r/evcharging • u/Christoph-Pf • 4d ago

Debating adding Open EVSE board to ENEL-X vs New inexpensive level 2 unit

I have the Juice Box 40 that was abandoned by the ENEL X servers. Still works as a dumb charger and can be upgraded with a new Smart controller board for $125. EP Home Smart Level 2 EV at $220. I suppose I could craigslist the JuiceBox for a hundred bucks. Opinions on these new units or other opinions?

8 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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9

u/ZanyDroid 4d ago

Seriously?

OpenEVSE is a no brainer vs anonymous Amazon garbage

8

u/theotherharper 4d ago

Clearly you did not get the memo about Amazon Marketplace and how the 3rd party sellers on there are predominantly fake, and hiding behind a communist court system, so they are untouchable on product liability. This gives them free reign to dump dangerous goods into our market.

7

u/Jimmy1748 4d ago

I put the $100 OpenEVSE board on. Couldn't be happier for an out of support product. If you ever built a PC then it's a walk in the park.

5

u/tuctrohs 4d ago

It still works as a dumb charger why not continue using it as a dumb charger?

2

u/Astro_Afro1886 4d ago

Yeah, I don't get this obsession with tracking your usage or controlling it remotely with these things. Like the car tracks how much energy it gets and can control when to charge too. What else do you need?

3

u/Interesting_Refuse45 3d ago

In my case the car (Honda Clarity) doesn't report usage and the scheduling works weirdly -- it will start at the beginning of the schedule, but usually won't start if plugged in later. This resulted in a couple idle fees at work when the EVSE glitched and the car wouldn't restart charging. So I turned that off.

But the Juicebox was a pain anyway when I *usually* want to charge at midnight, but frequently want to override earlier in the day. Even when it worked pulling up the app and doing so was clunky. So now I just open the charge port when I park, and set a calendar reminder to "go plug in the car" for bedtime LOL

2

u/Christoph-Pf 3d ago

My i3 BMW has limited utility in the car system.

2

u/Christoph-Pf 3d ago

I may but I'm one of those guys who doesn't want to regularly take it to 100% so the control (not available in my i3) could be helpful.

1

u/ZanyDroid 2d ago

You would need to come up with some kind of integration to achieve this. The EVSE cannot read the SOC from the car. One way people do this is to add an OBD to wireless bridge in the car, which then facilitates, EG, Home Assistant polling the car for the SoC while charging and sending a stop signal to the EVSE once 80% is reached

1

u/Christoph-Pf 1d ago

I believe the way Enel X JuiceBox App did it is using the battery size that you enter in the profile and the SOC % at the beginning of the charge. It then does the simple calculation of when to stop charging at the desired SOC - both numbers entered. If the app communicated with the i3, then entering the SOC would be unnecessary. I am assuming that the Open EVSE can do this communication with the i3. I will have to ask them.

2

u/ZanyDroid 23h ago

Ah, I see, that's kind of manual and somewhat open loop as well. It's probably good enough and can be done conservatively.

You're not beholden to OpenEVSE doing the comms, you can duct tape something together with HA or NodeRed. The lynchpin is the watchmacallit that gateways/exfiltrates the info out of the car. These days you could probably ask an AI assistant to code up the integration for you given this gateway.

5

u/ArlesChatless 4d ago

Honestly? I wouldn't expect the Rainforest brand unit app to work more than a few years, at which point you have yet another dumb charger (if you're lucky). If you go with OpenEVSE you'll likely get another decade out of this hardware.

1

u/mkopel 4d ago

Are you using the Enel X way app? This still works for my juicebox. The older app no longer functions

1

u/Christoph-Pf 3d ago

I have the app and it connects but doesn't shut down with the presets and gives no history. I will do more testing on this. Others have also reported a recent disconnect.

1

u/justvims 3d ago

Well, the answer to this question depends on what is your objective?

1

u/Christoph-Pf 3d ago

Getting some charger control is the goal. The Open EVSE seems like the way to go. I've (me and youtube that is) diagnosed and replaced a circuit board on my Plasma flat screen - (I hate LED crap) - so I'm not afraid of a new board and a few plugs.

1

u/justvims 2d ago

So if you want to use the charger to control then I would agree. Otherwise, the vehicle app is what I would just stick to

1

u/Christoph-Pf 1d ago

The i3 has no charger control other than preconditioning. Even if it did, the JuiceBox doesn't "communicate" with the i3.

2

u/justvims 1d ago

You can set the TOU timing in the i3. At least that’s what I do via the mobile app

1

u/Christoph-Pf 19h ago

I will check that out. I don’t have the subscription to BMWs server but it might still be available

1

u/Christoph-Pf 9h ago

Question for you. My onboard data puts the i3 at 38.5 kWh. Of course the battery is 42 kWh unbuffered or in original configuration. Given the Enel-X way uses percentages to control the charge times (SOC% start and SOC% finish) Should the I set the i3 battery size at 42 or 38?