OEM EVSE Fault

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bradleydavidgood777

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 29, 2017
Messages
264
Location
Quarryville, PA
Hi,

I have a 2017 model with the OEM EVSE. Was working fine. Now when I plug it in I sometimes get a solid fault light and solid power light. Sometimes I get blinking fault and blinking power. And sometimes I get normal stuff and am able to charge. Started happening yesterday and I unplugged an plugged back in and it went normal. Today it it doing it again. I unplugged and plugged 10 times and 6 out of 10 were faults, 4 were normal.

I moved it to other outlets in the house and same thing.

The user manual says that blinking fault and power indicates that it is not grounded. To check the ground and if ground is OK then take to dealer.

I checked the ground with one of those three prong testers with two yellow lights and one red light and got two yellow lights meaning "Correct". So no ground issue.

Went to the local Blink charger less than a half a mile away and it is broken!

Anyone seen this before?

Thanks for the help!
 
where are you located? Is it raining or high humidity, near an ocean, etc--sometimes environmental conditions can affect the ground path.

Is there dirt or debris or insects in the charging port--get a flashlight to inspect down in the handle and the port. My handle is outside all the time and i had fire ants build a nest in there.

The EVSE does a couple of ground checks before it will allow a connection for charging, and it has to receive a signal from the car, and any disruption of these signals will cause it to not connect.

One test it does is check if a good connection to ground really exists, by leaking a low current from the hot line back thru the earth ground line.

The next test is to prove that the ground fault interrupter circuit is really working properly by leaking a low current thru the hot side of the current sensor to ground.

It is a smart little device but can be overly sensitive and will err on the side of safety.

Maybe someone in your area can meet up to try swapping out EVSE units to see if the issue follows the unit or the car.

And It may also be a loose wire, connection or solder joint, based upon the intermittent nature of sometimes working and other times not.

There is a resistor network in the EVSE handle that the car uses to sense whether the charger is plugged in fully and locked into place. Then if all is good the car sends a control signal to the EVSE to allow the relays to close, make connection and charge. The car controls the charging current thru this signal also.
 
My thoughts are the same - Since it's such a random failure, it's probably a grounding problem of some sort. True OEM EVSE problems are pretty rare

Don
 
bradleydavidgood777, nice discussion and explanation by kiev and I agree with Don that problems with our OEM (Mitsubishi-Panasonic) EVSEs are very rare. Although your test plug showed no issues, the quickest way to isolate is to try a different EVSE on your home power circuit - whereabouts are you located, as someone nearby might be able to come over and try theirs?

http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3196
 
Hi guys,

I am located in Media, PA, just west of Philadelphia.

Thanks for the replies. It was dry the past few days when it gave me problems. I have been charging with it every night outside in the weather since I got it last August. I often thought of wrapping it in some kind of thick clear plastic with strong rubber bands or something but then thought that might just make it sweat and be worse for it. I figure it is built to be weather proof the way it is.

All of the faults that have registered were when the device was NOT connected to the car. Some were on the long extension cord I have been using for 4 months (10 gauge). Then I brought it inside and tried a couple of different outlets and had the same results (intermittent faults).

My house has very good wiring updated 10 years ago. Nothing has changed recently with it. I just went down to the main box and saw a ground wire coming from the box to a copper water pipe. I loosened the connector screw, pulled the wire out to disconnect it, then used the 3 prong circuit tester and got two yellow lights (meaning correct and grounded). So the system must be grounded some other way too but I don't know...I checked where the main wires come into the house and there is no grounding wire or grounding rod. Maybe it gets a ground from the utility main? Anyway, I put that wire back snuggly connected to the water pipe.

I brought the EVSE inside, gave it a good scrubbing bath and some love. Then took some pipe sanding mesh tape to all of the connectors. I plugged/unplugged 10 times and no faults! Took it outside and tried 5 times and no faults.

So all good for now. Hopefully we just solved it. I really didn't want to take the train and smell the urine in the station and all of that. Glad I'll be warming up the I-miev and comfortably riding to work tomorrow - especially because it is supposed to be cold and downpours of rain tomorrow morning.

So thanks so much for inspiring me to check the grounds one more time. The comment that the EVSE is sensitive was key. If my house ground was loose it didn't seem like it, but you never know, sometimes repositioning a wire and re-snugging it makes a big difference as I've seen many times.

I updated my profile to show my location and my signature to show my model year. Thanks for inspiring me to do that also, I've been meaning to get to that.
 
While there's nothing 'wrong' with using an extension cord to charge (especially not with a 10 gauge one) the extra NEMA 5-15 connections that adds are prone to giving intermittent connections, especially after repeated plugging and unplugging. A 5-15 is a pretty poor choice for any circuit drawing more than just a few amps

When EVSE Upgrade did their thing on the original 2012 Panasonic EVSE's, they did away with the 5-15 plugs and installed 20 or 30 amp twist-locks, which will last much longer and give fewer electrical problems. When I installed outlets in my garage for charging years ago, I used twist-locks for everything. No doubt I would have worn out a few standard household outlets by now if I hadn't

Don
 
Yea, about the added connections. I also have an inline breaker thing (with test/reset buttons) between the extension cord and the EVSE. I sanded those connections also. I like the idea of having that breaker there close to the car since the cord is long.

You just made me consider the twist lock thing. But it is nice to have that regular outlet near where I park the car for the vacuum or whatever else I want to plug in like the leaf blower.

So then I considered an adapter from the cord that changed the reg 5-15 to a twist lock...and then replacing the 5-15 on the breaker cord with a twist lock. This way the main connector I always am plugging/unplugging would be the twist lock. But that would add one extra connection to the mix. So may not be worth the trouble....unless I start to have issues again later.

Hopefully it was just the main ground at the breaker that was the issue.

Thanks
 
The EVSE worked fine every night all week this week, no faults. Came home today and got a fault 10 times in a row outside. Came inside and got a fault 10 times inside. Went to a friend's house and got a fault 10 times in a row there....but the wiring isn't that good there...so came home and went next door where I know they just had the wiring redone. No fault 4 times in a row. Went back to my place and plugged in outside and no fault. Car charging fine now.

Does anyone know what Mitsubishi's reaction will be if I take this thing to the dealer? I'm guessing the warranty is up??? This one is a 2017 model but has been "in service" for probably 2 years I guess. And what would my options be if I had to buy a new one and wanted to get it here within a couple of days? The $150 chinese ebay one sounds tempting but 2 weeks is a long time. But then again if I can get this one to keep working intermittently by letting it rest and trying again later maybe I can wait 2 weeks. Just want to get an idea of options. I'm guessing the Mitsu one is probably way expensive and maybe not even at the dealer? Anyone know?

Thanks
 
Do you have any neighbors or friends who drive a Nissan Leaf, or any other EV that uses the same handle? See if you can swap out to determine if the problem is your car or your evse unit.
 
Your car should still be under the full bumper to bumper warranty . . .. but going there with a problem like this may not get you much - Odds are that your EVSE will work just fine when you try to show the dealer your problem . . . . I personally doubt there's anything wrong with it. If you mention you're using an extension cord, the dealers tech is gonna say "Well, there's your problem right there!"

It would be great if you could find someone in your area with any sort of EV and see what happens when you use their EVSE . . . . but, it would probably work fine there too, which still doesn't necessarily mean there's anything wrong with yours

You might have had your whole house rewired by a professional and you could still have a not so tight screw on a ground wire somewhere in the line, which would cause exactly what you're seeing. Few household appliances will refuse to work with an intermittent ground, but your EVSE checks it every time you plug in to charge

There are LOTS of us here who haven't plugged or unplugged an EVSE for years - These kinds of intermittent faults are always going to happen to those who do a lot of plugging and unplugging

Don
 
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