Cheap Charge Meter Design

[ElectricOrgan]

I'm aware of the depth of the project, and more likely than not will not actually do it. I will certainly keep making the software and prototype, but whether I go further is a bigger question.

Wiring is under "and misc parts, assembly". Approvals are not per-item so would be covered by selling the item for more than it costs.

The warnings are nice, but you are spiting hairs to find fault.

Approvals are for your product. Ever hear of UL? Not required, but fail to get that and have a fire and you are in trouble. It's not cheap. Emissions testing for FCC approval is required. Also very not cheap. Even if you are going to amortize these costs you need to pick a number and factor that into the cost of the product.

I'm not splitting hairs, I'm sharing experience. I run a small electronics company that sells a million dollars worth of circuitry a year. I already have figured out you really aren't interested so I won't bother you any more.

It is redundant from a hardware perspective vs. something like OpenEVSE, but nothing requires me to use their hardware. So it is not redundant in a system that does not include OpenEVSE.

It is redundant in ANY system that charges a car from 240 VAC because there has to be something equivalent to OpenEVSE in the system. Every part of your system is in OpenEVSE (and every other level 2 charger) other than a simple controller to collect the data and communicate to whatever billing is being done. In fact, even with your system you don't cover that aspect. Your Arduino is not going to be adequate for this task unless you want to do a lot more programming. Something running an OS like an rPi or a tablet is more suited to this final task.

Enough said. Enjoy your project. It will be a learning experience in more ways than one.

 

[user212_nr]

I'm not splitting hairs, I'm sharing experience. I run a small electronics company that sells a million dollars worth of circuitry a year. I already have figured out you really aren't interested so I won't bother you any more.

What you're basically saying is that I'm a young dumb-ass and drop the project. All about you and your experience.

I'll certainly consider the opinion towards doing that.

 

[ElectricOrgan]

What you're basically saying is that I'm a young dumb-ass and drop the project. All about you and your experience.

I never said anything remotely like that. Sorry I bothered you.

 

[qdeathstar]

All of the components you have chosen are poor. All ssr’s have a weakness in that the fail closed, so i would not consider using one in a design for charging a car. But you’ve chosen a ssr that i wouldn’t even trust in a 3D printer.

All the components you choose need to fail open or have redundancy.

 

[user212_nr]

All of the components you have chosen are poor. All ssr’s have a weakness in that the fail closed, so i would not consider using one in a design for charging a car. But you’ve chosen a ssr that i wouldn’t even trust in a 3D printer.

All the components you choose need to fail open or have redundancy.

Yes, that SSR is to be replaced with a contactor (Packard 230c is the one I have). That's a few posts back somwhere. The SSR then maybe drives the contactor (or EMR drives it), but which one is a good question. It says "40A" but can barely even handle 5-10A.

I can't find how many Amps the contactor coil needs exactly, but can measure it.

 

[user212_nr]

Looks like there is coming a new standard for charging that allows identifying vehicles just from the charge port.

ISO 15118 - Wikipedia

ChargePoint is naturally unhappy as it ruins their business model, letting anyone easily bill through their charger. Pretty similar to my idea, except that it uses an app to identify the user instead of via car which is currently impossible.

ChargePoint sounds alarm on electric vehicle charging standards