Simple test of DC charge point (electrical vehicule)

[Lunasix]

Do you have any ideas to do some simple test on DC charge point ? It is easy for AC charge point, but for DC charge point, commercial tester are very expensive, few models and over complicated if we just want to do rapid test.

[uer166]

Yes, simply grab a car and plug it in, see if it charges. Everything else is either obscenely expensive or obscenely complex to make.

[NiHaoMike]

Lots of DC fast charge hacking here: https://openinverter.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=17
For some test load, two 240V stove elements in series should be good up to 480V. Not sure what would be the most economical load to do a sustained full power test for even a few minutes, probably can't get any cheaper than two scrap metal electrodes in a large container of salt water but there would be too many safety issues to list.

[Lunasix]

Thank you, I did not know this site.

[Gyro]

Do you have any ideas to do some simple test on DC charge point ? It is easy for AC charge point, but for DC charge point, commercial tester are very expensive, few models and over complicated if we just want to do rapid test.

When you say you just want to do rapid test, don't you still need to test safety aspects like earth leakage protection? I would have though that these were just as important as checking that there is a DC output and ought not to be skipped. I'm pretty sure the commercial testers verify these.

[NiHaoMike]

When you say you just want to do rapid test, don't you still need to test safety aspects like earth leakage protection? I would have though that these were just as important as checking that there is a DC output and ought not to be skipped. I'm pretty sure the commercial testers verify these.

That one is easy, connect a resistor from one of the lines to ground with a value that gives a current just above the trip threshold.

[mikeselectricstuff]

CCS or Chademo ?

[Lunasix]

That one is easy, connect a resistor from one of the lines to ground with a value that gives a current just above the trip threshold.

Yess.

It is for CCS, for rapid test (ok / ko), models I have found are above 10000$.

[mikeselectricstuff]

The problem you have is that CCS is an insanely ( and unnecessarily) complex protocol, so getting the controller to think there is a car connected will be a lot of work.
For a 1-off it will almost certainly be cheapest to just buy the cheapest CCS car you can find and use that.

Alternatively look at re-purposing the charge controller from a CCS car. There is work being actively done on that using Tesla m3 and BMW i3 controllers here :
https://openinverter.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=17