The charger is on the car

The plug on the wall is not the charger. The EVSE switches AC. The box on the car turns that AC into DC for the pack.

J1772 is the handshake on the inlet. That note is already live: https://evengineeringlab.com/learn/what-is-j1772

What an EVSE does

It checks the plug is seated, then it closes AC onto the inlet. Pilot / PWM tells the car how much AC it may draw. It does not set pack voltage. It does not run a CC/CV curve.

What the TSM2500 does

It is a traction-battery charger: AC in (L / N / PE), DC out (SB50). Thunderstruck’s shop table: 3000 W above 185 VAC, 1500 W below. Manual V1.08 prints the 1.5 kW derate under 185 VAC (input 85–265 VAC). Shop input range is 90–260 VAC. Families 48 / 72 / 96 / 144 / 312 V nominal. CAN at 250 kbps. IP66.

It is the charger only. It needs a CAN device (MCU, EVCC, or a BMSC for a single TSM2500) to run. Shop: do not expect Thunderstruck to debug your homemade CAN. BMSC charge control does not speak J1772 — that stays on the EVCC / MCU / inlet side.

Do not treat the manual’s 144 V example (15 A / 180 V max) as every family. The shop table is voltage-specific. The 144 V shop row at 220 Vac lists 20 A at 120–180 V.

Driveaway protection on the manual is a normally-closed switch that is closed when the charger is not on AC — the unit is meant to live on the vehicle.

Catalog: https://evengineeringlab.com/parts

Order of operations

1. Pack voltage first. Buy the TSM family that covers that window.
2. 120 V wall is 1.5 kW. 240 V is 3 kW. Same box, different AC.
3. CAN to whatever is allowed to stop charge (BMS HVC, EVCC).
4. Inlet and EVSE are a separate problem. A random J1772 board on the wrong side of the handshake will not charge. That mismatch is already a note: https://evengineeringlab.com/learn/j1772-controllers-home-conversion

What people get stuck on

People call the wall box the charger. Production AC charging: the electronics that make DC live on the car. The EVSE checks ground, checks the plug, and negotiates current. https://www.diyelectriccar.com/threads/why-charger-electronics-not-inside-the-car.203896/ EVCreate lists the TSM2500 as an onboard charger their process controller drives over CAN; the EVSE is the other side. https://www.evcreate.nl/nl/ccs-snellaad-oplossing/ DC fast charge is the opposite: AC→DC happens off the car. https://www.evcreate.com/introducing-dc-fast-charging/

A TSM2500 without an EVCC still needs CAN. Proximity on the J1772 inlet: ungrounded proxi is a flashing fault. A household outlet has no proxi. https://www.diyelectriccar.com/threads/thunderstruck-tsm2500-chargers-and-evcc.158842/

The EVCC is good at station limits to the TSM2500. It is not a tight BMS. One builder never got high-cell CAN listen to work reliably and let the BMS open contactors as override. https://www.diyelectriccar.com/threads/wiring-diagram-orion-bms2-and-thunderstruck-2500.211167/ The MCU is the J1772 + OBC brain. https://www.diyelectriccar.com/threads/thunderstruck-mcu-for-bms.208316/

A CAN charger does not know wall-circuit amps unless something reads J1772 CP and writes current on CAN. A non-CAN charger will just pull. https://www.diyelectriccar.com/threads/current-consumption-tc-6-6kw-charger.201289/

Sources

• https://www.thunderstruck-ev.com/tsm2500-charger-only.html
• https://www.thunderstruck-ev.com/images/companies/1/ThunderStruck-TSM2500-ManualV1.08.pdf
• https://evengineeringlab.com/learn/what-is-j1772
• https://evengineeringlab.com/learn/j1772-controllers-home-conversion
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAE_J1772 — EVSE supplies AC; the on-board charger makes DC