3D printed lock for L2 charging plugs (slightly modified Ford NACS adapter version)

[geftsnowball]

I liked the idea of the 3D printed locks on the NACS adapter (here: https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/3d-printed-lock-for-ford-nacs-adapter.37258/ by @JustBob) and was interested to see if it would work for L2 charging plugs. It turns out, yes it will!

Story time motivating this make (skip to the end for the results): I occasionally use public L2 charging and have never had an issue. About a week or two ago, I got a notification from the Charge Point app that I stopped charging followed by the cost message etc. My first thought was "Oh great, a charge error... I hope this is just a strange fault on the charge station and not something else." My second thought was "Strange... it said charging stopped... in the past it said there was an error." Hmm. Luckily, this was only about 10 minutes before I was planning to leave so I left 10 minutes later. Imagine my shock when I arrive at my car and... charging cable PLUG/HANDLE is on the ground after clearly being unplugged and thrown down. WTF? (unrelated aside: 2 port charger, other car next to me is plugged in and not charging hah) Well crap, there's nothing that can be done about this... we can't lock a charging session on a Mach E.

Then, ?, oh, that's right, I have that stl saved on my computer waiting for a road trip so I can print it out and use it with my NACS adapter, I wonder if that will work! So, I print it and bring it with me the next time I am using this charger. Unfortunately, it looks like this specific Charge Point L2 plug is a bit taller than the NACS adapter so the lock doesn't fit.

No calipers on me so I do a lazy eyeball and guess that it's probably 2mm too thick so I just wing it. I tossed the NACS lock stl into Cura and sink it -2mm under the bed (basically trimmed off 2mm from the bottom of the lock). It turns out that 2mm was too much BUT it was sufficient to do a test run. Not sure if I'll grab the calipers or just print a few variations and go with the version that fits best.

-2mm version result:

You can't really tell it's as loose as it is. It wiggles slightly if you prod it but you'd have to have some long nails or a tool to pinch and pull it out even if it's loose. Test run was a success though. Even though it had a bit more play than you'd like, it still prevented a normal press of the handle lever from disengaging the charge and a strong squeeze did disengage the charge but still prevented the plug from being removed. I'm sure a properly fitting version would resolve that issue.

So, long story short, it looks like this plug "lock" (casual deterrent!) will work great to lock even L2 plugs from being removed.

Printed in blue PLA+ because it happened to be what I had loaded (full size version happened to be printed in lavender hah). Will probably print in black PETG once I lock down the perfect height for this specific charger. I'm thinking backing down to only a 1mm trim but may do the caliper thing. Regardless, a different height lock will be required for other L2 plugs (e.g., my home Grizzl-E plug is significantly taller, not sure if even a mod of this lock would work) so I'm debating just printing of a few height variations and tossing them in the car to have on hand if ever needed.

I already made an even slimmer version where I moved the hole up a bit to maintain the lock structure on the bottom but it was absolutely too thin (left: original ~10mm, middle: ~8mm, right: ~6mm tall). Ignore the seemingly different widths, it's the camera perspective from the current view in Tinkercad. The shortest one is also about 2mm less wide even though it kind of looks wider in the image.

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[AliRafiee]

Why not use an actual lock ? on the charging handle?

 

[HuntingPudel]

Why not use an actual lock ? on the charging handle?

Many do not have a hole for a padlock. ??

 

[geftsnowball]

Why not use an actual lock ? on the charging handle?

I suppose one could, but I imagine that's a rabbit hole. I'm imagining (based on the Charge Point) handle in my image) this would have to tightly wrap around the handle preventing the lever from moving? Have to find one that either is adjustable to an exact size and can tighten down with no wiggle room, has to match the specific plug latch mechanism, get the wrong size and now you have to return or use the lock elsewhere, have to lug a key that can be lost (technically this printed model isn't "locked" and can just be pulled out), etc.

This print is a custom model that will fit (depending on charge handle style) and can be made to look less obvious so anyone who doesn't specifically know what it is will think the handle is locked via the car software and will therefore (hopefully) think physically breaking the handle is the only way to get it off.

Just some thoughts.

 

[geftsnowball]

Many do not have a hole for a padlock. ??

Didn't think of that. In case it wasn't obvious (@AliRafiee ) this is a PUBLIC charging station. Do public charging stations you use typically have a handle with a hole to add lock for them while in use? I'm only aware of private home-use (equivalent) models that may have that.

 

[AliRafiee]

Didn't think of that. In case it wasn't obvious (@AliRafiee ) this is a PUBLIC charging station. Do public charging stations you use typically have a handle with a hole to add lock for them while in use? I'm only aware of private home-use (equivalent) models that may have that.

I haven’t paid that much attention. I thought they all do.

 

[geftsnowball]

I haven’t paid that much attention. I thought they all do.

I've only used about 5 (8 but 3x are Charge Point) and none have any locking mechanism. I've only ever seen them built into mobile chargers you an buy (or maybe it was just Tesla J1772 adapters? ?). Would be interesting to hear if other people have gone to a paid public L2 are are able to padlock the charger.

 

[Mach-Lee]

I liked the idea of the 3D printed locks on the NACS adapter (here: https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/3d-printed-lock-for-ford-nacs-adapter.37258/ by @JustBob) and was interested to see if it would work for L2 charging plugs. It turns out, yes it will!

Story time motivating this make (skip to the end for the results): I occasionally use public L2 charging and have never had an issue. About a week or two ago, I got a notification from the Charge Point app that I stopped charging followed by the cost message etc. My first thought was "Oh great, a charge error... I hope this is just a strange fault on the charge station and not something else." My second thought was "Strange... it said charging stopped... in the past it said there was an error." Hmm. Luckily, this was only about 10 minutes before I was planning to leave so I left 10 minutes later. Imagine my shock when I arrive at my car and... charging cable is on the ground after clearly being unplugged and thrown down. WTF? (unrelated aside: 2 port charger, other car next to me is plugged in and not charging hah) Well crap, there's nothing that can be done about this... we can't lock a charging session on a Mach E.

Then, ?, oh, that's right, I have that stl saved on my computer waiting for a road trip so I can print it out and use it with my NACS adapter, I wonder if that will work! So, I print it and bring it with me the next time I am using this charger. Unfortunately, it looks like this specific Charge Point L2 plug is a bit taller than the NACS adapter so the lock doesn't fit.

No calipers on me so I do a lazy eyeball and guess that it's probably 2mm too thick so I just wing it. I tossed the NACS lock stl into Cura and sink it -2mm under the bed (basically trimmed off 2mm from the bottom of the lock). It turns out that 2mm was too much BUT it was sufficient to do a test run. Not sure if I'll grab the calipers or just print a few variations and go with the version that fits best.

-2mm version result:

You can't really tell it's as loose as it is. It wiggles slightly if you prod it but you'd have to have some long nails or a tool to pinch and pull it out even if it's loose. Test run was a success though. Even though it had a bit more play than you'd like, it still prevented a normal press of the handle lever from disengaging the charge and a strong squeeze did disengage the charge but still prevented the plug from being removed. I'm sure a properly fitting version would resolve that issue.

So, long story short, it looks like this plug "lock" (casual deterrent!) will work great to lock even L2 plugs from being removed.

Printed in blue PLA+ because it happened to be what I had loaded (full size version happened to be printed in lavender hah). Will probably print in black PETG once I lock down the perfect height for this specific charger. I'm thinking backing down to only a 1mm trim but may do the caliper thing. Regardless, a different height lock will be required for other L2 plugs (e.g., my home Grizzl-E plug is significantly taller, not sure if even a mod of this lock would work) so I'm debating just printing of a few height variations and tossing them in the car to have on hand if ever needed.

I already made an even slimmer version where I moved the hole up a bit to maintain the lock structure on the bottom but it was absolutely too thin (left: original ~10mm, middle: ~8mm, right: ~6mm tall). Ignore the seemingly different widths, it's the camera perspective from the current view in Tinkercad. The shortest one is also about 2mm less wide even though it kind of looks wider in the image.

I've played around with this idea as well many months ago, I also found the thickness required varies a lot depending on the specific charging connector. Some use thicker latch levers than others. I would suggest a "wedge" design that accounts for some variation in latch thickness.

This method is superior to anything involving a physical padlock IMO. Low profile.

 

[geftsnowball]

I've played around with this idea as well many months ago, I also found the thickness required varies a lot depending on the specific charging connector. Some use thicker latch levers than others. I would suggest a "wedge" design that accounts for some variation in latch thickness.

I can imagine. I've only used this one station since playing around with the "lock" but just between this one and my home charger there's something like 4-6mm difference in clearance. Luckily I don't hop between too many so it's not like I'm hoping for a universal solution. I figure having a few on hand would be nice for a try and if not, no big deal.

An interesting thought would be to use TPU of some variety (and potential hardness) that would allow for a bit of flexibility to just slide in or to compress to a degree for a tighter fit with perhaps a solid (or no) infill to provide rigidity for the lever... but there's a can of worms eh?

This method is superior to anything involving a physical padlock IMO. Low profile.

Yep, that's my thought with a black filament that makes it look like a part of the charging port (pretty sure the same thing is mentioned in the NACS thread). A "huh, it must be locked" and moving along after a failure to unlatch for those not familiar with what is going on here is really the best case here.

I don't need it for my home charger, but this video from a while back is what popped into my head when doing a casual comparison of my home charger plug. If they were unable to unplug it, would they have tried to yank it from the wall? Also in this scenario, buying a charger with a lockable cable would also be a solution to use with a lock.

 

[wchristie]

What problem is being solved? Are plugs fitting to loose, people unplugging each others vehicles?

 

[geftsnowball]

What problem is being solved? Are plugs fitting to loose, people unplugging each others vehicles?

Yes, this problem. It looks like the context was lost in my wall of text. Here's the short version for what this would prevent:

"I arrive at my car and... charging cable is on the ground after clearly being unplugged and thrown down. "

(editing the OP to reflect it wasn't the CABLE but was the PLUG/HANDLE that was on the ground... in case the issue is that many cables are on the ground already while charging...)

It would prevent randos (or maybe someone not so random...) from walking by and unplugging your charging session while you are not there. That is exactly what happened to me.

 

[N1naz]

Another issue is the stealing of your NACS Adapter, lots of that going around.

 

[JustBob]

I liked the idea of the 3D printed locks on the NACS adapter (here: https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/3d-printed-lock-for-ford-nacs-adapter.37258/ by @JustBob) and was interested to see if it would work for L2 charging plugs. It turns out, yes it will!

Cool. I'm glad you've found it useful. It's neat to see the variations.

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