After converting my 2000 G1 into an LiBCM equipped Insight, I decided that I wanted to modify my Insight so that I could charge the Lithium batteries at EVSE charging stations. I have them at my house and at my place of work. The ones at my office aren't even getting used and they are free to use. This also would allow me to stop shutting my hatch on an connected extension cord. LiBCM can make use of J1772 to NEMA 5-15 adapters. Now, let me say right here, that this was a neat project but it wasn't easy or cheap. However, once I add IMAC&C to this car, I plan on draining my battery on the way to work each morning trying to stay in lean burn as much as possible. So this will eventually prove very useful.
Finally, let me add that this project doesn't use my skill sets. I'm sure there are better ways to do this, but hopefully my experience will be useful for others if anybody else takes this on. I'm sure others can make this neater/nicer. On the whole, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, though.
(UPDATE: 20230630 -- I believe that @FirstCarFun has probably devised a better solution for accessing the charging port behind the license plate. Be sure to check out their page for another approach to adding an EVSE charging port to LiBCM.)
First thing I did was buy the J1772 adapter and test/confirm that it worked well with LiBCM. That was successful. But the hard part was deciding how/where to do the install. I decided that the best place was behind the rear license plate. I started looking at various hinged license plate brackets. I finally ended up purchasing a custom bracket that Scott Kulbeck uses for his Insight tow hitch. You can see pictures of his brackets here.
I then removed the rear bumper and installed Scott's bracket. Next, I taped off a section about 1 inch in from the edges of the license plate and cut it out using a utility knife. Note: if I had my time to go over, I would not have used the utility knife. It would have been much easier with a rotary tool with a plastic cutting wheel. A little bit later in this project, I decided to remove a little more plastic at the bottom. I used the rotary tool for that and it was much easier. (If you tape it off, it is actually easier with the rotary tool to get a straight line, also.)
The next part is where the project got much more challenging. As you can see by looking at the above picture, the frame inside the bumper isn't flat. There are multiple ridges and angles. Also, it is about 6 inches in from the license plate. I needed a flat surface to mount my charging adapter that would also bring the adapter closer to the bumper walI so that J1772 charger plugs would plug in cleanly. I thought about this for a long while before deciding how to proceed. I finally bought some 1/8" thick, 3 inch wide 5052 aluminum bar. (I bought a 24" long piece.) I used the aluminum bar to fabricate a bracket. I went with 5052 aluminum because it is easier to bend without cracking and I don't have the proper tools to bend aluminum -- so I would be using my bench vise and a mini sledge hammer. I took my time with it and made sure that I got my angles and lengths correct. The end goal was to mount the aluminum bracket vertically. It worked out fairly well:
I used 5/16" galvanized hex bolts, washers, and nuts because they work pretty well with aluminum and aluminum alloys. I got these from my local hardware store. The above picture shows the nuts on the outside. In the end, I reversed that and put the nuts on the inside.
Now it came time to drill the holes for the charging adapter to mount onto the bracket and to go into the car. This wasn't too difficult. Just make sure that you have the right hole saw sizes and drill bits:
To be continued in the next post.
Finally, let me add that this project doesn't use my skill sets. I'm sure there are better ways to do this, but hopefully my experience will be useful for others if anybody else takes this on. I'm sure others can make this neater/nicer. On the whole, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, though.
(UPDATE: 20230630 -- I believe that @FirstCarFun has probably devised a better solution for accessing the charging port behind the license plate. Be sure to check out their page for another approach to adding an EVSE charging port to LiBCM.)
First thing I did was buy the J1772 adapter and test/confirm that it worked well with LiBCM. That was successful. But the hard part was deciding how/where to do the install. I decided that the best place was behind the rear license plate. I started looking at various hinged license plate brackets. I finally ended up purchasing a custom bracket that Scott Kulbeck uses for his Insight tow hitch. You can see pictures of his brackets here.
I then removed the rear bumper and installed Scott's bracket. Next, I taped off a section about 1 inch in from the edges of the license plate and cut it out using a utility knife. Note: if I had my time to go over, I would not have used the utility knife. It would have been much easier with a rotary tool with a plastic cutting wheel. A little bit later in this project, I decided to remove a little more plastic at the bottom. I used the rotary tool for that and it was much easier. (If you tape it off, it is actually easier with the rotary tool to get a straight line, also.)
The next part is where the project got much more challenging. As you can see by looking at the above picture, the frame inside the bumper isn't flat. There are multiple ridges and angles. Also, it is about 6 inches in from the license plate. I needed a flat surface to mount my charging adapter that would also bring the adapter closer to the bumper walI so that J1772 charger plugs would plug in cleanly. I thought about this for a long while before deciding how to proceed. I finally bought some 1/8" thick, 3 inch wide 5052 aluminum bar. (I bought a 24" long piece.) I used the aluminum bar to fabricate a bracket. I went with 5052 aluminum because it is easier to bend without cracking and I don't have the proper tools to bend aluminum -- so I would be using my bench vise and a mini sledge hammer. I took my time with it and made sure that I got my angles and lengths correct. The end goal was to mount the aluminum bracket vertically. It worked out fairly well:
I used 5/16" galvanized hex bolts, washers, and nuts because they work pretty well with aluminum and aluminum alloys. I got these from my local hardware store. The above picture shows the nuts on the outside. In the end, I reversed that and put the nuts on the inside.
Now it came time to drill the holes for the charging adapter to mount onto the bracket and to go into the car. This wasn't too difficult. Just make sure that you have the right hole saw sizes and drill bits:
To be continued in the next post.