Convert the 120v trickle charger to 240v on your own

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brett701

Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2013
Messages
21
Location
St. Louis Missouri
Is it possible to convert the 120v trickle charger to 240v on your own? I know many people send it in and spend 287 to get this done. Are there any tutorials that i can't find or anyone knows about? Thank you.
 
There is a guy selling plans on a popular auction site on how to do it but I don't know if it is worth the trouble or safe.
 
Elephanthead said:
There is a guy selling plans on a popular auction site on how to do it but I don't know if it is worth the trouble or safe.

could you get me a link please? i cant find it. I am planning on having an electrician do this locally free. I'm very curious as to what is actually changed.
 
bad plan.
i am not a fan of taking work away from Ingineer, who has done a remarkable and supportive job for all in the LEAF community.
his fees are reasonable and he offers plenty of support and free advice to all of us.

that said, do you really want to trust your vehicles charging system to homemade tinkering??
 
^^^
Exactly. I've noticed some folks trying tinkering or really barebones attempts at EVSEs or modifying them, some which could have some bad side effects or safety issues.

Take a look at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=133115#p133115" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (start from the beginning, if you wish) or http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=11474" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

I'm not sure I'd trust an electrician, who likely doesn't have an electrical engineering degree to implement some random guy's plans found on EBay (or whatever the auction site is), unless I know the author of the plans is a reputable EE himself.
 
I try to save money where ever possible. That's why I had Phil upgrade my cord. The evseupgrade.com is my only evse. Save money by not buying a wall mount. Have your electrician put in your breaker, line and plug.

$300 bucks to Phil will seem very cheap if something goes wrong with a DIY job.
 
^^^
Agreed. If I had a Leaf and wanted to upgrade the stock EVSE to support 240 volt charging, I would most definitely send it to Phil (Ingineer). I've met him before. I've seen his posts and his work and seen that there are PLENTY of satisfied customers of his.
 
I'm all for saving a buck, but this falls under the "Penny wise, Pound foolish" category. I wouldn't buy this guy's "plans". If there were a set of public plans that had been well vetted, then maybe it would be OK, but the only public attempts I've seen on here have been pretty poorly thought out from the safety and compatibility POV. I wouldn't touch them.

If you REALLY insist on doing it yourself, then go the OpenEVSE route, which IS well vetted. It won't be cheaper than the upgrade, but you have the advantage of being able to build a more capable unit than the upgrade for much less than an equivalent commercial unit.
 
A search of EVSE on ebay will find what you need. If you or your car or your house start on fire I am only posting this because you asked. I do not endorse anything you may or may not do. I purchased a Siemens unit preassembled myself both because I am busy and also because I am lazy.
 
brett701 said:
Does Ingineer do what is described in the ebook that is on ebay?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nissan-Leaf...8?pt=US_Adapters&hash=item4d045a783e#viTabs_0

If not. What is different?
Who knows? I'm almost certain he didn't write that material and I doubt he needed to refer to it. AFAIK, Ingineer did his own research, reverse engineering and engineering work to come up with this upgrade.

He was featured in http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/automobiles/nissan-leafs-true-believers-wont-leave-well-enough-alone.html?pagewanted=all" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. He was doing this before he even owned a Leaf. When I 1st met him at Green Drive Expo on 9/17/11, he had been doing EVSE upgrades for awhile and had no Leaf yet. He didn't seem to have a desire to get one, at the time.

I was surprised to learn that he bought a Leaf around November 2011 from http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=6721" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
 
It's kinda sad to see people discouraging the DIY spirit on here.

If someone wants to learn, and ask for help on this forum to experiment and play with their LEAF, it does them no good to hear that they just shouldn't try because it's hard, or because someone else has already done it. I'm sure Ingineer didn't come out of the womb a qualified EE, we all need to learn to achieve new things, which speaking personally, is what makes it worthwhile in the first place.

Now discussing the risks and potentials is great, but maybe a more positive, or even just informative, response would be better.

Dave
 
thehelix112 said:
It's kinda sad to see people discouraging the DIY spirit on here.

If someone wants to learn, and ask for help on this forum to experiment and play with their LEAF, it does them no good to hear that they just shouldn't try because it's hard, or because someone else has already done it. I'm sure Ingineer didn't come out of the womb a qualified EE, we all need to learn to achieve new things, which speaking personally, is what makes it worthwhile in the first place.

Now discussing the risks and potentials is great, but maybe a more positive, or even just informative, response would be better.

Dave

THANK YOU!!!
 
thankyouOB said:
bad plan.
i am not a fan of taking work away from Ingineer, who has done a remarkable and supportive job for all in the LEAF community.
his fees are reasonable and he offers plenty of support and free advice to all of us.

that said, do you really want to trust your vehicles charging system to homemade tinkering??

I don't consider it home tinkering. I will have a family friend who is a professional electrician assist me. He has been in the field for 30+ years.

However, I want to do the learning rather than pass the learning on to someone else and sit on the backside like a bum. I like to learn and this is very interesting to me.
 
brett701 said:
thankyouOB said:
bad plan.
i am not a fan of taking work away from Ingineer, who has done a remarkable and supportive job for all in the LEAF community.
his fees are reasonable and he offers plenty of support and free advice to all of us.

that said, do you really want to trust your vehicles charging system to homemade tinkering??

I don't consider it home tinkering. I will have a family friend who is a professional electrician assist me. He has been in the field for 30+ years.

However, I want to do the learning rather than pass the learning on to someone else and sit on the backside like a bum. I like to learn and this is very interesting to me.

If you seriously want to learn, build an OPENevse. Then, with your new found knowledge, try tackling the Nissan / Panasonic.
 
TonyWilliams said:
brett701 said:
I don't consider it home tinkering. I will have a family friend who is a professional electrician assist me. He has been in the field for 30+ years.

However, I want to do the learning rather than pass the learning on to someone else and sit on the backside like a bum. I like to learn and this is very interesting to me.

If you seriously want to learn, build an OPENevse. Then, with your new found knowledge, try tackling the Nissan / Panasonic.
Tony's suggestion is a good one.

Brett, take a step back. Electrician does not necessarily equal electrical engineer.

Ask yourself and your friend these questions:
- Are either of you an electrical engineer or have the equivalent experience of an electrical engineer?
- Can either of you evaluate the design sold on Ebay BEFORE starting on the work on whether it'll work and whether it'll compromise safety (think fire and electrical safety) or violate some part of the J1772 standard and its protocols or NEC (National Electrical Code)?
- Do either of you understand the J1772 standard and its protocols?
- You realize that opening your EVSE voids its warranty, right? Do you know the replacement cost for a replacement L1 EVSE in case your modification attempt fails or the unit ends up being damaged?
- Do you know the replacement cost of the Leaf's OBC (onboard charger), in the event it is damaged by a poor/improper design?
- Do either of you understand ALL of Ingineer's responses in the http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=11474" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=133115#p133115" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; threads? If so, can you tell whether or not the design found on EBay has any of the same issues as those two proposals?
- Will the seller/author go to bat for you w/Nissan in the event any part of your Leaf like the OBC is damaged by your home tinkering and they deny your warranty claim?
davewill said:
I'm all for saving a buck, but this falls under the "Penny wise, Pound foolish" category. I wouldn't buy this guy's "plans". If there were a set of public plans that had been well vetted, then maybe it would be OK, but the only public attempts I've seen on here have been pretty poorly thought out from the safety and compatibility POV. I wouldn't touch them.

If you REALLY insist on doing it yourself, then go the OpenEVSE route, which IS well vetted. It won't be cheaper than the upgrade, but you have the advantage of being able to build a more capable unit than the upgrade for much less than an equivalent commercial unit.
+100

Even an EVSE from a major manufacturer (namely the GE Wattstation), presumably w/many competent EEs has been an apparent culprit in damaging the Leaf's OBC. http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=246900#p246900" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; is some speculation of the cause. There are numerous threads on the Wattstation and http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/tag/wattstation/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; has examples of some press coverage.
 
I told my son the other day that buying a Leaf is more like a science project for me. It satisfies me in more than one ways, not just taking me from A to B. Read through the technical discussions in here has become an obsession.
 
I disagree that building an OPEN EVSE would be more expensive than upgrading the Nissan L1. once you build your new OPEN EVSE you can sell your old one and probably come out the same, had he upgraded.

That being said, I almost want to buy that ebay book to see what the guy has...
 
I'm surprised people here are discouraging open mods. I think we should be saying "YES!" when people ask questions like this. Unfortunately, I don't have the details of how it's done, but you'll find plenty of info here:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=5784" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

jclemens said:
Is anyone still interested on how the upgrade can be done?

I've figured it out, without de-potting my board, AND keeping all safety features. (still needs more testing before I do this for someone else)

There are only 2 or 3 parts that need to be changed.

The 270V varistor is the most important, It has a marking of ZNR V10271U
The part number for this is actually ERZV10D271. It has a rating of 270V. The data sheet for this part is http://industrial.panasonic.com/www-data/pdf/AWA0000/AWA0000CE2.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
It states that it is intended for 100-120V circuits.
Simply doubling the rated value seems to be working.
I wanted to swap it out for ERZV10D511, but the shop i went to didn't have the exact brand, so I used 0550NR07D (8mm instead of 10mm, rated for 550V instead of 510, green instead of black)

The other main part was the transformer, the power supply for the unit is a simple 7812 linear regulator, it CAN take DC, but you'd need at least 15V, I only have 12V AC-DC adapters, so I wired an AC adapter that works on 100-240VAC directly to the 12V output pin.
If I were to do this again, I'd use http://search.digikey.com/us/en/products/DA12-120US-M/454-1455-ND/2203621" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The last part is a little interesting. It has to do with those 2 diodes you can see. As we know, the unit detects if ground is present by intentionally leaking some current to the ground line. For some reason, it does this with DC, and has 1 diode from each AC input line. (hot and neutral). I tested to see if I could over-ride it and I could by simply injecting a small voltage to that resistor, but it was all unnecessary since the unit DOES NOT check/care which is live and which is neutral, but it does check if there is a complete circuit.
Initially I wanted to upgrade the diodes to 1n4004 (400V) rectifiers, (this is because standard diodes are rated in 100V increments, so they are likely only 200V) I also figured that by double the AC (with 240V) one would double the DC on the rectified side and thus double the small voltage it uses to detect ground, which may cause some problems. After I upgraded one diode, I figured, what do I need the other one for? it is only active when there is a voltage present on the neutral line, and the current goes to ground, not back into the AC circuit, so I removed the diode on the neutral line, so it will work with either neutral or L2, it is using Live or L1 to detect ground. Since L1 is only 120V, it probably wasn't required to upgrade this diode, but hey, I'm not going to fix what isn't broken.

WARNING, IF YOU ATTEMPT THIS AND SCREW SOMETHING UP, ITS YOUR OWN DAMN FAULT. YOU WILL BLOW UP LIKE IN DISTRICT 9, (don't ask me how I know)


I would recommend digging into OpenEVSE:
https://code.google.com/p/open-evse/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You can build your own there from parts (if you feel comfortable working on computers and solder, there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to do this), and that should get you started. I'm not an electrician, not an electrical engineer, but I am a geek. I think that gives me sufficient credentials to start digging into my own EVSEs. :)

cwerdna said:
You realize that opening your EVSE voids its warranty, right?

You realize you are perpetuating a myth, right? ;)

They can only refuse to repair damages that you cause to the product, or that are caused as a result of the modification. Opening the EVSE alone will not void the warranty on the EVSE or the car. Using a modified EVSE does not void the warranty on the car either (unless of course it blows up and destroys something on your car, then they will refuse to repair THAT part).
 
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