Changing the J1772 cord on the Blink

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wwhitney

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 17, 2010
Messages
871
Location
Berkeley, CA
Hello,

I'm looking for a few pointers on changing the J1772 cord on the Blink. I find myself needing a longer cord, so I'd like to use the Leviton A3435-PEV, a 25-foot 30 amp J1772 cord I saw recommended in the Open EVSE thread. Doing it myself will hopefully be quicker and slightly cheaper than going through Blink. So I opened up the Blink and after taking a look I have a few questions:

1) The Blink J1772 cord has three #10 conductors (L1, L2, G) and one #18 conductor, the blue proximity wire. The Leviton J1772 cord has the same three #10 conductors but two #18 conductors, one blue and one orange. I assume the blue #18 is the proximity wire and I should leave the orange wire unterminated. Is that correct? What is the orange wire, and why does Leviton bother to include it if it is not needed? This may have been answered in the Open EVSE thread, but I couldn't find it.

2) The blue proximity wire currently goes through a pin and sleeve connection before landing at a terminal block. Is this a strain disconnect to satisfy the deenergization requirements of NEC 625.19? What kind of connectors are these? I'd like to get some more rather than cut the connector off the Blink cord and splice it onto the new cord.

3) Lastly, I notice that the L1 and L2 conductors on the Blink J1772 cord have sleeves crimped on them and then terminate in set screw connectors on a 40 amp circuit breaker. I understand the sleeves are required because the conductors are finely stranded and standard set screw connectors are only rated for Class B stranding. I'm a bit new to crimping and just have an inexpensive ratcheting tool for insulated crimps (Tool Aid 18900). Do I need a different crimping tool for uninsulated crimps like these sleeves?

Thanks,
Wayne
 
You are correct, only terminate the blue pilot signal wire, and not the orange proximity wire. (you had the nomenclature reversed)

If you cannot get a solid crimp, you can always solder tin the ends of the wires so they are solid and will properly terminate at the contactor. I do not recommend soldering where the connection will be subject to vibration or movement, but in this application it is fine.

-Phil
 
Description for Leviton EVSE cable -- link: http://store.leviton.com/b/5742800011" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"30 Amp J1772 Level 2 Electric Vehicle Charge Connector with 25 Ft. Cord, A3435-PEV

Product Details

This UL Rated, J1772 Level 2 Charge Connector will accommodate up to 30A, 208V - 240V AC systems, and has the ability to connect with any J1772TM compliant Electric Vehicle. The handle is ergonomically designed to fit comfortably in the hands of any EV driver, yet robust enough to be rated at 10,000 cycles - the equivalent of 27 years of use!

Note: The charge connector assembly meets the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) North American standard for electrical connectors for electric vehicles. The SAE standard covers the general physical, electrical, communication protocol, and performance requirements for the electric vehicle conductive charge system and coupler. The intent of this standard is to define a common electric vehicle conductive charging system architecture including operational requirements and the functional and dimensional requirements for the vehicle inlet and mating connector.

This connector will be compatible with North American Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) vehicles only. It may not be compatible with plug in vehicle conversions or vehicles that were produced prior to 2010 calendar year. Consumers should purchase this product only if they have an OEM vehicle from 2010 model year or later.

The J1772 connector assembly is not to be used as a replacement for a Leviton EVSE. Please check with the manufacturer of the EVSE to ensure compatibility.

Features and Benefits:

*Compatible with all Charging Station Standards and Recommended Practices, including SAE J1772

*Guaranteed 10,000 mating cycles - equivalent to 27 years of use!

*Drain holes prevent water from pooling inside of the connector housing, preventing against ice build-up and stagnant water accumulation.

*Cord Type EVJE - 3 X 10 AWG & 2 X 16 AWG conductors

*Wire Color Code: L1 - Black, L2 - Red, GND - Green, Orange - Pilot, Blue - Proximity (not used in most applications)"

I notice the following statements from above:
1) "The J1772 connector assembly is not to be used as a replacement for a Leviton EVSE"
2) "Cord Type EVJE - 3 X 10 AWG & 2 X 16 AWG conductors"
3) "Wire Color Code: L1 - Black, L2 - Red, GND - Green, Orange - Pilot, Blue - Proximity (not used in most applications)"

I hope 1) is just trying to say it is not an EVSE, not that it can't replace the cable/connector for a Leviton EVSE.
2) seems to claim it has (2) 16 AWG conductors, not 18 AWG.
3) says the Orange wire is the "pilot" wire.

I have no idea if this Leviton info is, in fact, accurate!

If I am wrong about my interpretation of 1), i.e. it actually means the cable/connector is NOT a satisfactory replacement cable/connector for a Leviton EVSE, I wonder why that is?
 
Ingineer said:
You are correct, only terminate the blue pilot signal wire, and not the orange proximity wire. (you had the nomenclature reversed)
Hi Phil,

Thanks for responding, sorry for the nomenclature mixup. I got confused because Blink uses blue for the pilot, while the Leviton J1772 cord uses orange for the pilot and blue for the proximity. So I'll be connecting the new orange wire where the old blue wire was terminated.

Any thoughts on the pin and sleeve connector in the pilot wire? Is it necessary? Is it an Andersen power pole?

Thanks,
Wayne
 
wwhitney: How can you be sure the "proximity" pin in the Leviton connector is functionally compatible to the "proximity" pin in the original Blink connector? After all you wrote "What is the [proximity] wire, and why does Leviton bother to include it if it is not needed? This may have been answered in the Open EVSE thread, but I couldn't find it.".

Please understand other people are reading this post who appreciate more clarity (i.e. transparent and thorough reasoning) that shows this alteration (that they also may attempt) is relatively risk free.
 
MikeD said:
How can you be sure the "proximity" pin in the Leviton connector is functionally compatible to the "proximity" pin in the original Blink connector?
My understanding is that the proximity pin in the J1772 connector is just used to tell the car when the handle button is depressed, via a switch in the handle which changes the resistance of that pin to the ground pin. As such, the proximity wire isn't typically required within the body of the EVSE. I guess that Leviton includes it in the cable to allow for the possibility that the EVSE might want to simulate the user pressing the handle button for some reason.

Also, you are correct that the signal wires in the Leviton J1772 cable are 16 gauge, not 18 gauge.

Cheers, Wayne
 
Ok, I got the cord changed yesterday and the car charged fine overnight.

I couldn't easily find ferrules to crimp on the L1 and L2 wires, so I crimped on insulated pin connectors. The pin then goes into the set screw connector on the Blink's internal circuit breaker. I also considered using an uninsulated butt splice as a ferrule and cutting off the excess, but I decided against that. Not sure whether that might have been a better solution. The ground wire was terminated with a insulated ring connector (on a stud with an 11mm nut), so that was easy to duplicate.

On the pilot wire, note that the Blink cable has a blue #18 pilot wire and the Leviton cable has an orange #16 pilot wire. I made sure to keep the pilot wire shorter than the other wires, as in the original installation. I determined that the disconnect in the original pilot wire was an insulated "snap" disconnect. I found an insulated "bullet" disconnect female that mated well with the original male pigtail and then reused that pigtail.

Also, the outer diameter of the Leviton cable is about 1/16" greater than on the Blink cable. So it was a snug fit going through the strain relief connector coming out of the bottom of the Blink chassis, but it worked OK.

I'm thinking that for thoroughness I should get an IR thermometer and measure the temperature rises on the terminations I made after a few hours of charging. What temperature rise should I expect for a good connection? I have a 2011 Leaf, so it will have been charging at only 16 amps.

Cheers, Wayne
 
wwhitney said:
I'm thinking that for thoroughness I should get an IR thermometer and measure the temperature rises on the terminations I made after a few hours of charging. What temperature rise should I expect for a good connection? I have a 2011 Leaf, so it will have been charging at only 16 amps.
Temperature rise should be minimal at 16A on a connection rate for 30A. I'd expect less than 20F over ambient, probably around 10F.
 
Is it possible for you to post a picture of the connections between the new Leviton cable and the Blink? I'm considering doing the same as the Blink original plug gets noticeably warm lately.

And by the way, how can I tell if the existing plug runs hotter than considered safe?
 
Well, the cord on my Blink is going out. I had failed charges twice in the last two weeks. Best I can tell, using the cord reel as designed (putting the handle in the middle with the cord in the notch) caused the wire carrying the pilot to break right near the handle. If I flex the cord (while holding the handle still) my car will stop and start charging. So, anyone who's been putting the handle into the middle of the reel, should probably start just draping it over the top instead. Kind of ironic since I got a RAV4 EV yesterday, and discovered that my J1772 handle runs perfectly cool (I literally could not detect ANY temperature rise by touching it).

The plan is to buy one of the Leviton replacements. The new car needs more length than the replacement will provide, so I'm thinking of cutting off the handle and mounting a junction box on the wall to use to splice the old cable to the new one.
 
I filed off excess plastic initially on my holder as the cable going in was very tight and the plastic would have cut through insulation over time. Apart from that unless you cause excessive bending of the cable around the plug I think the hanger is alright.
 
davewill said:
Best I can tell, using the cord reel as designed (putting the handle in the middle with the cord in the notch) caused the wire carrying the pilot to break right near the handle. If I flex the cord (while holding the handle still) my car will stop and start charging.
I've never been all that happy with the dock for the Blink - even carefully used it tears up the rubber strain relief at the plug. Seems like the notch could be made larger (as Valdemar suggests) and still hold the plug fine but avoid putting any stress on the cable at all at that point.

TucsonEV will sell you a 20ft 30A plug/cord for $140 - I think that is competitive with Leviton - and the TucsonEV plug is rated at 50A and can also be ordered with an extra long cable at $2.50/ft.

It looks like the Leviton 30A plug/cord is $173, so the extra $33 could be used to get an extra 13 ft of cable avoiding the hassle and expense of a junction box.
 
drees said:
... TucsonEV will sell you a 20ft 30A plug/cord for $140 - I think that is competitive with Leviton - and the TucsonEV plug is rated at 50A and can also be ordered with an extra long cable at $2.50/ft.

It looks like the Leviton 30A plug/cord is $173, so the extra $33 could be used to get an extra 13 ft of cable avoiding the hassle and expense of a junction box.
That sounds very nice. I like both the idea of the cable/plug being a little over spec, and the possibility of using it to build a true 40a EVSE at some later time. As far as the length, I'm still trying to decide whether I hate backing into the garage enough to bother with the long cord...that said, I can always just leave the extra length on the reel.

Following up on the plugs, does the one TucsonEV sells look like a good quality unit? Also, does anyone here know whether the Leviton plug is actually the Yazaki plug as it appears to be in the photo?

Edit: Ooops, I see that in the current plug/cord TusconEV is selling the cord itself is only rated for 30a. That's OK, since I'd have to run a whole new circuit to go over that rating anyway.
 
davewill said:
Edit: Ooops, I see that in the current plug/cord TusconEV is selling the cord itself is only rated for 30a. That's OK, since I'd have to run a whole new circuit to go over that rating anyway.
The plug is rated at 50A, but the wire/cable is rated at 30A, so the plug/cord assembly is only good for 30A. I still like the idea of the plug being rated for more power since that seems to be the weak spot.

Tony uses the plugs for his JESLA product, he can comment on the quality of the plugs/cables more than I might (I've never actually touched one myself!)
 
OK, ended up getting the Leviton 30a cord and plug. TucsonEV only takes PayPal and I don't use it. Ordered directly from Leviton. They had free ground shipping (3-5 days, not the 5-10 day free shipping Amazon offers), plus I got 10% off using the promotion code "thankyou" I found online. Grand total with tax was $168.50, not bad. The junction box will actually end up being more convenient than just a long cable, as I'll semi-permanantly mount it on the side wall of the garage and hang the new cable and plug over there.
 
drees said:
davewill said:
Edit: Ooops, I see that in the current plug/cord TusconEV is selling the cord itself is only rated for 30a. That's OK, since I'd have to run a whole new circuit to go over that rating anyway.
The plug is rated at 50A, but the wire/cable is rated at 30A, so the plug/cord assembly is only good for 30A. I still like the idea of the plug being rated for more power since that seems to be the weak spot.

Tony uses the plugs for his JESLA product, he can comment on the quality of the plugs/cables more than I might (I've never actually touched one myself!)

We have plug / cable assemblies for 32, 40 and 50 amps. We don't use the same plug that the other guys use if it has the orange button.

Our 40 amp uses the same dual conductor power lines as the JESLA does. Any length available on that (we have 1500 feet!). The others are available in 20-25 feet.

I like the plug we are currently using, but we do a lot of quality control that results in some wasted product. I don't know if the "other guys" do that.
 
The Leviton 30a cordset showed up today. Only shipped from Ontario, so "ground" shipping was overnight. It looks good and solid, with a genuine Yazaki plug on it. To me, that makes the extra cost worth it. I'll do the surgery this weekend.
 
davewill said:
The Leviton 30a cordset showed up today. Only shipped from Ontario, so "ground" shipping was overnight. It looks good and solid, with a genuine Yazaki plug on it. To me, that makes the extra cost worth it. I'll do the surgery this weekend.

Can you please post some pictures of how the new cable connects inside the Blink? Thanks!
 
Valdemar said:
Can you please post some pictures of how the new cable connects inside the Blink? Thanks!
Unfortunately, I'm not going to do it that way. I'm planning to keep most of the existing cable, and use a junction box to add on the new one.
 
davewill said:
Valdemar said:
Can you please post some pictures of how the new cable connects inside the Blink? Thanks!
Unfortunately, I'm not going to do it that way. I'm planning to keep most of the existing cable, and use a junction box to add on the new one.

Got it. Curious how you plan to connect the wires inside the junction box, crimping or simply with wire-nuts?
 
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