# DIY CHAdeMO?



## karmann eclectric (Mar 26, 2008)

Karmann Eclectric's bb600 nicad pack can handle 1800A of current, with a peak charging voltage of 320. There are now several CHAdeMO stations in the region. I currently can accept hi-amp DC input through an Anderson SB 350. I'm picturing a black box and adaptor that could enable us to connect to a CHAdeMO station. Anybody come up with one yet?


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## frodus (Apr 12, 2008)

Well, it'd have to be basically a controller.... because the chademo stations don't actually regulate the voltage and current..... the onboard charger/inverter does......and it's got to support DC charging to begin with.


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## hbthink (Dec 21, 2010)

Not true, the Chademo provides some 12v relayed signals which perform a sequence to initiate the charge. There is also a CAN interface by which the car negotiates for set Current Level from the charger. The charger must provide this current level within a very specific charge curve profile outlined in the Chademo specification. Essentially its a constant current DC charger with CAN interface to the vehicle. The vehicle controls the charge rate via the current level selection. 

Make sense?


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## karmann eclectric (Mar 26, 2008)

hbthink said:


> Not true, the Chademo provides some 12v relayed signals which perform a sequence to initiate the charge. There is also a CAN interface by which the car negotiates for set Current Level from the charger. The charger must provide this current level within a very specific charge curve profile outlined in the Chademo specification. Essentially its a constant current DC charger with CAN interface to the vehicle. The vehicle controls the charge rate via the current level selection.
> 
> Make sense?


Sure does, that's how I read the spec... So I'm thinking of a little black box spoofing the signals as with the J1772 adaptors. Of course, now we're playing with pack-pulverizing amps, but that's the game.


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## pm_dawn (Sep 14, 2009)

These guys say they have some thing.

Don't know if its wapor....

http://www.epyonpower.com/ProductsTechnology/Our_products/luna.aspx


Regards
/Per


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## frodus (Apr 12, 2008)

I don't see where there is an actual white paper on the spec of the CHAdeMO...... but I do see where there's some stuff written saying it charges..... but that's a typical marketing mistake.... they call the L1 and L2 charging stations "chargers" but they don't do the charging, the onboard charger does.

I do see some places that have said there's talking and current limiting, but nothing "official" as a standard.


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## hbthink (Dec 21, 2010)

There most definitely is a specification which is controlled by TEPCO the Japanese utility (quite busy right now with Nuclear disasters). The board of the specification consists of TEPCO, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Toyota, Subaru and a few others. All other members pay up $20K or so to be receiving members of the specification. Sharing the information is legally frowned upon and could cost the membership as well as serious punitive damages to whoever shared the specification info. Companies like Aeroenvironment, Aker Wade, possibly Eaton and others are receiving members of the specification. The current revision number is 1.0 and is what the Nissan Leaf is designed to. Its a pretty simple specification and very complete. A few other companies have the specification and are currently working on chargers.

Steve


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## frodus (Apr 12, 2008)

so no publically available specification...... figures......


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## hbthink (Dec 21, 2010)

You got it, IMHO the big three Japanese car companies control Chademo and it is not a public standard. I think that leaves a big opportunity for the SAE Standard to grow much faster but it needs to be released soon and there needs to be fast growth amongst the other big EV car players. If the MIEV, Leaf and other Chademo vehicles control market share then Chademo may prevail. Otherwise it gets very messy with mutliple L3 charge standards. Even the physical interfaces will vary. One big problem Chademo has is that the current plug interfaces are few (mostly Yazaki) which is a really expensive option ($2500 just for the charger side plug and cable).

Anyways its hard for DIYers to play in this field as long as the specifications are closed up like they are. 

Side note: drove the company Leaf all over LA this weekend. Rock solid vehicle It will be interesting to see how the other EVS Ford, etc compare. So far I have driven the Coda (no compare it sucks and cost more $$), the Tesla is way too $$$ compared to Leaf and not nearly as practicle. Nissan really hit it out of the park with this car which will leave its mark in the EV chronicles as the first really successful manufactured EV. Maybe Toyota will compete with the RAV but not the Prius which is still just a hybrid.

Steve


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## karmann eclectric (Mar 26, 2008)

pm_dawn said:


> These guys say they have some thing.
> 
> Don't know if its wapor....
> 
> ...


Thanks Per, 
It appears legitimate, as they were recently acquired by megacorp ABB, but that might lock the device away from us little guys for another few years..
http://www.abb.com/cawp/seitp202/8d090a3a4d58d6f4c12578c00026b56f.aspx


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## EVfun (Mar 14, 2010)

hbthink said:


> There most definitely is a specification which is controlled by TEPCO the Japanese utility (quite busy right now with Nuclear disasters). The board of the specification consists of TEPCO, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Toyota, Subaru and a few others. All other members pay up $20K or so to be receiving members of the specification. Sharing the information is legally frowned upon and could cost the membership as well as serious punitive damages to whoever shared the specification info. Companies like Aeroenvironment, Aker Wade, possibly Eaton and others are receiving members of the specification. The current revision number is 1.0 and is what the Nissan Leaf is designed to. Its a pretty simple specification and very complete. A few other companies have the specification and are currently working on chargers.
> 
> Steve


I've never quite understood that approach to electronics. By keeping it to a select few at introduction it hinders its adoption as a general standard. If it still manages to become adopted as any sort of standard a hobbyist will sniff out what is happening on the lines and it will become available. Once published on the internet it is never gone.


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## MN Driver (Sep 29, 2009)

I don't think it would be very hard to identify it as either a 3-phase buck selectable constant-current supply or just 3-phase. With the information about the Chademo being 125amps max and 500v, seems pretty clear what its power supply and capability is. I'm aiming towards what I just said. Although I suppose for extra per-unit cost of cars they could put the bridge rec., etc in the car but it would be more weight, space, and cost so I don't see that making the TEPCO/ChaDeMO connection something automakers would want unless the expensive parts can be in the already pricey charger. The J1772's higher voltage connection at 600v and 400amps max is a ridiculous amount of power though and would require quite the power supply if it was serving a freeway stop.

I'm currently only seeing a DC fast charger as useful when going across or out of the state. In my situation in the Twin Cities a decent lightweight aero car setup as a range-priority car should be able to reach to most suburbs and back home without needing high level charging and even if a DC fast charger is used that's like a trip from Minneapolis to St Cloud and even then if you've got a 100 mile well-designed useful range just hang out at a level 2 long enough for 40 miles, which even drawing 24 amps from a 30 amp 240v level 2 would be 11.5kwh into the battery after two hours and if you drove over an hour to get there you'll be there for awhile usually, right?

I think that DC fast charge is going to primarily be needed for highway/freeway/interstate driving where someone aims for a distance much longer than the EV range would have them go even one way. If I go farther than 65 miles from my house, I'm going hundreds, there really is no inbetween. I'm aiming for a my house to St Cloud and my house to Hudson car and back in the same car. Then again I'm using a more efficient production platform than the Leaf or any other current major manufatured car out there. 130 miles is one hell of a stretch on a 20kwh pack (better than 157wh/mile and that's down to zero) and 20kwh is a heavy expense too, pretty sure I wouldn't mind a quick stopoff for a short while where I end up but I wouldn't need a total fill to get home.

For anyone interested in DIY DC fast charge, what are your goals? How do you expect to use your electric car? I'll jump in my non-electric dupe of my electric that gets me 70mpg in the summer crossing the country at 70mph or so and enjoy the 700 mile tank, back at home an 800 mile tank in the summer is common, its the factor of speed. Went from Minneapolis to Detroit and back. Didn't fill up along the way, just at the start and destination, just shy of 10 gallons each way, including stopping in Madison, WI on the way home. I think this is where people with electrics will have a second car that is an efficient liquid fuel car for the highway. The infrastructure to get to through the west coast for electric cars would be tough to get built. I've seen what seems to be 200 miles between towns big enought to even have a gas station crossing I80 starting in the midwest through to the end of Nevada, especially Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah and eastern Nevada.


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## jackbauer (Jan 12, 2008)

I have read the chademo spec. The company I work for were considering building dc fast chargers so we joined. It is not very difficult to implement but the timings and cross checks between the car and charger are quite tight. I'd like nothing more than to post it on here as I think this is typical industry bs and its only a matter of time before it leaks or is made obsolete anyway. Roll on J1772.

I spoke to epyon about 3 weeks back regarding the luna. An exercise in pure frustration. To cut a long story short , its unobtanium. Limited availability , consultation period , developers license blah blah blah.


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## frodus (Apr 12, 2008)

jackbauer said:


> I have read the chademo spec. The company I work for were considering building dc fast chargers so we joined. It is not very difficult to implement but the timings and cross checks between the car and charger are quite tight. I'd like nothing more than to post it on here as I think this is typical industry bs and its only a matter of time before it leaks or is made obsolete anyway. Roll on J1772.
> 
> I spoke to epyon about 3 weeks back regarding the luna. An exercise in pure frustration. To cut a long story short , its unobtanium. Limited availability , consultation period , developers license blah blah blah.


So is the CHAdeMO the charger? or is there something in the car that controls current to the batteries? Still haven't seen any sort of spec and the descriptions on several places don't give me 100% of the story.


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## jackbauer (Jan 12, 2008)

The chademo "fast charger" is basically a current source. It doesn't care what voltage your car runs at from 50 to 500v. It will however measure the traction voltage and cross check with what its being told by the car. If they differ by more than i think 2% it shuts down. The car controls the charger with can messages and some simple 12v interlocks. No reason whatsoever that a box like the luna couldnt be fitted to a conversion and plugged into a level 3 charger. Hell , you could even use it with lead acid! The difficulty is the closed nature of the chademo standard. The jari plugs and sockets are readilly available from yazaki in one offs. Approx €500 for the socket and I think €1200 for the plug with a 4 metre lead last time i enquired.


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## palmer_md (Jul 22, 2011)

frodus said:


> So is the CHAdeMO the charger? or is there something in the car that controls current to the batteries? Still haven't seen any sort of spec and the descriptions on several places don't give me 100% of the story.


There are lots of signal getting passed between the car and the off-board charger. The car does however control the rate and can cut-off the charger (relay) in the event that it does not follow the commands correctly.

1- digital signal to start sent from charger to car
2- canbus data sent from car to charger indicating target charge voltage and capacity of pack
3- canbus data sent form charger to car indicating max current and voltage available
4- car verifies compatibility and then sends a digital signal that it is ok to start charging.
5- charger confirms ok to start with digital signal and then car closed relay and commences sending voltage and current targets for charger to run.
6- charger follows the voltage and current commands of the car. the car meanwhile is checking on pack status. If the car wants to stop it sends a zero current signal to the charger. On confirmation of zero current it then removes the ok to start charging digital signal.
7- Charger terminates charge cycle


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## MN Driver (Sep 29, 2009)

I'd imagine we'll have it figured out pretty quick once the first Nissan Leaf's hit the junkyard and we have ready access to those parts. I know everything I'm after off these production cars but the problem is I want in EV in a few years max and ideally an EV next summer so I'm going without the stuff that would be cheaper and more reliable to just pick off of another car.


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## palmer_md (Jul 22, 2011)

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3408



> Anyone doing an advanced conversion may consider the LEAF traction drive as a possible solution, the retail on the motor is $2700 which is dirt cheap and I'm betting the inverter is not too costly as well, a new charger is $1700, etc. Try getting AC parts like that at Metric Mind, a motor and inverter and charger cost more than an entire LEAF. One could easily make this stuff work if they know what they are doing. It's good to know the parts are low cost.


why wait for the junk yard...just hit the Nissan parts counter for new parts.


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## hbthink (Dec 21, 2010)

I would love to hear from others that have attempted Chademo DIY and their experiences. Mine are that concerning the Nissan Leaf if you don't get the Chademo interface 100% correct the car locks up the charge ports but otherwise leaves the car driveable so you can limp back to the dealership. At that point the dealer will use the tech tool and determine that you've somehow interacted with the L3 port which is then reported back to the Nissan HQ. Then after much delay and consternation they reset the error via the dashboard CAN interface and you can go on your way. Just don't do this twice or they get very upset.

Happy DIY Chademo'ing,
Steve


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## qdlaty (Jul 26, 2010)

We need to distinguish here between chargers and charging point.

The most important and sensitive thing in electric car is the battery. It is being discussed all around about safety, lifetime, performance etc. and everybody expect that the car battery will serve also their grandchildren while they accept the fact of need to replace cellphone battery every 6 months.

To make sure the battery will prevail long enough high precision electronics must be designed to limit the ripples and provide stable current source with high controlled voltage. BMS must also play his part at very best to keep every cell balanced.
And for that every manufacturer equips its car with verified and certified charger. Charger that is powered with AC current delivered from the grid. The quality (voltage and frequency fluctuations) doesn't really matter (if it is too bad charger will simply refuse to work) but the battery gets "premium" energy.
To build simple charging pole is not a rocket science - you hook up with utility, they deliver you 3-phase line of power you need and you just integrate a socket and sort of billing unit (you want to make money out of it or at least control who is using your charging point).
But everybody are arriving with their own chargers build into vehicles. 

With DC charging (so far specified only by CHAdeMO association) situation is different - you are exposing your precious battery to a foreign device that will directly pump the energy into it thus you need to be sure that it meets certain quality standards and won't damage your battery (I mean decrease its lifetime). This is why all DC chargers must be done under high control of common rules that are agreed by car manufacturers (face it - fast charging anyway causes accelerated ageing of the battery thus EV makers must carry the risk of warranties). 
The CHAdeMO standard is under such strict control to prevent DIY attempts.
Actually, getting it is not such a big issue (I've already found revision 0.9 free to download on one Chinese ebook sharing portal). 
So, sure - you can make the charger by yourself - little knowledge of power electronics, programming skills and withing a month you can have it running.
But highest cost that mass manufacturers must pay is the certification of CHAdeMO compatibility. This is also sort of proof for users that their car battery is in a good hands.

From my point of view fast charging is artificial being - we all accept EVs are not for interstate/cross-country travel. But the need and the fear of running out of energy was blocking so many people against accepting EVs as an option that this was introduced (along with crazy idea of battery swapping).
Later on we will all have choice of overnight charging vs quick charging. Fast/instant charging will be practical for fleets operators.


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## hbthink (Dec 21, 2010)

Early experimentation with Chademo in pic 1. Picture shows my Biodiesel setup, in corner of garage and the BioBurb nuzzled up to the Leaf. The leaf is charging from rooftop solar. BioBurb for travel, leaf for day to day. I believe biodiesel is much cheaper per mile than electric when factoring in battery cost. Anyways the BioBurb can haul toys the Leaf cannot, also the Burb has leather interior sorry Nissan 

My chademo charger is nearing completion, I'm currently checking power curves and writing ADC code for my dsPIC33 to monitor a current sensor. I hope to test with the leaf very soon. And with the very $$$s Chademo connector. I don't own it my employer does. I hope to move to SAE standard when its out. Power control is all software should be an easy port.

I can add that in developing the Charger I also made what I call a Virtual Leaf to act like the Nissan for benchtop testing of the Charger without endangering an actual Nissan Leaf ($$$s). It has also helped me to really understand the Chademo protocol. The outcome of this is that I should have a small circuit that could be added to any EV DIY or otherwise which imitates the Chademo interface and allows these other cars to use Chademo chargers as if they actually had one.

Steve


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## qdlaty (Jul 26, 2010)

Great.
Congratulations !

Tell my why the second picture has SAE plug?


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## karmann eclectric (Mar 26, 2008)

Excellent! I'm glad to see this thread become so productive. In response to an earlier question; DC quick charging is not about cross-country travel for me, at least not for quite a while yet. I live and work on the outskirts of the Seattle metro area, and it's real easy to rack up over 100 miles in a day. My low capacity high power nicad pack is finally proving itself to be milspec tough, and I want it to last long enough to get a year or two farther down the lithium price and reliability curves. Adding a couple of 15 minute charging stops to a trip wouldn't hurt my daily range nearly as much as my 20 amp AC charging limit currently does. A smart offboard DC 200+ amp supply is much more appealing than upsizing my onboard charger and adding a J1772 adaptor at a cost of thou$ands in order to only step up to 30 amps, as there are some Aerovironment CHAdeMO stations being installed within range by WashDOT, and the odds of a J1772 Level 1 station being at or near my destination are still quite low for the foreseeable future. 
-Jay


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## jackbauer (Jan 12, 2008)

Any progress to report?


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## hbthink (Dec 21, 2010)

I have finished up the code for the dsPIC device. The charger was characterized by pushing current for 1 hour, 20 amps at 250v DC input out to a large array of 100 3ohm 1000 watt power resistors. It worked as designed and met the charge curve requirements of CHAdeMO. I smoked the input supply after this test and had to return it to the rental shop, guess it was only rated to 18 amps? Now trying to source another, but continued testing using an agilent 1kW DC supply. 

Went ahead with CHAdeMO into a leaf as shown in the preceding photo, with the blue leaf. I cannot get the CAN transactions to start??? much confused as to the initial values of all the D1, D2, Lock inputs required. I start by applying D1 as indicated in the specification but I do not see any CAN transmission from the car which is what I expect. 

Has anyone here understand the CHAdeMO input requirements? I'm rereading the spec as there must be something I'm violating which is not initiating the CAN transmission from car. Is the charger required to initiate CAN? Doesn't appear that way from spec but maybe I'm off base here.

Any help would be appreciated, but at this point I have a nice isolated and stable DC charger or power supply. Just need the CHAdeMO interface to work and I'd have a nissan l3 charger.

Later
Steve


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## MylesT (Sep 15, 2012)

Any updates that anyone has to offer on DIY ChaDeMo? I have a 2011 THINK City that I'd like to add a ChaDeMo charge port to at some point (probably after the warrantee ends...). I found this DIY thread and was glad to learn that it's not just me who has been thinking along these lines. There are probably at least 200 THINK City owners alone that would be interested in adding Fast Charge to their cars. Ironically, the THINK City was one of the first to demo ChaDeMo charging at the Feb 2010 Washington DC car show...despite that and the fact that THINK was a member of the ChaDeMo coalition, they've never deployed ChaDeMo on any THINK City car...such a shame since the battery pack on the THINK is probably better than that on a LEAF and since the PCU on the THINK has a Fast Charge Enable parameter indicating that at least from the SW perspective, they anticipated this feature.


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## hbthink (Dec 21, 2010)

I'm in the thick of testing another charger and vehicle combination. The CHAdeMO spec contains instructions for both the vehicle and the charger. I implemented the vehicle side using a microchip dsp33 device and would work well for any DIY vehicle. I'm currently trying to determine the backend control where an onboard BMS would dictate the CHAdeMO parameters based on BMS readings.


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## sparkswb6nov (Mar 17, 2011)

Have you got the CAN fig. out for leaf..Might would to use a Boost converter to get the high up from the straight rec. from 240 transfor.
a prius Boost conver. could be used for that.. and /or with back of bat.
to take up sack ..

just an idea ...



+++++++++++++



hbthink said:


> I have finished up the code for the dsPIC device. The charger was characterized by pushing current for 1 hour, 20 amps at 250v DC input out to a large array of 100 3ohm 1000 watt power resistors. It worked as designed and met the charge curve requirements of CHAdeMO.  I smoked the input supply after this test and had to return it to the rental shop, guess it was only rated to 18 amps? Now trying to source another, but continued testing using an agilent 1kW DC supply.
> 
> Went ahead with CHAdeMO into a leaf as shown in the preceding photo, with the blue leaf. I cannot get the CAN transactions to start??? much confused as to the initial values of all the D1, D2, Lock inputs required. I start by applying D1 as indicated in the specification but I do not see any CAN transmission from the car which is what I expect.
> 
> ...


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## sparkswb6nov (Mar 17, 2011)

Have you got the CAN fig. out for leaf..Might would to use a Boost converter to get the high up from the straight rec. from 240 transfor.
a prius Boost conver. could be used for that.. and /or with back of bat.
to take up sack ..

just an idea ...



+++++++++++++



hbthink said:


> I have finished up the code for the dsPIC device. The charger was characterized by pushing current for 1 hour, 20 amps at 250v DC input out to a large array of 100 3ohm 1000 watt power resistors. It worked as designed and met the charge curve requirements of CHAdeMO. I smoked the input supply after this test and had to return it to the rental shop, guess it was only rated to 18 amps? Now trying to source another, but continued testing using an agilent 1kW DC supply.
> 
> Went ahead with CHAdeMO into a leaf as shown in the preceding photo, with the blue leaf. I cannot get the CAN transactions to start??? much confused as to the initial values of all the D1, D2, Lock inputs required. I start by applying D1 as indicated in the specification but I do not see any CAN transmission from the car which is what I expect.
> 
> ...


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## hbthink (Dec 21, 2010)

We step up 208v 3 phase with a transformer to get to 600v also providing us the necessary isolation. Another trick we have to perform is the ability to operate in both voltage and current modes. Both are required by the specification.

Steve


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## martinwinlow (Sep 22, 2009)

"I'm picturing a black box and adaptor that could enable us to connect to a CHAdeMO station. Anybody come up with one yet?"

This thread appears to have been hijacked by people who want to do the reverse of the original poster - and me - wanted. We want a way of adding ChaDeMo charging capability to our existing (or yet to be built/converted) EV's not build a ChaDeMo-type charger.

Anyone out there got anything new on this?

MW


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## brainzel (Jun 15, 2009)

"Chademo to EV" would be great!
I would have to reduce voltage and current, so who has _"the black box"_? 
Same box should handle CCS ;-)


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## valerun (Nov 12, 2010)

the problem with this is that only very few people would be interested in such a black box I think. That said, if someone from this thread is interested in adapting our code that does reverse (i.e. allows chargers like ours to charge CHAdeMO-enabled cars), PM me.

Valery


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## martinwinlow (Sep 22, 2009)

valerun said:


> the problem with this is that only very few people would be interested in such a black box I think.


Hi Valery, Why _wouldn't_ an EV owner be interested in being able to charge their car in 30 minutes?

Forgive me, but the second part of your post makes me wonder if you understand what it is I'm after? I want to be able to use ChaDeMo Level 3 chargers. As it stands, only EV owners with a ChaDeMo port fitted as standard or as an option can use them. I want an add on kit that will allow the ChaDeMo chargers to work with any EV - any at least that can use the power.

Regards, Martin.


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## jackbauer (Jan 12, 2008)

Also interested in this especially with leaf chademo ports on ebay for less than $600!


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## martinwinlow (Sep 22, 2009)

jackbauer said:


> Also interested in this especially with leaf chademo ports on ebay for less than $600!


What? How come I haven't seen them? I'll have to update my EV related eBay searches!


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## dougingraham (Jul 26, 2011)

jackbauer said:


> Also interested in this especially with leaf chademo ports on ebay for less than $600!


Can you post a link to this? No hits on US ebay with chademo as the search term. All I see is J1772 stuff.

Note: Searched the UK version of Ebay and got no hits there either.


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## jackbauer (Jan 12, 2008)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2010-2014-N...Nissan|Model:Leaf&hash=item3cd9190c99&vxp=mtr

or just search "nissan leaf charge port" on US ebay.


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## kortas (Apr 18, 2012)

jackbauer said:


> http://www.ebay.com/itm/2010-2014-N...Nissan|Model:Leaf&hash=item3cd9190c99&vxp=mtr
> 
> or just search "nissan leaf charge port" on US ebay.


This could be actually a good start - this is the first time that I have seen chademo connector for sale. There is no chance to find this connector on Alibaba (but there is a lot of J1772 and mennekes)...

Reverse engineering can start 

http://code.google.com/p/open-chademo/


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## q-axis (Jan 13, 2014)

I've done this.

Wondering if there is interest to start a Kickstarter (or similar) project in order to make a black box solution viable for EV conversions? 

Nik


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## valerun (Nov 12, 2010)

q-axis said:


> I've done this.
> 
> Wondering if there is interest to start a Kickstarter (or similar) project in order to make a black box solution viable for EV conversions?
> 
> Nik


Awesome. Can you share some details?


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## dougingraham (Jul 26, 2011)

q-axis said:


> I've done this.
> 
> Wondering if there is interest to start a Kickstarter (or similar) project in order to make a black box solution viable for EV conversions?
> 
> Nik


I would be interested to know how the negotiation works. If you have done this would you care to describe in general how it is done? Something like when the link is established the EV announces itself to the Chademo charger. The Chademo charger acknowledges and announces its capabilities. The EV then closes its contactor and connects the Chademo charger to the battery and tells the Chademo it is ready and to start charging at XXX amps. The EV probably has to send continuous status messages to the Chademo to keep it running. When the EV decides the battery is charged it tells the Chademo to stop and opens its contactor when the Chademo replies.

I assume it is something like that.

I have zero interest in a kickstarter for this. I would never use one even if there was a Chademo in town (unless is was free and positioned near an establishment I like to frequent). I don't need it as my daily drives are typically about 12 miles and a big day is 24 miles.


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## q-axis (Jan 13, 2014)

@valerun

Certainly. Here is the vehicle. It is a Lotus Exige conversion. It has a 400V traction battery and two UQM powerphase 125 drives. It originally used a custom DC fast charger. In the first quarter of last year I received a brief to upgrade the vehicle charging interface to CHAdeMO standard. This was completed in September (I hope the pictures have attached OK to this post).

I thought it would be pretty cool to have a less heavily integrated solution that would easily interface to any vehicle, or more generally, any compatible battery with a minimal control interface. With a bare minimum of control functions, it should be quite easy to integrate with an off the shelf BMS. So, that is how I stumbled upon this forum. 

@dougingraham

Your description of the interface is generally correct. There is a handshaking sequence that takes place using discrete signalling lines and a dedicated CAN link. 

And, indeed message updates are required from the vehicle at short intervals in order to maintain the charge sequence. 

The sequence is described in detail in the JIS standard but very generally it goes something like this:

1 - Charger announces itself to vehicle via discrete signal
2 - Vehicle starts CAN communications with charger
3 - Vehicle announces it is ready to charge (CAN and discrete signal)
4 - Charger locks the connector and performs an insulation test
5 - Charger signals it is ready to receive current request (CAN and discrete signal)
6 - Vehicle closes battery contactors and requests charging current
7 - Vehicle sends a charge stop request (CAN and discrete signal)
8 - Vehicle opens battery contactors
9 - Charger unlocks the connector
10 - CAN communication is halted

All the best.

Nik


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## valerun (Nov 12, 2010)

q-axis said:


> @valerun
> 
> Certainly. Here is the vehicle. It is a Lotus Exige conversion. It has a 400V traction battery and two UQM powerphase 125 drives. It originally used a custom DC fast charger. In the first quarter of last year I received a brief to upgrade the vehicle charging interface to CHAdeMO standard. This was completed in September (I hope the pictures have attached OK to this post).
> 
> ...



250kW AC drive. nice! great conversion!


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## valerun (Nov 12, 2010)

martinwinlow said:


> Hi Valery, Why _wouldn't_ an EV owner be interested in being able to charge their car in 30 minutes?
> 
> Forgive me, but the second part of your post makes me wonder if you understand what it is I'm after? I want to be able to use ChaDeMo Level 3 chargers. As it stands, only EV owners with a ChaDeMo port fitted as standard or as an option can use them. I want an add on kit that will allow the ChaDeMo chargers to work with any EV - any at least that can use the power.
> 
> Regards, Martin.


Hi Martin - sorry for delay in response. 

You are right - some conversion owners will want this. "some" because it's not going to be free while the utility of such a device is very limited - even in Silicon Valley, there are just 3 public CHAdeMO stations...

What I was rather asking is whether the conversion market which is ~1/100th of the size of the production EV market today, is a better investment of resources for a company working on CHAdeMO devices... 

That's all.

V


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## q-axis (Jan 13, 2014)

@valerun

You make some very good points. I think you're right that the market for such a product will be quite small. 

Nik


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## Jaesin (Mar 6, 2011)

q-axis said:


> I've done this.
> 
> Wondering if there is interest to start a Kickstarter (or similar) project in order to make a black box solution viable for EV conversions?
> 
> Nik


There most certainly is.

Incredible conversion, by the way.

- Jaesin


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## q-axis (Jan 13, 2014)

@Jaesin

The main conversion was done by a guy called Jim Router - an extremely talented automotive/mechanical engineer based in the UK. 

Nik


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## valerun (Nov 12, 2010)

you guys might find this thread useful: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=13349


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