OpenEVSE II and Hydra status reports

The first batch of final boards for OpenEVSE II and the Hydra will arrive today. The designs for both were successfully prototyped already, so I have no doubt about the viability of these boards.

OpenEVSE II will be available in two formats, which differ only in the HV boards. One is intended for use with a line powered contactor, and the other with either a single DPST or two SPST 12 VDC coil relays. The contactor variant will only be usable at a single voltage, since contactors aren't typically agile from 120 to 240 VAC. But contactors are typically capable of switching much higher current. By contrast, the relay variant will work at any supply voltage from 100-240 VAC, but relays are typically only available up to around 30A.

Both HV boards are intended to fit in the OpenEVSE chassis available in the OpenEVSE store. You just need to drill new mounting holes, as the boards are slightly different sizes than the original OpenEVSE board.

Both variants include the full compliment of UL required safety checks. Of particular note is that the GMI test is now continuous while charging is in progress, and the ground current is limited to a maximum of 1 mA, which means it should not trip a normal household GFI.

The logic board now includes a standard OpenEVSE i2c header for further future expansion. It also has a RTC and a temperature monitor chip to measure the ambient temperature inside the chassis.

For the Hydra, there is a single HV board that supports only contactors (the case for an L1 capable Hydra is not compelling). It also now performs ground impedance monitoring and relay tests as well as a GFI self test whenever charging begins. It is available both as a standalone EVSE with a RTC, and as a splitter to facilitate sharing an existing EVSE.

All of the above are available for purchase right now at http://store.geppettoelectronics.com/ .