My 2012 IMEV doesn't charge every time i plug it in.

[rkolibar1]

My 2012 IMEV doesn't charge every time I plug it in. Sometimes i have to plug it in 10 times to hear the fan go on. other times I cant get it to work at all, and then the next day I plug it in and it works. The dash light come on for 30 seconds and then goes off. I only know when its going to work is when I hear the fan go on in the batteries box.

 

[kiev]

What EVSE unit are you using and do you have access to another one (known to be good) that you could try?

there may be an error code showing on the LEDs of the EVSE unit when it kicks off--make a note of those and report back.

 

[VoironIon]

Hi there.

A common failure is bad contact within the two lines used for communication between charger and EV.

As Kiev said, try first another charger.

You can also (in the meanwhile ) jiggle the plug a bit in the car (but slowly) to hear if charge begin.

If it is bad contact, a non recommended method is to bend the male pins. If you have access to a pointed tool, you can twist the contact inside the female hole.
Do this at your own risks and with charger unplug from main

It happened once on my car, since no problem.

Good luck!

 

[rkolibar1]

What EVSE unit are you using and do you have access to another one (known to be good) that you could try?

there may be an error code showing on the LEDs of the EVSE unit when it kicks off--make a note of those and report back.

Trying an aftermarket charger, I hear the relay kick on in the charger, the green light pulses 6 times slowly and then you can hear the relay again and the green light turns solid green.
Checked the 12v battery and it is at 13.3 volts.
Did try bending the two small pins to see if they were not connecting.

The thing that is different from most of the posts I'm reading is that the battery fan doesn't come on.

 

[frank1]

my 2012 needs a few attempts if its very low too, its been behaving better lately tho, but i rarely go below 20 miles from empty
maybe a few of the cells are sluggish ?

 

[kiev]

the battery fan doesn't come on.

That it sometimes works and other not, points to an intermittent fault. And the most common cause is rodent damaged wiring or corrosion of contacts inside connectors. So inspect, check and verify wiring continuity and clean connector contacts of the affected circuits (if not everything to be absolutely sure).

i think the fan is a pwm controlled actuator driven by the BMU, here is a wiring diagram from the FSM.

Cooling fan



[edit: i would somewhat expect that a DTC would be thrown for a fault like this, this is strange if the car prevents charging but doesn't throw a code or MIL?

 

[rkolibar1]

That it sometimes works and other not, points to an intermittent fault. And the most common cause is rodent damaged wiring or corrosion of contacts inside connectors. So inspect, check and verify wiring continuity and clean connector contacts of the affected circuits (if not everything to be absolutely sure).

i think the fan is a pwm controlled actuator driven by the BMU, here is a wiring diagram from the FSM.

Cooling fan

View attachment 765

[edit: i would somewhat expect that a DTC would be thrown for a fault like this, this is strange if the car prevents charging but doesn't throw a code or MIL?

KIEV< Thank you so much, you are a wealth of knowledge and greatly appreciated.

 

[coulomb]

I think the fan is a pwm controlled actuator driven by the BMU,

One of the non-power wires to the battery fan seems to be labelled FPWM, that sounds like Fan Pulse Width Modulation. That presumably sets the fan speed. The other is hard to read, and I can't quickly find the original, but it seems to be labelled FRWM, the W might be warning or similar. So I think the BMU is monitoring the battery fan, while the EVECU doesn't seem to be monitoring the main cooling fan. I'd expect the cooling fan to come on only after the on-board charger has been operating for many minutes. My guess is that something is wrong with that fan wiring, so the BMU doesn't think that the battery fan is running, and aborts the charge despite it possibly not needing the battery fan at all. I suppose Mitsubishi doesn't want to start the charge if there is a problem, as the user would assume that once the charge is started, there is no reason it won't finish. Better to be alerted to the problem early, they may be thinking.

It would certainly be good to see a trouble code for that situation though.

 

[martinwinlow]

A classic issue with Type 1 (J1772) plugs is that if the plug is dropped on its 'nose' (ie the latch), it gets bent towards the plug sufficiently that the latch does not drop down fully reliably when plugged in to the EV's socket. This means the plug's internal microswitch does not operate and, despite the car being able to detect the plug is in the socket (and the red 'plug' symbol illuminating on the dash), it won't start a charge because the microswitch has not switched.
Solution:
(Temporary) make sure the latch is fully down (and button on the top of the plug is fully 'up' ie as far up as it is when the plug is disconnected) by pressing the latch down inside the socket (if possible).
(Permanent) File a small amount of material off the inside of the latch end (point 'B' in attached pic) to create a bit more gap (dimension 'A' in attached pic).

 

[MickeyS70]

One of the non-power wires to the battery fan seems to be labelled FPWM, that sounds like Fan Pulse Width Modulation. That presumably sets the fan speed. The other is hard to read, and I can't quickly find the original, but it seems to be labelled FRWM, the W might be warning or similar. So I think the BMU is monitoring the battery fan, while the EVECU doesn't seem to be monitoring the main cooling fan. I'd expect the cooling fan to come on only after the on-board charger has been operating for many minutes. My guess is that something is wrong with that fan wiring, so the BMU doesn't think that the battery fan is running, and aborts the charge despite it possibly not needing the battery fan at all. I suppose Mitsubishi doesn't want to start the charge if there is a problem, as the user would assume that once the charge is started, there is no reason it won't finish. Better to be alerted to the problem early, they may be thinking.

It would certainly be good to see a trouble code for that situation though.

We know from thread below that DCTs P1A2D/P1A48 are set when the fan isn’t running

https://myimiev.com/threads/miev-with-c-zero-parts.5521/

I therefore think it’s another issue, I would certainly check what @martinwinlow suggests.

 

[frank1]

definitely the ecu pulling it off charge in my case imo, when it took 6 attempts to get it to charge when i first got the car (nearly flat) it would charge for about 3 secs then trip, then 10 secs the second try, then 30 secs the third try etc,
and the new 6A/10A/13A granny charger had the same problem, but it has slowly got better and very rarely plays up since,
a dc charge or winter use may cause issues to return again ?

 

[Sandrosan]

Without power, I would put some deoxidizing spray into the connector holes of the type 1 plug and car socket. And still without power, connect and disconnect the type 1 plug several times, hoping to clean the contacts.
Pls try and let us know, in a couple of times, I solved the matter in this way.