Charging MiEV trips arc-fault breaker

[Adoepner]

Hi everyone,

The 120V/20A outdoor outlets on my home are protected by Siemens combined AFCI/GFCI breakers. Using the OEM Mitsubishi EVSE (and also the OEM EVSE from my Chevy Bolt) to charge my MiEV on this circuit will occasionally trip the breaker’s ARC fault mode (there are indicator lights on the breaker to show trip mode: over current, AF, or GF). I have no issues charging if I run an extension cord (12Ga) to within the garage to use a circuit with an ordinary 15A breaker.

My hypothesis is that there is a little bit of arcing going on somewhere in the car that is triggering the arc detect circuit. These breakers usually have trouble with large brushed motors (they don’t like my table saw) and make/break arcs at contactors. I’m thinking the issue may be at a contactor in the OBC. Two-wire arc suppressors are relatively cheap (~$40) and easy to wire in (provided the contactor is not soldered to a board).

Has anyone else encountered this issue? Any ideas?

- Andrew

 

[kiev]

Has it been raining or high humidity in your area recently or when this occurs? This happened to another miev owner in my area who was using an extension cord outdoors while rainy, it failed on an Audi ev also.

 

[Adoepner]

No rain. Charging my 2017 Bolt on the same EVSE and outlet never results in a trip.

Andrew

 

[kiev]

Is the miev throwing any trouble codes, HV fault light, charging fault, etc?

 

[Adoepner]

No lights. I’ll pull the codes to see if there is anything there.

Andrew

 

[Adoepner]

I’m having trouble pulling codes. I have an OBDLink MX+ and no issues using Canion. I cannot get the OBDII adapter to connect to the car with either the OBDlink app nor Torque Pro. What OBD protocol does our car use?

 

[JoeS]

I’m having trouble pulling codes. I have an OBDLink MX+ and no issues using Canion. I cannot get the OBDII adapter to connect to the car with either the OBDlink app nor Torque Pro. What OBD protocol does our car use?

Adoepner, I use the (now pricey) iCarsoft i909 for reading codes. Dunno what the current capabilities and status of Hobdrive, EvBatMon, and the recent one (darn, forgot its name) are. I was hoping that some of the app owners would pipe up.

 

[jameslandry]

For a beginner like me: what is an arc breaker? Is it a device used to detect the presence of loose connections in the wiring of a house?

 

[coulomb]

what is an arc breaker? Is it a device used to detect the presence of loose connections in the wiring of a house?

I had to look it up too. You are correct:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc-fault_circuit_interrupter

It looks like it's mainly a North American thing, with their low utility voltage for most outlets.