[Nathaniel orozco]

I bought this awesome lo millage and mint condition 2002 RAV4 EV a few days ago, but it’s my first EV ever, I just have no clue on how to use it properly and specially how to charge it, I was able to make the charger work for a little bit but the breakers keep popping. I would like to find the upgraded charger so that I can go to any charging station but I can’t find anything new on YouTube, I found people who have original chargers but not the upgrade adapter, Did I make a mistake buying this historical vehicle?

 

[94Tracker]

If you have it hooked up to a 30 amp breaker, the charger needs to be checked out.
The people at transport evolved network on YouTube may be able to give you some advice or possibly point you in the right direction..
You have one of 1484 that were built in total. Finding people who will help you sort the issues that come up are likely going to be a challenge.

 

[cricketo]

If you can haul around the original inductive charger, you can use an adapter like this to charge from public stations: J1772 to NEMA 14-50 Adapter – EVSE Adapters
I believe your charger has a Nema 14-30 plug, so need another adapter between 14-50 and 14-30 - I couldn't find a J1772 directly to 14-30.

 

[94Tracker]

So the charger is separate from the Rav4, unlike most newer EV's where the charger is "built in"?

 

[cricketo]

It is more complicated. It still has some kind charger onboard converting AC to DC, but it's fronted by an inductive circuit, and it probably has some kind of frequency and/or voltage conversion to optimize the transfer of power via induction. And likewise on the grid side it may have that conversion stage before putting it into the coil. J1773 is the standard, need to look into the spec to see what's happening with induction.

 

[remy_martian]

I thought the RAV4 and EV-1 used the Magne Charge units?

Hughes Power Systems Mange Charge; Charger; GM General Motors; Paddle; Inductive

Hughes Power Systems Mange Charge; Charger; GM; General Motors; Paddle Charger; Inductive Paddle Charging; SPI; LPI

www.tzev.com

If that's the system, you'll have to fit a new BMS and charger to do J1772, imo.

 

[cricketo]

Right. But the implementation sort of looks like this :

240VAC -> DC -> high frequency AC -> [induction] -> rectifier -> DC -> battery

So the interesting question is how does it all handle voltage regulation / step up. There may be a way to inject AC into the circuit that's connected to the coil and terminate it with J1772.

 

[remy_martian]

Like you said earlier, haul the charger box with you and plug it into Level 2 using a J1772 faker box.

Or, just charge at home.

 

[cricketo]

Right, that will definitely work. But this tech is peculiar and unusual, and worth messing with just for funzies