Problem Charging but it isn't the battery

[tonymil]

Hi all, it's been a long time since I've posted, but suddenly I'm having a major issue with charging. The car stops charging and the level 2 charger says charging complete even though it isn't. But if I either unplug and replug the the charger, or if I hit override all setting on the remote, charging starts up again. If I do this enough times, the car finally fully charges and I get acceptable range for my 2012 miev with 52,000 miles on it (43,000 miles on this battery). I've searched the other posts here and don't see anyone else having this problem. Also, I did go and "cancel" all remote settings just in case the issue was that I accidentally set the car to delay or otherwise modify charge times. Nothing has helped. Any thoughts? Much appreciated.

Tony

 

[jray3]

Welcome Back Tony,
What EVSE are you using and have there been any changes in your charging habits? Does this happen on commercial stations and without remote use at all? It took a while to figure out that my SPX (now Bosch Power Express) was basically incompatible with the remote commands. I've never encountered a commercial charging station that is fooled by the charging timeouts imposed by our BMS, but it has caused my wife some alarm, and I've never tried to use the remote while on a commercial charging station. (Which reminds me to do so- I'll have to walk half a block to get within range, but would appreciate some preheating for the return commute this winter!)
-Jay

 

[tonymil]

Hi Jay,

Thanks very much for the response. So I ended up taking drastic action. I traded in my miev for a Kia Soul ev. They are offering 3 year leases for $179 and no money down. Too good to pass up. And the purchase option at the end of the 3 years is around $10k. Pulled the trigger today. It's quite a jolt going from my little miev to the boxy Soul, but I can't deny that it's nice to have all the comforts and features.

As for the problem with charging the miev, I had only used the remote to preheat, I never intentionally set a timer or anything else. But when the charger kept shutting off I thought maybe I had accidentally set something. It was weird because there were times it would fully charge. I didn't use the remote on the public station, but I monitored it with the chargepoint app. It was charging at about 3 kw for about 20 minutes and then just stopped. I guess no one else who's left on this forum has had a similar problem. Oh well. I'm happy with the 5.5 years and 52,000+ miles I got out of it. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists EV emissions tool, I reduced my carbon footprint by 18.5 ton of CO2. I'm very proud of that!

Tony

 

[JoeS]

Hi tonymil, sorry to hear. I understand the "Oh-Oh" aspect of this and the desire to bail. Kia Soul EV is nice, and I'm surprised it never became more popular.

Before you leave us, could you describe better the issue - I take it that this was a change in what had been a daily routine for you?

1. Did it work ok with your Mitsu Level 1 EVSE?

2. The L2 EVSE - is that a public ChargePoint or ChargePoint Home?

3. Did it have the same symptoms using other L2 EVSEs?

I thought we had a post elsewhere on this forum about an issue with ChargePoint and I'm wondering if perhaps their newer software or charging station detects the i-MiEV's 'timeout' as a shutoff and turns the EVSE off?

Tonymil, wish you all the best with the Kia Soul EV, and have a Merry Christmas!

 

[tonymil]

Hi Joe, nice to hear from you. So my level 2 station at home is kind of unusual. The mitsu dealership that sold me the miev also sold me one of the two Eaton industrial level 2 chargers that mitsu North America forced all dealers to install. I can only remember one prior incident more than a year ago where I plugged it in and it stopped charging before reaching full capacity. It didn't happen again until now. Just when the weather started getting colder this year, and just when I started pre-heating again, I started getting the same symptoms of stopping charging before full capacity. It was intermittent at first but became more frequent, but I could always restart the charging and eventually it would reach full capacity. I thought it could be my charging station so recently when I was at an event with a chargepoint station close by I plugged in to see what would happened. As previously stated, it stopped after 20 minutes and left me at half capacity. I doubt the problem is my home charger but I should know in the morning, I just plugged in my Soul EV for the night.

I have to say that even before this problem arose, I was dreading going through another winter with the miev. The heater just sucks the life out of it so I end up driving with just my seat heater and heated vest to keep me warm. I have absolutely no regrets about the miev though. The 52,000 miles I put on it means I reduced my CO2 output by 18.5 tons versus a gas car. I'm very proud of that. And we all gave mitsu a lot of insight into how well/not well its battery and related technology worked. It's been a great experiment, but I'm glad to have a car with more range and more comfort. I'm even thinking of driving from Albany to Long Island this weekend. I would need to stop at 3 level 3 charging stations along the way. I normally make one stop anyway, so it would only mean making two extra stops. It could be fun to do.

 

[JoeS]

Hi Tony,

Understand the issues and concerns, and wish you all the best. Suspect there's nothing wrong with your Eaton. Longer distances in an EV are always a bit of an adventure and can be a lot of fun as long as the rest of the family is on the same page and there are no overriding time constraints. Hope the SoulEV provides you with a continuing improving EV experience. Take care.

 

[Don]

I'm guessing you'll be pretty happy with the Kia as it 'solves' many of the things most of us think are shortcomings with our iMiEV's - If I didn't already have two of them, I'd be trotting over to the Kia dealer to take a look

A 27 Kw battery, 6.6 Kw charger, actual range of 100 miles or better, all 4 wheels and tires of the same 'reasonable' size and even a bit more cargo space - What's not to like!? Well, unfortunately, it is FWD but that's about it

We'll miss you here Tony, but I think you're gonna be pretty happy with your new ride

Don

 

[ChrisEV]

Having a 6.6kW charger is probably the thing I’m most jealous of from EVs newer than the I-MIEV.

Getting a useful charge from an hour out of a L2 charger must be nice

 

[rnlcarlov]

Having a 6.6kW charger is probably the thing I’m most jealous of from EVs newer than the I-MIEV.

Getting a useful charge from an hour out of a L2 charger must be nice

I know, right? That's why I've been on the fence about that Portable 7kw Chademo charger that can use 32A single-phase (or 3-phase) into chademo charging. But 3k is still a lot of dough. :?


Btw, what's wrong with FWD?

 

[ajsykes07]

Hello everyone!

Sorry to bring a thread back from the dead but I wanted to add to this since it's the only place I've seen this issue ever mentioned. I have a 2012 MiEV with the same issue as the OP. It appears to only happen on L2 chargers, I've experienced it on 4 different EVSEs. The same EVSEs have no issues with our Bolt or Fusion Energi. Same as the OP, starting an "override" from the remote resumes charging. Charging stops anywhere from 2 minutes once starting to a few hours into the charge. It's frustrating but the MiEV has became an extra car at this point so it's not terrible. I'll also add this is totally unpredictable, I'll go many charging sessions with no issue then have the problem happen a few times in a row. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[JoeS]

Hi ajsykes07. Presume you're aware of the 'timeout' or pause in charging that the i-MiEV performs randomly. It can initiate at any time after the start of charging and it lasts anywhere between six minutes and about 20 minutes. After this pause, the charging resumes. and the only identified conflict has been with a dual-port ChargePoint public EVSE where the two ports share a common power line, in which case the i-MiEV inexplicably continues charging but at a 1.1kW rate instead of the usual ~3kW.

We haven't determined what triggers this timeout and it's speculated that the reason for it is to measure voltage sag when charging is supended to see if perhaps it's excessive and might be caused by a defective cell. No other EVs do this to our knowledge. Unplugging the car and plugging it back in overrides this timeout and the car continues charging normally.

All EVSEs (except for the specific dual-port ChargePoint) allow the car to resume charging properly after it concludes this 'timeout'. We have numerous references and screenshots of this peculiarity scattered throughout this website.

Could this be your problem, or might it be something else? Have you waited sufficient time (up to 20 minutes) to see if charging resumes by itself?

 

[ajsykes07]

Hello there. I am familiar with the "timeout" during charging, I've noticed that ever since I got my Juicebox pro two years ago and have been able to see charging session graphs. I've determined this isn't what I'm experiencing though. If I don't catch the issue and manually override it, via the remote or by unplugging and plugging in again, it will sit all night without charging.

 

[DBMandrake]

Hello there. I am familiar with the "timeout" during charging, I've noticed that ever since I got my Juicebox pro two years ago and have been able to see charging session graphs. I've determined this isn't what I'm experiencing though. If I don't catch the issue and manually override it, via the remote or by unplugging and plugging in again, it will sit all night without charging.

When you say it only happens with Level 2 charging do you mean it doesn't happen with Chademo, or it doesn't happen with Level 1 (110v) charging ?

Level 2 charging operates at 230-240v AC, and these cars seem to abort charging (or fail to start) if the AC voltage goes over about 247 volts.

Here in the UK the AC voltage is typically 230-240 volts, however the specs allow it to range from 216 to 253 volts, so it can be quite a problem here!

I discovered this during bad weather last winter where our AC voltage was up to 248 volts and the car would not charge. The symptom is the EVSE clicks on, the fan on the back of the car does its usual run for a few seconds, the charge light on the dashboard flashes for a few seconds but instead of then going solid red it aborts and the EVSE drops out again.

If the car is already charging and the voltage increases it will abort charging and will not start again even if the voltage drops to a more acceptable level later - you have to unplug it and plug it in again. As the AC voltage can rise a bit into the late evening as the load diminishes (including the diminishing load from the car as the charge starts tapering) this means a charge session could abort randomly some time after it started due to changes in AC load and supply at the property.

So have a look at your charging session graphs and (assuming they report voltage) see if there is any correlation between high voltage and aborted charging.

If you have access to a MUT-III read the fault codes for the OBD (onboard charger) ECU soon after the problem occurs - charge sessions aborted due to high AC voltage record a fault code, and it's likely that charge sessions aborted for other reasons will as well...

 

[dkfuel]

Hello! My first post and luckily I found this topic so I didn't have to start a new one. I am having the exact same issue. My 2012 iMiev will randomly stop charging. I've read over the type of questions being asked and it may very well be related to the EVSE's I've been using. The location that I use has what appear to be "old" EVSE's as they have been there quite some time. There are no markings on them to indicate model number or manufacturer, but there is a 1-800 number I can call if I'm having problems. What are the known ones that have problems with our vehicles? What specific questions can I ask them to nail down if they are the problem?

The car is currently at the Mitsu dealership here in the United States. I took it in with an almost depleted battery. They let it charge overnight on their L2 charger and of course it fully charged. They found no codes related to the battery or the charging system in the ECU. I was hoping this would be a cut and dry case of the new recall on the OBC being the issue and that'd I'd get it swapped and be on my way. Alas, they won't replace anything under warranty without error codes. So basically I'm looking at a $130 to find out nothing is "wrong" in their eyes (although I think we can all agree the timeout "feature" is a major bummer.)

My problem with this is I live in an apartment and cannot charge it here. So I have to take it to an EV station three miles away and scooter back to my apartment. Going back and forth every hour to see if it has shut off is a real drag. I'd like to sell it and move on specifically because of this but having to tell someone "you can't use a specific EVSE" or it won't work and trying to convince them it's not a defect and just have to deal with it. There value is too low already!

I forgot to mention that I have a generic level 1/2 charger that I tested on it before taking it in to the dealership. It would completely turn off after 5-10 mins, then reboot and start charging again. The process repeated three times before I gave up and took it in.

Anyway,any advice or tips would be appreciated. I'm ready to provide any info that can help resolve this (if it is something that can be resolved.)

Thanks!

 

[JoeS]

Hello! My first post and luckily I found this topic so I didn't have to start a new one. I am having the exact same issue. My 2012 iMiev will randomly stop charging. I've read over the type of questions being asked and it may very well be related to the EVSE's I've been using. The location that I use has what appear to be "old" EVSE's as they have been there quite some time. There are no markings on them to indicate model number or manufacturer, but there is a 1-800 number I can call if I'm having problems. What are the known ones that have problems with our vehicles? What specific questions can I ask them to nail down if they are the problem?

dkfuel, welcome to the forum. Very early (2012) there was an unusual timing issue that resulted in some incompatibility with Clipper Creek EVSEs, but that was taken care of by both Mitsubishi (recall) and Clipper Creek (design mod), each independently having a fix which eliminated the problem.

The car is currently at the Mitsu dealership here in the United States. I took it in with an almost depleted battery. They let it charge overnight on their L2 charger and of course it fully charged. They found no codes related to the battery or the charging system in the ECU. I was hoping this would be a cut and dry case of the new recall on the OBC being the issue and that'd I'd get it swapped and be on my way. Alas, they won't replace anything under warranty without error codes. So basically I'm looking at a $130 to find out nothing is "wrong" in their eyes (although I think we can all agree the timeout "feature" is a major bummer.)

Inconvenient, yes, but presumably Mitsu had a good reason for instituting this. Usually not even noticeable unless at a public EVSE and in a hurry to get underway.

I forgot to mention that I have a generic level 1/2 charger that I tested on it before taking it in to the dealership. It would completely turn off after 5-10 mins, then reboot and start charging again. The process repeated three times before I gave up and took it in.

I don't understand what you mean by "level 1/2 charger", but I presume you're talking about the stock Mitsubishi (Panasonic) EVSE that came with the car? Did you demonstrate this to the dealer?

Really feel for you as multi-unit-dwellings are the greatest inhibitor to EV adoption, with many states, counties, and cities passing ordinances attempting to alleviate this problem by facilitating charging station installations. Talking with the landlord or management company may yield some sympathy and accommodation to allow you to charge on-premises, as all you need in most cases is access to a simple 120vac outlet. Around here, workplace charging is a very common solution.

Whereabouts are you located? http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3196

 

[kaiseiken]

Just chiming in to say I've seen this problem (randomly) multiple times when charging at public Chargepoint stations. I have the base model 2012 ES, which does not have the remote warming feature or DC fast charge port. I get 3kw power initially, then nothing for the next few minutes. Charging does appear to resume on its own after the timeout period.

I have not seen this issue on our other car (I8 phev), and the only thing that is irritating to me is that the local chargers are billed based on time instead of energy consumed. The prices seem to be roughly the utility rate in the local area, assuming your car's charger can pull the full 6.6kw...so I get doubly screwed because I'm already paying 2x for the electricity since I can only charge at half the rate, but then there's this dead time where I pay double for absolutely nothing

Luckily, there are enough free public chargers in my area that I can offset the cost with free electricity.