Boost Charger

A story on plugincars.com caught my eye, saying that owners of 2011-12 LEAFs have been adding a second 3.3 kw charger to speed their antiques' recovery time, which convinced BRUSA to continue production of that model.

http://www.plugincars.com/brusa-continues-aftermarket-charger-production-support-leaf-charging-upgrade-127365.html#comments

The iMiEV hasn't attracted any hackers of Phil Sadow's pedigree yet, but we can always hope. Anybody know more detail on this? I haven't taken time to read the LEAF forums about it yet...

I still do not know very much about our charger. I am sure it can be hacked after all CHAdeMO is.

CHAdeMO is expensive but can do anything. The BMU tells the charger what to do. With the builtin charger it is the same. So listening to the communication between original charger and BMU can tell the auxilliary charger what to do. We could charge from 400V/16A or 3 phases of 230V/16A three times as fast as we do today.

On the other hand monitoring ac power going to the builtin charger and feeding a second charger from a second phase we could tell the axilliary charger (Arduino, CANBUS) what to do.

Can I steal/Redirect this Thread?

I am really interested in the ChaDeMo socket, & its use. I recently had a look at the Open Charger, & thought if we could source a ChaDeMo plug, it would be relatively easy, once the handshake specifications were worked out, to fast charge our cars at home. Living in Australia with 240V & 32A available helps of course). I have already started building an Open EVSE to speed up the standard charge (all this for a brand new car that I only picked up today: BLACK in colour, like a mini-Hearse.)
I have searched the web, & can find no mention of the ChaDeMo plugs, except when bought with a charging station at Zillions of $$$s. I think the only way we are likely to get reasonable priced plugs is to 3D print some. Unfortunately, I am not a designer or Draftsman. Has anyone else looked at this idea? The actual metal contacts should be easy: just use Industrial ones, even if it requires stripping a different style plug.

Some information on me: We live in a small country town in Australia, not too far from Byron Bay: the most Easterly point in Australia. Our car will be charged on night supplied cheap power that was originally supplied for Immersion heater type Hot Water systems. This is why I am building an Open-EVSE: I need to charge the car in less than 6 hours, because that is how long the Off-Peak power is supplied for. This power is cheap, & I can charge the car for about $Au2. (about US $2.20). The longest daily common trip we will do is about 90Kms (55Miles), & there are No as in Zero public charging stations within about 200Km of our house. If the worst happens, I guess I will be picking up the 2Kw petrol Generator, & charging the car enough to get home. (but planning will alleviate this need, but sometimes odd things happen).

In the long term, I would like to be able to access the car batteries to minimise the Grid power use at peak times (eg draw off 5Kwh in the middle of the day, then replace it at night at the cheap rate. I would plan to use this once I retire from the workforce, so the car would mostly be home in the middle of the day. (Apparently Tesla is also considering this 2-way power option as well.)

The other thing I should mention is that the Imiev is a second car: we also have a small Diesel Peugeot Hatch (which is economical, & I love). We need 2 cars because my wife & I work in opposite directions, which is really inconvenient.

regards Doug

If you listen to some of the gurus on here, the faster you charge your battery, the warmer it will get, and the more this will decrease the lifespan, especially in hot weather.

On the normal 220v charger, we can fully recharge in 6-7 hours...and who really totally discharges before refueling? Even at 110v, I am able to recharge from a quarter of a tank to full overnight (12 hours). It's also easier to control stopping the charge at 90%.

What's all the fuss about fast charging? I guess my problem is that I will use my Prius if I unexpectedly need more range. For the present time, I think this is a more efficient use of energy then slamming the grid in the middle of the day, in the middle of the summer.

Doug, welcome to the Forum as a new iMiEV owner! I have fond memories of finally seeing Cape Byron lighthouse as I sailed up the coast, and Byron Bay is probably the most laid-back community in Australia ... :roll: I take it you're further inland?

Wow, you covered a number of topics in quick succession:
CHAdeMO hack
Off-Peak charging
V2G

You are SO lucky to have 240v in Australia, and I strongly suspect that you will find it adequate for almost all your needs ...

You will soon be able to judge your distances and charging times, and simply remember that slowing WAY down (<70km/h) has a fantastic effect on extending your range. After you get over your initial hot-rodding exhuberance, you'll find that a featherfoot does wonders for range. Just try not to go below two bars on your fuel gauge to always leave yourself a cushion... 90km is a good stretch, so really take it easy the first time you try it, and opportunity-charge if possible... just carry a long extension cord and your Mitsu EVSE, develop a good eye for spotting outlets, and then learn to sweet-talk the owners into letting you use one (and always offer to pay...). Most people are so fascinated with an electric car that you should have no problem, especially in friendly Australia.

You will have no problem meeting your Off-Peak charging timeframe, as I think you'll find that five hours at 240vac will be more than adequate for your overnight needs.

Vehicle-to-Grid is another topic you touched upon. Technically, not a problem and you could undoubtedly rig up a system that would work. All it takes is time and $$$ ... perhaps a solar photovoltaic setup would be easier and cheaper? BTW, I attended a presentation recently on V2G which presents a good case for stabilizing the grid if thousands of EVs are utilized: http://www.eaasv.org/files/TGage-EVgrid_130615.pdf

Back to the original topic, I guess you have CHAdeMO in you iMiEV and if you're ambitious you could indeed try the do-it-yourself CHAdeMO route - there are a number of separate online groups with working hardware, for example -
http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59210
http://code.google.com/p/open-chademo
That it seriously time-consuming stuff to play with.
Finally, back to your original question, don't know where to get a CHAdeMO connector.

All the best, and enjoy your wonderful new car!

Doug said:

I am really interested in the ChaDeMo socket, & its use. I recently had a look at the Open Charger, & thought if we could source a ChaDeMo plug, it would be relatively easy, once the handshake specifications were worked out, to fast charge our cars at home. Living in Australia with 240V & 32A available helps of course). I have already started building an Open EVSE to speed up the standard charge (all this for a brand new car that I only picked up today: BLACK in colour, like a mini-Hearse.)
I have searched the web, & can find no mention of the ChaDeMo plugs, except when bought with a charging station at Zillions of $$$s. I think the only way we are likely to get reasonable priced plugs is to 3D print some. Unfortunately, I am not a designer or Draftsman. Has anyone else looked at this idea? The actual metal contacts should be easy: just use Industrial ones, even if it requires stripping a different style plug.

Click to expand...

Any EVSE you use is just an interface between whatever mains voltage/current you have available and the onboard 3.3 Kw charger built into the car - Nothing you can do there to charge any faster than 3.3 Kw because the built in charger is the limiting factor

Since you only have 240@32A available (7.6Kw) DC Quick Charging isn't really practical. ChaDeMo uses 350 VDC @ 50 amps, which is 17.5Kw. If you added another 3.3Kw charger in parallel (the original subject of this thread) you'd then be charging at 6.6Kw which is almost all your power source can handle and it would be lots cheaper than building your own DC Quick Charging station . . . . the plug you're worried about will be one of the smaller expenses

But - Since you're a new owner with next to no experience with the car, I would suggest you use it for a few months, see what it can and can't do and make a determination at a later date as to what if anything you need to upgrade or change

I have 240@60A available in my garage, but I've never felt the need to recharge any faster than the 3.3Kw installed in the car. In practical use, I seldom use 240 volt charging at all, since 120@12A easily gives me an overnight recharge . . . . L2 charging is only used when I need to use more than 50 or 75 miles in a single day. We have other cars, but the iMiEV is what we drive 95% of the time

Don

Just to go off topic slightly - Doug, I'm a new iMiev owner too, a bit further north of you at Yatala. If you are ever taking a long trip north in your car there is a public charge point on the Gold Coast and others in Brisbane.

Being slap bang between the two I'm happy to offer you my 15A socket should you ever need it.

Australia is so far behind in this infrastructure I figure we just have to take care of things ourselves until the politicians catch up!