Cottonwood
Roadster#433, Model S#S37
Same battery as your Tesla key fob. Every Tesla owner should have a few around for when the key fob goes dead...
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Same battery as your Tesla key fob. Every Tesla owner should have a few around for when the key fob goes dead...
Lolachampcar
The remote (so far) works great from inside the car.
I attached a rubber band to the fob to hang it from the drivers inside door handle and can push the button before I exit. The charge screen pops up when the port opens, so I can adjust any settings if I want.
Thanks again.
lolachampcar
Well-Known Member
AWESOME.... Lloyd says his works from 50 feet and that is with the power amplifier turned all the way down!
30 more fob plastics, battery holders and batteries ordered..... Yep; next ones out will even have batteries as they were 28 cents each from DigiKey
30 more fob plastics, battery holders and batteries ordered..... Yep; next ones out will even have batteries as they were 28 cents each from DigiKey
mitch672
Active Member
Thanks, mine has arrived and also works well... I used the weakest CR2032 I had (has an expiration date of May 2014), and it has a massive range as well. DigiKey is inexpensive for the batteries, but they can't be shipped via USPS due to restrictions... Its FedEx or UPS only I seem to remember.. I had a small order and the shipping was 10 times the cost of the batteries, so just bought a six pack at my local BJs for $8 I think. I am attaching mine to the J-1772 handle on my 75A OpenEVSE, as it seems I usually forget to open the charge port before getting out if the car
lolachampcar
Well-Known Member
Yep, mitch, DigiKey just called me and, yes, shipping doubled the cost of the order. Luckily, it is spread across 50 batteries and 30 battery holders 
Gizmotoy
Active Member
Just got mine in the mail (thanks!) and was about to go test it out when I read about the range still being pretty long. Does anyone know what the behavior of the charge port door is when the car is locked? I have two other Teslas within 50 or so feet of my own, which are sometimes charging and sometimes not. If I hit my button, will they all pop their charge doors/stop charging? Presumably they'd be locked, but I wouldn't want to interrupt their charging.
lolachampcar
Well-Known Member
and it does not stop my wife's car from charging when I pop my door (right next to her car). Of course, both of us constantly pop the other's door when going to charge our cars.
and that's after 15 years of marriage for those with a mind in the gutter (right next to mine)
and that's after 15 years of marriage for those with a mind in the gutter (right next to mine)
Gizmotoy
Active Member
Thanks guys. I had to drop the car off for service, hopefully I'll have it back today or tomorrow and can do some testing. Might have to wander around the garage closing charge ports :wink:. We'll see how it goes!
I velcro mounted mine just under the left rear of the hatch. It is very convenient there, when I have to get my adapter for J1772, I can get the adapter which I keep in the trunk and open the charge port right there. Perfect!
![IMG_0542[1].JPG](https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/attachments/img_0542-1-jpg.40754/ "IMG_0542[1].JPG")
Gizmotoy
Active Member
Looks good! Assuming I don't open the ports of every Tesla on the block, I might do something similar, but on the glove box door. I keep my J1772 adapter in its little cubby in there . Or maybe I'll just keep it in the door "pocket." Haven't decided.
. Or maybe I'll just keep it in the door "pocket." Haven't decided.
lolachampcar
Well-Known Member
For those that have contacted me looking for a fob, please find the following photo. I just received more plastics, battery holders and batteries which was all that was required to get more built.
I assume from those that received the last batch that (1) they worked and (2) the range is ok.... Range can be further reduced with a small bit of aluminum foil laminated to the backside of the fob.
Gizmotoy
Active Member
Tesla is claiming I'll have my car back today, so I'll try out the range tonight. I'll give the foil a try as well to see the effect. Is there a particular area where the antenna resides, or just cover the entire back side?
Gizmotoy
Active Member
So I did some testing tonight. I didn't measure the distance, but I got 4 wide rows of cars away before it stopped working in our garage. I'd guess well over 50 feet.
If a Tesla is charging in range, the port lights up, but it remains charging. If a Tesla is locked, the port opens, as was mentioned earlier. That seems like a mistake on Tesla's part. With one of these, you could open the port on any car. Sure it's not exactly a secure cover to begin with, but it still seems like the car should at least need to be unlocked first. I picture taking one at full power to Tesla's Fremont service center where they have dozens of cars staged for delivery prep, and pressing the button to bask in the sound of 50 simultaneous charge port openings.
Anyway, I moved on to the foil. If I completely wrapped the device in two layers of foil, it would only work when right next to the port. Probably similar in operation to the HPWC.
Then I tried wrapping only the back Ina single later, as Lola suggested. This expanded the range to about 10 feet, which is pretty close to ideal for my situation. It looked like the images below.
Next up is to attempt to integrate an equivalent shield into the casing itself without shorting out the device. It looks possible. Maybe a thin layer of foil or metal wrapped in something like screen protector material or tape. That should provide enough insulation for the voltages involved.
If a Tesla is charging in range, the port lights up, but it remains charging. If a Tesla is locked, the port opens, as was mentioned earlier. That seems like a mistake on Tesla's part. With one of these, you could open the port on any car. Sure it's not exactly a secure cover to begin with, but it still seems like the car should at least need to be unlocked first. I picture taking one at full power to Tesla's Fremont service center where they have dozens of cars staged for delivery prep, and pressing the button to bask in the sound of 50 simultaneous charge port openings.
Anyway, I moved on to the foil. If I completely wrapped the device in two layers of foil, it would only work when right next to the port. Probably similar in operation to the HPWC.
Then I tried wrapping only the back Ina single later, as Lola suggested. This expanded the range to about 10 feet, which is pretty close to ideal for my situation. It looked like the images below.
Next up is to attempt to integrate an equivalent shield into the casing itself without shorting out the device. It looks possible. Maybe a thin layer of foil or metal wrapped in something like screen protector material or tape. That should provide enough insulation for the voltages involved.
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lolachampcar
Well-Known Member
single side metalized mylar should do the trick for both signal reduction and insulation although closer to the antenna will cause more attenuation so you may be trimming it.
Awesome testing BTW.
Oh, and Tesla is using that metalized cover plate to attenuate their transmission. They also needed all cars on the same freq and code so that any SC or other cable would access any car.
Awesome testing BTW.
Oh, and Tesla is using that metalized cover plate to attenuate their transmission. They also needed all cars on the same freq and code so that any SC or other cable would access any car.
lolachampcar
Well-Known Member
I just did up another 10 and will get them out to those waiting.
I was considering turning the fob stuff over to the OpenEVSE guys (who got the camber links).
Negative Camber in the Rear and Expensive Tires - Page 30
I was considering turning the fob stuff over to the OpenEVSE guys (who got the camber links).
Negative Camber in the Rear and Expensive Tires - Page 30
Gizmotoy
Active Member
I'm sad to report I did some further investigation today, but didn't make any progress. I didn't have any mylar tape, and decided I didn't want to make any permanent modifications in case it didn't work. So, I fiddled with the aluminum some more. It looks like a floating shield isn't enough to attenuate the signal. The aluminum foil on the back only worked because my hand was grounding it. If I hit the button without my hand on the aluminum shield, it worked from a great distance. Integrating the foil into the casing, even in thicker amounts, is ineffective when it's electrically isolated from ground. The metalized mylar, I think, would suffer a similar fate. I've had success with purpose-made RF-insulating mylar tape for sealing gaps in RF shields, but I don't think I've ever used it on its own as the sole shielding mechanism.
The way I see it, there are probably three viable options going forward for reducing power:
1) Create an RF shield and ground it to the board. At my last job we used to do this all the time for isolation between different RF signal paths at differing frequencies. I can't say I've ever had to cover an antenna with one, though! There's room in the casing for it, but it's not obvious if there's anywhere in the antenna's compartment in the plastic housing where we can easily pull ground without going directly to the battery terminal. I might look around here to see if I can find a donor shield on some unused board I have lying around so I wouldn't have to source some sheet metal and make one. Either way, it's kind of unusual to shield an antenna, so the better option is probably...
2) Detune the antenna. lola presumably sized the antenna correctly for the frequency at which the device is transmitting. By intentionally altering the antenna for the worse, output signal power at the intended frequency will be degraded. This is easy enough to test by cutting and scraping off the antenna traces to shorten them, but I'm hesitant to start cutting on mine. Obviously there's some risk of damage, and I like mine functional.
3) Source some RF-shielding mylar tape (it's copper-looking) and give that a shot. If it doesn't work, though, you're likely stuck with it on there. The antenna directly abuts a partition in the plastic casing, making both this option, as well as 1) more difficult.
Regarding turning the project over, this is your thing to do with as you wish. Unlike the camber arms there's little liability concern here, though I imagine fabricating and assembling remotes is not your idea of a good time. Whatever you choose, you've done some great work with this.
The way I see it, there are probably three viable options going forward for reducing power:
1) Create an RF shield and ground it to the board. At my last job we used to do this all the time for isolation between different RF signal paths at differing frequencies. I can't say I've ever had to cover an antenna with one, though! There's room in the casing for it, but it's not obvious if there's anywhere in the antenna's compartment in the plastic housing where we can easily pull ground without going directly to the battery terminal. I might look around here to see if I can find a donor shield on some unused board I have lying around so I wouldn't have to source some sheet metal and make one. Either way, it's kind of unusual to shield an antenna, so the better option is probably...
2) Detune the antenna. lola presumably sized the antenna correctly for the frequency at which the device is transmitting. By intentionally altering the antenna for the worse, output signal power at the intended frequency will be degraded. This is easy enough to test by cutting and scraping off the antenna traces to shorten them, but I'm hesitant to start cutting on mine. Obviously there's some risk of damage, and I like mine functional.
3) Source some RF-shielding mylar tape (it's copper-looking) and give that a shot. If it doesn't work, though, you're likely stuck with it on there. The antenna directly abuts a partition in the plastic casing, making both this option, as well as 1) more difficult.
Regarding turning the project over, this is your thing to do with as you wish. Unlike the camber arms there's little liability concern here, though I imagine fabricating and assembling remotes is not your idea of a good time. Whatever you choose, you've done some great work with this.
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TonyWilliams
Active Member
Yes, awesome work. Chris over at OpenEVSE will take good care of the project, plus I intend to use this work in our JESLA conversions of the Tesla UMC so that the J1772 plug will also open the charge port.
No pressure at all. When it is no longer fun, I will be happy to continue where you left off.
I am finalizing the next version of OpenEVSE hardware, it will have a few features requested by the international OpenEVSE builders (proximity pilot and locking pin activation) and a trigger pin that is intended for a this remote.
I am finalizing the next version of OpenEVSE hardware, it will have a few features requested by the international OpenEVSE builders (proximity pilot and locking pin activation) and a trigger pin that is intended for a this remote.
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