Adapt Ford's 120v charge cable to 240v

[cecil-t]

Interesting, but above my head. There's only one way to really be sure though - plug it in to 240v

I concur on the date format, though the 133rd day of 2017 is a Saturday which is a little weird.

In googling around a bit, it seems the last character of the part number is the only one that changes, I've also come across FM58-10B706-AG on eBay.

I'm going to speculate that that last character increments every year. In fact, it almost looks like the year code on the 10th digit of the VIN. But in both of our examples the part number would be one year ahead of the car's year: F = 2015, J = 2018.

I'm not going to pull mine apart but I am curious if there really is a difference. Again my original thought was that they sell this thing in Europe, and it seems highly unlikely the EVSE itself would be any different if they could make one globally and slap a different plug on the end as appropriate.

 

[triangles]

I'm going to speculate that that last character increments every year. In fact, it almost looks like the year code on the 10th digit of the VIN. But in both of our examples the part number would be one year ahead of the car's year: F = 2015, J = 2018.

Interesting and makes some sense. However after googling a little it seems more likely a part revision level. http://www.fordification.com/tech/datecodes.htm and http://automotivemileposts.com/ford/fordpartnumbers.html

Again my original thought was that they sell this thing in Europe, and it seems highly unlikely the EVSE itself would be any different if they could make one globally and slap a different plug on the end as appropriate.

I thought this too but I think it's a little more complex than just slapping a different power plug on the end. The part would have to be dual voltage, work on 50Hz or 60Hz, and have to work with the US standard J1772 plug or the Mennekes plug that they use in Europe. At least initially such a complex product may not have been cost efficient. Especially if there are any significant differences between the way the Mennekes and J1772 plugs work.

I just had a thought on how I can modify this to work on 240V or 120V. Gotta do some probing with a multimeter to make sure I understand how at least parts of this are "wired" and pick my EE friend's brain to make sure I'm not doing something stupid.

 

[spirilis]

I'm going to speculate that that last character increments every year. In fact, it almost looks like the year code on the 10th digit of the VIN. But in both of our examples the part number would be one year ahead of the car's year: F = 2015, J = 2018.

Interesting and makes some sense. However after googling a little it seems more likely a part revision level. http://www.fordification.com/tech/datecodes.htm and http://automotivemileposts.com/ford/fordpartnumbers.html

Again my original thought was that they sell this thing in Europe, and it seems highly unlikely the EVSE itself would be any different if they could make one globally and slap a different plug on the end as appropriate.

I thought this too but I think it's a little more complex than just slapping a different power plug on the end. The part would have to be dual voltage, work on 50Hz or 60Hz, and have to work with the US standard J1772 plug or the Mennekes plug that they use in Europe. At least initially such a complex product may not have been cost efficient. Especially if there are any significant differences between the way the Mennekes and J1772 plugs work.

I just had a thought on how I can modify this to work on 240V or 120V. Gotta do some probing with a multimeter to make sure I understand how at least parts of this are "wired" and pick my EE friend's brain to make sure I'm not doing something stupid.

My understanding is it's not. The LV DC power supply for the EVSE should work fine on 50Hz or 60Hz (it all gets rectified to DC), same as the vehicle's BCCM charger in fact, and the Mennekes plug is compatible with J1772 type 1 (in fact there are passive adapter cables out there) electrically, the difference is the Mennekes plug can optionally receive 3-phase AC for vehicles with chargers that can work with it, but works fine with single-phase power.

Fun fact, the Tesla AC (non-DC supercharger) protocol is also compatible with J1772 type 1 single-phase, thus an adapter like this is basically a dumb adapter passing through wires from one connector to the other: http://shop.quickchargepower.com/JDapter-Stub-Tesla-Charge-Station-Adaptor-JDPTRSTB.htm;jsessionid=36F0BAF81D966D4651E931BF3524703E.p3plqscsfapp004

PS: I am envious of the Europeans having 3-phase power everywhere. Wish we had the type 2 connectors on our cars; we wouldn't need DC Fast Charging much.

 

[cecil-t]

PS: I am envious of the Europeans having 3-phase power everywhere. Wish we had the type 2 connectors on our cars; we wouldn't need DC Fast Charging much.

Agreed. I'd even be happy if 240v were more accessible and the whole concept of "Level 1" 120v charging didn't exist.

 

[Pearl]

I don't believe that the inclusion of the 2 22AWG wires are what determines if the EVSE is 240V capable. Those two smaller gauge wires are for the Pilot Signal of the J1772 standard.

So it looks like there are some 240V capable OEM EVSE's. Unfortunately I am certain mine is not one of them. From what I've gathered from cecil-t and spirilis the differences are as follows:

240V capable:
OEM EVSE part #FM58-10B706-AJ
- Has thermistor in plug. Plug end cord has the following on it (3 COND 16 AWG & 2 COND 22 AWG 600V) The 22 conductors for the thermistor which is probably an added safety feature to detect if the plug overheats.

NOT 240V CAPABLE:
OEM EVSE part #FM58-10B706-AF
- Has no thermistor in the plug (3 COND 16 AWG AWG 600V) ie. no wires for a thermistor

 

[spirilis]

Are there L1 EVSE's out there with no pilot/proximity signal? I seem to recall the J1772 standard allows for some basic L1 charging with no pilot signal but I don't recall the details... I think at least the proximity signal needs to be present?

 

[cecil-t]

I don't believe that the inclusion of the 2 22AWG wires are what determines if the EVSE is 240V capable. Those two smaller gauge wires are for the Pilot Signal of the J1772 standard

We're talking about different ends of the EVSE. I'm talking about the input side from the 5-15 plug. Spirilis is saying those 22 gauge wires are for the thermistor. The J1772 side is a 5-wire cable, not 4.


I don't know what components make it or make it not accept a 240v input, the specifics of the electrical components are above my head. I just plugged it in and it worked, just charged up on it now in fact on 240v. My suggestion is to just plug it in and roll the $250 dice. If your unit fries just go buy a cheap dual-voltage unit like zencar - either way you'll end up with twice the charging speed.

 

[spirilis]

I think a 150V varistor would preclude its use at 240V as it should short circuit the input, tripping the breaker and overheating the input wiring.

Unless it blows "open" instead, rendering itself useless right away while the remainder of the EVSE functions OK. That would be a technical design fault since its safety function is useless but who knows. I should pop open the case on my CMax EVSE at some point and snoop.

 

[cecil-t]

I can't imagine intentionally causing a short circuit is a safety feature? There must be something else to that mechanism we're not understanding.

 

[spirilis]

I can't imagine intentionally causing a short circuit is a safety feature? There must be something else to that mechanism we're not understanding.

An inline fuse maybe? It's a typical protection method for lower voltage DC stuff anyhow.

 

[triangles]

I think a 150V varistor would preclude its use at 240V as it should short circuit the input, tripping the breaker and overheating the input wiring.

Unless it blows "open" instead, rendering itself useless right away while the remainder of the EVSE functions OK. That would be a technical design fault since its safety function is useless but who knows. I should pop open the case on my CMax EVSE at some point and snoop.

Varistors are more for surge suppression and momentary voltage spikes. If you apply 240V across a 150V varistor it will fail open in a rather incendiary fashion. In other words, the magic smoke found inside all electronics that make them work would leak out rendering it inoperable. Also I doubt very highly it would trip the 40A breaker on my 240V outlet.

Tomorrow I plan on modifying mine to make it dual voltage. Although I'm going to "cheat" a little and I'm sure UL would not approve! :lol: I'm separating the voltage going thru the relays and out to the car from the voltage supplied to the circuit board. The cheating part is I am going to use the ground as a neutral for the power supplying the circuit board. This is highly improper from an electrical wiring standpoint but it will work relatively safely.

This is possible because a 240V circuit isn't really a 240V circuit it is two 120V circuits. If you're not familiar with how household wiring works here's a readers digest explanation. A typical 120V circuit has 3 wires, a NEUTRAL, HOT, and GROUND (GND). A typical 240V circuit like my NEMA 6-50 outlet also has 3 wires, HOT, HOT, and GND. Some like a NEMA 14-50 outlet have a 4th wire which is a NEUTRAL. Each HOT is still only 120V. The trick to getting 240V from this is that between the two HOTs the AC sine waves are 180 degrees out of phase. What this means is that when one HOT is at +120V the other HOT is at -120V and measured between them you get 240V.

I have only used the OEM EVSE once and that was just to see if it worked. The only use I have for it is as a backup to my L2 EVSE should it ever fail. This would be bad since my FFE is my only car and there is no reasonable other way to charge my car but at home. If I can make the OEM EVSE into a 12A L2 it will be much more useful as a backup. I'll take pictures and post an explanation if anyone wants to copy and make their non-240V OEM EVSE more useful as a L1/L2 EVSE.

 

[cecil-t]

Tomorrow I plan on modifying mine to make it dual voltage. Although I'm going to "cheat" a little and I'm sure UL would not approve! :lol: I'm separating the voltage going thru the relays and out to the car from the voltage supplied to the circuit board. The cheating part is I am going to use the ground as a neutral for the power supplying the circuit board. This is highly improper from an electrical wiring standpoint but it will work relatively safely.

Good luck, let us know how it works out. What does your part number end with? -AF I'm guessing?

Just don't plug it into a GFCI circuit and you should be good. What is your 240v plug?

 

[triangles]

Good luck, let us know how it works out. What does your part number end with? -AF I'm guessing?

Per my previous posts, yes

Just don't plug it into a GFCI circuit and you should be good. What is your 240v plug?

Interesting the thought of plugging into a GFCI never crossed my mind, but you're right the way I'm wiring it it should trip a GFCI since I'm using the ground pin for current. I will try a GFCI outlet to see if it trips. I'm keeping the GFCI circuit on the EVSE intact for the power going to the car however by necessity the circuit board will be powered before the GFCI current transformer. As mentioned in my previous post, my 240V is a NEMA 6-50.

I'm working on it now. Just completed the hard part. Removing the relays.

 

[spirilis]

That's awesome... I love a good 'ole fashioned hack!

 

[triangles]

I finished it. I replaced the plug with a NEMA 6-50 (240V). I already had a NEMA 6-50 to 5-15 adapter to plug into a regular 120V outlet that I use with my Juicebox EVSE. Post mod it worked on a 120V outlet. As expected it trips a GFCI 120V plug immediately. It appears to work just fine on 240V. here's a little 240V teaser:
https://youtu.be/cer2TDnbOfw
Tomorrow or when I get around to it I'll do a write up with pictures in case anyone else want to try duplicating. I'll also get around to putting the case completely back together.

 

[triangles]

After several hours something went poof while charging. Tripped the 40A breaker. It left a nice black mark on my stool. I started doing a postmortem. I don't see anything obviously wrong but it looks like it was something with the relays(covered in carbon). The PCB sill looks fine. Sometime this week when I have time Ill see if I can figure out what went wrong.

 

[cecil-t]

After several hours something went poof while charging. Tripped the 40A breaker. It left a nice black mark on my stool.

Oof. Sorry to hear. Sounded like you had it.

 

[spirilis]

So we know 2017's appear to be safe at 240V unmodified... prior years it's a gamble. Or at least one part# does work.

 

[triangles]

I'm 90% sure the circuit board is still good. I still need to see if the relays are toast. I'll have to do some thinking about what I want to replace them with if they are toast. It almost looks like one or more of relays are what blew up but that wouldn't have tripped a breaker. My prime suspect is my soldering work on the bread board I soldered the relays to. It kind of boggles my mind that I don't see anywhere that there is an obvious short. FYI the relays were rated at 16A, 250V. If all else fails I can fall back on my original plan. for a little over 100 bucks I can replace all the internals with Open EVSE parts.

 

[triangles]

So there was a short on the breadboard I had mounted the relays too. Luckily it appears to have just arced on the breadboard between the two hot wires. I honestly couldn't tell exactly where it had arced. Just pretty much the whole board was toasty. My best guess is there was some slightly conductive residue on the board and the pads are very close together. With the right conditions eventually materializing it arced. I'm surprised the wires weren't melted considering it tripped a 40A breaker.

I broke one of the relay pins off when I was removing them from the crispy bread board. I rigged it up with the relays "floating" just to make sure it still functioned. Tested on 120V first then plugged into 240V. I checked the current draw see below:

Since I don't know the true condition of the relays I ordered two replacements and will update when they come in this weekend and I can do some more testing before I declare victory.