What should we build next?

[TEG]

...Looks like there are mixed feelings about CHAdeMO charging. TEG -- why the hesitation?...

I work far enough away from home and long enough hours that I never go back home during the day. Once I get home, the car stays put on the charging station. Most weekend days I only do short trips close enough to home that a full charge covers the whole day's use. The only time I would hope for quicker charging is when making a special weekend trip out of the bay area. Getting to Monterrey and back would be great. Maybe someday all the way to Lake Tahoe or Los Angeles entirely on quick chargers? When/if will we see CHAdeMO every 50 miles along highway 101 and 80 so that such things would be possible? [ It would be good if they put a restroom at each location too so they are proper "pit stops". ]

At this point, I am just hoping to see a CHAdeMO in San Francisco and one in San Jose so that the practical round trip radius can circle around those locations, and not my house.

Too bad the Nissan dealers around here aren't getting L3 like they are in Japan and UK.

 

[EVDRIVER]

...Looks like there are mixed feelings about CHAdeMO charging. TEG -- why the hesitation?...

I work far enough away from home and long enough hours that I never go back home during the day. Once I get home, the car stays put on the charging station. Most weekend days I only do short trips close enough to home that a full charge covers the whole day's use. The only time I would hope for quicker charging is when making a special weekend trip out of the bay area. Getting to Monterrey and back would be great. Maybe someday all the way to Lake Tahoe or Los Angeles entirely on quick chargers? When/if will we see CHAdeMO every 50 miles along highway 101 and 80 so that such things would be possible? [ It would be good if they put a restroom at each location too so they are proper "pit stops". ]

At this point, I am just hoping to see a CHAdeMO in San Francisco and one in San Jose so that the practical round trip radius can circle around those locations, and not my house.

Too bad the Nissan dealers around here aren't getting L3 like they are in Japan and UK.

One more L3 charger between VV and Tahoe should about do it.

 

[TEG]

One more L3 charger between VV and Tahoe should about do it.

As long as the one in Vacaville is working. It sounds like it has been very "hit or miss". Are we even allowed to use it? Is it working right now?

 

[Herm]

I would like a 240V home charger that uses the L3 port, lets say with a variable output from 3.3kw to 14kw, easily programmed start/stop times, some sort of charge to 80% system, no internet connectivity and a display of kwh pumped in.. and make sure it does not lose track of the process even if the power is interrupted. About the size of a 30 gallon water heater is fine, better if smaller.. portable would be a huge plus.

Designing a consumer grade 500V DC charger is no trivial task. Is the L3 Chademo charging protocol published anywhere?

 

[omkar]

Omkar -- I am referring to something like this: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3625 ...but with more flexibility regarding outlet types (like what exists for Tesla owners).

I'm definitely interested in that (and I'm sure others are too).

 

[Kataphn]

OK, so the charge port door seems to be a major pain. Kataphn -- what is the "charge port cover" that you mention exists in Japan in UK but not here in the USA?

Correctly called charging port lid cover shown in another thread http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=2729

 

[TEG]

Find a way to automatically synchronize the two clocks?

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=2475
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3666

 

[LeafFanatic]

Herm -- why no internet connectivity? Just to make it cheaper? And I understand the difficulties of building a consumer-grade L3 system. Our team members have experience building Roadsters and industrial li-ion battery packs so we are up to the challenge if there is a need in the community.

Is anyone else having trouble with charging rates and your local utility? Setting the right charging schedule in coordination with TOU rates seems like a real pain right now. I've just been plugging in and not worrying about it but that's probably an unsustainable solution.

 

[Herm]

Herm -- why no internet connectivity? Just to make it cheaper?

Simpler, cheaper, no hackers, no remote software upgrades so you are forced to make the software robust from the start. Its a heavy duty DC power supply, no need to check your email with it.

 

[evnow]

I hear you on more data. What else would you like to see besides better SOC info, temp, v/a? Can you be more specific about what you'd like to see regarding data presentation and analytics? This doesn't have to be limited to the dash, it could also be on your phone or web browser.

I don't particularly understand what you can or can't do. For eg. can you actually do anything about the dash (and if so how ?).

Starting from scratch here are the basic things to get right. These are best done on the dash - but could also be done on a website.
- Easy and meaningful way to show the state of the battery
- Needed stats about the current trips (miles, m/kwh, avg speed etc)
- Intelligent way of predicting the range. This can be done by combining the above two stats with information about the desired destination. Looking at the route ahead, you should be able to get traffic info, avg speeds, terrain and figure out the expected m/kwh and thus the range.

Then, there are less important but useful things, like, USB music navigation using metadata.

 

[TEG]

I am really wishing I could turn on the backup camera at will.
There are blank slots on the left side of the dash where one could add an extra button.
I am assuming it is possible that the "head unit" has an input that the reverse selector pulls high or low to trigger reverse view, so it might be fairly easy to wire in a button to make it think the car is in reverse.

Even better would be if it were possible to have it automatically turn on the rear view monitor any time the turn signal is selected.
That is when I really want it - when I am about to change lanes and have that extra view of the blind spots.

 

[Electric4Me]

I wish that the charge timer would indicate when it's turned off. When I turn the car off the indicator on the dash says "charge timer ON" regardless of if I hit the disable button...

 

[LakeLeaf]

How about a little Expect script that anticipates the CarWings ACCEPT screen and answers back affirmatively?

 

[LEAFfan]

I am really wishing I could turn on the backup camera at will. That is when I really want it - when I am about to change lanes and have that extra view of the blind spots.

You can! There's a poster that told how to do it. It may be in 'Tips and Tricks'. In the meantime, if you adjust your side mirrors out farther, you will have no blind spots. That's also in another thread somewhere.

 

[GeekEV]

Since you asked, I just had two brainstorms of what you could build based on other threads I've read. Both require no hacking of the car, just more patience and electronics knowledge than I possess:

• A cheaper version of the Quick220 device that's been discussed here. The goal is to safely provide a 240v feed using the hots from two different 120v outlets that are on different legs of the breaker. It should check for proper outlet wiring, check for two different 120v legs and prevent backfeed should one of the outlets be unplugged. A simple red or green LED to indicate a success or failure would be great. For instant compatibility with Ingineer's modded EVSE it should provide the 240v via an L6-20 outlet, although we can make any outlet work with an adapter.
• A 240v version of the venerable Kill-A-Watt device. Something I can hardwire in-line with the feed to my EVSE would be good as a pluggable version could get combersome with all the different plug possibilities. Even better would be a device that snaps in between the car and the J plug and gives a simple LCD readout of voltage, current draw and total KWh consumed.

Both devices could have a wide market beyond just the LEAF. If you could kept them around or under $100, I think that would be perfect!

 

[AndyH]

[*]A 240v version of the venerable Kill-A-Watt device. Something I can hardwire in-line with the feed to my EVSE would be good as a pluggable version could get combersome with all the different plug possibilities. Even better would be a device that snaps in between the car and the J plug and gives a simple LCD readout of voltage, current draw and total KWh consumed.[/list]

Both devices could have a wide market beyond just the LEAF. If you could kept them around or under $100, I think that would be perfect!

Some assembly required, but close to the $100 price point:
http://openenergymonitor.org/emon/

edit... Another option. Brand Electronics has been making digital power meters for years (I've had my 4-1850 for more than 10). They'll tweak their portable units for 240V operation. http://www.brandelectronics.com

ALL MODELS AVAILABLE FOR INTERNATIONAL APPLICATIONS. PLEASE CALL FOR DETAILS. WE HAVE SHIPPED METERS ALL OVER THE WORLD. WE CAN ACCOMODATE ANY POWER SOURCE, ANY PLUG STYLE.

 

[Herm]

That killawatt would be nice, but even nicer is a small device that collects the amps going in and out of the battery.. that along with the pack voltage and odometer reading would do wonders.. we could get an exact display of remaining kwh, kwh that the battery took in while being charged, instant kwh/mile consumption, short and long term averages of kwh/mile and the holy grail.. programmable displays of remaining range. It would require a clamp-on current sensor on one of the main battery cables, plus a connection to the OBD to get voltages and miles traveled.

Also a cumulative display (stored in permanent memory) of the kwh processed by the battery over the long haul would be nice.. this is really what determines maximum battery life.

That maximum battery life could be determined by long term cycling of one of the battery modules, by a patient forum member.. once the modules are available at the dealership in a year or two.

 

[AndyH]

That killawatt would be nice, but even nicer is a small device that collects the amps going in and out of the battery.. that along with the pack voltage and odometer reading would do wonders.. we could get an exact display of remaining kwh, kwh that the battery took in while being charged, instant kwh/mile consumption, short and long term averages of kwh/mile and the holy grail.. programmable displays of remaining range. It would require a clamp-on current sensor on one of the main battery cables, plus a connection to the OBD to get voltages and miles traveled.

The car's got the sensors in place for this already - we just need to pull the data from a controller or pluck it off the buss. There are at least two current sensors, for example - energy out of the pack and energy in from the charger. One of these or another provides energy during regen. The rest of the math can be done by an external unit - like turbo2ltr's SOC gauge add-on.

 

[Herm]

Is there an accessible shunt that measures the currents going into the pack?

 

[EVDRIVER]

That killawatt would be nice, but even nicer is a small device that collects the amps going in and out of the battery.. that along with the pack voltage and odometer reading would do wonders.. we could get an exact display of remaining kwh, kwh that the battery took in while being charged, instant kwh/mile consumption, short and long term averages of kwh/mile and the holy grail.. programmable displays of remaining range. It would require a clamp-on current sensor on one of the main battery cables, plus a connection to the OBD to get voltages and miles traveled.

The car's got the sensors in place for this already - we just need to pull the data from a controller or pluck it off the buss. There are at least two current sensors, for example - energy out of the pack and energy in from the charger. One of these or another provides energy during regen. The rest of the math can be done by an external unit - like turbo2ltr's SOC gauge add-on.

There should be one at the pack that measures power in from regen and charge and power out to the car, it's plus/minus. I don't see a need for two although there is something in the charger as well so it knows what it is producing.