# J1772 implementation, Manzanita charger control, and a timer



## corbin (Apr 6, 2010)

Hi all!

I've been missing some features in my Manzanita Micro PFC-30 charger. I want:

1. Proper J1772 support - mainly to respect the proximity signal that happens when the plug is about to be unplugged, and "soft turn off" the charger. 
2. Timer control, with the ability to "soft turn on and off" the charger.

More details on why I want these things are here:
http://www.corbinstreehouse.com/blog/2012/11/electric-bug-charger-control-what-i-want/

So, I used an Arduino and created a little hardware/software combo to solve this problem. It is encompassed in nice little box with an LCD. It properly generates the J1772 pilot signal (bone head easy to do), but does so at the right time, and properly respects the proximity signal. This means, when you push down the button on the J1772 plug, the charger will "soft turn off" automatically. There's no need to first turn down the amperage before unplugging your car! (People with PFC chargers are probably familiar with doing this).

I also implemented a timer system to do night time charging. 

All the details and some pictures are on my website:
http://www.corbinstreehouse.com/blog/2012/11/electric-bug-charger-control-design/

-corbin
(note: i sent this to the EVDL too. Sorry if you saw it twice!)


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## TEV (Nov 25, 2011)

Nicely done. 

I also have a Manzanita PFC-40 and, Elithion BMS and a J1772 to be installed in my conversion , so your system will be perfect for my conversion when I would finish it.

Thank You.


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## frodus (Apr 12, 2008)

nice work cobin! Thanks for posting this. I have a J1772 home-charger from Work that I want to implement.


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## tomofreno (Mar 3, 2009)

Nice Corbin! I have a PFC30.


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## corbin (Apr 6, 2010)

Cool -- hopefully the code and example will give some of you all some ideas on how to do the same thing, or something similar. Even if you don't have a BMS (or don't have one that has a High limit input), you can still use the same concept to control the charger and do timed charging.

If anyone has any questions, let me know!


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## frodus (Apr 12, 2008)

I may not go the Arduino route (I've been using an mbed Arm LPC1768), but I'd like to implement something!

I'm playing around with Canbus some and I wonder if there's a simpler way to just comm to the BMS to turn it on/off and get HLIM status..... Same thing with the Manzanita via RS485....


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## corbin (Apr 6, 2010)

frodus said:


> I may not go the Arduino route (I've been using an mbed Arm LPC1768), but I'd like to implement something!
> 
> I'm playing around with Canbus some and I wonder if there's a simpler way to just comm to the BMS to turn it on/off and get HLIM status..... Same thing with the Manzanita via RS485....


Hi Travis,
Yeah! I definitely want to tap into the Canbus on the Elithion BMS and do more things. Such as calculate the time to finish charging at the current rate. However, I still want the setup at least partially the way I have it, where the box I made turns the BMS on. That way the BMS isn't balancing cells when I don't want it to. I have an Arduino Canbus shield I'm going to play around with soon. That'll be one of my next projects.

Do you have any info on how to control the Manzanita via RS485? The manual has no info on this...otherwise, I'd love to have more refined control of it!!

corbin


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## frodus (Apr 12, 2008)

I'm getting some stuff together for a project page (maybe a wiki) for some EV Protocol stuff for Elithion, Orion, Curtis, etc. 

I don't have info on the REG Bus at this moment... let me see what I can dig up.


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## corbin (Apr 6, 2010)

frodus said:


> I'm getting some stuff together for a project page (maybe a wiki) for some EV Protocol stuff for Elithion, Orion, Curtis, etc.
> 
> I don't have info on the REG Bus at this moment... let me see what I can dig up.


Awesome! and a wiki page would be great. We could share information on how to test things, like J1772.

--corbin


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## evmetro (Apr 9, 2012)

I am still learning alot of stuff as I near completion of my first ev. This thread is of interest to me because I have a pfc 40 in my car that I selected based on its ability to adapt to the power grid. I knew that the power grid was standardized decades ago and that my ev clearly needed to adapt to the standardized infrastructure if I wanted to be able to charge anywhere any time. This will most likely be the case for decades to come as well. Anyway, I can't imagine why somebody would go through the trouble to adapt their ev to the most obscure plug in the country, but your work looks terrific. I would like to see these chargers come with more features as well. Frodus lead me through adapting my orion to the manzanita and It seems like manzanita could make it easier for a bms to control it.


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## frodus (Apr 12, 2008)

two wires enable/disable the charger, doesn't get much easier than that.


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## evmetro (Apr 9, 2012)

The ac main interuption contactors and the relays used to power them seemed like they were alot more trouble than they could be. The two wires on the rg25 are simple. The travel power supply that I got to wire into the ac mains seemed a little sketchy too. I had to use two relays on it to get the power supply to run the ac main contactors without running down the aux battery. Seems like this kind of stuff could be built in.


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## frodus (Apr 12, 2008)

Those are not complexity isssues with the Manzanita though, those are all Orion things. The Manzanita doesn't require you to remove Mains voltage, that's a safety option with the Orion. The charger lets you enable and disable with 2 wires, and that's about as simple as it gets.

You bought a very complex system, nothing is going to be simple. This is "integration". Unless you get BMS/Charger/Controller from one company (not sure that exists right now for the DIY community), you're going to have to use their "tie-ins" to control eachother. The Manzanita doesn't require you to cut mains voltage, but the Orion does (or it's at least an option). The controller doesn't need you to tell it when to throttle back, but the Orion does, so you need to implement that.

These are all functions of the Orion, and not the Manzanita.

But I will tell you, that having something able to throttle back discharge, able to cut off discharge, able to stop charging/disconnect AC, able to sense cell voltage, current, temperature.... will help you protect the pack more than if you left those options disconnected.


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