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EV Charge King's Tesla button kit

9K views 35 replies 8 participants last post by  buju1210 
#1 ·
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.
 
#9 ·
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.
 
#11 ·
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?
 
#13 ·
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.
 
#14 ·
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.
 
#15 · (Edited)
#17 ·
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?
 
#19 ·
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.
 
#29 ·
Now you've put a doubt in my mind. I've only actually used a "Tesla button" a couple of times, at superchargers; I don't have one at home (yet). I think I'm right in saying that the button will:
(1) open the charge port if it's closed, at any time
(2) stop a charge that's in progress and release the lock so that the cable can be removed, but only if the car key is detected nearby.

Is that right so far?

So, next question: does EV Charge King's Tesla Button Kit provide exactly the same functionality, or more, or less?
 
#30 ·
The fob that @Mrclox is selling does function (1).
My modification to insert just a microswitch in the connector does function (2)

EVchargeKing combines both of these into a single modification.

I would comment that (1) is actually the more useful function, depending how your car is parked: function (2) only works from the button on the connector (whether UMC/EVChargeKing/arg-modified) if the doors on the car are already unlocked. If you naturally approach your car from the rear (as I do - parking place is reversed up next to the front door of the house), then the connector button won't release the lock unless you walk far enough round the car to trigger the keyless unlock. So I have to do a bit of a dance to take advantage of the button on the connector.

The hold-down-the-boot option on the Tesla fob combines function (2) with secure unlock of the car, so not exactly the same.
 
#32 ·
function (2) only works from the button on the connector (whether UMC/EVChargeKing/arg-modified) if the doors on the car are already unlocked. If you naturally approach your car from the rear (as I do - parking place is reversed up next to the front door of the house), then the connector button won't release the lock unless you walk far enough round the car to trigger the keyless unlock. So I have to do a bit of a dance to take advantage of the button on the connector.

The hold-down-the-boot option on the Tesla fob combines function (2) with secure unlock of the car, so not exactly the same.
OK, after your excellent advice on wiring, I will now have a 16A solution (tethered or untethered to be decided). I will always approach the car from the front. My aim is to walk into the garage, go straight to the charge cable to withdraw it after the overnight recharge, then get in the car and drive away. Question. Presuming my approaching the car from the front, unlocks the car, do I need to do anything else to withdraw the charging cable, ie any more buttons to press to 'unlock' the cable? If I do then I should probably get an EVChargeKing cable with "the button", otherwise a Tesla T2 Cable should do it.
 
#31 ·
Thanks for another detailed and informative reply. :)

My normal routine is to approach the car and get in while the kids squabble over who gets to do the exciting unplugging thing today. The novelty may wear off ;) but they're likely to remain chief unpluggers, so function (2) will still be a useful thing for me.

Gonna go shopping for some components soon then!
 
#34 · (Edited)
Well today I tackled putting the EV Charge King button onto my Pod Point plug, which turned out to be not as easy as I expected.

First of all, thanks to Timsk for quickly passing on his experience when most needed.

First of all getting the plug apart is not straightforward. I took all 6 screws out, but getting the plastics halves to let go of the plug end was not easy or obvious. The picture shows a plug handle half, and the only thing that holds it onto the plug end (the black bit with the contacts in) is the little raised section (arrowed). It's all very close fitting so you have to wriggle it and twist and pull until just when you think it's going to break the little raised section releases from the plug end. The right half (when viewed from cable to contacts) should release first as the spring for the black top piece holds it onto the left side. I was going to try to put the EVCK button under the back of the black top piece as it is designed to operate a microswitch. This would have kept the plug looking standard but with a hidden switch. But the black top piece wouldn't operate the EVCK button reliably and I wasn't really in the mood for extensive modifications. So I stuck the EVCK circuitry on with some double sided tape, having first widened the hole through which the flexible connecting strip passes.

Gun


Below is a trial assembly showing the widened hole, just below the pivot for the top black piece.



Below is the slot I cut in the steel top piece for the flexible connecting strip to go through.

Belt


Trial assembly number 2.



Just before final reassembly.

Auto part Pipe Bicycle fork Vehicle


The final product in a slightly poor photo.

Muffler Auto part Exhaust system


All together well worth the effort.
 
#35 ·
It's too late for you now @Mark B but EVChargeKing made up a special version of the button kit for me that didn't have their button attached, just two wires for me to solder onto a microswitch. @arg found some suitable ones and kindly gave me one of them, so my plug looks the same from the outside, but has a microswitch under the long black metal button which triggers the EVChargeKing doohickey.

For anyone else, it's worth talking to EVChargeKing before ordering.
 
#36 ·
I also have a tethered 7kw pod point home charger and am looking to fit the EVChargeKing button kit onto the existing car plug and use the metal "button" that is on the existing handle.

Would you be able to talk me through which bits I would need to order and how the installation would go?

I want to avoid cutting the plug as Mark B had done.

Thanks in advanced, any pics would be much appreciated!
 
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