Compatible brands of Level 2 240V home chargers for e-Golf

JoulesThief · Nov 18, 2015

miimura said:
vwsickness said:

I purchased the Jesla charger and it has performed flawlessly even with the Car-Net delayed timer function.

http://shop.quickchargepower.com/JESLA-is-THE-40-amp-J1772-portable-charging-solution-JESLA.htm

Click to expand...

I have one and really like it. I didn't mention it because it's a kind of expensive niche solution. I was lucky enough to find one used from another RAV4 EV owner who sold his car. Only paid $650. At that price it's a no-brainer compared to other 30-40A EVSEs. Since it's so portable, the best use case for it is charging on the road at an RV park, but I don't think many e-Golf owners use their car that way.

I would and I will.. because the juicebox40pro is clumsy for the application, and a Jesla would be a no brainer for me going up the east side of CA on highway 395... there is nothing but RV parks or motels or county property with outlets from Mojave to Mammoth Lakes. it's an area I camp and fly fish when given the opportunity. Let me know if you see another used one on sale via a PM.

miimura · Nov 18, 2015

The Jesla is also available for rental at $75 per month. However, it requires a deposit of the full retail purchase price, which is refunded when they get the unit back.

Jesla Rental

jacdc · Feb 3, 2016

miimura said:
golfsok said:

Did anybody try this charger ? http://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-EV-Ch...PIPHorizontal1_rr-_-205491633-_-205808537-_-N

Click to expand...

Yes, an east coast user on the Facebook group had one and it worked well. However, he installed it himself and the connection terminals where you hard-wire it in overheated. We don't know why that happened, but it is important to torque the connections properly. His report did not talk about using the e-Golf's timer for delayed charging, but we have no reason to think it doesn't work.

Hi - I bought this EVSE and am having trouble using the Delayed charger feature in CarNet. No matter what I do, the car always starts charging when plugged in with this EVSE (GE Durastation). I tried pushing the timer button near the charge port of the car but it does not stop the charge cycle.

I also disabled all charge profiles and used the Carnet app. to stop the charge cycle manually. This stops the charge cycle but I then have to start it manually in the Carnet app.

Is this a bug in Carnet or do I have to buy an EVSE that has its own delayed charging/timing feature? Delayed charging works with the 110 Volt charger that comes with car.

Thank you for any help you can provide.

J

forbin404 · Feb 4, 2016

jacdc said:
miimura said:

golfsok said:

Did anybody try this charger ? http://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-EV-Ch...PIPHorizontal1_rr-_-205491633-_-205808537-_-N

Click to expand...

Yes, an east coast user on the Facebook group had one and it worked well. However, he installed it himself and the connection terminals where you hard-wire it in overheated. We don't know why that happened, but it is important to torque the connections properly. His report did not talk about using the e-Golf's timer for delayed charging, but we have no reason to think it doesn't work.

Click to expand...

Hi - I bought this EVSE and am having trouble using the Delayed charger feature in CarNet. No matter what I do, the car always starts charging when plugged in with this EVSE (GE Durastation). I tried pushing the timer button near the charge port of the car but it does not stop the charge cycle.

I also disabled all charge profiles and used the Carnet app. to stop the charge cycle manually. This stops the charge cycle but I then have to start it manually in the Carnet app.

Is this a bug in Carnet or do I have to buy an EVSE that has its own delayed charging/timing feature? Delayed charging works with the 110 Volt charger that comes with car.

Thank you for any help you can provide.

J

Curious, did you lock the doors? I noticed that I cannot do it with the doors locked.

jacdc · Feb 6, 2016

I haven't tried delayed charging with the doors unlocked. Did the buttons near the charger outlet work?

J

Jiffy · Feb 9, 2016

Has anyone purchased or heard anything about the EVoCharge EVSE?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FVE9Z6U/ref=s9_simh_gw_g263_i1_r?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=0WKVW2H83M9988DH3WJK&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2079475242&pf_rd_i=desktop

It gets good reviews and is reasonably priced; you can buy it directly from the company for $500 shipped. Only down-side is the short 18' cable, but not an issue for me.

Thanks

JoulesThief · Feb 9, 2016

Jiffy said:
Has anyone purchased or heard anything about the EVoCharge EVSE?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FVE9Z6U/ref=s9_simh_gw_g263_i1_r?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=0WKVW2H83M9988DH3WJK&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2079475242&pf_rd_i=desktop

It gets good reviews and is reasonably priced; you can buy it directly from the company for $500 shipped. Only down-side is the short 18' cable, but not an issue for me.

Thanks

I ended up with one of these, they are known to work with the carnet.vw software application for delayed charging at time of departure settings. 24 feet of cord to the plug, also.

http://www.amazon.com/JuiceBox-Charger-Electric-Vehicle-Charging/dp/B00I4D6SJ2/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1455040173&sr=1-2-fkmr0&keywords=e-motorwerks+EVSE

jacdc · Feb 9, 2016

jacdc said:
I haven't tried delayed charging with the doors unlocked. Did the buttons near the charger outlet work?

J

Good news...tried recreating charge profiles and delayed charging is working with the GE Durastation! Will post again if this no longer works but hopefully new pG&E plan and after hours charging will save some $$$.

J

HarryMac · Feb 9, 2016

Just wanted to share my feedback on the 2016 VW eGolf SEL Premium

RE: Charging Station/EVSE

The JuiceBox Pro 40 fit both my budget and needs. In the San Francisco Bay Area, PG&E has a pilot program called Supply-Side Pilot that provides a $100 discount/credit towards purchase of qualifying EVSE. JuiceBox is local for us here, so I drove the eGolf to their location to pick the item up. Had to return the unit after less than a week because when the Time of Use feature of the JuiceBox is activated, the eGolf does not "wake-up" when electric current becomes available.

from eMotorWerks:
The JuiceBox can only present the availability of power, and it is up to the car to command the JuiceBox to supply power when it becomes available. When using a time-of-use schedule, the JuiceBox inhibits the availability of power during that time, and then makes it available later when the charging period rolls around, so the car may then command the JuiceBox to supply power.

However, a small number of EVs don't handle the protocol correctly, and they "go to sleep" when power is unavailable for an extended period of time. For example, the Leaf, Volt, Tesla, i3, etc., all obey the control protocol correctly. But some others like the Fiat and e-Golf don't listen when the power becomes available again, thus they never command the JB to supply power. For those cars, re-plugging the J1772 charging plug is necessary to restart charging, and ToU functionality is limited - for any EVSE that provides a time-of-use function (not just the JuiceBox).

JoulesThief · Feb 9, 2016

HarryMac said:
Just wanted to share my feedback on the 2016 VW eGolf SEL Premium

RE: Charging Station/EVSE

The JuiceBox Pro 40 fit both my budget and needs. In the San Francisco Bay Area, PG&E has a pilot program called Supply-Side Pilot that provides a $100 discount/credit towards purchase of qualifying EVSE. JuiceBox is local for us here, so I drove the eGolf to their location to pick the item up. Had to return the unit after less than a week because when the Time of Use feature of the JuiceBox is activated, the eGolf does not "wake-up" when electric current becomes available.

from eMotorWerks:
The JuiceBox can only present the availability of power, and it is up to the car to command the JuiceBox to supply power when it becomes available. When using a time-of-use schedule, the JuiceBox inhibits the availability of power during that time, and then makes it available later when the charging period rolls around, so the car may then command the JuiceBox to supply power.

However, a small number of EVs don't handle the protocol correctly, and they "go to sleep" when power is unavailable for an extended period of time. For example, the Leaf, Volt, Tesla, i3, etc., all obey the control protocol correctly. But some others like the Fiat and e-Golf don't listen when the power becomes available again, thus they never command the JB to supply power. For those cars, re-plugging the J1772 charging plug is necessary to restart charging, and ToU functionality is limited - for any EVSE that provides a time-of-use function (not just the JuiceBox).

Can you program instead a "Time of Departure", via the infotainment center inside the car that would function within your "Time of Use" parameters offered by PGE?

HarryMac · Feb 9, 2016

JoulesThief said:
HarryMac said:

Just wanted to share my feedback on the 2016 VW eGolf SEL Premium

RE: Charging Station/EVSE

Click to expand...

Actually I did the following:
1. Verified that my parked eGolf only has 45miles range remaining.
2. Set the JuiceBox Time of Use to start at 11pm.
3. Set the Standard Profile with a Departure Time of 7AM
4. Use the Standard Profile -- this is exptected to start past 11pm. I know I cannot actually set the start time at carnet.
-- by the time #3 kicks in, current should be available for use by the eGolf.

When I woke up at 1am to check on the charging using CarNet. Car was not charging and battery range is still 45 miles, with "Last Update at 10 minutes ago".

JoulesThief · Feb 9, 2016

HarryMac said:
JoulesThief said:

HarryMac said:

Just wanted to share my feedback on the 2016 VW eGolf SEL Premium

RE: Charging Station/EVSE

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Actually I did the following:
1. Verified that my parked eGolf only has 45miles range remaining.
2. Set the JuiceBox Time of Use to start at 11pm.
3. Set the Standard Profile with a Departure Time of 7AM
4. Use the Standard Profile -- this is exptected to start past 11pm. I know I cannot actually set the start time at carnet.
-- by the time #3 kicks in, current should be available for use by the eGolf.

When I woke up at 1am to check on the charging using CarNet. Car was not charging and battery range is still 45 miles, with "Last Update at 10 minutes ago".

Don't set up a Juice box "time of use", turn that feature off. Don't use it, at all.

Just set up, on your laptop, a "time of departure" of 6AM on Car-netVW.com and SAVE it . Then make sure "Time of departure' is turned "on".

Now go out to your car, turn on the ignition, and take a short drive around near a cell phone tower where you get good verizon signal. Your Carnet in the car should now have gotten the "signal" that you need to depart by 6AM, and it will calculate, backwards, once you plug in at what time it needs to start charging.

Try it.

When you get up, first thing in the morning, see what the state of charge is on your car via the carnet application on your smart phone.

miimura · Feb 9, 2016

JoulesThief said:
Now go out to your car, turn on the ignition, and take a short drive around near a cell phone tower where you get good verizon signal. Your Carnet in the car should now have gotten the "signal" that you need to depart by 6AM, and it will calculate, backwards, once you plug in at what time it needs to start charging.

When you get up, first thing in the morning, see what the state of charge is on your car via the carnet application on your smart phone.

I doubt moving the car into an area with better cell signal after the fact will help. I have watched the car wake up about 20 seconds after saving the schedule. If it cannot get signal at that time, it probably won't keep retrying. Hopefully it would throw an error so that you would know if it didn't actually save all the way through to the car. Maybe I should try it when our e-Golf is parked in the underground parking at my wife's office. I don't think any carrier has any signal down there.

JoulesThief · Feb 9, 2016

miimura said:
JoulesThief said:

Now go out to your car, turn on the ignition, and take a short drive around near a cell phone tower where you get good verizon signal. Your Carnet in the car should now have gotten the "signal" that you need to depart by 6AM, and it will calculate, backwards, once you plug in at what time it needs to start charging.

When you get up, first thing in the morning, see what the state of charge is on your car via the carnet application on your smart phone.

Click to expand...

I doubt moving the car into an area with better cell signal after the fact will help. I have watched the car wake up about 20 seconds after saving the schedule. If it cannot get signal at that time, it probably won't keep retrying. Hopefully it would throw an error so that you would know if it didn't actually save all the way through to the car. Maybe I should try it when our e-Golf is parked in the underground parking at my wife's office. I don't think any carrier has any signal down there.

Then you should perhaps schedule it while sitting inside the car to make sure and verify that it "takes" ?

bizzle · Feb 11, 2016

I found a retired guy who builds OpenEVSEs at cost for fellow EV'ers. In any case, he just contacted me and said he has another one for $350. I can pick it up and mail it to you for whatever shipping is. I'm going to his house this weekend to return a cable he lent me so it's not a big deal to pick this up. Here's the description he sent me:

I just built another EVSE if you know of someone that wants it. I found a used ChargePoint cable on eBay for $99 shipped so I made up another unit. It is for sale for $350.

It consists of a used ChargePoint (Yazaki) J1772 20 feet 30A cable, a 4 function multi meter, a 12V supply and 5V regulator, A DIY OpenEVSE ver 2 board, A blue display with RTC, a 40A range cable, A 80A rated relay, MOV and power distribution board, and the GFCI and current coils. It is mounted in a NEMA box but it is not waterproof due to the multi meter and lack of seals. There was room in the box to add MOV transient protection and to distribute power.

This unit can be used as a L1 12A unit with the approate adapter cable but it is intended to be a 32A max L2 EVSE.

32A%20Multi%20Meter%20Display%20Open_zpsvpfveuud.jpg

My wife and I will likely be in LA this weekend if anyone wants to pick it up locally.

kirby · Feb 11, 2016

bizzle said:
...A 80A rated relay...
This unit can be used as a L1 12A unit with the approate adapter cable but it is intended to be a 32A max L2 EVSE.

Would you mind either asking for the part number and source on the relay or give me his contact info?

I bought built the OpenEVSE deluxe kit that comes with a 40A 208V contactor and I was under the impression it was difficult to find relays/contactors that were >30A and that worked at both 120V and 240V. I would really like use my OpenEVSE on the road with 120V if needed, but I think 120V won't operate the coil in the contactor.

nsayer · Mar 4, 2016

kirby said:
Would you mind either asking for the part number and source on the relay or give me his contact info?

I bought built the OpenEVSE deluxe kit that comes with a 40A 208V contactor and I was under the impression it was difficult to find relays/contactors that were >30A and that worked at both 120V and 240V. I would really like use my OpenEVSE on the road with 120V if needed, but I think 120V won't operate the coil in the contactor.

It's particularly difficult (I haven't been able to at all) find any DPST 12v coil relays with contacts rated for > 30A that are UL Registered.

The 30A ones I've found have QD terminals, which means you really can't use them north of 24A because of the QD terminals.

It's much easier to get beefy contactors, but the problem with those is that they're only going to work at either 208/240 or 110/120 VAC.

One option is to build your own OpenEVSE (or OpenEVSE II or Hydra) EVSE with 120V contactors and use it at 120V initially, then after you get a 240V circuit installed, you can swap out the contactors for 240V ones. This is ok because the DC power supplies for all of them are rated for 90-240VAC 50/60 Hz.

kirby · Mar 4, 2016

nsayer said:
One option is to build your own OpenEVSE (or OpenEVSE II or Hydra) EVSE with 120V contactors and use it at 120V initially, then after you get a 240V circuit installed, you can swap out the contactors for 240V ones. This is ok because the DC power supplies for all of them are rated for 90-240VAC 50/60 Hz.

I have an OpenEVSE "built" from the 50A deluxe kit (I put "built" in quotes because honestly the end-user work required isn't much) with the 40A 240V contactor on a 240V circuit. I was hoping to take it with me sometimes, and use it at either 240V or 120V depending what I can reach at friends or families house. Basically, I wanted to take one box to be prepared for 120V, or any of the common 240V sockets I might find.

I'm not stuck, I can always take the OEM 120V EVSE and my OpenEVSE 240V one.

JoulesThief · Mar 4, 2016

kirby said:
nsayer said:

One option is to build your own OpenEVSE (or OpenEVSE II or Hydra) EVSE with 120V contactors and use it at 120V initially, then after you get a 240V circuit installed, you can swap out the contactors for 240V ones. This is ok because the DC power supplies for all of them are rated for 90-240VAC 50/60 Hz.

Click to expand...

I have an OpenEVSE "built" from the 50A deluxe kit (I put "built" in quotes because honestly the end-user work required isn't much) with the 40A 240V contactor on a 240V circuit. I was hoping to take it with me sometimes, and use it at either 240V or 120V depending what I can reach at friends or families house. Basically, I wanted to take one box to be prepared for 120V, or any of the common 240V sockets I might find.

I'm not stuck, I can always take the OEM 120V EVSE and my OpenEVSE 240V one.

How difficult or easy was that to assemble? Price?

kirby · Mar 4, 2016

It was these three things:

* Kit: http://store.openevse.com/collections/frontpage/products/openevse-50a-charge-station-combo-with-enclosure
* J1772 Cable: http://store.openevse.com/collections/ac-cables/products/j1772-cable-40a-ultra-flexible-us-only
* AC cord: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002YURAW

That came to ~$500 with tax and shipping. It's possible to get a a cheaper J1772 cable.

Assembly time was several hours with me going slow. No soldering required. I took longer than the guide said because I was taking my time, triple checking everything. I had two problems:

- The 50A AC cable is a bit thick. I had trouble getting it positioned correctly thru the cable glands. I should have used a 40A cable, that's what the OpenEVSE kit is rated for, (40A of current on a 50A breaker)

- I plugged in the LCD ribbon cable incorrectly after test fitting the lid on the enclosure. Simple fix, but it took me a while to debug.

If I were to buy again, I would add the wifi module which came out recently. I'll add one eventually to my box, but my tinker time is booked right now on an R/C helicopter.

Compatible brands of Level 2 240V home chargers for e-Golf

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