Support

Hi, I have a brand new, less than 48 hours old v5.5 board which worked for a few good charges, but now won't hold the relay closed for more than about 30 seconds.  It starts humming, then releases and gives a grounding error.  The ground error makes since, as the test is expecting a closed relay.  Disconnected, the relay draws 158mA, which seems to be in spec.  I suspect this is an issue with the Q2 transistor not sinking enough current, and the coil voltage falls off.  Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Chad

@Support  Thank you for the reply.  The spaces are required?  I would have thought spaces would be stripped out and not necessary.   I did not try it with spaces, so I will try this now.

@Support and @Tyler,   Success!   I have tried the value to disable the feature, "$Z0 255 255" and that worked.  I now measure 11.77VDC and 0VAC on the Relay coil.

I have also tried the value "$Z0 200 200"  and that works too.  I measured 9.07VDC and 4.61VAC on the Relay coil.  I figure the value of 200 is almost 80% for coil power which should hold the contacts closed.  I now can tap on the relay and box and the relay no longer looses contact.

Open EVSE Support, thank you for the feedback.  I do suggest adding more details about this feature and explain WHAT this feature is intended for and how to disable it and the exact values to enter.  I'm not a programmer for systems like this and would not expect the data to require spaces.   It would be helpful for others to have examples of values and the percentage Relay coil power it provides, and the expected response from the RAPI command box. 

Thank you again for the support and I hope to continue using my Open EVSE product as long as I can.

Side note, the reason I had to replace my main board and display is due to a lightning strike that blew out the fuses and apparently killed the boards.  I AM ADDING lightning protection to my power inputs to the main board.  I suggest that you add this to your next design.  I'm adding MOVs, and replaceable primary fuses before power feed to the boards.