- Joined
- Sep 1, 2012
- Messages
- 187
J1772 Type 2 Plug Damage - Won't Charge - Flashing Red Charging Light
Hi,
Just thought I might post this to help others who may suffer a similar charging issue with a damaged T2 plug which is used on all the following vehicles:-
Nissan Leaf / eNV200Mitsubishi i-MiEV / Outlander
Vauxhall Ampera / Chevrolet Volt
Citroen C-Zero / Peugeot Ion
Toyota Prius PHEV
Renault Kangoo / Fluence
Kia Soul
Fisker Karma
Ford C-MAX Energi / Ford Focus EV
Lightning EV
Mercedes Vito E-Cell Van
MIA Electric
Toyota Prius PHEV
On the LEAF, the symptoms are that when the T1 plug is inserted into the car's charge port (whether the T1 end - if there is one - is also plugged in or not), the 3 blue charging lights on the LEAF's dash board flash together and beep for about 30 seconds and no charge starts.
On the I-MiEV/Ion/C-0 the red 'charge' icon flashes.
This indication from the car means (possibly amongst other things) that there is an incorrect coupling of T1 plug to T1 socket and is most likely caused by the locking latch not fully dropping down after plug insertion. This means that the microswitch inside the T1 plug is not switching back to a 'plug locked in' or 'button not pressed' state and the car reacts as mentioned before to let you know - as well as preventing charging from starting.
The temporary fix is to make sure the plug is fully inserted and to then push the locking catch fully down. If it won't go down, makers there is nothing blocking the plug from seating fully all the way into the socket. If you can't get at it due to the car's design, then insert something into the hole in the button (that is designed to take a padlock to lock the button and, therefore plug, into the charge port) and pull it up. You should be able to hear the microswitch clicking but it is a very faint noise so any background din will probably prevent you from hearing it. As long as the lip of the locking latch is fully down then you should be good to go.
The long term fix is to either replace the plug (expensive!), fit a stronger return spring (if you can find one) or file or sand away whatever is stopping the latch from moving and properly mating with the charge port under the power of the existing spring. Perhaps, if the plug has been dropped, some appropriate 're-allignmnet' of the catch may work. Anyway, do whatever is needed to allow the catch to move freely again as well as to engage with the car's charging port properly and cleanly.
One other thing of interest worth mentioning here that I came across researching this post, in that it relates specifically to the I-MiEV/Ion/C-0 (and possibly other Mitsu EVs/PIHs - or, indeed, EVs in general), is that if you plug the T1 plug into the car and walk off expecting the car to either carry on charging (if the connected EVSE is already supplying power) or charge later (if the connected EVSE is off but will come on later on a timer) and AFTER CHARGING HAS COMMENCED the mains power is interrupted, the car will NOT (according to the manual) resume charging once mains power is re-instated.
Thus, if you have left your car charging over night and there is a power cut at 0100 hrs, charging won't re-start until you get up, un-plug and re-connect your T1 plug. This might explain the one and only time my Ion didn't charge properly overnight but it's too long ago now to remember if we had a power cut that night. I assumed the plug had not engaged properly.
The other thing I found in the manual was that apparently the auxiliary battery is charged at the same time the main battery pack is charged. I guess this, too, only happens once per T1 plug cycling as I have left the Ion plugged in to the supplied portable EVSE (connected to the mains on a timer to come on from 0000 - 1000 hrs) for 10 days without using it and come back to it to find the auxiliary battery was flat. This suggests that despite leaving your Ion plugged in to an EVSE and leave it for a long period of time (a few months,say) you will come back to a car with both batteries flat. This MAY only happen if the mains power cycles, of course, rather than the EVSE power cycling as happens when you un-plug and re-connect the T1 plug. So, if you leave your car connected to a permanently powered up EVSE (assuming no power cuts) will the car charge up occasionally on its own?
Regards, Martin Winlow
EVBitz.uk
Hi,
Just thought I might post this to help others who may suffer a similar charging issue with a damaged T2 plug which is used on all the following vehicles:-
Nissan Leaf / eNV200Mitsubishi i-MiEV / Outlander
Vauxhall Ampera / Chevrolet Volt
Citroen C-Zero / Peugeot Ion
Toyota Prius PHEV
Renault Kangoo / Fluence
Kia Soul
Fisker Karma
Ford C-MAX Energi / Ford Focus EV
Lightning EV
Mercedes Vito E-Cell Van
MIA Electric
Toyota Prius PHEV
On the LEAF, the symptoms are that when the T1 plug is inserted into the car's charge port (whether the T1 end - if there is one - is also plugged in or not), the 3 blue charging lights on the LEAF's dash board flash together and beep for about 30 seconds and no charge starts.
On the I-MiEV/Ion/C-0 the red 'charge' icon flashes.
This indication from the car means (possibly amongst other things) that there is an incorrect coupling of T1 plug to T1 socket and is most likely caused by the locking latch not fully dropping down after plug insertion. This means that the microswitch inside the T1 plug is not switching back to a 'plug locked in' or 'button not pressed' state and the car reacts as mentioned before to let you know - as well as preventing charging from starting.
The temporary fix is to make sure the plug is fully inserted and to then push the locking catch fully down. If it won't go down, makers there is nothing blocking the plug from seating fully all the way into the socket. If you can't get at it due to the car's design, then insert something into the hole in the button (that is designed to take a padlock to lock the button and, therefore plug, into the charge port) and pull it up. You should be able to hear the microswitch clicking but it is a very faint noise so any background din will probably prevent you from hearing it. As long as the lip of the locking latch is fully down then you should be good to go.
The long term fix is to either replace the plug (expensive!), fit a stronger return spring (if you can find one) or file or sand away whatever is stopping the latch from moving and properly mating with the charge port under the power of the existing spring. Perhaps, if the plug has been dropped, some appropriate 're-allignmnet' of the catch may work. Anyway, do whatever is needed to allow the catch to move freely again as well as to engage with the car's charging port properly and cleanly.
One other thing of interest worth mentioning here that I came across researching this post, in that it relates specifically to the I-MiEV/Ion/C-0 (and possibly other Mitsu EVs/PIHs - or, indeed, EVs in general), is that if you plug the T1 plug into the car and walk off expecting the car to either carry on charging (if the connected EVSE is already supplying power) or charge later (if the connected EVSE is off but will come on later on a timer) and AFTER CHARGING HAS COMMENCED the mains power is interrupted, the car will NOT (according to the manual) resume charging once mains power is re-instated.
Thus, if you have left your car charging over night and there is a power cut at 0100 hrs, charging won't re-start until you get up, un-plug and re-connect your T1 plug. This might explain the one and only time my Ion didn't charge properly overnight but it's too long ago now to remember if we had a power cut that night. I assumed the plug had not engaged properly.
The other thing I found in the manual was that apparently the auxiliary battery is charged at the same time the main battery pack is charged. I guess this, too, only happens once per T1 plug cycling as I have left the Ion plugged in to the supplied portable EVSE (connected to the mains on a timer to come on from 0000 - 1000 hrs) for 10 days without using it and come back to it to find the auxiliary battery was flat. This suggests that despite leaving your Ion plugged in to an EVSE and leave it for a long period of time (a few months,say) you will come back to a car with both batteries flat. This MAY only happen if the mains power cycles, of course, rather than the EVSE power cycling as happens when you un-plug and re-connect the T1 plug. So, if you leave your car connected to a permanently powered up EVSE (assuming no power cuts) will the car charge up occasionally on its own?
Regards, Martin Winlow
EVBitz.uk
