OpenEVSE - Open Source Charging Station

[w6vms]

I finished building and installing my openevse about an hour ago, and the best part is that no magic smoke was let out of either the open evse or the car.

Nothing much to add to the many reports of success, just wanted to add to the count of successful builders. Between the clear instructions found on the wiki and detailed parts list you can't go wrong.

 

[Volt3939]

For lugs, I've always liked the selection @ http://www.evsource.com/tls_lugs.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Some of those puppies need Very Serious crimper...

Plus they sell the heatshrink with the sealant on the inside in lots of sizes.

 

[gobble]

Can anyone comment on how much they've been able to build one of these for assuming you have to purchase the J1772 connector?

 

[w6vms]

Can anyone comment on how much they've been able to build one of these for assuming you have to purchase the J1772 connector?

$380, including the openevse v2 board, the J1772 cable/connector assembly from Leviton, and various parts from Home Depot and Digikey. I did not get the display (not interested) or the EVSE tester (had the components on hand).

For the USB TTL FTDI cable I went with an $8 part I found on eBay, it worked fine (item 400356015296, $1 S&H from Hong Kong, it took about two weeks to deliver to the USA east coast).

 

[gobble]

Cool, thanks. Do you think that's money better spent than buying the new $450 Bosch charger?

 

[QueenBee]

Cool, thanks. Do you think that's money better spent than buying the new $450 Bosch charger?

I don't think OpenEVSE is for someone who just wants to save money. You have to have some other motives like the desire to build it yourself, wanting a smaller portable form factor, wanting to customize it in ways not possible with a manufactured unit, etc.

If all you need is 16 amp charging I think the Bosch would be a great idea.

 

[gobble]

Would be nice to save money too. I wish it was as simple as plugging a straight cord into the wall.

 

[w6vms]

Cool, thanks. Do you think that's money better spent than buying the new $450 Bosch charger?

In my case, it was a matter of hacking a project. The price I mentioned also included a two pole breaker and a 20 foot piece of 8/2 wire with ground to run a circuit from the panel to the openevse.

You mentioned the price of the Bosch being $450, is that for a 6KW charger? Or for a smaller model? My openevse can handle 30A.

So I did save some money, particularly in the labor of installing the dedicated circuit myself, but that was just a nice perk.

One thing to keep in mind when doing the dollars and cents/sense analysis: through the end of this year there is a federal tax credit on the installation of an EVSE. I don't know if homebuilt ones qualify or not, something to look into I suppose.

The tax credit is (I believe) 30% of the installation price, up to $1000. Some states may have additional incentives, mine (NC) does not.

 

[gobble]

The Bosch unit is 16 amp.

I know for sure that if I assemble my own I'm claiming the 30% tax credit on those costs. I didn't donate money to any Republicans this year so the IRS won't come after me.

 

[pcarlson79]

I don't think OpenEVSE is for someone who just wants to save money.

I disagree. Here in Australia I only had 3 options...
* $4999 for a L2 EVSE from Better Place
* $5499 for a L2 EVSE from my power company
* $1999 for a chinese no-name brand.

I triend everywhere to get an EVSE from America but they simply will not post to Australia. So I built my OpenEVSE for $550. So for me it was a $5000 saving by building it myself. Now charging at 3.3Kw is a lot better than the supplied EVSE from Nissan which was only 240v @10A (2.4Kw).

 

[EVDRIVER]

Can anyone comment on how much they've been able to build one of these for assuming you have to purchase the J1772 connector?

$380, including the openevse v2 board, the J1772 cable/connector assembly from Leviton, and various parts from Home Depot and Digikey. I did not get the display (not interested) or the EVSE tester (had the components on hand).

For the USB TTL FTDI cable I went with an $8 part I found on eBay, it worked fine (item 400356015296, $1 S&H from Hong Kong, it took about two weeks to deliver to the USA east coast).

But what about the $20K to get UL approval? :lol: :roll:

 

[Ingineer]

FYI, for those building OpenEVSE's with NEMA L6-30 connectors, we now have a selection of high-quality molded adapters so you don't have to make your own.

-Phil

 

[QueenBee]

I don't think OpenEVSE is for someone who just wants to save money.

I disagree. Here in Australia I only had 3 options...
* $4999 for a L2 EVSE from Better Place
* $5499 for a L2 EVSE from my power company
* $1999 for a chinese no-name brand.

I triend everywhere to get an EVSE from America but they simply will not post to Australia. So I built my OpenEVSE for $550. So for me it was a $5000 saving by building it myself. Now charging at 3.3Kw is a lot better than the supplied EVSE from Nissan which was only 240v @10A (2.4Kw).

Phil ships his EVSEUpgrade internationally and if I would have saw a request from you I would have happily reshipped you any EVSE you wanted.

So why is the EVSE market so broken is Australia?!?

 

[Ingineer]

Yes, we ship to Australia. We don't do Advance Replacements, but we will ship a new programmable unit setup to work on the 240v OZ power system. We could also upgrade the original unit, but it takes awhile for 2-way shipping!

-Phil

 

[gobble]

I'm curious, what happens if you wire the car plug directly into the 240V outlet? I'm guessing this is bad, but I'm just curious.

 

[Ingineer]

It will not charge without a Pilot signal, and if power is supplied before the pilot signal is properly acknowledged, it will set a fault code and you'll get a christmas tree on your dash next time you try to turn the car on.

I believe it's also possible to damage the on-board charger (OBC) by sending in AC power before the IGBT's have a drive signal. I think there are some EVSE's on the market that have accidentally done this and blown up people's OBC. Normally, when you connect an EVSE, the pilot signal from the EVSE it's it's proper "wake up" call, so skipping this results in up to 320 VDC present at semiconductors with no gate drive signal. A properly designed OBC should handle this, but still...

-Phil

 

[gobble]

When you do an open EVSE build, how do you determine if you're doing a 16 AMP, 30 AMP, 40 AMP, 80 AMP, etc. version? Which parts are sized differently? Besides the charging cable I don't see that discussed in the instructions.

 

[TonyWilliams]

When you do an open EVSE build, how do you determine if you're doing a 16 AMP, 30 AMP, 40 AMP, 80 AMP, etc. version? Which parts are sized differently? Besides the charging cable I don't see that discussed in the instructions.

Anything that is handling those amps is sized for the load... the wiring, the J1772 pins, and the relay.

 

[CasperNleaf]

I have my openEVSE shopping list in my sig. Just waiting on the board to arrive, have everything else on hand.

 

[gobble]

I've been checking the ordering page just about every day and they're slow coming.