Build your own Mode 3 charger

[Steepndeep]

Hi

I just took delivery of a 2016 Outlander 2 weeks ago. I am fairly happpy with the car so far except for the missing EV-only button discussed elsewhere in the forum. The standard charge cable which comes with the car is said to limit the current to 10 A. I just bought a Mode 3 Type 2 cable to charge at chargingstations with 16A and would like to use this at home as well. My household fuses can be changed to 20A so no problem there. Buying a home charger seems to cost app 500 Euro or more which looks extremely excessive. Looking at the IEC spec for charging stations is somewhat costly as well as IEC charges 200 SwissFr for each document (thank's for that). So my question is, what does the pilot signal from car to charger actually do? Is it simply a high-low Voltage which drives a relay in the charger to activate 240 V after the plug is connected to the car? Or is there something more? Does anyone have a spec for the Mitsu implementation of the Mode 3 connection. Or to make it even simpler, can you charge the car from a standard 240 V 16A socket without charger? You should then have a switch at the socket so when you attach the cable there is no voltage in the socket and then you turn the voltage on with the switch.

 

[maby]

The information is available via Wikipedia - I found it a while ago. The main function of the signalling up the cable it to inform the charger - which is actually in the car - of the maximum current it is allowed to draw. This is communicated via the duty-cycle of a pulsed wave that is fed up the cable. That rectangular box in the cable that is supplied with the car simply contains the pulse generator and some indicator lights.

 

[maby]

Follow up - the required information including an outline circuit design can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAE_J1772

 

[Regulo]

If you fancy building one yourself:

 

[Regulo]

Ooops! Beat me to it, Maby.

 

[Steepndeep]

Thanks for the reply. On a similar note, does anyone know why Mitsu does not support 3 phase 400 V household charge. Single phase 16 A is not really impressive....

 

[maby]

Thanks for the reply. On a similar note, does anyone know why Mitsu does not support 3 phase 400 V household charge. Single phase 16 A is not really impressive....

Presumably because very few people have access to it. This is a PHEV with a 10kWh battery, not a Tesla with several tens of kWh - a 16A single phase will charge it in about 3 hours - how many people would be prepared to pay extra for anything faster? Quite a lot of people here actually consider the supplied 10A charge lead acceptable!

 

[TheBunyip]

Those interested in a DIY approach to 16A charging may find the products offered on this site useful.
http://www.openevse.com/

 

[SolarBoy]

Thanks for the reply. On a similar note, does anyone know why Mitsu does not support 3 phase 400 V household charge. Single phase 16 A is not really impressive....

Presumably because very few people have access to it. This is a PHEV with a 10kWh battery, not a Tesla with several tens of kWh - a 16A single phase will charge it in about 3 hours - how many people would be prepared to pay extra for anything faster? Quite a lot of people here actually consider the supplied 10A charge lead acceptable!

For the first few months I was stuck with the 10Amp charger.

I now have an Type 1 extension cable for my car charger, charging at 16Amps is obviously much faster. I don't think the car takes the full 16Amps, though it may be due to only having charged from 50% SOC so far.

Give a choice, I'd prefer to be able to charge at the full 32Amps that my home charger offers.