BareEVSE - an EVSE circuit for under $5

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8bits said:
What do you think is the minimum for an EVSE work on a car like mine?
I have no interest in minimums. I think I now remember your situation. Are you the guy in Portugal with the grounding problems? Did you ever try the floating ground mod that was pointed out to you as a specific solution to your situation? Failing that, I'd bite the bullet, get the OpenEVSE parts and build one. You will then have full control over the GFCI and will hopefully be able to get it to work with your situation.

My other thought would be to purchase an EVSE locally, and have it professionally installed. That should also yield a working solution, since it should be designed for your electrical system.
 
8bits said:
What do you think is the minimum for an EVSE work on a car like mine?
If your ground is bad, the original Nissan EVSE will refuse to charge and flash it's READY indicator.

When we upgrade an EVSE going to Europe or areas known to have isolated grounds/earths, we disable the ground verification system. In the US it's required.

-Phil
 
davewill said:
I think I now remember your situation. Are you the guy in Portugal with the grounding problems? Did you ever try the floating ground mod that was pointed out to you as a specific solution to your situation?
I've been considering this idea and found here that would fail since power lines and earth signal works in a different way.

davewill said:
Failing that, I'd bite the bullet, get the OpenEVSE parts and build one. You will then have full control over the GFCI and will hopefully be able to get it to work with your situation.
That's what I am trying to do, but my time is very expensive and so I want to build the minimum needed. Most protections on EVSE are already on my electric instalation.

davewill said:
My other thought would be to purchase an EVSE locally, and have it professionally installed. That should also yield a working solution, since it should be designed for your electrical system.
No one here does that - not even the seller of Merdeces-Benz is giving me the solution.
 
Ingineer said:
8bits said:
What do you think is the minimum for an EVSE work on a car like mine?
If your ground is bad, the original Nissan EVSE will refuse to charge and flash it's READY indicator.

When we upgrade an EVSE going to Europe or areas known to have isolated grounds/earths, we disable the ground verification system. In the US it's required.
BIG thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience Ingineer!! No one here can help me, telling what is the problem.

The ground/earth of my electrical instalation is not isolated but it may have a higher value of 20ohms max limit. Maybe I can try open original EVSE and see if I can "disable" the hardware that checks grounds/earths? ;-)
 
8bits said:
davewill said:
Failing that, I'd bite the bullet, get the OpenEVSE parts and build one. You will then have full control over the GFCI and will hopefully be able to get it to work with your situation.
That's what I am trying to do, but my time is very expensive and so I want to build the minimum needed. Most protections on EVSE are already on my electric instalation.
Yes, but the circuit you tried to build just doesn't have enough of the EVSE functionality to work, as you've seen. The OpenEVSE design is complete. It also allows you to selectively disable features as you seem to need.
 
8bits said:
The ground/earth of my electrical instalation is not isolated but it may have a higher value of 20ohms max limit. Maybe I can try open original EVSE and see if I can "disable" the hardware that checks grounds/earths? ;-)
If you want a sure-fire solution, simply order a new Panasonic unit from us, and I guarantee you it will work on your electrical system without issue, and still have all proper safeties in place. Since your time is limited, this solution will be simple, just plug it in and you'll be good to go. It's programmable, so you'll be able to run from 6 to 25 amps in 1 amp increments. (Provided your electrical system can handle this)

-Phil
 
Ingineer said:
If you want a sure-fire solution, simply order a new Panasonic unit from us, and I guarantee you it will work on your electrical system without issue, and still have all proper safeties in place. Since your time is limited, this solution will be simple, just plug it in and you'll be good to go. It's programmable, so you'll be able to run from 6 to 25 amps in 1 amp increments. (Provided your electrical system can handle this)
I am happy you have a solution for me - thanks!!

I will contact you by PM as I have some more questions about that EVSE.

EDIT: I couldn't sent a PM.

1. What protections does that EVSE have?
2. What protections do you disable?
3. Here in Portugal, we use Schuko plugs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schuko" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). Can I get the EVSE with that plug?
4. What if the EVSE doesn't work with my Smart EV (version 3)?
 
8bits said:
I am happy you have a solution for me - thanks!!

I will contact you by PM as I have some more questions about that EVSE.

EDIT: I couldn't sent a PM.

1. What protections does that EVSE have?
2. What protections do you disable?
3. Here in Portugal, we use Schuko plugs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schuko" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). Can I get the EVSE with that plug?
4. What if the EVSE doesn't work with my Smart EV (version 3)?
You can email us from our website (linked below). It has all standard J1772 protection systems, except we would be disabling the ground (earth) verification test, as this is why you are having trouble finding an EVSE that will work in Portugal. The GFCI (Ground Leakage Detection) protection will still be in full force. We do not normally stock Schuko plugs. We usually ship the unit with instructions on how to connect one you obtain locally. It's much cheaper that way, and all you need is a screwdriver and some wire strippers. If you are not comfortable installing your own, we will be happy to provide one for an additional cost, but we will have to special-order the Schuko from Europe, so there will be some delay. Note that the maximum allowed for a Schuko is only 16 amps. If you wanted to be able to charge faster, you'd need an IEC connector (and matching outlet) similar to this one:

888-21000-NS.jpg


Since the unit is fully J1772 compliant, we guarantee it will work with your EV. If it didn't for some reason, you could return it and we would refund the cost.

Here is a link to the product page.

Here is a link to our FAQ section with lots of extra information.

-Phil
 
Ingineer said:
8bits said:
1. What protections does that EVSE have?
2. What protections do you disable?
It has all standard J1772 protection systems, except we would be disabling the ground (earth) verification test, as this is why you are having trouble finding an EVSE that will work in Portugal. The GFCI (Ground Leakage Detection) protection will still be in full force.
1. What are the "all standard J1772 protection systems"? Just that both you mention: ground (earth) verification test and GFCI (Ground Leakage Detection)?

2. There is another problem, my car plug is Menekes, different from that one on the Panasonic EVSE. I would need to exchange to Menekes plug and to Schuko plug, and if at the end the EVSE dones't work for some reason, I will not be able to send it to you.
 
Thank you BetterLeaf for posting your circuit.

I was just getting ready to start working on something like this myself.
personally I am only interested in something simple that works,
I am never going to try and sell it to anyone, and I could care less what any pencil pusher at some government agency thinks about how I should do it.
and if a dog is smart enough to break into my garage I am sure he will be smart enough to turn off my power supply before he starts chewing on the cord.

please don't get discouraged by people making negative comments, I was on another forum and wanted some help with ideas on making an adapter for NEMA #5-20 to J1772, I wanted to build it for under $10 because that's all I really thought it should cost. Someone on the forum was selling these adapters for around $250 and they freaked out and got everyone else to jump on the fear monger bandwagon. I ended up completing my adapter and it ended up costing me less than $10 and it easily fit in my pocket. But all the comments they made were unbelievable.

anyway, my only concern is about what would happen if there was a power outage during charging?

would it stop charging?
or would continue to charge when the power came back on?

it seems to me there are signals that must be sent back and forth to start so once interrupted it might have a problem and if the power is on that could possibly cause a problem for the car charger?

thanks again.
 
Ingineer said:
When we upgrade an EVSE going to Europe or areas known to have isolated grounds/earths, we disable the ground verification system. In the US it's required.

-Phil

@Phil,
Is this the reason why Japanese version of this Panasonic EVSE (200V version) is lacking two diodes and a resistor above the fuse?
I have not seen the insides of the European version.

And the second question - do you disable the ground check in the firmware or it's a hardware modification?

Cheers,
 
BetterLEAF, Nice work and information on the J-1772 protocol.

We found many of the LEAF vehicles were picky and would not work with the TucsonEVSE unit. It worked on FORD Focus EV, Some Older LEAF and the New SOUL EV but not most LEAF vehicles. We were told Nissan made their system safer and it needs the real J-1772 signals in order and at the right levels. We don't know why all the other vehicles worked with it but as you noted many are no compliant. http://www.tucsonev.com/TucsonEV-SE.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So be aware your little circuit may not work on some LEAF or other more compliant vehicles. The LEAF is the only one we have seen the failure on when we do testing. Using a scope I think the vehicle connected voltage is too low.

I made a free website with some EVSE test results. http://www.EVSEinfo.webs.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
Thanks OP!

This minimalistic circuit is great, and it does work on eGolf with minor change--qty.2 of OpAmps are replaced with an optocoupler ;-)

Not sure if this thread is still alive, if anyone needs schematics let me know.

IR photo was done about 1-hr into operation at 17C environment/30-Amp load. Top-power supply, top-left NE555 oscillator + opto, 40-amp contactor at the bottom.

Cheers!
 
Hi, I want to adapt my e-golf brick 12a. I will try this scheme:
[MOD: converted gdrive link to inline]
Screenshot at 2022-01-11 13-15-20.png

e GolfBalls did you mean such a scheme?
 
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