This faulty electric car "granny" charger (plugs into a standard power socket) was sent in by Tom.
The video by mikeselectricstuff is this one:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT8IsAd9ea0
When I made this video I was going into hospital for an operation (hernia) the following day, so I didn't go quite as far as I could have. Maybe in the future I'll take the PCB back out, put it on a bench power supply and then probe for the presence of the PWM signal.
My guess is that the vehicle detection and signalling circuit may possibly have been damaged by a static discharge from the car when it was plugged in due to the use of the earth connection as part of the signal path. That's just a rough guess though.
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The video by mikeselectricstuff is this one:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT8IsAd9ea0
When I made this video I was going into hospital for an operation (hernia) the following day, so I didn't go quite as far as I could have. Maybe in the future I'll take the PCB back out, put it on a bench power supply and then probe for the presence of the PWM signal.
My guess is that the vehicle detection and signalling circuit may possibly have been damaged by a static discharge from the car when it was plugged in due to the use of the earth connection as part of the signal path. That's just a rough guess though.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
http://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
I know there is a lot of safety idiot proofing in these as well as the two way logic level communications for successful hand shaking of volt/amp requirements of both ends. If anything is not just right, including full insertion of the vehicle plug, it will refuse to connect power. End of my knowledge. LOL
Earth is a PEN (Potential Earth Neutral ) fault detection
I note on the plughead side there are 4 wires. So which 2 wires go together… as the plughead has only 3 pins?
Think it was probably an NTC since the R was so high @ room temp?
It's not really a charger as you no, the charging is done in the vehicle it's really just a switch that the EV itself controls to turn on or off and not exceed the maximum amperage as well as making the plug safe because it only becomes live when it is plugged in and the EV vehicle recognises it as a safe power supply. I think the manufacturers call them charges to justify the horrendous price for such a simple piece of electronics specially the 32amp permanent wall mounted sockets at $2,000.
Handy tip for ( UK " square pin " 13 amp plugs ) at high current ( heaters / granny chargers etc ) the fuse contacts can get VERY HOT ( can cause a fire ! ) … to lower the contact resistance , SOLDER the fuse into the contacts … this makes fuse changing a pain, but then how often does a plug fuse blow ? ( rarely ! ) .. FYI, never a problem with the old UK " round pin " plugs from the 1950's .. ( in 2 / 5 / 15 amp sizes ! ! ) .. ahhhhh … nostalgia's not wot it used to be ( ? ) ….
Really stupid question, but given the stupid ccs-type 2 huge connector for ac and dc, why are these not a PFC with rectifier so the car always gets DC and the only difference is that a level 3 charger also outputs the exact voltage required?
This would eliminate all but 4 wires (and arguably pp wouldn’t be needed because you’ve got DC already. The simplification would be massive and the increase in cost for 43 amps rectified would be minimal for the charger.
This would also have the benefit that the cars could take power from batteries and solar directly as they’d only take DC and could boost/buck in level 2 mode and skip the dc to ac to dc 15-20% loss cycle.
Also the car doesn’t have to have a PFC/rectifier in it.
And of course the level 1 cable that comes with can easily just have a standard 4 diode rectifier in it and call it a day for $5 so no big deal as a downside.
Just seems like a complete failure of imagination and design thoughtfulness.
The disconnect of the earth is required in. Tn-cs installations for pen fault protection
Hi The car charger talks to charge point via pilot wire. Safety checks between car and charge point for earth faults. If all is ok the charge point will tell car charger how many watts to charge at. The relay in charge point operates so charging can start. The cars can charge at 900watts 1600w 2200w with some portable charge point. I think pilot wire uses digit signal but some old cars use resistors. Hope this helps.
The earth should be through a relay – in the event of an earth fault you don't want to make the car body live while you're standibg in a puddle to open the door.
I am buying an ev (2018 VW EGolf) and I plan to charge it using a 10m ‘granny charger’ from third rock energy it is IP65 rated and is using a IP rated BG 13 amp socket on a dedicated 20amp rcd circuit. Is this a safe and effective option? I am not able to install a dedicated charger for various reasons. The car will be charged daily to top up and any major charging will be done via a fast charger in various service stations, work, supermarkets. Any advice on the situation would be greatly appreciated.
D4 damager, power to the people!
no "reverse engineering" on this one ? what a letdown….
Yes yes yes I designed something that baffled big clive a Mark on the calenderif you get a 3 phase iccpd from Porsche I did that one also its so good that it can be used as an iccpd as well as a wall box hard wired
If you disconnect under load the relay contact flash this can happen 8 times at which point the counter says nope contact welding possible so the microcontroller says no more powering up allowed = bin it