Alternative hardware for OpenEVSE

Hi - I don’t think this has been answered anywhere. The OpenEVSE hardware is out of stock with no lead-time (I assume due to chip shortages). I have solar panels and EMON CMS running at home and planned to incorporate solar aware EV charging into this.

Other than waiting for hardware to come into stock in the shop is there any alternative way of achieving what I want to with third party hardware? Thanks!

Hi Barry,

You’ve assumed correctly :frowning:

Unfortunately we’re struggling to source the MCP23017T-E/SO I2C interface chip that’s use in the LCD. Latest estimate is end of September, very sorry for the delay. Component shortage is crippling us at the moment. The order for these chips was placed in February this year and should have arrived months ago. As soon as we have a better idea of timescale we’ll update the shop.

There’s a few guys over on SpeakEV who have managed to port the firmware to the Rolec Mode 3 controllers. It’s not quite got everything that the OpenEVSE controller has, but it’s got a good 90% of it (see here)
If you’re in the UK, you’re probably familar with the Rolec wallpod chargers, or have seen them around. They were pretty cheap, and almost as basic as they come - but the included RCBO was awful quality. Easy to grab on eBay, Facebook Marketplace or Gumtree these days,

Thanks all that’s really useful. I think I can make do for the moment and hold on for the open evse charger (hopefully in September!). If not I might have to start experimenting with a Rolec

I guess the display boards could be redesigned to suit the MCP23017-E/SP instead, which is a bigger part, being SPDIP, but is available with a lot better lead time.

What about offering a kit with no display controller?