DIY charger
- Thread starter XXL
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Bunter
Well-known member
XXL said:
Very interesting. I'm new to this so perhaps this question is a bit naive but is the reason you would want to have this so that you can connect to caravan type hook-ups?
Bill
noakey
Well-known member
XXL said:
Neat... its good to see people experimenting showing we dint need to be reliant on the big boys...
However.. I think my plan would be to remove my polar from the wall and stick it in the boot...
The most useful toy would be a battery pack you could connect up on the move... for me just another 6kwh would do nicely...
Neil
ultraturtle
Well-known member
MikeS
Well-known member
But why bother or take the risk in the UK when they can be fitted free from chargemaster or British Gas (and others?) or for £95 if you want a 7kw version?
ultraturtle
Well-known member
There are some good reasons:MikeS said:
- - Many, if not most folks outside the UK cannot get subsidized EVSE units, and you can build your own for less than half of the least expensive ($590 USD) 30 amp unit you would otherwise have to purchase
- You can completely customize the unit to your specific needs, creating whatever fixed voltage and amp combination best suits your needs. Do you have a circuit that can only handle 25 amps? Rather than limiting yourself to a 16 amp EVSE, you can build your own 25 amp unit.
- Best feature of all, is that you can implement a button and LCD to select and verify different amperages. Choose 30A and 12A and you have a very versatile unit that can not only plug in everywhere, but can charge close to any given outlet's maximum capacity. Not as necessary on the i3 (since the vehicle itself can select different amperage levels), but easier to select on the fly, and very helpful for families with more than one EV.
I don't know that there really is any risk, but there certainly is a bit of bother. The project isn't exactly for nerds only, but being a nerd certainly helps.
Bunter
Well-known member
I just wish I understood why they would make something with a commando style connector on. There must be outlets around but where they are thinking of using to take a charge I just don't know.
Bill
Bill
I ordered and built the emotorwerks.com JuiceBox Premium for my EU i3. It doesn't work! Forget it! The company no longer wants to assist me in getting it to work. They claim to have "many" i3's supplied but were never able/willing to give me one single user in Europe. $350 down the drain and lots of energy/time/emails with them to get it to work.
jadnashuanh
Well-known member
I wonder if there's something in the circuit that relies on the line voltage frequency...the square wave generator would be all out of whack if it expected 60Hz and it was 50Hz! Should be a simple design fix if it's that, but not for the end user. I wonder if there's a jumper or switch on the board for that...could be a simple field adjustment.
FWIW, the EVSE generates a square wave that varies based on how much power it is able to safely supply, then the car, knowing that, adjusts its internal charging circuits to only draw up to that amount. Without a scope, it would be nearly impossible to check to see if that square wave is being properly generated by the EVSE. The car won't trigger the safety interlock to turn on the main power to itself until it 'sees' a proper square wave coming in along with the interlock signal. Your average person does not own or know how to use an oscilloscope. I sort of wish I had one, but any one that is decent just costs too much for me to spend for a whim.
FWIW, the EVSE generates a square wave that varies based on how much power it is able to safely supply, then the car, knowing that, adjusts its internal charging circuits to only draw up to that amount. Without a scope, it would be nearly impossible to check to see if that square wave is being properly generated by the EVSE. The car won't trigger the safety interlock to turn on the main power to itself until it 'sees' a proper square wave coming in along with the interlock signal. Your average person does not own or know how to use an oscilloscope. I sort of wish I had one, but any one that is decent just costs too much for me to spend for a whim.
@ Jim deBruycker. Typical Belgian name; are you? Anyway your answer dated Nov 28th may indeed be the right one. I've been unable to get their JuiceBox to work. It's disappointing that the company no longer tries to solve my problem. Stay away from them.
alohart
Well-known member
For what it's worth, I recently bought a JuiceBox Basic kit with all the options that are standard on the Premium model except for the WiFi circuit board. It works perfectly with my U.S. i3. Last night, a neighbor used my JuiceBox to pump 58 kWh into his Tesla Model S using Tesla's J1772 adapter. So there doesn't seem to be any incompatibility between a JuiceBox and U.S. EV's.
So assuming that your JuiceBox isn't defective, Jim's theory is probably a good one. If true, eMotorwerks shouldn't ship to any country with 50 hz. power unless they have verified that the JuiceBox will work correctly.
So assuming that your JuiceBox isn't defective, Jim's theory is probably a good one. If true, eMotorwerks shouldn't ship to any country with 50 hz. power unless they have verified that the JuiceBox will work correctly.
alohart said:
I also have a JuiceBox that works great with my US BEV i3. I bought the pre-configured "base" unit via Amazon and used it for about three weeks with no issues. I decided that I really wanted to add the premium features so I ordered and installed the OLED screen, RF Remote control and the WiFi module. It's effectively a "premium" version now.
I had one issue with my unit after the third week. My i3 would "see" the JuiceBox was connected but no power transfer would start...eventually leading to the i3 indicating a charging error. I contacted them via email, on a Saturday morning no less, and received an email from one of their engineers within two hours with a recommended fix for the problem. There is a momentary switch in the J1772 handle that functions like a safety interlock, my switch was on a "hair trigger" which meant that even though the pilot signal was working between the i3 and the JuiceBox the interlock switch was triggering to "early" for the power transfer to safely start. I disassembled the J1772 handle and adjusted the momentary switch to engage when the button was approximately 50% depressed based on their recommendation. That solved the problem.
I would say that the JuiceBox is a great Level 2 charger in it's base configuration but the "premium" features really make it an amazing unit. The added display makes it possible to see in real time the amperage draw, voltage and kwh rate that your car is charging at. The remote control let's you set the amperage on the fly either before you connect the unit or while it's charging and the Wifi gives you some really detailed stats on power consumption, length of charge and charge rates.
I might start a separate thread to start discussing the data that I'm now seeing from the JuiceBox's WiFi. It's interesting to see the amount of times the i3 pulls power from the JuiceBox when it's already fully charged and not set to precondition. Not sure why some of these "events" are happening considering the i3 shouldn't be drawing power at those times.
Another thing, it looks like Electric Motor Works is either experiencing some parts shortages or they have decided to only sell completed units. The options to buy the "DIY" kit with self assembly (either the base or premium) seem to have disappeared in the last few weeks. It looks like some of the "premium" additional parts are no longer listed separately on their web page as well.
