Maker and former One Laptop computer Per Baby staffer C. Scott Ananian has designed a quality-of-life improve for the OpenEVSE electrical automobile charging station, providing a capacitive touchpad and radio-frequency identification (RFID) reader to assist maintain your charger safe but enable third get together entry on-demand.
“This challenge replaces the unique entrance panel of the OpenEVSE open-hardware EVSE [Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment] charger with a brand new entrance panel with a capacitive-touch keypad and RFID reader,” Ananian explains of the challenge. “This permits fundamental entry management in your charger: you may assign PINs and observe utilization by PIN, maintain your charger ‘principally locked’ however enable people who contact you on PlugShare [an EVSE sharing service] to drop by and cost when you give them a pin, and many others. For frequent customers you can provide out RFID playing cards as properly, and observe utilization by card ID.”
A sensible front-panel improve for OpenEVSE chargers makes it simpler to securely share power on companies like PlugShare. (📷: C. Scott Ananian)
The OpenEVSE challenge goals to ship an open supply different to off-the-shelf electrical automobile charging stations, and is available in its default configuration with a design that slots into the Polycase ML-85 weatherproof enclosure. Ananian’s mod, although, replaces the printed entrance panel with a capacitive contact PCB, lit to be used at evening by way of “reverse-gullwing” LEDs on the again aspect.
“I’ve received three of them operating at my home now,” Ananian says of the newest revision of the board, which swaps a black solder masks layer for white with the intention to scale back warmth build-up within the solar. “Two for our private EVs (a [Tesla] Mannequin Y and a Fiat 500e) and yet one more for public use. We can provide out PINs for the general public charger once we’re contacted by way of PlugShare, or for neighbors who want a spot to cost, which lets us observe utilization.”
Ananian has launched the challenge for others to construct, however does warn of some “bodges” in its design — and the potential to resolve them in a future third revision. “The CAP1214 chip I am utilizing for the capacitive keypad has solely 11 LED outputs, whereas there are twelve keys on the keypad,” he explains.
The PCB sits behind the clear entrance of a weatherproof housing, guaranteeing it will maintain working come rain or shine. (📷: C. Scott Ananian)
“I hacked round this in v1 and v2 by wiring the ‘again’ and ‘enter’ keys LEDs in parallel,” Ananian continues, “so each LEDs blinked once you pressed both of them. The second bodge is the extra common ‘dumb mistake’ form, the place I would managed to quick two traces within the PCB format in a means that the DRC [Design Rules Check] did not catch; therefore the ‘inexperienced’ (really orange) wire operating from U3 to the capacitive pad for key ‘3.’”
Extra particulars on the challenge are avalable on Ananian’s Hackaday.io web page, whereas design information are revealed to GitHub below the reciprocal Artistic Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license.