diy solar

diy solar

Level 2 Charging My Tesla. I need more power, but which way do I go about it?

There are a couple EVSEs that can do variable charge rate for solar. OpenEVSE and Emporia are two that I know of. They accomplish this by varying the J1772 pilot signal to the car. I looked at using these for my system but I couldn't find a way to implement it in off-grid only. They are intended for grid tie systems with generation and grid CTs.
 
Hedges said:
Ideally, you have variable charge rate, and implement zero export by varying charge current into Tesla. I guess that takes Level 3? CHADEMO?

But a simple way to go would be smaller battery system and a relay switching charge cord between 120V and 240V depending on SoC (of fixed battery). That varies charge rate between Level 1 and Level 2. Fixed battery buffers production. That should work off-grid; if grid-connected, need fixed battery to implement zero export. Which is a common function for AC coupled batteries.
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He already has only one battery. What do you mean by smaller battery system? At this point in the conversation, recommend sell the Tesla and get a nice car that runs on gas.

Did you see this article from yesterday?

California firefighters use 6,000 gallons of water to put out "spontaneous" Tesla car battery fire​

 
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JCSchwarb said:
He already has only one battery. What do you mean by smaller battery system? At this point in the conversation, recommend sell the Tesla and get a nice car that runs on gas.

Did you see this article from yesterday?

California firefighters use 6,000 gallons of water to put out "spontaneous" Tesla car battery fire​

Click to expand...
That was bad training on the firefighters part.
You don't extinguish an electrical fire with water. lol
 
JCSchwarb said:
He already has only one battery. What do you mean by smaller battery system?
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TessieRed said:
Hello All. I am in need of some advice with my solar system. I have an EG4 6K Off-Grid Split Phase inverter paired with 12 320W Canadian Solar Panels and a 5.1 KWh EG4 LL Battery. Max production I saw was about 3.6Kwh from my system.
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OK, he has a battery attached to EG4 in addition to battery in Tesla.

Optimum setup would be to vary charge rate of Tesla to use 100% of surplus PV.

My simple electromechanical solution would be to use the Level 2 charge cord and a relay to switch it between 120V (level 1) and 240V (level 2) charging. Whenever EG4 battery is near full, enable Level 2. When it gets lower, enable Level 1. Charge power into Tesla steps up and down, EG4 battery cycles to absorb or supply the difference between that and what PV produces.

Is Level 1 charging 1800W, level 2 about 6500W? The difference of about 4kW is probably too high a charge/discharge rate for the 5.1 kW EG4 battery, so a bit larger would be better.
 
Did you know that the J1939 spec supports charging from 6-80 amps at both 120 and 240 vac?

I'm it sure if any EVSE or car can switch from 120 to 240 on the fly.

A better option in my opinion would be simply adjusting the current. You could get as low as 720 or 1440 watts for low production times.
 
JCSchwarb said:
He already has only one battery. What do you mean by smaller battery system? At this point in the conversation, recommend sell the Tesla and get a nice car that runs on gas.

Did you see this article from yesterday?

California firefighters use 6,000 gallons of water to put out "spontaneous" Tesla car battery fire​

Click to expand...
There were also 599 other car fires yesterday. I don't see the need to bring those up.
 
timselectric said:
Non conductive foam.
Click to expand...
USE WATER TO FIGHT A HIGH VOLTAGE BATTERY FIRE. If the battery catches fire, is exposed to high heat, or is generating heat or gases, use large amounts of water to cool the battery. It can take between approximately 3,000-8,000 gallons (11,356-30,283 liters) of water, applied directly to the battery, to fully extinguish and cool down a battery fire; always establish or request additional water supply early. If water is not immediately available, use CO2, dry chemicals, or another typical fire-extinguishing agent to fight the fire until water is available.

NOTE: Tesla does not recommend the use of foam on electric vehicles.

Apply water directly to the battery.
Click to expand...

 
Danke said:
Have you thought about calling Tesla engineers to let them know? Having your knowledge could save lives.
Click to expand...
I'm sure that they are always working on getting better. They are already aware of anything that I would suggest. Implementation is the only hurdle.
 
JCSchwarb said:
He already has only one battery. What do you mean by smaller battery system? At this point in the conversation, recommend sell the Tesla and get a nice car that runs on gas.

Did you see this article from yesterday?

California firefighters use 6,000 gallons of water to put out "spontaneous" Tesla car battery fire​

Click to expand...

Or buy a Leaf instead. More than 650,000 Leafs built and driven over 10 BILLION miles and zero battery fires. Sure, there have been house fires, charging port fires, and several cases of arson/insurance fraud but no battery fires.

I'm also in the camp of adding more solar since he works from home. Let the sun charge the Tesla during the day and save the batteries for peak evening and overnight consumption.
 
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