So 3 days in from finally getting the charger onboard the EV and I learned to my cost that the Soliton does indeed damage the charger if it is permanently connected to the live traction pack terminals, I got home and went to charge as usual (a little more excited than usual in fact due to the new improved and much simpler charging regime) except this time as I turned off the car and stepped out to unlock the workshop where I charge from I noticed a fan whirring from the boot, Damn! Opened boot to be presented with the charger running whilst seemingly not plugged in! Damn Damn! Check output diode with DVM, its blown! Dead short across 1 of the diodes in the package! Damn Damn Damn!
However luckily I was planning on building another of these cool chargers and had already bought a second identical output diode from Digikey so after another evening of rapid strip down part replacement and reconstruction I was ready to charge once more, however I would be unable to fit the charger into the car again until I had sourced another HV contactor, an email to Steve and a swift meeting a few days later and I had 2 HV contactors in hand (Thanks again Steve) the second is for the ceramic heater I am intending to fit soon for rapid demisting of the windscreen.
So after a minor rewire of the charge +ve cable via an HV contactor that is activated from the 12v line of the charger (so it switches on and connects the output of the charger to the +ve line of the traction pack) the charger is now back in the car and working as expected. Sweet!
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