OpenEVSE charging of Roadsters?

[gregd]

Is anyone using the OpenEVSE to charge their Roadsters? Any issues?

I'm thinking I should move past using the Mobile Connector for daily charging in the garage, if for no other reason than to save it for when I really need it on the road. The OpenEVSE model 50A Deluxe kit is on sale right now. I'd use it with their J1772 cable, and the CAN-JR adapter that I already have.

OpenEVSE Kit - 50A Deluxe

Thoughts?

 

[Msjulie]

I charge mine with a juicebox and a can-jr; we got the juicebox for the previous e-car we had. Why wouldn't any J1772 compatible charger basically work if you have the adapter?. Previous owner of my roadster had the mobile S charger but I've not bothered to use it, am I missing something ?

 

[gregd]

Well, in theory they all should work. But (ascribed to Yogi Berra) "In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not." There's a thread I started over in Technical related to this (Odd charging behavior (seen in logs)) which we appear to have troubleshooted to an incompatibility between the Clipper Creek HCS-40 model charger and at least two of the 2.x Roadsters (mine and one on the East Coast). We've also had reports of some commercial chargers (early Schneider / ChargePro models, for example) that keep tripping the GFI.

So, standards are great, until they're not. {sigh} Hence, my question. There are some positive reports with the OpenEVSE from a few years ago, but nothing really current, so I thought it would be wise to ask. No pun intended...

 

[ecarfan]

Previous owner of my roadster had the mobile S charger

What charger is that? I don't understand your description.

You should be able to use a J1772 standard charging to charge your Roadster if you have a J1772 adaptor, and you have a CNA JR, so it should work. In theory...

 

[thefortunes]

I use an OpenEVSE. No issues.

When my UMC died I cannibalized the Roadster connector, bought the OpenEVSE kit and power cord. Voila, charging again at 40a.

 

[hcsharp]

Well, in theory they all should work. But (ascribed to Yogi Berra) "In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not." There's a thread I started over in Technical related to this (Odd charging behavior (seen in logs)) which we appear to have troubleshooted to an incompatibility between the Clipper Creek HCS-40 model charger and at least two of the 2.x Roadsters (mine and one on the East Coast). We've also had reports of some commercial chargers (early Schneider / ChargePro models, for example) that keep tripping the GFI.

So, standards are great, until they're not. {sigh} Hence, my question. There are some positive reports with the OpenEVSE from a few years ago, but nothing really current, so I thought it would be wise to ask. No pun intended...

I'd like to add Siemens to the list of chargers that are not compatible with the Roadster even though they claim to have tested it with one. Every once in a while I have this conversation:

NEW CAN JR OWNER: The adapter you just sent me doesn't work!

ME: What are you using for a charging station?

NEW CAN JR OWNER: A brand new Siemens unit from Home Cheapo! There's nothing wrong with it cuz it charges my Volt.

ME: A Volt is not a Roadster. That charger won't work.

NEW CAN JR OWNER: But Mister Sharp, they have a picture of a Roadster in their brochure!

ME: Do you believe everything you read in brochures? Home Cheapo has a good return policy. And don't be so cheap! Buy something better next time. Or build it yourself.

 

[Mark77a]

I was musing the same as my UMC just went west (but I may get a warrantee replacement)..
The core bits are quite affordable eg Viridian / Mainpine 32A EPC DIY Electric Vehicle Charger EVSE - 'Tethered'

Adding box, breaker, and wiring might be OK, even for a mere Mech Eng

 

[wiztecy]

If you find one of those Tesla J1772 to Roadster connectors cheap (compared to the new list price) such as $350 or so, that would be a good addition to the end of the EVSE or Juicebox charger. I'm running the Emotorwerks Juicebox which is built like a tank, it can charge up to 80 amps as well if I need to do that (70 tops for Roadster since that's the max it can pull). I found a person selling the Roadster cable end of the Clipper Creek Tesla home charger which I scored for $100 bucks and supplied it to Emotorwerks when they built my juicebox. Great company & great support.

Henry also sells the Roadster connector which you can attach to the end of the cable, but the last time I spoke with him he indicated it costs basically the same as the CAN JR due to the complexity and cost to build one.

 

[ecarfan]

If you find one of those Tesla J1772 to Roadster connectors cheap (compared to the new list price) such as $350 or so, that would be a good addition to the end of the EVSE or Juicebox charger.

I have one of the Tesla J1772 to Roadster cables that I will sell for $350. I've used it one in the year and a half that I have owned my Roadster. It worked fine, but now that I have a 3.0 battery and a Sharp CAN SR I doubt I will ever use it again.

 

[Habious]

@gregd, I have a dead / flaky UMC that I'd be willing to part with, if you're looking for a Roadster connector to use on your OpenEVSE project.

It sometimes works, then faults out if you touch/move the big thingy in the middle of the cable (the thingy with the lights and buttons on it).

It's not worth much as a charger but, if you want to cannibalize it for parts, I'll let it go for cheap + actual shipping cost.

If you're interested, make me an offer.

It's just in the closet taking up space.

 

[wiztecy]

I'm thinking I should move past using the Mobile Connector for daily charging in the garage, if for no other reason than to save it for when I really need it on the road. T

I honestly wouldn't trust that thing out on the road, just look at the failure rates and ask yourself if you're out somewhere where you really need to get a charge and a UMC is you're only means of charging, do you really want it to fail you you out there?

At least if you're charging at home with the POS and it fails, you're not stuck as long as you have a backup. And even if you didn't have a backup, at least you and your Roadster are home.

I also had my UMC fail. It's junk!

 

[gregd]

I honestly wouldn't trust that thing out on the road, just look at the failure rates and ask yourself if you're out somewhere where you really need to get a charge and a UMC is you're only means of charging, do you really want it to fail you you out there?

At least if you're charging at home with the POS and it fails, you're not stuck as long as you have a backup. And even if you didn't have a backup, at least you and your Roadster are home.

I also had my UMC fail. It's junk!

Good points, though my primary means for charging away from home are Henry's CAN adapters, which I feel are of the highest quality, and connect to the most commonly available outlets. The MC240 would only be used if I needed to connect to a 14-50 plug somewhere. The most likely scenario for that would be if my daughter installs a 14-50 outlet in their garage, AND I go for the 3.0 battery in order to get there. Right now she's just outside my one-way range, so this is a bit of a long shot (pun?)...

As an alternative to the MC240, I wonder if I kept the OpenEVSE (or whatever I end up with) as a plug-in (vs hardwired), and simply take that with me? It's not that much bigger than the MC240...

Another reason for dumping the MC240 in daily home use is that it interferes with the home X-10 system (also acknowledged as junk). Curious if any of the other chargers would be better behaved.

 

[wiztecy]

Remember, the MC240 is *not* the same as the UMC. The MC240 is not Universal, the 'U' in UMC. Will talk about more later on that.

The MC240 is bullet proof, I have not yet heard one burning out, I have one and looking for a Roadster connector end to salvage it. It was my dedicated home charger which I used daily for years. Only issue was that the band holding the insulation came loose, insulation pulled through. Cable was ok, tried repairing it with a hose clamp which failed and started cutting into things, sharp edges on the band. The connector end is built like locomotive, but its glued and really a bear to take apart and I totally destroyed mine in doing so.

The MC240 is what was optional on the 1.5 Roadsters and the only thing better than that is the Roadster Foundry Charger by Martin. That's where the UMC came into play with the pigtail connectors and different amp rated outlets. Tesla used his design with Martin's permission for making the next generation mobile charger, the UMC. The UMC is what Tesla began selling with the 2.0 and are not reliable at all. They're all going to burn up at some point or at least become super flaky.

I'd ride and trust the MC240 on road trips for sure and it is a very good home charger. There's no need to purchase an EVSE or other charger unless you really are dying to. Instead I'd pick up a Model-S UMC, its small and very versatile. Still by no means built to the quality of the MC240, more like the UMC although I think its a bit better but I wouldn't be using it as a dedicated home charger that's for sure.

I brought the MC240 for a show and tell at Emotorwerks when they were building Juicebox. Was going to convert it to a J1772 end but they didn't have cables large enough, would have charged but looked silly. So waiting for the Roadster end to try and redeem it back to original. The guys there were impressed with the build quality.

 

[gregd]

Ok,so here's a quick nit of a question... Does the OpenEVSE require one to push the Start button for each charging session? Specifically, will the car's automatic daily top-off continue to work, or do I have to push the button every day? If there's a power interruption, will it go back to charging? I want to be able to leave the car relatively unattended for periods of time, either in standard or storage mode, and have the charging continue as needed.

 

[gregd]

Remember, the MC240 is *not* the same as the UMC. The MC240 is not Universal, the 'U' in UMC. Will talk about more later on that.

The MC240 is bullet proof, I have not yet heard one burning out, I have one and looking for a Roadster connector end to salvage it. It was my dedicated home charger which I used daily for years. Only issue was that the band holding the insulation came loose, insulation pulled through. Cable was ok, tried repairing it with a hose clamp which failed and started cutting into things, sharp edges on the band. The connector end is built like locomotive, but its glued and really a bear to take apart and I totally destroyed mine in doing so.

The MC240 is what was optional on the 1.5 Roadsters and the only thing better than that is the Roadster Foundry Charger by Martin. That's where the UMC came into play with the pigtail connectors and different amp rated outlets. Tesla used his design with Martin's permission for making the next generation mobile charger, the UMC. The UMC is what Tesla began selling with the 2.0 and are not reliable at all. They're all going to burn up at some point or at least become super flaky.

I'd ride and trust the MC240 on road trips for sure and it is a very good home charger. There's no need to purchase an EVSE or other charger unless you really are dying to. Instead I'd pick up a Model-S UMC, its small and very versatile. Still by no means built to the quality of the MC240, more like the UMC although I think its a bit better but I wouldn't be using it as a dedicated home charger that's for sure.

I brought the MC240 for a show and tell at Emotorwerks when they were building Juicebox. Was going to convert it to a J1772 end but they didn't have cables large enough, would have charged but looked silly. So waiting for the Roadster end to try and redeem it back to original. The guys there were impressed with the build quality.

Ok, so I'm learning more each day... Very interesting.

The unit I have is pictured below. Pretty sure it's the MC240, but it does, however, have pigtail adapters. It came with the car, used, so I have no idea of its pedigree. I have one pigtail for 14-50 which came with it, and purchased a 10-30 from the Tesla website to match the outdated outlet that I have here at the house. What you wrote suggests that the MC240 doesn't have pigtail options... so I'm a little confused. I have the MC240, right? If so, and if that's the bullet-proof model, then that kind of changes the situation a bit... Thanks!

 

[wiztecy]

What you have pictured above is actually the crappy UMC. The MC240 has a fixed NEMA 14-50 connector, no pigtail, and is seen in the picture below:

It's that first grey box connected to the Roadster, says TESLA in red across the top.

 

[gregd]

Ok, thank you for clarifying! The thing does say "mobile connector" under the big "240" lettering, and not knowing that there were two different products, hence the assumption that it was a MC240... As I said, learn stuff every day on this forum!

So, back to Plan A (replacing it before it fails)... Do you happen to know how EVSEs with "Start" buttons behave? That's probably the next nit to resolve.

 

[CSPHD]

Do you happen to know how EVSEs with "Start" buttons behave? That's probably the next nit to resolve.

The button on the OpenEVSE is for navigating the menu options. The car starts the charging procedure by manipulating the pilot signal.

 

[gregd]

The button on the OpenEVSE is for navigating the menu options. The car starts the charging procedure by manipulating the pilot signal.

Cool! Thanks.

Any clue why they labeled it "Start" (vs, say, "Menu")?

 

[hcsharp]

Remember, the MC240 is *not* the same as the UMC. The MC240 is not Universal, the 'U' in UMC. Will talk about more later on that.

The MC240 is bullet proof, I have not yet heard one burning out, I have one and looking for a Roadster connector end to salvage it.

If you search the forums you'll read about lots of MC240s failing. They may have been a little better than the UMC but not by much. They have a GFI part that fails after a while. They used the small relay in the GFI unit to energize the connector.