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using zoe's cable with a mainline epc

4K views 23 replies 6 participants last post by  Paul 
#1 ·
hi - i am a newbie. gotta zoe six months ago and loving it! wanted to use slower charge rate than the type 2 23A at home and higher on the electric highway (ecotricity) and all the components should have arrived v soon. i have a question that someone may be able answer, if you're out there please. instead of using a cable from the built charge unit to a type-2connector to plug int my zoe i want to fit a type-2 outlet "socket" so that i can use my zoe's cable (one end in the car and the other in the charger's connector). can anyone forsee a problem? i note that there are two circuits described by mainline's manual - tethered and non-tethered (i guess that way i wish to do it. so any ideas, comments, etc. i hope to be an active member and have lots to say! cheers: dr lea
 
#2 ·
i note that there are two circuits described by mainline's manual - tethered and non-tethered (i guess that way i wish to do it. so any ideas, comments, etc.
Mainpine do indeed make EVSE Protocol Controllers ("EPC") for both cable ("tethered") and socket ("free" or "non-tethered") applications. Unfortunately, Mainpine do not sell the socket version of the EPC to the general public because of the complexity of selecting the correct version for the socket lock solenoid (every manufacturer has a different solenoid).

My recommendation is to use the tethered EPC and a fixed cable because IMO it's much better in a portable application. I would also suggest you get a Type 2 socket Charging Station installed for free using the governments grant scheme :)
 
#4 ·
thanx for your kind welcome and response to my message. i had some difficulty getting a type-2 female connector with lead attached and because i found an outlet connector quite easily i decided to try using the zoe's cable. also this would save having to carry two cables around. thanks again for your comments. if i don't get anywhere i guess it's back to square one and i will try your suggestions. i have checked the zoe's lead with a continuity tester and it doesn't seem "weird" in any way EXCEPT a 440R resistance between both ends of the cable on the PP connection. i wonder how the mainpine uses its' PP output? anyway, fingers' crossed - i will report the outcome soon on this post if anyone is interested! thanks Kevin again for your advice so far! best wishes: Lea
 
#5 ·
ps kevin, i have a chargemaster unit at home which charges at 32A ~ 7kW. i wanted a lower power charger to use our solar pv excess output from our solar panels (on the garage roof) slowly over the day rather than the quick blasts the chargemaster gives. this are great when you want a quick charge - as are the ecotricity points when on the move. also i wanted a unit to use when visiting friends and family - say a 10A charge rate (as the french, i believe have referred to as "le granny charger"!) so as not to overload their home mains. also, another possibility i thought of was to use camp site outlets and charge at 16A. hope that makes sense. cheers: Lea
 
#6 ·
Hi Lea

I am not sure if this helps but I too have a 32A Chargemaster unit.

I also have an EVSE cable which plugs into 13A. When there is power being generated from the Solar PV and I don't need to use the car for a while I will plug it into the 13A and slow charge it. The panels will be at least putting something into the car even if not everything.

I am just about to receive a Wattson Solar Plus monitor and Optiplug combo with the intention of running the car from an Optiplug, turning on the 13A when enough is being generated and off when it isn't.
 
#8 ·
thanx Jason - i sounds like a great idea. i started messing about with an "Aurduino" microprocessor and a couple of current sensors on the solar output and domestic use leads in our mains consumer unit.

i was able to get a VARIABLE output so as to proportionally divert power to our immersion heater. not sure but i think it would also control the Mainpine unit too, hence my interest in getting one up and running!

i found it v v hard find a simple evse charger for the zoe so went the diy route inspired by Kevin Sharpe's demonstration "evse buildday" twitter video.

i really would like to hear from anyone who knows what zoe wants to "hear" from her PP connection - i was told that it is simply a mechanical connection to ensure the connector is fully plugged in before she starts to "talk" to the charger. is this right? if so, the resistance in my lead won't matter. all the best and thanks for listening! Lea
 
#13 ·
thanx Jason - i sounds like a great idea. i started messing about with an "Aurduino" microprocessor and a couple of current sensors on the solar output and domestic use leads in our mains consumer unit.

i was able to get a VARIABLE output so as to proportionally divert power to our immersion heater. not sure but i think it would also control the Mainpine unit too, hence my interest in getting one up and running!

i found it v v hard find a simple evse charger for the zoe so went the diy route inspired by Kevin Sharpe's demonstration "evse buildday" twitter video.

i really would like to hear from anyone who knows what zoe wants to "hear" from her PP connection - i was told that it is simply a mechanical connection to ensure the connector is fully plugged in before she starts to "talk" to the charger. is this right? if so, the resistance in my lead won't matter. all the best and thanks for listening! Lea
The company I work for quoted for one of these http://www.earthwiseproducts.co.uk/info/solic-200+73.html not sure if this would work with the Mainpine EPC but at least it will do your hot water.
 
#10 ·
Maybe - I got nearly all the way there and something else took over my life! I should get the project started but it is safer with a simpler unit. I went the build it yourself route using the Mainpine unit so that I could, one day, make a more sophisticated charger t respond to solar surplus power but meantime, apparently all it needs is a simple resister to control the charge rate from very little up to 32A in this case. As I have said earlier on this post I want to have three levels initially - 10A for slow solar charging, 12A for visiting friends and family and 16A at camp sites & the like.

Jason, by the way, WHAT are you driving? (Not you car necessarily altho' that's interesting, but the image on your posts!

Cheers: Lea
 
#11 ·
Do you like it?

It's basically a bike mechanism mated to a propeller underneath the main hull. There are then a pair of rudders, one of each of the two, smaller outrigger hulls.

Someone setup a company to produce and sell them. He built one prototype which he then failed to take orders on so decided to stop. This item was donated to a charity which specialises in water borne activities for the disabled. Since it is unaccompanied it's of little value to them.

I had a go on it at a Gloucestershire canal open day last year. As a "road test" I would say that it is good fun but the driving position leaves a little to be desired. From a handling perspective it feels a little unstable at first but you soon become more confident. Performance is not good and progress is sedate. It is not suited to rough terrain :). You need to be pretty careful to avoid underwater plantlife - if you get the propeller bunged up in the middle of a canal then there is no way to safely clear the prop :)
 
#12 ·
Hi Lea,

There should not be a resistance between the two ends of PP (apart from minor cable resistance) there will however be a resistance between PP and PE (earth) this will vary depending on the current capabilities of the cable.

These are defined values for 13A 20A 32A and 63A I do not remember what they are but I can get back to you with them if you like.
 
#15 ·
Hi - thanks for replying.
I am not sure why but there is a resistance, as I say, between the two ends of the PP on my Zoe charging cable. There is none to ground .
It works fine at home with the 32A Chargemaster unit in my garage and on the road using e.g. ecotricity's electric highway 3-phase fast chargers.
I think the values for 10, 12 & 16A are approx 250R, 267R & 348R respectively.
Does that match your info?
Do you have a Mainpine & is it up & runningOK?
Thanks & bye for now: Lea
 
#16 ·
No the higher the current the lower the resistance.

Sorry I should have said the resistor is between pp and pe on the connector that connects into the type 2 socket on the charging station.

I don't think there is a resistor on the car end but that's not something I have experience in.

I have a Mainpine charger at work and I have played with a few EPCs.
 
#17 ·
Hi Aj - thanx for the reply. I appreciate the time you've taken to help!

On the chart I got from Mainpine the control resistor is between "IC" and ground.

The value appears to go up as the charge rate also increases. The voltage bias also increases as the resistor value increases as does the charge rate.

This seems contrary to your experience. But, you mention connecting it between PP & PE. What values would you use for 10A, 12A & 16A?

Can you kindly clarify that I am wrong (or the info from Zero Carbon World / nuWorldEnergy is incorrect please?

On the subject of the resistance in the PP connection in my Zoe's lead, I believe that this connection is not made - there seem to be two different Mainpine circuit diagrams one showing the connection and another without it! But I think the one with the connection between charger and car is for the non-tethered charge unit.

Does this make sense?

Okeydoke thanks again for your posting! Lea

Best wishes: Lea
 
#18 ·
@dr lea brindle : IC and PP are different features. IC is a feature unique to the Mainpine EPC which allows the assembler to restrict the advertised current below what the EPC was rated at. This is useful when you use the EPC to build a portable charger where you may connect it to circuits which are rated below what the EPC is rated at (example: you have a 32A EPC and are connecting it to a 16A circuit). In these cases you'll want to "dial-down" the current advertised to the EV by the EPC.

PP is a similar but separate feature that is native in all free cables. The resistance is in the cable's PP wiring. PP tells the EPC the current rating of the cable. This also restricts the advertised current by the EPC so that the EV does not draw more current than the cable can support. So if you have a 32A EPC and connect a 16A cable, then the EPC will never advertise more than 16A current to the EV.

Note, then, that a well-built 32A portable charging station will have two RCBOs: one 16A and one 32A. This is done so that when a 16A cable is attached the 16A RCBO is energized rather than the 32A. This is done as a safety measure... in-case the EV malfunctions and draws more current than the EPC advertises the RCBO will trip rather than allowing the current to burn-up the cable.
 
#19 ·
Hi Lee - many thanks for your comprehensive reply.

I will be using the Zoe's lead all being well . Since this is rated to cope with fast, 3-phase (up to 40kW approx) I think that is why there is no resistance in my lead.

The only surprising thing is the resistance (470R) between the two ends of the cable on PP wire.

But, again, as the16A wiring for the Mainpine does not use this lead, I suspect the Zoe uses the pins in the lead simply to detect whether the connector is fully plugged on before starting its dialogue with the charger.

Anyway gonna build the charge controller this weekend so should be in a position to post the results soon. Fingers' crossed!

Thanks again for you post. Best wishes: Lea
 
#20 ·
Lea,

I had our staff check the purchase records, and indeed, you have a 16A tethered EPC. As you didn't get the cable from us I cannot confirm what you have in the form of the "Zoe's lead". But, since you have a tethered EPC the cable you use in assembly should be permanently attached to the charging station. Mainpine does not recommend using a free cable configuration in conjunction with a tethered EPC because the EPC cannot check the cable to ensure that the current solicited to the EV is supported by the cable. So if you happen to put a 13A cable onto the charger which has a 16A tethered EPC then you could cause all sorts of damage and injury.

If you do have a free cable you can test the rating of the cable by measuring resistance between PP and PE (on the same plug - not on opposite plugs):

13A - 1500 Ω resistor
16A - 680 Ω resistor
32A - 220 Ω resistor
63A - 100 Ω resistor

Thanks,

Lee.
 
#22 ·
Thanks Lee - didn't realise you worked for/with Mainpine!

I thought I ordered a 32A version but, no problem as I intend to use 16A max, as I have said earlier.

(Funny the order confirmation said 32A and it the EPC unit is marked 32A too). But no point sending it back at this stage anyway as the 16A version is adequate for my needs.)

Zoe's cable is rated in excess of 40kW so there is no danger there either.

Just a problem possibly with the various protocols getting confused because of the different resistance/connections on my Zoe cable.

So if anyone out there knows why there is a (approx) 470R resistance between both ends of my cable on the PP wire please let me know! As I have posted already there is no significant resistance between the PP & PE wires on either end of the Zoe's cable (apparently zero ohms). I would have thought Mainpine needs to know this too if they provide units for charge points where a Zoe might plug into one day!

(fyi I know someone who checked their Type 1 cable and found a 150R resistor connected between the CE and PP wires. Not sure what that is about as it was a 12A EVSE charge unit.)

Finally, by the way, Lee i have noticed a discrepancy between the mains wiring to the RCBO in the diagrams published on your website and the schematic on p13 of your manual for the EPC. In the latter the live (from the RCBO) appears to go to A2 on the contactor while neutral goes to A2 in the diagram on NuWorldEnergy's website.
On the contactor, A1 goes to P2 on the EPC but on the nuWorldEnergy schematic A2 goes to P2.

Does this matter?

Thanks for your help so far, Lee. Best wishes & bfn: Lea
 
#23 ·
Whoops! I should have said the live seems to go to L2 on the contactor and to P1 on the EPC in Mainpine's schematic in the EPC manual. On the nuWorldEnergy site the diagram shows live going to L1 & A1 on the contactor only. Neutral appears to go to L2 (contactor) and P1 on the EPC.

Something like that anyway!

More importantly, perhaps you could kindly check for us and let us know which is the correct schematic. Maybe it is me simply not understanding. I am no expert but there seems to me to be lots of different and conflicting information out there!

Cheers: lea
 
#24 ·
Hello all. I usually just float around these technical conversations and watch in awe as people do their thing, however I've had some concerns raised about this thread from other members on the site.

Obviously everyone is free to choose their own methods and equipment, however the level of concern raised about the particular DIY route in this topic has lead me to believe it's best that this conversation be closed down.

Apologies for this, and while we're not responsible for our members actions, if someone says people may be building their own death traps, I've got to take that caution on board and act accordingly.

I trust nobody is offended, I don't know people's level of expertise, but in the interests of not loosing any Speak EV members to electrocution I'm going to close this down.

Thanks all, apologies for any hassle.

Paul
 
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