelBornstein]

Sorry I missed the last meeting in Santa Ana. Cerritos is closer to me and I may make it. What is the exact address and time?

 

[MichaelBornstein]

I agree, maybe "LEAF or EV"?
Simple but not very elegant.
Other ideas or suggestions?

How about something simple like SoCalEV