[timsk]

Has anyone had any luck fitting one of EV Charge King's Tesla button kits to a cable? I'd rather like one for my tethered Pod Point Solo S7 at home, but the design of the plug is different from the one in the video so it'll be harder to pass the ribbon cable neatly through from inside to outside the plug casing.

If you've got one of these and successfully fitted it, could you post some photos and tell us how it went? Ta muchly.

 

[Mrclox]

Yes I fitted one works perfectly.
You need to be able open the handset of your charge cable. A bit spooky but the install was easy enough. Some headsets can't be opened

 

[timsk]

That's good to know @Mrclox but do you have any photos and/or documentation of how you fitted it?

 

[Mrclox]

It just fits. Put car in jack mode, Jack up the car, lose and take off old wheel , replace with spacesaver, sorted

 

[Mrclox]

Lol lol sorry wrong post

 

[Mrclox]

Go onto the website there's a video and written instructions. I fitted it exactly like they say to

 

[timsk]

Maybe what I wrote above wasn't clear, but I'm posting here because my plug is different from the one in the video, so I can't use the same method.

 

[Mrclox]

All plus more or less the same
The only difference being some don't have a screwed together two part case and some do

 

[timsk]

Right, but without the two parts to screw together, how did you get the ribbon cable through the hole? Or did you do it some other way?

Again, if you could show a photo, even just of the finished solution if you don't have any of the process, it'd no doubt help. Thanks in advance.

 

[Mrclox]

You can only fit this if your plug has screws which enable the plug to be taken apart.

 

[timsk]

OK, going back to the pictures that I linked to at the top of the thread, the plug in question can be unscrewed and taken apart, but there's a long black central piece on top between the two white halves, and ideally the button would be mounted on that piece.

Is that how you did it? Any chance of a photo?

 

[Mrclox]

Ok mines different. More like the one on the website. Maybe you could still in on the side

 

[arg]

I have the same type of plug that you do.

Note that the black piece actually moves against the spring on the inside, and there's two unused bosses that look like they were intended to take a microswitch, so it's possible to use the black lever as a button.

I couldn't find a microswitch to fit, so took one that came to hand and fitted it by soldering to a piece of square pad board trimmed to locate on the 'shelf' that separates the lever from the main connections, then held it in place during assembly with a bit of double-sided tape. I'm not very pleased with it, but it does work!

I've been meaning to take it apart again and measure the mounting points in persuit of a microswitch that fits properly - maybe something like this:

microswitch MP500

Note that I don't have the ChargeKing gadget - I simply have my microswitch wired to interrupt the proximity pin (to serve the 'unplug' function), and I separately have a transmitter for the 'open' function stuck to the front of the EVSE.

 

[timsk]

I actually only noticed this evening that the long black part is a spring-loaded button, albeit without any actual switch attached to it. D'oh!

At the same time, I'd sent my question to EV Charge King, and they've written back to me with photos and datasheets from two other users who've fitted their kit to this kind of plug.

Here's a couple of pics:

And here's the datasheet for the microswitch although I'm not sure how easy it might be to actually find one.

 

[arg]

And here's the datasheet for the microswitch although I'm not sure how easy it might be to actually find one.

Google is your friend.

Snap-action switches - Series 1055

I've ordered a couple.

Edit - maybe I was a bit hasty. looking closer at those pics, it's a better fit than my present one but it still doesn't fit the original bosses in the moulding. So I think the search is still on for the ideal microswitch...

 

[Mrclox]

Well that's a good ending to a thread

 

[Whitmarsh]

Has anyone had any luck fitting one of EV Charge King's Tesla button kits to a cable? I'd rather like one for my tethered Pod Point Solo S7 at home, but the design of the plug is different from the one in the video so it'll be harder to pass the ribbon cable neatly through from inside to outside the plug casing.

If you've got one of these and successfully fitted it, could you post some photos and tell us how it went?

Why do you need this when you can open the port or unlock the cable by pressing the boot end of the key for a couple of secs?

 

[Mrclox]

Laziness

 

[timsk]

Why do you need this when you can open the port or unlock the cable by pressing the boot end of the key for a couple of secs?

Because my key is buried in my coat pocket somewhere, and my wife's key is buried in her handbag somewhere. We're not required to find the key when we want to unlock, drive, or lock the car, and it's a (very, very mild) irritant to have to fumble around and find it, then find the right end of it and then squeeze it for a few seconds when, for a mere €50 and a few hours with a soldering iron and a glue gun, we can be released forever from said fumbling and instead pretend to be the Lone Ranger, making POW! POW! sounds* as we point the plug at the charge port and go nuts with the button on it and watch the flap pop satisfyingly open.
*OK, it may be just me that does the sound effects.

 

[Whitmarsh]

Because my key is buried in my coat pocket somewhere, and my wife's key is buried in her handbag somewhere. We're not required to find the key when we want to unlock, drive, or lock the car, and it's a (very, very mild) irritant to have to fumble around and find it, then find the right end of it and then squeeze it for a few seconds when, for a mere €50 and a few hours with a soldering iron and a glue gun, we can be released forever from said fumbling and instead pretend to be the Lone Ranger, making POW! POW! sounds* as we point the plug at the charge port and go nuts with the button on it and watch the flap pop satisfyingly open.
*OK, it may be just me that does the sound effects.

Well, that sounds a lot fun; every day, too! Handbags are exasperating - the only way to find anything is to empty them, which does not make one popular. So far, we have manged to have a fob available; our Tesla Mennekes plug is encased in rubber, so we couldn't add a switch. Someone does make a remote button but you have to buy 10!

Chacun a son gout, as they say on the Champs Elysees and elsewhere, anway.