Sunday, September 1, 2013

Charger Inlet

Another standard that has emerged is SAE J1772 - a new standard for EV charger plugs.  It is safer - it uses pilot and control signals to ensure that there is no current flowing unless an actual EV is connected.  It is also becoming more widely available, with companies like ChargePoint providing pay-per-use charging stations.  The Jeep will be 1772 compatible.  To do this required quite a lot of hacking...

The inlet was much larger than the previous plug I used, so I had to rip out all of the old metal where the gas filler tube used to be:

I also ultimately removed the remainder of the metal around the base - it was spot-welded in about half a dozen places, so was fairly easy to remove.  I then fabricated new sheet metal to replace it - you can see the poster-board template I made on the right:


Here you can see the new sheet metal test-fit in place.  This will also provide more room for components in the rear compartment - the level "base" replaces the complicated angled sheet metal that enclosed the previous gasoline filler (seen in the first picture in this posting):


Here is the view from the outside.  This is a nice vertical piece of metal to attach the new inlet to:


 I painted it white, put exterior silicone-based adhesive liberally around everything, then riveted it in place:


And here is the new J1772 inlet under the gas lid.  Very nice, if I do say so myself!



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