A peek at the Leaf's Charger

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jclemens said:
I know a guy who got some Brusa chargers from an bankruptcy auction. he is selling them below retail at about 2k each.
http://blog.evtv.me/store/proddetail.php?prod=brusanlg
Thanks for posting that. I'm very interested and will be reading up to see if I can make one of these work. If I buy, I'll probably buy soon, but install is a long way off.

I know EVDRIVER said it's old news, but I hadn't seen it.
 
Actually I have done this, and a friend of mine (in Europe) has as well. Take a peek: http://www.metricmind.com/leaf/main.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'd love to exchange notes. You're right, to do it OEM way, while straight forward, is not easy. But important thing is - it's been
done, proven to work, documented and known exactly what to do and how. Someone has to figure how to deliver kits (and/or
upgrading service if wanted) to people.

Victor
 
metricmind said:
Actually I have done this, and a friend of mine (in Europe) has as well. Take a peek: http://www.metricmind.com/leaf/main.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'd love to exchange notes. You're right, to do it OEM way, while straight forward, is not easy. But important thing is - it's been
done, proven to work, documented and known exactly what to do and how. Someone has to figure how to deliver kits (and/or
upgrading service if wanted) to people.

Victor
Thanks for the link to what you did. There are some awesome photos there. I especially liked the one that showed the braid around the wires used for leak detection.
 
Ingineer said:
We are looking at offering the 6.7kW upgrade as a kit. Installation is simple, and anyone competent with mechanical assembly can install it with a few hand tools in under an hour. It does not require running wires in difficult places, everything is right there under the hood, nothing under the car or in the back.
...
My mission is to support Electric Mobility any way I can. I'll keep doing so as long as I'm able, and as time permits I'll keep on developing new things for our cars.

-Phil

Bumping an old thread. Did you release your plans for the 6.7kW upgrade kit to open source after you sold your Leaf?

I would like to develop an open source under-hood replacement for the 2011 Leaf onboard charger using your 6.7kW kit plans as a starting point. The goal being to avoid a Nissan visit when the 3.3kW charger dies, again.

Thanks,
Rex
 
Ingineer said:
I haven't done a full teardown, but here's the guts:


(Click picture for high-res shot)


-Phil
Has anyone done a proper teardown and writeup? I've got a dead one of these that I'd like to understand and fix. I've also got a project to make a 14S (~50V) ATV that needs a charger. Maybe it would be possible to make the dead charger into something suitable.

Cheers :)
 

(Click picture for high-res shot)


-Phil
NiallDarwin said:
Has anyone done a proper teardown and writeup? I've got a dead one of these that I'd like to understand and fix. I've also got a project to make a 14S (~50V) ATV that needs a charger. Maybe it would be possible to make the dead charger into something suitable.

Cheers :)

I have a non-working charger as well and did some tracing of lines. The EV can bus and QC can bus run from the top connector to the lower right two chips ZJY5101, then down to two can bus transceiver chips TJA1050, then over to the 100-pin 14x14mm LQFP chip. The EV can bus goes to pins 41,42. The QC can bus goes to pins 47,49.

As you look at the picture, on 100-pin chip, pin 1 is the right side lower pin and the can bus pins are on the top side row.

Markings on the chip:
R5F71424FPV
SH2 A 1043
BK08484
I found the SH7147 Group Hardware Manual, it is a Renesas 32-Bit RISC Microcomputer SuperH RISC engine Family SH7142, R5F7142:
https://www.renesas.com/us/en/doc/p...47hm.pdf?key=e76f358255c2ab18777f37b1e5a5cdeb

From the Renesas website: https://www.renesas.com/us/en/produ.../sh7147/device/R5F71424AK64FPV.html#documents
 
Bumping an ancient thread again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R4dGg8nIUs from http://evsenhanced.com/services/on-board-charger-repair-firmware-updates/ has a video of a guy removing the OBC from an '11 Leaf to fix a blown diode.

The guy's under the car at ~4:20. He's pulling the coolant lines at ~5:25 then removing the OBC at 5:40. At ~6:40 is where he talks about the bad diode and circles it on the board.
 
RkEvHopeful said:
Ingineer said:
We are looking at offering the 6.7kW upgrade as a kit. Installation is simple, and anyone competent with mechanical assembly can install it with a few hand tools in under an hour. It does not require running wires in difficult places, everything is right there under the hood, nothing under the car or in the back.
...
My mission is to support Electric Mobility any way I can. I'll keep doing so as long as I'm able, and as time permits I'll keep on developing new things for our cars.

-Phil

Bumping an old thread. Did you release your plans for the 6.7kW upgrade kit to open source after you sold your Leaf?

I would like to develop an open source under-hood replacement for the 2011 Leaf onboard charger using your 6.7kW kit plans as a starting point. The goal being to avoid a Nissan visit when the 3.3kW charger dies, again.

Thanks,
Rex

If your charger keeps dying, check your EVSE. Certain EVSE's can fry the charger in early Leafs due to overcurrent from the precharge resistors, or something like that. Basically, it shouldn't be an issue, but a bug in the car allows it. The firmware on some EVSE's was upgraded to resolve the issue.
 
Ingineer said:
No, I didn't release an open source version, and it depends on the Nissan charger for logic, just by adding a 3.4kW boost.

Ingineer;

Have you considered a "drop in" bidirectional on-board charger for the Leaf? Do you believe it would be possible/economical? Nuvve makes a bidirectional charge controller for our US split phase power systems. I'm tired of waiting for a CHAdeMO power converter (Quasar, Nissan, dcbel, et al) that never seems to make to the US market AND costs $$$$$'s. I've got to admit that the dcbel looks very interesting - if it is an actual piece of equipment that meets it's specs.

My 2012 Leaf could sure use an upgrade to 6kW+ also!

Next, when you design/sell the on-board charger, what about a charge controller that will auto transfer to a home backup system?

I was bummed that the Model 3 was not bidirectional. I jumped the gun and told my Daughter that her new Model 3 might be able to eventually interact with the grid.
 
^^^
Not sure if you noticed but https://mynissanleaf.com/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=1097 says Ingineer was last active on Sat May 18, 2019 9:07 pm.

I think he sold his Leaf ages ago and for awhile, he was very active on things Tesla Model 3 related over on TeslaMotorsClub... I wouldn't want to put words in his mouth, but I wouldn't hold your breath for anyone selling (at a reasonable) price such a niche product w/such a tiny audience.

And, as a reminder, there's the issue of the '11 and '12 Leaf firmware block to getting power out of the CHAdeMO port: https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=576427#p576427.
 
Yes, I was interested in an easy fix to my 2012 Leaf so that the bidirectional protocol would allow me to work with Russell on his V2H unit via my CHAdeMO connection. I don't believe anymore that is the way to go. Waiting for a smart EV manufacturer (with a large battery!) to sell their bidirectional onboard charger as an option. Ingineer has apparently has moved on as IngineerX - to demonstrate that the Tesla onboard charger is not set up for bidirection power flow - lots of flurry when it was first thought that it was.

As far as niche, yes likely for my 2012 it is. For EVs (especially commercial vehicles), it will be demanded (IMO). Just a matter of time (at least my hope!).
 
Marktm said:
Ingineer has apparently has moved on as IngineerX - to demonstrate that the Tesla onboard charger is not set up for bidirection power flow - lots of flurry when it was first thought that it was.
Ahhh yes, totally forgot about https://www.youtube.com/c/Ingineerix/videos.
 
Marktm said:
Nuvve makes a bidirectional charge controller for our US split phase power systems.
To be clear - Nuvve did not make that unit, they just facilitated and ran a pilot program, the unit was made by Princeton Power. It was very expensive, loud, and unreliable. Princeton Power is now out of business. A new company called Wallbox is trying to make a new unit using much better power electronics. I think it should be out within a year or so?

I seriously doubt Nissan will ever release the firmware for 2011/2012 leafs to do bidirectional CHAdeMO outside of Japan where they had the Nichicon V2H system. You're better off with a newer Leaf (last I recall, 2014 or newer, NOT 2013 have native support).
 
JeremyW said:
To be clear - Nuvve did not make that unit, they just facilitated and ran a pilot program, the unit was made by Princeton Power. It was very expensive, loud, and unreliable. Princeton Power is now out of business. A new company called Wallbox is trying to make a new unit using much better power electronics. I think it should be out within a year or so?

I seriously doubt Nissan will ever release the firmware for 2011/2012 leafs to do bidirectional CHAdeMO outside of Japan where they had the Nichicon V2H system. You're better off with a newer Leaf (last I recall, 2014 or newer, NOT 2013 have native support).

Nuvve makes a bidirectional charge controller (Power Port). It is likely targeting the commercial vehicle market that can design/install the bidirectional on board charger system. They also claim that they will offer a DC based V2G unit in the future - we'll see as no one outside of Princeton Power has made such commercial unit yet to my knowledge - and as you stated, they went out of business. OSSIACO/dcbel is claiming to make a US compliant model soon - and that has solar MPPT inputs! Not sure of its "blackout power" capabilities - anyone know more?
 
Unfortunately the Nuvve PowerPort is just a glorified L2 EVSE, not a bidirectional converter. It requires an onboard inverter in the vehicle.
https://nuvve.com/wp-content/upload...ort-spec-sheet-us-ul-certified-april-2019.pdf

To do off grid/V2H with an onboard inverter and J1772 would require a center tapped transformer since there is no neutral in J1772. I've also heard UL 1741 is a big challenge/"impossible" for an automotive grade onboard inverter.
 
JeremyW said:
Unfortunately the Nuvve PowerPort is just a glorified L2 EVSE, not a bidirectional converter. It requires an onboard inverter in the vehicle.
https://nuvve.com/wp-content/upload...ort-spec-sheet-us-ul-certified-april-2019.pdf

To do off grid/V2H with an onboard inverter and J1772 would require a center tapped transformer since there is no neutral in J1772. I've also heard UL 1741 is a big challenge/"impossible" for an automotive grade onboard inverter.

Yes, and it appears dcbel by Ossacio is the first to address the split phase issue with the transformers you reference - however for use with the DC (CHAdeMO/CCS) protocols only. I would challenge them to include the J-1772 in that solution - don't know why they did not. It is understood that both the split phase and grid disconnect are issues to be resolved either by the on board charger and/or the "charge controller". Jeremy, I'm not an electrical engineer familiar with the codes, why is the UL 1741 such an issue? It seems that the Ossacio rep is also concerned about code issues (related to AC grid coupling with EVs). I know that Nuvve is concentrating on the Power Port utilized in commerical vehicles where the on board charger may not yet be fully specified/designed. To me, this is the most interesting and innovative part of V2X problems/solutions - just my opinion.
 
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