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SAFETY NEAR MISS - contact cleaner inside EVSE case
OpenEVSE Support
Thanks for posting your experience. It is a good reminder that chemical fumes when concentrated can be flammable, I will add your caution to the relay maintenance guide.
Relay issues are a very common hardware issue of a EVSE (any brand), the relay/contactor is the only mechanical part in the station and it is a wear item. We are working on a replacement relay module for the now defunct Juicebox station, the same failure is very common on the Juicebox so there is a huge demand, we would hate to see so many units hit the landfill when so much of the station can be reused.
The choice is yours, you can send the station to us to look at and repair (we only charge for parts and return shipping) or you can test the electronics in your station and verify at least the main controller is functional. We would suggest replacing the relay with the Packard C240C (the ring terminals on the cables will need to be converted to furrles) lid and new 3.5" color LCD, this gets you the new display and latest WiFi and firmware, if you want to stick with the older style I can find one in a parts bin for you. The Packard C240C supports Level 2 only however it is a bit more robust than the Struthers Dunn Level 1 and Level 2 relay, it is likely to last a couple years longer than the Struthers Dunn. If you go with commercial station, you will likely eventually get a hardware issue or relay failure with no support for parts or repair.
Thanks - when I get home tonight I need to look closer to see if anything looks damaged beyond the front cover and LCD. I'm leaning towards buying a full new kit depending on how many components are damaged.
If I bought a new kit and reused my 14-50 and J1772 cable - would you include the ferrules I need to swap over?
Is it possible that the relay is switching under load? I'm wondering why my replacement relay was pitted after only ~2 years, and why it would have arced to cause the explosion in the first place.
OpenEVSE Support
It should not be switching under load, as long as the button and latch in the charge handle are not damaged. When the button is pressed the SAE J1772 standard requires the vehicle to stop drawing current within 100ms. THis is pretty easy to test, during a charge press in the button on the handle but do not unplug. You should see the current drop to 0A.
I put the lid back together and tested out the EVSE - everything is working perfectly! I pressed the button on the handle and confirmed that current dropped to zero. The relay did not open immediately and the display has a little lag - but the relay opens and it goes to zero amps.
Since everything is working fine - I think I just want to get a new older style lid (direct replacement for mine - hoping you have one) and the updated Packard C240C and ferrules. I already have the updated Wifi module so I don't think that's worth it.
How should I go about ordering these parts?
Does the device also tell the car to draw zero amps when controlling it using MQTT, i.e. the FS (stop) command? My software always issues a command to set the lowest charge current (6A) before issuing the FS command. But this may not be necessary if FS sets zero current before opening the relay.
OpenEVSE Support
$FS is the sleep command. The only thing that should cause a relay opening under load is a GFCI fault. All commands RAPI, MQTT and HTTP should be graceful.
Pilot from 1000Hz PWM to DC - Signal that EVSE is no longer ready
Vehicle stops current
delay
Relay open
Feel free to test.
Thanks, that’s very reassuring. I will try and test this and then remove the setting to 6A from my Node-Red control software.
(Apologies to the OP for hijacking this thread!)
Andy Bowman
BE CAREFUL!
Tonight I cleaned my main relay contacts with emery cloth after getting a "stuck contact" error the other day. After I finished I blew out the case and sprayed the contacts with contact cleaner - which is basically just isopropyl alcohol.
I let everything dry out for about 5 minutes... while wondering if that was long enough, knowing that the case is waterproof and very well-sealed. I put everything back together, plugged, and it started charging just fine.
After about 15 minutes I re-programmed in the charging schedule from the web interface, which stopped the charging. From out in the garage I heard a BOOM... from what I can tell when charging stopped the contacts on the relay arced and caused an explosion in the case. The front of the case blew apart, but there appears to be no other damage, and the breaker did not trip.
BE CAREFUL WITH CONTACT CLEANER!!! I should have let it dry for probably an hour, or even overnight before putting the case back together.
The other question - should I just buy a new lid? What are the odds anything else is damaged? My wife has also lost a lot of faith in the OpenEVSE system now after another bad relay (in 6-1/2 years - not sure if that's typical or not) and now this safety issue after I was "messing with it" so she's pushing for an EVSE that's not "home made." Thoughts?!?!?!?