Tesla Gen 3 charger compatibility [SOLVED]

[ev340]

Hello all

In an ideal world I would have researched extensively before posting and potentially making a tit of myself.

However time is against me and I cannot afford to make a second mistake Or have this one sold from under me.

I ordered one of those stupid Gen 2 superchargers from America. Before I saw the forum post warning against them
So to avoid that mess and get the extra charge rate I’m about to buy an EU gen 3 charger (I already have the board from Damien).
Are there any pitfalls I should be aware of before I pull the trigger? ( I can not afford to have a second useless charger )

The charger is from a 2017 model X

Sorry to have a needy post as my first

Many thanks in advance.

[Jack Bauer]

To the best of my knowledge there were no Gen3 used as superchargers and I have not heard of any compatibility issues.

[ev340]

To the best of my knowledge there were no Gen3 used as superchargers and I have not heard of any compatibility issues.

Many thanks!!

Best of knowledge is all anyone can ask for I shall buy that then And at least that’s one worry off my mind!



I understand that Tesla stack chargers to achieve faster charging I assume that stacking gen 2 and 3 is not possible?

[m.art.y]

So to avoid that mess and get the extra charge rate I’m about to buy an EU gen 3 charger (I already have the board from Damien).

Hi, how are you getting on with this? Which board are you using for it? Did you manage to get it going? Thanks

[ev340]

So to avoid that mess and get the extra charge rate I’m about to buy an EU gen 3 charger (I already have the board from Damien).

Hi, how are you getting on with this? Which board are you using for it? Did you manage to get it going? Thanks

Hi!
I was able to charge successfully from a wall socket at baby test ampage. (5amp)
I used a variable resistor to get the resistance correct for it to detect the plug.
I haven’t put my brain to work on the charging side of things in a while so I might misremember this but I think SIMP BMS controlled the charge relay, and damiens gen 3 board did the handshake. https://www.evbmw.com/index.php/evbmw-w ... controller


I’m happy to talk through my progress. If that’s useful to you!

[m.art.y]

I’m happy to talk through my progress. If that’s useful to you!

Yes that would be very useful. I need a charging solution and researching the Tesla option too. It's a bit confusing with the differences between US/EU Tesla charger variants and which board I need. Is your gen3 charger EU or US and is it 10 kw or 18.5 kw? You did the Tesla control board separation procedure from the charge modules? Thanks

[ev340]

I’m happy to talk through my progress. If that’s useful to you!

Yes that would be very useful. I need a charging solution and researching the Tesla option too. It's a bit confusing with the differences between US/EU Tesla charger variants and which board I need. Is your gen3 charger EU or US and is it 10 kw or 18.5 kw? You did the Tesla control board separation procedure from the charge modules? Thanks

Cool I’m away for a while so can’t show you specifics but I have an eu version, so no modification required.
Evbmw covers the steps to convert to 3 phase eu.

I have spammed some photos, cutting the board isn’t that bad it’s nerve wracking!

The hardest is routing the cable to not compromise the weather sealing.
I also left a spare cable in mine to avoid having to desolder the whole lot Just for one broken line. I think it’s 18 lines (I used 3 ground and 3 positive because they’re thinner gauge than ideal.)
I had to merge these into two pins defeating the purpose

I think mine is 18 but I cannot remember off the top of my head.

[m.art.y]

Cool I’m away for a while so can’t show you specifics but I have an eu version, so no modification required.

Yes I've seen it is a bit more difficult to wire gen3 vs gen2 . Do you know if your charger is 10 kw or 18.5kw? Trying to decide between gen2 and gen3. If they were the same price which one would you choose? Gen3 is harder to wire up but have a bonus of integrated junction box that you don't need to buy separately.

[ev340]

Cool I’m away for a while so can’t show you specifics but I have an eu version, so no modification required.

Yes I've seen it is a bit more difficult to wire gen3 vs gen2 . Do you know if your charger is 10 kw or 18.5kw? Trying to decide between gen2 and gen3. If they were the same price which one would you choose? Gen3 is harder to wire up but have a bonus of integrated junction box that you don't need to buy separately.

Yeah gen3 is much more fiddly, I have a gen2 too which was nothing to wire up just push connectors.
I’m not sure off the top of my head if it’s 18 or 10, I chose gen 3 because I got mugged off with one of those super charger gen 2 chargers so I just wanted to avoid that ever being a risk.

Also, the gen 3 has a HV output whilst charging. Which i find interesting, I’m not sure if I’ll use it yet but it could be handy to run a heater whilst charging without needing to wire up a relay for it. Is that what you meant by junction box?

[m.art.y]

Also, the gen 3 has a HV output whilst charging. Which i find interesting, I’m not sure if I’ll use it yet but it could be handy to run a heater whilst charging without needing to wire up a relay for it. Is that what you meant by junction box?

Where is this HV output is that the port next to where the phases come in? Is that output just an extra connection point to the HV battery or is that provided by the charger itself and have you noticed what voltage?
By junction box I meant the part with the contactors - on gen2 it is a separate box.
On the side of your charger there is a sticker it should say 48A or 72A and 3P. Which obe have you got 48A or 72A?

[muehlpower]

The difference between 48A and 72A is easy to see, as the 48A only has 2 instead of 3 modules. I think there are also some with only one module. US models differ in the hardware only in the contactor part, which is normally not used by us. I used the space on mine to accommodate the DC contactors for fast charging and a couple of fuses, as well as the voltage measurement for the LIM.

[m.art.y]

I used the space on mine to accommodate the DC contactors for fast charging and a couple of fuses, as well as the voltage measurement for the LIM.

Thanks, that is very helpful and nicely done. Would you explain the wiring a little bit? Do you have AC coming in via 2 separate ports (black thick wire and 2 smaller orange wires) and is it wired for 3 phase? How is the control done when you connect to single phase and then 3 phase is it automatic or you have to change a setting? Also looks like you're not using AC contactors how are you timing the AC application to the charger is it done via EVSE? Which control board are you using? Also looks like you totally removed Tesla mainboard are you connecting to the modules via it's connector?

[muehlpower]

The AC input is the black cable (4x6mm²). The two thick oranges on the right are the DC input and, like the AC input, are connected to the CCS2 inlet. The two thin orange cables supply the DC-DC converter, battery heater, cabin heater and A/C compressor with power. I completely removed the original board and led the cables through the old connector hole to the controler. The two thick, lower orange cables go to the battery box, in which the main contactors and the main fuse are. In single phase mode only one of the three modules works, which gives me up to 6kW if the socket is adequately fused. I do not bridge 2 modules on the AC side because there are no single phase outlets larger than 32A! 16A is normal

[ev340]

The difference between 48A and 72A is easy to see, as the 48A only has 2 instead of 3 modules. I think there are also some with only one module. US models differ in the hardware only in the contactor part, which is normally not used by us. I used the space on mine to accommodate the DC contactors for fast charging and a couple of fuses, as well as the voltage measurement for the LIM.

Really neat setup!!!! You should be really proud of that!!

[arber333]

Hi

Can anyone confirms to me if it is OK to use all straight wires on Gen3 charger modules the way Damien shows in his video? If you actually used them like that for CAN lines how is it working then?
I can see on some of my equipment if i use straight lines for a bit of distance on CAN it actually works, but after some 30cm signal is lost if wires are not twisted.

tnx

[ev340]

Hi

Can anyone confirms to me if it is OK to use all straight wires on Gen3 charger modules the way Damien shows in his video? If you actually used them like that for CAN lines how is it working then?
I can see on some of my equipment if i use straight lines for a bit of distance on CAN it actually works, but after some 30cm signal is lost if wires are not twisted.

tnx

I think some shielding would be wise especially this close to heavy currents.
Since doing this I have thought about much neater / shorter routes.
I’m still waiting on my motor to be installed so haven’t had the chance to actually do anything with this yet so can’t answer your main question.

[arber333]

Thanks...

Would you advise me if i can wire 3x Gen3 Charger Enable and Active in parallel as single output so i can connect them directly to my DUE board?
I would then have only 1x Enable pin and 1x Active pin on my DUE to steer all chargers. i would setup charger in 3phase mode anyway.
Is that doable or is that something i dont want to do? Are that Enable and Active lines native to its own module?

tnx

[ev340]

Thanks...

Would you advise me if i can wire 3x Gen3 Charger Enable and Active in parallel as single output so i can connect them directly to my DUE board?
I would then have only 1x Enable pin and 1x Active pin on my DUE to steer all chargers. i would setup charger in 3phase mode anyway.
Is that doable or is that something i dont want to do? Are that Enable and Active lines native to its own module?

tnx

I had a 19 core wire so plenty to spare, so I wired all of them independently, then at the connector I merged them onto a single pin.... it worked fine.

However, I don’t know how much it draws so possibly the 3 into 1 would get toasty along the length of the wire.

This was over a year ago though so I am not 100%

[arber333]

I had a 19 core wire so plenty to spare, so I wired all of them independently, then at the connector I merged them onto a single pin.... it worked fine.

However, I don’t know how much it draws so possibly the 3 into 1 would get toasty along the length of the wire.

This was over a year ago though so I am not 100%

Hm... thanks.
I think i will connect 3 separate enable wires but only one (3x paralleled) active wire to my DUE. I can use 3 outputs of ULN2003 for open collector contacts, but to send 3v3 signal i need separate transistors.
I will use two of the rest of ULN2003 pins to signal coolant pump relay and disable the car.
Do you know the steps for charging? Do enable pins come online before active pins?

[arber333]

Also this would require a change in Toms firmware. As now i see each Enable and Active pin is turned on in separate cases.

I might join those cases to a single outputs as i will generaly use charger for 3phase setup.
Whenever i would use a single phase both of ramaining phases would not be connected into the charger simply by using a single phase cable.