Roadster Conversion to J1772 Charging

[tomsax]

I'll only build a J1772 conversion cable with high quality ITT/Canon parts and assembled with industrial crimping tools by accomplished professionals. I'll test complete empty to full range mode 70A charging before letting anyone else use it.

I've done a fair amount of Roadster charging at 30A from J1772 stations and have never had a problem. I use a homemade J1772-to-Roadster adapter that uses a cheap J inlet that Cathy and I soldered ourselves. The right way to do this is with industrial crimping tools, something we didn't have available when we built our prototype adapter in 2010.

J1772 Charging for the Tesla Roadster - Tom Saxton's Blog

For overnight charging on a road trip, I typically do a standard mode charge to 87% overnight, then kick off a full range mode charge two hours before we're ready to leave. That sets us up to leave with maximum charge. If the timing is right, I'll just do a full range mode in one session. In the first case, there's usually a few hours between when the first charge ends and the second starts.

I've done two complete empty-to-full Roadster charges at a Blink station at the Portland Crown Plaza: 42 kWh and 33+8 kWh. Likewise at the AeroVironment station in Wolf Creek, OR: 23+8 kWh. At a ChargePoint station at the Four Points Sheraton in Emeryville, CA we did 15.3 kWh from 120V, then over about 30 hours in three sessions we did 12.7+24.5+9 kWh from the J1772 port.

We've done several more sessions around 10 kWh at various Blink and ChargePoint stations.

I've never had a problem with the J1772 connector getting hot. Obviously, I don't have a ton of data points since most of our charging has been from either Tesla charging stations or NEMA 14-50 outlets using a mobile connector.

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

I've used Henry's Can and a Type 2 ("mennekes") cable with a Type 1 ("J1772") connector everyday for the past 5 months. I usually charge at 7A from solar during winter days and overnight at 24A/32A as required. I'm using ITT connectors and have never had a problem.

 

[jcstp]

In the test they did after the incident they discovered that the blink connectors get verry hot during prolongued high A charging!
This caused the melting of j1772 plug & socket
Apparently the way the cable of the chargingstation is connected to the plug is not donne correctly by blink, causing in the longrun that the plug gets toooooo hot (melting and possible ..........)

The converted Leaf with the 6,6kw charger has the same problem with this charger

To be sure this not happening again they are installing a thermostat in the j1772 socket (car-side) My Nissan Leaf Forum View topic - Blink / Rav4 Blows Out a Contactor Pin (with gory pics)
interupting charging when the plug gets too hot

The fit-ev has this already installed from factory

Model S's, using the adapter are less prone to this because the adapter reacts as a heatsink and dissipates the heat
Probably the can from hcsharp does the same

 

[adelman]

From Wiki: The CARB regulation of 2001 mandated the usage of SAE J1772-2001 beginning with the 2006 model year. Later requirements asked for higher currents to be used than the Avcon connector could provide. This process led to the proposal of a new round connector design by Yazaki which allows for an increased power delivery of up to 19.2 kW delivered via single phase 120–240 V AC at up to 80 amperes. In 2008 the CARB published a draft amendment to section 1962.2 Title 13 that mandated the usage of the oncoming SAE J1772 standard beginning with the 2010 model year.[5]

J1772 also has attained UL certification for connectors to 75 amps. Other connectors have not attained this . Does Henry Sharpes adapter you refer to have UL certification at ANY LEVEL??

Btw, until recently I had an experimental AVCON connector in my garage that could handle 80A (it had a second, larger, set of contacts, that were originally proposed for DC fast charging). It went to the copper-recycler a month ago when I converted tzero2 to the current J1772 receptacle.

Ken

 

[tomsax]

I've updated the first post on the thread to update the project's status: suspended.

 

[Doug_G]

In light of that, do you still want the thread to be pinned?

 

[tomsax]

In light of that, do you still want the thread to be pinned?

It's perhaps still an interesting issue that owners may ask about. It came up in another thread today. I'd hate to have someone embark on the same project and have to rediscover/reproduce all of the work Cathy and I did.

 

[jeremyz]

This was a really cool project. It's too bad that the production cable assembly never happened. I saw that EVWest makes a little box for dealing with the Proximity signal like you guys built (J1772 Active Vehicle Control, EV West - Electric Vehicle Parts, Components, EVSE Charging Stations, Electric Car Conversion Kits). I wonder if they might be interested in manufacturing the cable assembly as well.

 

[Dave EV]

This was a really cool project. It's too bad that the production cable assembly never happened. I saw that EVWest makes a little box for dealing with the Proximity signal like you guys built

They actually just re-sell that particular product from here: Modular EV Power

 

[tomsax]

Cathy's board has the advantage that it doesn't draw any power except when the car is charging, so no vampire load on the 12V system when the car isn't charging.