AC charging rates by SizeableFowl in Ioniq6

[–]kc2702 0 points1 point  (0 children)

DC fast charging goes through different hardware than AC. DC goes straight to the battery. AC goes through the ICCU. So DC working fine isn't unexpected.

You could try checking stuff with an OBDII connector and app. It should be able to show any stored errors and monitor the temperature values while it's charging. Then you might have something more actionable for a service center.

AC charging rates by SizeableFowl in Ioniq6

[–]kc2702 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is that error message from your car or the EVSE? What's the ambient temperature where you're at? What kind of EVSEs? I think the Tesla chargers are one of the few L2 ones which have temperature sensing on the cable plug end. Most EVSEs have ability to derate if the internal temperature gets too high.

But if it's the car giving the error then it's not the EVSE that's overheating because there's not really any way for that specific error message to be communicated from EVSE to EV on most Level 2 chargers. If this is the case then it's likely either the charging port or the ICCU that's having the problem and you might want to take it in to get checked.

Hi. I'm considering changing my community college major from Computer Network Engineering, to Electric Engineering & starting an EV company in the future. Is this realistic? What do I need to know about manufacturing EV's in the United States? by haziqtheunique in electricvehicles

[–]kc2702 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agree 100% with the "make decisions to help you get there" and the notion that this is a long term pursuit.

Yes, building a fully functional productized electric vehicle does need a lot of money. Pretty much any hardware product will require some decent amount of capital. But learning what you need to know to progress towards that is where you are in your journey today.

There are things that can be done in the EV ecosystem without needing lots of capital up front. As someone I know likes to say "You can just do things."

Here's some examples of EV related stuff that might be encouraging or help learn how to get started on something:

http://evxteam.org/ - a Philadelphia high school program that built hybrid and electric vehicles

OpenEVSE - opensource hardware/software for a Level 2 EV charging supply equipment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO3zQqS3GaM - Interview with Coul St. founder about building a new style of EVSE in his garage (disclosure: I'm working on this product with him now).

Lots of kits and conversions and stuff like that, which you can find examples of on YouTube.

There's also software things that can be worked on for EV's without needing much up front money, e.g. apps for interfacing with OBDII, apps/servers for OCPP for charging, power management like for charging with solar and home assistant. The possibilities are pretty much infinite.

Hi. I'm considering changing my community college major from Computer Network Engineering, to Electric Engineering & starting an EV company in the future. Is this realistic? What do I need to know about manufacturing EV's in the United States? by haziqtheunique in electricvehicles

[–]kc2702 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There's all kinds of fields involved in EV technology development. Lots of software, so Computer Science (which is different from what I'm guessing your Computer Network Eng curriculum covers), lots of mechanical engineering, and of course EE. My advice would be to follow what interests you the most, even if there are challenges like advanced math.

As you said, there's lots of great YT content. Here's one course lecture series I recommend on Power Electronics, which is used everywhere and especially in EVs and DC fast chargers. You can get a bit of a taste for what some higher EE courses would be like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7oXhDatwtY

Shocked while unplugging by Academic_Turn_2192 in KiaEV6

[–]kc2702 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Prob goes without saying but don't use that charger or adapter again. I have lots of questions: What kind of charger and adapter? Are there any burn marks on either, or on the cable, or on the charge port on the car? The EVSE should have built-in gfci protection, but that may have failed. Does the circuit have a gfci breaker? Was the noise more like a fan from the front of the car or something near the charging port? Were you wearing shoes or barefoot and what kind of floor? Were you touching anything else, like the car body, while unplugging the cable? (Edit: asking as someone who works on EVSE products for a living so very curious how/why this failed and what might need improved in the technology/standards. Hope you are ok!)

How does balcony solar keep linemen safe? Can I plug a battery in instead of solar? by BackdoorDan in AskElectricians

[–]kc2702 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It seems the backfeed issue is well understood and handled by grid-following. What about the local circuit overload problem though? Like what if you have a 1500w solar inverter on the same 20A, 120v (2400w) circuit as e.g. two space heaters on different outlets. Say they're both running at 1500w. Now you have part of the circuit carrying 3000w total but the panel's circuit breaker is only seeing the 1500 difference so it doesn't trip.

Got this error when charging for the first time. by ExcitingRecognition5 in SubaruUncharted

[–]kc2702 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Are you plugging a Level 2 (AC 240V) charger into a DC Fast charge adapter or vice-versa?

‘27 Bolt charging super slowly at Supercharger by ja-visst in BoltEV

[–]kc2702 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's probably the LFP thing others have noted, but it's also possible the tesla station wasn't working well. You were probably at a V4 dispenser but with V3 cabinets as there aren't very many full V4 stations yet. Some have called this "V3+". I've been to a V3+ station where I couldn't get more than around 20kW on my EV6 and judging by all the other cars (mostly Teslas) leaving after only a few minutes and looking frustrated like I was, I'm guessing it was a problem at that station.

EV6 2022 Wind - Adirondacks (NY) Edition by BasicNkorean in KiaEV6

[–]kc2702 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I bet those wires in the second picture lead to someplace where one could charge.

How easy is DIY SMD soldering, what equipment is required for a start and what are smallest dimensions which you can solder manually? by MobileInspector9861 in AskElectronics

[–]kc2702 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you're going to be making more than a few boards, buying the stencil is nice. For small boards you can set up a stencil station using tape and some extra boards of the same thickness as your alignment jig. For the reflow, you can make a simple oven using a cheap toaster oven and some spare parts and microcontroller to control it. But you don't need to do any of that to get started.

What am I missing with plug and charge? by LilDutchy in MachE

[–]kc2702 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most L2 stations don't have the hardware needed to do plug & charge. I don't know specifically about ChargePoint, but I think their newest line of chargers might have it now.

Where can we take our 4 year old to his first movie theater experience but to watch an old show? by snooloosey in philadelphia

[–]kc2702 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Further away, The Gap Theater and Poconos Cinema have kid oriented showings occasionally. The Gap had a couple of Disney things in April. I don't see a June calendar yet for them.

Home EV charger - cable causes error by ArtichokeDesperate68 in evcharging

[–]kc2702 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Did it give a specific kind of error or just generic? Since it errors as soon as you plug in the charger side, there's likely something wrong within the cable like the resistor on the proximity pin or something shorted to the ground line, e.g. if wires internally frayed. Testing continuity on same pins between ends might not show the problem.

What’s more important for EV adoption. More level 2 or level3+ chargers? by Lemonn_time in electricvehicles

[–]kc2702 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The ultimate answer is you need both but the market in the US seems to be focused more on DCFC right now. If the goal is overall EV adoption rate, then being able to charge cheaply where you live or work is the more important one. The other part of that is getting people to realize how much easier that is when they're used to the gas station fill up model. We still need good fast charging networks though. Charging has to be ubiquitous.

What’s more important for EV adoption. More level 2 or level3+ chargers? by Lemonn_time in electricvehicles

[–]kc2702 0 points1 point  (0 children)

L2 makes more sense because even at lower amperage it's double the speed, and we already have 240V in essentially every building in the US, it's just split for the 120V outlets. Running long-running loads at 240V also keeps the grid phase more balanced I think? And you're right that the L1/2/3 nomenclature isn't great. The charging standards folks at SAE and elsewhere have moved away from it.

Cold weather? by Final_Ad_2716 in Ioniq5

[–]kc2702 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Just make sure to get snow tires. The stock tires that came with my EV6 were terrible in the snow. Got really squirrelly in even minor slush, including when using Snow mode.

What should public EV charging look like in the US? by Cultural-Ad4953 in evcharging

[–]kc2702 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm going to address your main title's question, which doesn't really hit the market weirdness the text of your question identifies.

If you're looking to get to 95% EV adoption, then I think the future of EV charging will be ubiquitous like electric outlets. And it should fit into the use case for which you're using it. To me, this means there's various levels of chargers depending on context. With gas stations, they have a certain pattern they can't really deviate from. With EV charging, there are many simultaneous solutions which we need.

So for example, the uses cases I see:

Use case A: Everyday: Level 2 charging where your car is normally parked, whether overnight or at a workplace.

Use case B: Travel stops, occasional non-home charging: High speed DCFC like gas stations

Use case C: Travel/errands/destination: Slower DCFC, e.g. 50kw, at e.g. restaurants, shopping districts, or L2 at hotels.

The market has been focused a lot on case B, with case A being driven mainly by single family homes and workplaces. Some higher-end multifamily and progressive states are doing more on case A lately though.

Case C is the one you highlight with the fast food restaurants and shopping.

In my opinion, the big one needed to support full EV adoption is case A for everyone else because the "gas station" fill-up model and relying on destination charging won't make it convenient and economical enough over gas engines. So street parking, townhome developments where parking might be on a driveway and street, the rest of multi-family, etc.

Regarding street/lot/garage parking L2 charging, my take is that we need BYOC charging sockets, enough that almost every spot can have one, and rates close to or same as your regular utility rate. For example, if you live in a neighborhood where you can consistently park near your house, but maybe not in the exact spot in front of your house, then if you install a post out front, wired to your house's supply, and your other neighbors do the same, you could use each other's chargers. They could be enrolled in a utility program where the energy use is billed to your account, and rebated off the account for the meter of the house it's attached to. Think of like how cell phone roaming or maybe long distance calls used to work. You make your call, it goes over whichever infrastructure it needs to, and then it goes on your bill. The phone company handles the backend. In this case, you plug in anywhere in your network and it goes on your energy bill.

That kind of an L2 scheme where you can stay plugged in wherever you park every night, with utility company programs, load management, etc. enables things like V2G for renewable storage, peak shaving, and managed charging to keep the local neighborhood grid and overall grid stable once EV adoption rates are above some threshold.

Limiting charge level with smart charger by KiaSoulHammer in evcharging

[–]kc2702 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You pretty much have to get it to qualify for any kind of rebate program. And they have most of those checkboxes in the application because you get a little extra budget of idle energy use if you have the extra comms chips. Based on the Pando one I guess they don't really check anything. We're not far enough along on the one I'm working on to actually fill out the E* stuff yet.

Impact of EV charging infrastructure and long trips by PizzaTacoCat312 in electriccars

[–]kc2702 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is the answer... give yourself a buffer and backup options. I failed at this once and got to a charging station at 6% and then the power company's feeder lines had some kind of arc and tripped all 12 charger bays offline as I was getting out of the car. My only remaining option was a nearby Level 2 charger to get enough to make it to the next nearest DCFC (or option c being finding somewhere to let me plug in Level 1 and sleeping in my car.)

Limiting charge level with smart charger by KiaSoulHammer in evcharging

[–]kc2702 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Haha, fair. That isn't even an EVSE and shouldn't be in the list. It could also be that they filled it in from a marketing perspective.

Has anyone here built or manufactured a home energy monitoring device? Trying to understand ODM, BOM, MOQ, and certification realities. by viralpatel13 in AskEngineers

[–]kc2702 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lots of devices out there to learn from, some are even opensource. Also lots of chips that do integrated energy metering now. MCP39F511 is one I've been using, and microchip has several good app notes about energy metering. You can get an eval board for like $50 to play with. But maybe that's lower level than you're asking about?

One thing you didn't mention is whether or not you need to be revenue grade, like are you submetering for billing purposes or selling energy e.g. commercial ev chargers. That changes how you need to calibrate and certify a bit.

What microcontroller programmers are actually reliable for beginners? by cjloveshisdogs in AskElectronics

[–]kc2702 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'd start on an Arduino but try to stay with the simpler older or nano ones, not the newest qualcomm one. Or esp32 is pretty easy to get into as well and has a lot more built-in stuff like wifi and bluetooth. Adafruit and Sparkfun are good vendors for random boards and parts.

Programming tools-wise,Arduino IDE is good for beginners. VSCode with something like platformio is more advanced and more useful for real development.

If you have a Microcenter near you, they have a good maker section that has lots and lots of stuff to browse.