Just talked to one of my suppliers about this plug. He said someone installed one near their office. I may make one of those pigtails to carry with me. How does it work, you feed it like a parking meter? lol
Just talked to one of my suppliers about this plug. He said someone installed one near their office. I may make one of those pigtails to carry with me. How does it work, you feed it like a parking meter? lol
When you signup on the website they give you a card which is read by the charging station. The charging station owner can set the pricing, it might be 2 bucks just to plug in, or charged based on consumption, or free. We have a few at work.
The plug I bought is for Level II (240V). The charging stations at my work are only putting out 208v but it's still better than 115!
Over all I'm happy with the plug. One complaint is that the pins are a bit loose, and the wire leads appear to be 10awg. I would limit your current to 30A even though the standard supports up to 80A. I doubt much of the DIY crowd is pulling more than 30A 240V any how.
The charging stations have a Level I outlet that is basically a standard 115v outlet like you have at home. It's limited to 16 amps, so it is painfully slow, my manzanita doesn't seem to be very efficient at this low current level.
Between Pin 3 - Pin 5 is "Proximity detection", a square wave generated by the charging station. The duty cycle of this square wave tells the car charger what the ampacity of the supply circuit is. It can also tell the charger to stop drawing current so the connector can be unplugged without breaking alot of current. In the future this will be used for data communications with the car.
Between Pin 3 - Pin 4 is "Control Pilot", a signal based on resistance from the car charger to the charging station. Once the car charger is connected and has read the ampacity signal from the charging station, it can enable power from the charging station by closing the switch. Pins 4 & 5 are shorter than the power pins, so power should be killed if unplugging with the power on.
Proximity detection is not required if you manually control the current of your charger. If you pull too much current the charging station will error out (and send you a text message).
As a side note, if you use the J1772, make a box big enough to get a firm grip. It takes a stupid amount of force to unplug the J1772. Perhaps my plug and receptacle are still getting broken in, it almost requires two people. I would use a sturdy enclosure!
When you signup on the website they give you a card which is read by the charging station. The charging station owner can set the pricing, it might be 2 bucks just to plug in, or charged based on consumption, or free. We have a few at work.
As a side note, if you use the J1772, make a box big enough to get a firm grip. It takes a stupid amount of force to unplug the J1772. Perhaps my plug and receptacle are still getting broken in, it almost requires two people. I would use a sturdy enclosure!
the grip would have to mount to the lid, the four tiny screws that hold the lid on would probably tear though. The plastic box is already getting deformed from the grip required.
I was thinking of a wider, flatter box, something I can hold down with one foot while I pull with both hands on the angled plug. Some dielectric grease might help, it could just be dry o-rings binding.
As a side note, if you use the J1772, make a box big enough to get a firm grip. It takes a stupid amount of force to unplug the J1772. Perhaps my plug and receptacle are still getting broken in, it almost requires two people. I would use a sturdy enclosure!
Sorry, Not to be pa*n but do you think this setup on the picture a bit unsafe, where bystander can pull cord from the car, where the gas cap used to be and it will still be energized... then it could be dropped in to the puddle...
That why j1772 standard has those 3 and 4 pins to supply signal back to the charger to turn it off... and lock hole under the push-button.
Do you think it's safe to work on 170V+ DC battery packs? Lots of things we do isn't as safe as we'd like and certainly it isn't wise to kick caution to the wind but you have to be practical. I'm buildind the same setup but with a longer cord from the vehicle to the "box" so I can leave the box in the back of my truck or on the ground. It is in a weather resistant box so that is a plus.
Do you think it's safe to work on 170V+ DC battery packs? Lots of things we do isn't as safe as we'd like and certainly it isn't wise to kick caution to the wind but you have to be practical. I'm buildind the same setup but with a longer cord from the vehicle to the "box" so I can leave the box in the back of my truck or on the ground. It is in a weather resistant box so that is a plus.
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