Oops..... Broke J1772 Plug

[DonDakin]

http://imgur.com/a/uJkBL

I thought i would start this post with the images and then the explanation afterwards.

So long story short the car was not unplugged before starting on our sloping down driveway. Car was put in D no ready light and roll down the driveway and twang..... The stock evse was in the garage with the cord going under the door. Because of the position of the evse the angle to the plug on the car was not 90 deg so it actually did no damage to the car at all (thank god) but it did tear out of the evse and open the j1772 pistol up a little. Actually the ripping out of the evse was kind of like a mechanical fuse. A good thing.

I repaired the part at the evse very easy to do. But the pistol is a little more difficult as i don't have the special screwdriver to remove the screws from the pistol. Does anyone have one of these ? Can you tell me what its called and perhaps where i can get one ?

I am getting close to drilling it out with the drill press if I can't get the tool.

Any help would be great.

Thanks

Don......

 

[mdbuilder]

Looks like one of these will do the job http://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-1-4-and-3-8-in-Drive-Torx-Bit-Socket-Set-11-Piece-HTXBS11PCSR/203559459

Take it with you to Lowes or Homedepot tool isle.

 

[sandange]

Sorry to hear of your misfortune.
The ones on my damaged Schneider evse pistol are torx t15

 

[DonDakin]

Just a little update,

I fixed the handle with a little man handleing.....

A little bending and pushing and it popped back together.

The screw head is not a standard it has a little bump or pin in the center i tried lotsa of torx type heads and nothng worked.

Anyways its history now but i would advise anyone with a down sloping driveway to think about setting up something so tht if this happens to you the 120 vac plug side will unplug without damage.

I was really lucky this time.....

Don.....

 

[JoeS]

...The screw head is not a standard it has a little bump or pin in the center i tried lotsa of torx type heads and nothng worked...

Don, glad you were able to get it back together again. Edit: Perhaps it's a tamper-resistant TORX, TORX PLUS, or HEX screw?
http://resources.tannerbolt.com/articles/what-type-of-screw-is-this

 

[DonDakin]

Hey Joe,

Btw congratz on your trip sounds like you had a great time and all in an ev. Way to go.


I think your right. I had some of these torx with a hole bits at work but none of them fit. I asked the forum on the chance that someone successfully removed these screws but I guess nobody had any reason to yet.

Cheers

Don.....

 

[mdbuilder]

I picked up a TT10 1/4" drive bit at Lowes last night that fits. TT= Tamper proof Torx. $2.98 was the price.

 

[ed5000]

I'm thinking that we could use some kind of electrical plug (a male and female) in the cord about a foot from the evse plug that goes in your car that can breakaway in a situation like this. I'm not sure which plug yet but obviously not the twist lock. I say this because I almost did this a week ago at work and It could happen at home too. What saved me at work was the extra long length of cord that gave me a few feet of travel before I woke up and stopped the car.

 

[jray3]

I'm thinking that we could use some kind of electrical plug (a male and female) in the cord about a foot from the evse plug that goes in your car that can breakaway in a situation like this.

A 5-wire plug that's compact, affordable, easily separated but also weatherproof is the challenge, and increases the chance of disconnecting while under load. I'd prefer to just use a 3-prong extension cord on the input side as the weakest link. That gives you more error room to discover the error before pulling out, and won't cause damage if it does separate.

For J1772 extension cords, JLong is the commercially available option. You could order a short one and make it pull-apart by filing the latch catch off of the inlet end.
http://shop.quickchargepower.com/JLONG-40-Amp-J1772-extension-cable-JL40A.htm

 

[PV1]

I'm thinking that we could use some kind of electrical plug (a male and female) in the cord about a foot from the evse plug that goes in your car that can breakaway in a situation like this. I'm not sure which plug yet but obviously not the twist lock.

What about a NEMA 14-20? It looks to be similar in size to the L6-20 used on EVSEUpgrade, but is a straight blade, 4-conductor connector rated for 240 volts, 20 amps.

4 conductors will allow two power, a ground, and the pilot signal. I don't believe the proximity circuit leaves the J1772 handle. I only see 4 conductors in your pictures.

I think wiring up an alarm or buzzer that activates when the car is out of Park and not READY would be a more foolproof solution.

 

[mdbuilder]

Or, listen for the beep, look for the ready light. Don't take it out of park till all them red lights go out