Paul and Sabrina's Cheap 3 Phase Inverter (AC Controller) with Field Oriented Control

[MPaulHolmes]

Well, it's not changed to "normal", but to some other weird thing that isn't salvage, but used to be salvage. There was some random name they used. I got a 240vAC plug today and am attaching it to the outside of my shop, so I can connect the split phase inverter (which is controlled by the AC control/driver board) to the J1772 connector to charge the car. I also spent some time yesterday looking at some chademo protocol stuff so I could just charge the car straight from the solar panels.

[freebeard]

I gutted my 1952 Silver Streak trailer and got it retitled as a utility trailer. Registration dropped to $20/year.

Anybody 3D printing ChAdEmO connectors yet?

[thingstodo]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Anybody 3D printing ChAdEmO connectors yet?

I expect that the plastic parts of the connectors are not the issue. Sourcing the spring-loaded copper connections with the crimps would be my guess.

Car side

J1772 inlet by erroneus - Thingiverse

Cable side

Chademo semi-compatible dummy plug - for testing by qualified persons only by erroneus - Thingiverse

My quick search did not come up with models for the male and female pins, or even the proper diameters and lengths

[MPaulHolmes]

I think Jack Rickard has the plug now for $1300. That's still absolutely stupid.
My goodness, They really should have just had some sort of anderson connected with heatshrink around the ends for the high voltage, and maybe a different connector for the low power part, and software can deal with making sure both are plugged in at the same time. $3000 for a connector retail is like they are trying to make the whole thing fail on purpose.

I found a bug in the split phase code. I hooked up ONLY the solar panels straight to the inverter, and everything worked great. The higher the load, the 500v just sags down until the power is sufficient (running the mill sagged the solar array down to 475v), and then the inverter just takes the 475v and puts out 120/240. As long as the solar is above 340v, it can do 120v/240v out. Now, here's the bug!

I was not actively forcing the 2 120v to be balanced. So, now I need to monitor the AC output voltages, and then change the duty of the middle channel so that it stays 120 and 120. The mill caused it to be 110 130. So, all you have to do is, say HEY! ONE IS 130, change the 50% duty to 45% or whatever so that the 110 gets pushed up and the 130 gets pushed down.

The panels had no problem with the startup surge on the mill, which can go to 200amp. After work I'm going to get a 2 1/8inch drill hole maker at Ace (as well as some popcorn for my 5 year old from them! haha) so I can add that 4 wire 240v dryer plug out at my shop, so I can charge the car directly from the solar. I'm really happy with how it turned out. Now I don't have to have any batteries out there.

[thingstodo]

Originally Posted by MPaulHolmes

I think Jack Rickard has the plug now for $1300. That's still absolutely stupid.

That's why I was looking for the diameters and lengths of the pins. If you can 3D print the connector, you should be able to CNC the pins from copper stock and then electro-plate the tin to minimize the corrosion ... solder or crimp them in place ... for less than $1300!!!

Putting the correct force on the pins to minimize heating .. may be a bit trickier?

[HaroldinCR]

Way back around 2011 there was a guy that made his own plug. Diyelectriccar is where I believe I read that. Gonna have to do a search in a bit, if someone else doesn't do it.

[thingstodo]

Originally Posted by MPaulHolmes

I found a bug in the split phase code. I hooked up ONLY the solar panels straight to the inverter, and everything worked great. The higher the load, the 500v just sags down until the power is sufficient (running the mill sagged the solar array down to 475v), and then the inverter just takes the 475v and puts out 120/240. As long as the solar is above 340v, it can do 120v/240v out. Now, here's the bug!

I was not actively forcing the 2 120v to be balanced. So, now I need to monitor the AC output voltages, and then change the duty of the middle channel so that it stays 120 and 120. The mill caused it to be 110 130. So, all you have to do is, say HEY! ONE IS 130, change the 50% duty to 45% or whatever so that the 110 gets pushed up and the 130 gets pushed down.

First - can I get a copy of that code. It will run in my existing AC controller, right?

Second - what happens below 340VDC? Will it still balance the phases but have the voltage lower .. or does it trip? I want to minimize the number of batteries that I need to drag around with me. 150 - 170 VDC should be good for single phase 120V. If I can run off 2 packs (250 - 270V) it would help. Running from one pack (125-135V) at maybe 85 VAC would be awesome!

I have a Better Place pack that I can use, with it's own pre-charge circuit, to power the bus. It's split into chunks of 128V (135V when full). AND I'd love to run my sump pump ... about 800 feet from the nearest available receptacle.

It's getting wet .. spring is here ... and if I can get rid of water *AND* play with Power electronics ... AND batteries ... this weekend ... well, I'd like that

[thingstodo]

Originally Posted by HaroldinCR

Way back around 2011 there was a guy that made his own plug. Diyelectriccar is where I believe I read that. Gonna have to do a search in a bit, if someone else doesn't do it.

Right you are

J1772 Adapter | Home

Male and female ends, pins, assembled and tested cables, etc

Much less than $1300

[HaroldinCR]

I see that someone did beat me to it.

Paul, I have a bunch of Leaf modules, some of which I would be willing to swap for a working board with maybe some testing for altermotor code or whatever.

These stack nice and neat for a solar bank. We can PM details.

[MPaulHolmes]

My car has both the J1772 as well as the Chademo plug. I think the J1772 is the cheap one, and the chademo is the freakishly expensive one.