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Author Topic: Elcon TC HK-H 1800W Charger (on Zero Motorcycles 2013+)  (Read 18558 times)

Shadow

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Elcon TC HK-H 1800W Charger (on Zero Motorcycles 2013+)
« on: September 11, 2018, 12:20:52 PM »

Elcon TC HK-H 1800W Charger (on Zero Motorcycles 2013+)

Onboard charger functional substitute or additional QuiQ-like offboard charger for about $300 USD.

Vendor I used is EVComponents on their Customized Chargers website section. When ordering you can give the battery information and it will come pre-programmed as specified with "charge enable" wires. Discovering this information from Unofficial Zero Service Manual at the UZM:Cells topic lists various model years and cell informations. For my 2016 DSR these are Farasis 29Ah cells and there is no direct datasheet (it exists, but who has it? Please share if you have a copy!) but an older datasheet for 25Ah cells is close enough for the voltage characteristics.

Ordering details are as follows:

Battery Type  Litihum-ion
Number Of batteries In Series  28
Nominal Voltage of each battery  3.65
Amp Hour(Ah) of Battery Pack  110
AC Input Voltage  90VAC~256VAC
Other Requirement(not required)  28s4p, fully charged 4.15Vdc/cell 116.4Vdc maximum.
Subtotal  $225.00 + Shipping & Handling  $81.00 = Grand Total  $306.00

Precisely the same module can be ordered from Electric Conversions (Elcon of California USA); from email quotes and correspondence the people at Elcon confirmed that these modules are all made by the same TC Electronics factory in China. Elcon provides a value-add by having programming and warranty available to customers from California. Elcon prices out at twice the cost for single quantities however for large quantities the pricing is then comparable to ordering direct from China.

Order with EVComponents placed 25-July-2018, shipping advice received 07-August-2018, DHL tracking number received 11-August-2018, package received 13-August-2018.





Other tools and materials:
Anderson Power Products #10/#12 gauge size SBS series connector contacts (two are needed for re-working the soldered SB series-compatible ends of the DC output cable from the charger)
0.25 inch Heat Shrink Tubing (two lengths sum total less than 8 inches)
Heat source for the above
TEMCo Hydraulic Cable Lug Crimper TH0005 11-US-TON (Needed for the #6 AWG crimp die)
Zap straps / "zip-ties"

Wiring to the bike for testing:
The stock charger on the 2016 is belly pan mounted and has a data connection I haven't touched yet, an AC input wired to the kettle power socket as mounted to the bike frame, and a DC power connector which is APP SBS #10/12 sized crimped contacts in an SBS50BRN shell. You could probably ignore this. What I did for testing was (after verifying residual voltage was non-lethal) un-pin the connector shell and rubber boot for re-use and tuck the contacts out of the way.
The HK-H 1800W package comes with a NEMA 15A and (as-of-yet unidentified) other connector pigtail for AC input, a KST 50A gray (soldered! KST #8 ga contacts on #10ga stranded wire) and (as-of-yet unidentified) other connector pigtail for DC output, and some charging enable wires pinned on a multi-position connector for the data signaling.
For DC output pigtail I cut off the soldered contacts and replaced with APP SBS #10/12 contacts crimped and heat shrink guarded with the rubber boot from previous un-pin of the stock charger. This DC cabling was then routed to where I mount the HK-H 1800W unit on the bike.
AC input pigtail was left as-is since I have a short cable which connects to a Zero OEM J1772 inlet adapter, out of convenience as the inlet was already mounted on my bike to a NEMA 15A receptacle end.
Signal wires are connected to a 120 Ohm resistance for testing to enable the charging module's program.

The watts are going in! This was on a battery that had been charged to full overnight with the stock onboard module and the voltage was resting between 115Vdc-116Vdc. I watched it continue to taper back on the watts until zero watts were going in. At that time the charging finished and no watts were flowing the fan on the HK-H 1800W unit continued to be active for a period of time before shutting off.



The reason I chose the 1800W module and not the 3300W module (what most people know this as the basis product from which DigiNow Super Charger v2 is developed) or the 6600W module is rather I found the DC supply wire protrusion for the fan to be a weak point of design in my experience with the DigiNow Super Charger v2. Also cost is a factor, if you do not ever need an upgraded charger but you may still want to have a reasonably priced option should your stock onboard charger cease to function. At $225 (plus high shipping cost) for single quantity this is a completely reasonable insurance against a failed charger. Given all the talk I have read and heard about spending thousands of dollars on charging equipment to go to extremes, or to still suggest we pay $600 for the QuiQ charger which is some really aging technology, it is worth a try to show there are other options.



Mounting options are not well explored yet. This is physically smaller than the 3300W module but the connector being on the "bottom" is a bit of a challenge. Heat sink form is integral to the casing and guards the fan DC supply wire very well. I tried to poke my finger into the fan (why?) well I was not successful it is finger proof but probably not kid safe. Yes the heat sink profile nests into the top loop of the DS slider bars as shown and for temporary purpose I have some paracord to secure it there. Not shown above is the connection to charging enable wires which I found a decade resistor box to connect 120 Ohm for activation. I'm just excited that this works at all - I have experience with other unrelated purchases that anything I would order directly from China could be 50% probability filled with clay bricks and not do anything at all. No problems with EVComponents except that I have not received any documentation on what the wiring is for those other positions on that data connector. Does anyone else here have that information? Can it be controlled with CANbus or how to reprogram for different voltage set points?



Encouraged by this early success I secured the unit to the slider bars and made a trip to town. At a ChargePoint station I get some data from a quick 5 minute session.



Time now to get to town where I can get baseline data for 120Vac and 240Vac input voltages, and to write this post to the forum. Coincidentally I arrived exactly as my odometer rolled to 36,000mi. Not too shabby quantity of miles for a 2016 DSR  ::)  Obviously beyond the care of safety critical components (mirrors, tire pressure, belt, torque values of all bolts) this bike never gets washed or garaged and more recently the local bird wildlife have discovered a method to poop on the dashboard; I can still see the bluetooth symbol in that corner when needed so I haven't yet bothered to clean that portion.



Charging on 120Vac input:



HK-H 1800W back to 220Vac input, and QuiQ connected to AUX charging port:



QuiQ only (it didn't make any difference on the wattage for output what the input voltage was):



So... more experimenting to do with mounting options and to actually replace all functions of the onboard charger. I would love to see someone with an FX(S) get one of these units and document how it can be connected to that model.
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Re: Elcon TC HK-H 1800W Charger (on Zero Motorcycles 2013+)
« Reply #2 on: September 14, 2018, 08:25:50 AM »

On making a mount the idea is to use frame mounting locations (there's 4 easy to access mounting points on the frame behind the front fascia plastics)


This could be possible to fit? The signal connector is getting damaged from all this action so I modeled up a cover. Also I am trying some other shapes now that I have the mounting locations modeled up closer to reality.


Three of the mounting points should be sufficient; These just barely fit on the printbed surface of a Prusa i3 Mk2 (210mm by 250mm)


Saving time and material on a prototype print by using just two mounting points and PLA material. ABS would likely hold together better and not as likely to deform in direct sunshine but PLA is easier to print with for now.
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CScalpeL

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Re: Elcon TC HK-H 1800W Charger (on Zero Motorcycles 2013+)
« Reply #3 on: September 16, 2018, 02:31:47 AM »

Thanks for sharing this Shadow! I'm following your progress and will likely be following in your footsteps...

So you went the enable signal route, can you post a schematic and a pic of how you wired it up? I assume you connected it to one of the signaling pins on the anderson connector to keep the contactor closed, correct?

Was the CANbus option even feasible? Was there an option to order the charger with the protocol to talk with the bike straight out of the box?
The AliExpress (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3-3KW-Elcon-TC-Charger-for-Electric-Vehicle-for-LiPo-LiFe-Lead-Acid-battery-pack-for/32855919611.html) supplier states that they can work with most BMSs but I doubt Zero's is one of them :-\
I saw a post with someone using a ThunderStruck EVCC-Basic Controller but that is considerable added complexity that I would prefer to avoid, so I'll likely be going the enable signal route.

Are you using these in tandem with the stock charger?

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Shadow

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Re: Elcon TC HK-H 1800W Charger (on Zero Motorcycles 2013+)
« Reply #4 on: September 26, 2018, 01:36:13 PM »

The mount has held up reasonably well up to now. I have not used my stock charger since mounting the HK-H 1800W. There's a disadvantage if you're sourcing 110Vac when compared to the stock S/DS charger because the HK-H 1800W unit operates at half rate. However even in that case of half-rate output it does better than a QuiQ charger, and if you connect to 220Vac then it does twice as well.

So... if your input is 220Vac this is comparable to two QuiQ units and for about half of the cost (considering you will need to source some connectors and DIY stuff), and also less mass which makes it easier to mount permanently. I think this would make a good addition to the stock charger and certainly a good alternative to a QuiQ.

Charging-enable hack from the bike of EMF user liveforphysics (2017 Zero DS if I remember correctly):

The method pictured above is reported to have been in use for 2 years and simply has no parts other than the switch as pictured. Additionally I would like to connect a microcontroller to this for access to CANbus and other signals. Getting the correct connector for a few dollars seems like the way I want to go about it.

The shell has "JAE" marking on it.  Searching around I found this datasheet for likely candidate JAE MX23A series connector: https://www.mouser.com/catalog/catalogusd/648/1650.pdf

...So you went the enable signal route, can you post a schematic and a pic of how you wired it up? I assume you connected it to one of the signaling pins on the anderson connector to keep the contactor closed, correct?
For my initial testing I've been also connecting an external charger the QuiQ and that does enable via the AUX connector. Else I've just kept the bike key-on and hang some junk from the throttle to keep the bike from timing out and turning off (no charging enable but to keep the contactor open).

...Was the CANbus option even feasible? Was there an option to order the charger with the protocol to talk with the bike straight out of the box?
The AliExpress (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3-3KW-Elcon-TC-Charger-for-Electric-Vehicle-for-LiPo-LiFe-Lead-Acid-battery-pack-for/32855919611.html) supplier states that they can work with most BMSs but I doubt Zero's is one of them :-\
I saw a post with someone using a ThunderStruck EVCC-Basic Controller but that is considerable added complexity that I would prefer to avoid, so I'll likely be going the enable signal route.
I don't know yet if CANbus is feasible when the charger is ordered with pre-set voltage program. The datasheet for the HK-H 1800W charger shows pin out for CANbus, and there are a full set of pins on the charger's connector that I can see, but the mating connector being supplied with the unit only has two positions crimped and wired in place for the HK-H 1800W charging enable signal. Before finding the datasheet I was concerned of damaging the charger if these positions are for CANbus and so I used 120ohm resistor for their connection. Once verifying the charge-enable operation I think the resistor is not necessary and so (not pictured before) I ran a blob of solder in place on the charger's connector pins that it always has the charging enable shorted. The 3d-printed yellow dust cover (pictured) I designed slips over the connector and the depth of assembly is better this way for how I have the unit mounted against the frame.

The language needed for ordering from the vendors of these chargers is a great portion of just how to start with this project!  I would also like to know if my unit has CANbus functionality the same as a unit that is ordered to be CANbus-only (!?) or are we confused and these units are always ordered with pre-set programs? I would also like to hear from the CANbus experts! Actually, I have got some advice from EMF user Lenny about the HK-J 3300W model working correctly with his TCCharger-voltage-current-control (GitHub link) code for a microcontroller):
Quote
Using 120 Ohm was a good idea, as this would be the value for the terminating resistor of the CAN. Although I believe that one can also short the CAN H/L wires without damaging anything. But it's clear now that your charger is preprogrammed and doesn't need/have CAN - it just works!

Are you using these in tandem with the stock charger?
No I disconnected my stock charger and have not used it since the HK-H 1800W mounting. If you can source 220Vac then there's only more motivation to go with another HK-H 1800W unit or to aim higher with the HK-J 3300W or even the 6600W model. The stock S/DS charger and QuiQ chargers are actually very good for 110Vac input on size and environmental reliability (fanless and splash proof), but for 220Vac they're not what I'd consider to be worth their mass in carrying around on a motorcycle compared to this other newer technology.
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gt13013

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Re: Elcon TC HK-H 1800W Charger (on Zero Motorcycles 2013+)
« Reply #5 on: September 26, 2018, 06:08:12 PM »

I saw a post with someone using a ThunderStruck EVCC-Basic Controller but that is considerable added complexity...

Hello. Probably it is this post, concerning my building of a charger from a TC 3.3kW (CAN-bus version), controlled by a ThunderStruck EVCC-Basic Controller.
I can say that in fact it was pretty easy and there was no "complexity", since I have left all the "complexity" to others:
- ThunderStruck who sold me the controller already programmed to my wishes (but I can re-program it later if necessary by connecting the controller to my computer via USB),
- Otten who sold me the CAN-enabled TC charger already wired according to my wishes.
I just had to connect both and enjoy !

 
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Shadow

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Re: Elcon TC HK-H 1800W Charger (on Zero Motorcycles 2013+)
« Reply #6 on: October 08, 2018, 02:21:35 PM »

Measurements made from AC clamp meter and Zero Voltage app with stock charger and HK-H 1800W unit connected.

13.5A@240Vac input 3kW output:


20A@120Vac input 2kW output:


The thin gauge of AC input adapters I have cobbled together is now a source of concern as they are becoming hot with use. However, the output side is fine and I think this is a great way to cut charging time in half (or better) on 230/240Vac power sources for less than $400 US cost.
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Shadow

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Re: Elcon TC HK-H 1800W Charger (on Zero Motorcycles 2013+)
« Reply #7 on: October 09, 2018, 01:11:01 PM »

DonTom and I got a ~2 hour session in at a ChargePoint and the recorded averages are:


3.1121kW AC average rate onboard plus HK-H 1800W (2016 DSR)

...no screenshot for the other session...
3.3585kW AC average rate two QuiQ plus onboard (2017 SR+PT)
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gt13013

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Re: Elcon TC HK-H 1800W Charger (on Zero Motorcycles 2013+)
« Reply #8 on: October 09, 2018, 05:31:41 PM »

Which Android application gave you this screenshot ?
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Shadow

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Re: Elcon TC HK-H 1800W Charger (on Zero Motorcycles 2013+)
« Reply #9 on: October 10, 2018, 01:08:26 PM »

Which Android application gave you this screenshot ?
Vendor bitshape "Zero Voltage" app $5usd cost via Google Play; for the DigiNow adapter but it was updated to work with Bluetooth data from bike MBB in the same manner that the OEM Zero app reads. I think it's worth the $5 although it is very plain and simple. If concerned about paying for apps I'd suggest buying a Google Play gift card for cash at the grocery store and then no credit card data need be given to Google.

Update:  You might also be referring to ChargePoint app for the ChargePoint EVSE network?
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gt13013

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Re: Elcon TC HK-H 1800W Charger (on Zero Motorcycles 2013+)
« Reply #10 on: October 10, 2018, 07:58:51 PM »

Yes, I already have Zero Voltage.

My question was about the App with charging stats. It seems that it is in relation with ChargePoint. But if you slide the ChargePoint map upon France, you will understand why it does not seem useful for me: there are no level 1 and level 2 ChargePoint stations in Europe  :o
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Shadow

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Re: Elcon TC HK-H 1800W Charger (on Zero Motorcycles 2013+)
« Reply #11 on: October 10, 2018, 08:23:51 PM »

Similar plotting might be available in the Metrics for Zero Motorcycle app (advertising and in-app purchases); I have not tried to use it yet.

Having an EVSE network that offers data plot of charging status is very useful because Zero Motorcycles does not have any such connection.
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Re: Elcon TC HK-H 1800W Charger (on Zero Motorcycles 2013+)
« Reply #12 on: October 11, 2018, 01:31:57 PM »

I have installed the "Metrics for Zero Motorcycles" application past week, but did not find the time to try it. I will try these days...
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Shadow

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Re: Elcon TC HK-H 1800W Charger (on Zero Motorcycles 2013+)
« Reply #13 on: October 17, 2018, 03:51:02 AM »

Ordered today the charging harness connector parts. From that datasheet we find the part numbers to search for:

Dummy Pin:      M120-55780
Socket contact:  M23S05K351

18pos Socket Housing            MX23A18SF1
18pos Front Cap                 MX23A18XF1
18pos Standard pinheader        MX23A18NF1
18pos Reverse pinheader         MX23A18NF2

It looks like Digi-Key and Mouser are the best for single quantity order on these parts. Mouser seems to have stock on more of those parts overall. The Front Cap is not stocked anywhere that I could find.

I'm not yet sure this is the correct part but I ordered at least one of everything. Order total was less than $50usd. I think the important bits are in stock and the backordered items won't cause too much of a delay in figuring this out.
« Last Edit: October 17, 2018, 04:22:08 AM by Shadow »
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Re: Elcon TC HK-H 1800W Charger (on Zero Motorcycles 2013+)
« Reply #14 on: July 03, 2019, 04:25:09 AM »

Shadow, how has this been working for you? Really thinking of going a similar direction and am tossing up the idea of going pre-programmed or the canbus option for having more control over the charger.
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