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Eberhard upgrade of MC to 40 amps with adapters

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A customer of the RFMC sent me these road trip pictures. He was a few hundred miles from home and this dryer outlet happened to be the NEMA 10-30 type. So that extra adapter pigtail came in handy for a 240 volts 24 amp recharge.

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Anyone interested in the design of the RFMC, take a look at my blog Tesla Founders Blog. I explain a bit about how it works, give you full schematics, and source code.

Our friend TEG has already pointed out a handful of typos and spelling errors in my comments! I am sure there are more, and I probably won't fix all of them. But the code seems to work well, with no reported bugs.

By the way, I bet you can't guess who got RFMC P1 :cool:
 
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Anyone interested in the design of the RFMC, take a look at my blog Tesla Founders Blog. I explain a bit about how it works, give you full schematics, and source code.

Our friend TEG has already pointed out a handful of typos and spelling errors in my comments! I am sure there are more, and I probably won't fix all of them. But the code seems to work well, with no reported bugs.

By the way, I bet you can't guess who got RFMC P1 :cool:

Is it Elon ?
Martin, I am happy to see your posts here and there as well.
 
By the way, I bet you can't guess who got RFMC P1 :cool:

That was part of the founders series. The RFMC units produced by Martin himself have that distinction. I think about 10 units.

The remaining ones where my team used the leftover parts shipped to us by Martin are the Signature Series (about 8-10).
Those have the special engraved plate on the box.

Now we are entering regular production. We are using stickers on the box now. Not so special, but they still work the same overall.
 
I built 15 RFMC's, so I guess there are actually 15 Founder's Series RFMCs including my own. They are all serial numbered, though I did not always put a serial number sticker on the bottom. But every unit I built has the serial number written in black pen on the label of the Lambda power supply inside.

There is one unit that is a little bit in-between: I built one extra PC Board assembly, along with the internal wiring harness and a pre-drilled case. I shipped it to James as an example for his future builds. I don't know if he's kept it as a sample or if he shipped it - it would maube be a Founders Series too?

Also, I'd like to thank Tesla owner Paul L. who helped me out a lot, building about 20 of the adapters that got shipped to the last 5 of my customers. He saved me a TON of work!
 
Founder's Series RFMC Serial #11 is the mobile charging system that was loaned to and used by the white 2008 Tesla Roadster VIN#245 in many locations between NYC and Seal Beach, CA during its cross-country RenewAmericaRoadtrip tour between July 15 and July 29, 2009. (Some RAR charging stops made use of a mobilized HPC carried by a support vehicle.)
 
Good idea. I will take a look at it. As soon as we add our other Tesla Roadster accessories to our website, that makes sense to do this. Currently we only have the RFMC ready to offer. We have about 5 more aftermarket items that are in the works.
 
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Although I have not yet received my RFMC; I´d like to bring something in discussion about a (possible) option:

* Problem:
Whenever I see charging photos on the net, many peoply try to hide there MC240 or RFMC, mostly under the car / wheel somewhere.
Why is this?
I guess because a box with light gains attraction, it is surely "more interesting" than a cable, you dont want to have people touch it (connection might come loose), and when you place it some distance away from the car, there is a risk than the next car in the next parking lot will drive over it.

* Possible solution:
(my english is very bad, but I try to explain it)
Why not offer a small metal plate, to be mounted under the diffusor, at the back of the car. Maybe painted, but should not be that visible, so maybe not necessary. Bolted with two screws on the bottom of the car.
This plate should hold two "L-Shapes profiles". Dont know if this is the correct word. In the with of the Bottom of the RFMC.
If necessary, the two profiles could "run together" a little bit, and if necessary inside the L-profiles there might be some hard rubber layer.
Goal would be that you could slide- in the RFMC top-down at the back of the car, so cable would go from the charging port to the RFMC slided in under the diffusor, and from there to the power outlet.
Ground space for the car should be higher than the RFMC, so no problem.
RFMC must not be fixed, its just a slide-in on a defined place.

As the "new" RFMC is now this kind of triangle (or whatever form), it even might be that the "L-shapes" could be designed a bit wider, and no modifications to the RFMC case are necessary!

Advantages:
  • defined place for RFMC, no thoughts needed "where should I place it on the bottom?"
  • looks like it is more part of the car, maybe people preventing it a little bit more from touching, also as the LEDs are invisible
  • reducing risks other cars may run over it
  • it is not lying on the ground! So for example, if you left the car charging alone, and it starts to rain, when the item is placed on the ground there is some risk that heavy water is coming (running) there from somewhere.
  • When the item is placed top-down at the bottom of the diffusor, it is a) protected from rain from the top b) not laying on the ground, with a few cm "reserve" for water pouring down there on the ground.
Simple, but effective I think.

James, now it is up to you!
 
Drawing a picture is key here but it sounds like he's describing "angle iron"

Possibly two semi-parallel angle irons mounted to a plate just over the width of the box to slide in. The flat side of the plate is mounted to the bottom of the car. The angle irons are rubber coated and are slightly wider at the opening end (facing out) and slightly closer at the back end so the box could be jammed/wedged in.

Not sure if it solves the dry issue as I would think without a "drip loop" that rain water would run down into the box.

I will reserve opinions until further development.
 
We started shipping the new design for the RFMC today. The first 3 went out the door to customers.

Here are the pictures. The box is about the same size as the previous RFMC. But it is now made of aluminum. It should be more durable and sturdy. It has ridges along the sides so that the main surface never touches the ground.

We are doing this with the MC120 upgrade for $960 and we are upgrading to older MC240 (30 amps) for $700.

Our RFMC upgrade comes with the 3 standard pigtail adapters compared to just the one NEMA 14-50 that Tesla provides. Also, the RFMC will do 120 volts and 240 volts with different adapters coming included. I believe the Tesla version works for 240 volts only.

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