The Troubleshooting and Repair for On-board Charger (OBC) Thread

[laoczi2007]

I decided to add here photos of another second generation OBC: http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4736&p=41969#p41969. Maybe someone needs numbers and dates. And along with this I have a chattering request. Maybe someone has CIRCUIT DIAGRAMS for 2014? I need to trace the entire circuit from signal pins j1772 to pin number 5 of CN 101 on the top charger board (OBC, photo number 4). I would be very grateful for any information. P.S. This is the HLDD grade, i.e. Lithium Titanate battery 10.5 kWh.

 

[ZGreg]

Hi,

My 2012 Nissan Leaf's charger went bad. It has the exact same "waffle" board on it and three of the transistors (in the lower right) corner on the waffle board exploded.

Does anyone have a spare waffle board they want to sell me?

Thanks,

Greg

PS: I am an EE and I live in Kansas

 

[kiev]

Put it back together, then take it to a dealer and get a free OBC replaced under warranty.

Oops, sorry just realized you were talking about the laef. Don't know about their warranty.

 

[ZGreg]

Yeah, no recalls or warranty fixes. I loved your xrays(?) of the waffle board. It would be great to know the values of all other components and the specs on the transistors (if they are indeed transistors in the lower right. In the upper right, I could read the similarly sized diodes to be: 20L60U -s

Anyhow, if anyone has a waffle board please let me know.

 

[shamie]

Apologies if I've posted on the wrong place, I'm new to this. (Feel free to delete it or move it to another thread)

Here goes.. I'm in a bit of a pickle with my OBC and have been advised by people on the AEVA (Australian EV Association) that there are some sharp characters on this forum and to post on here to see if anyone here would be able to help out. 

Otherwise the story is as follows:
It's a bit of a long story but basically Keivan (car's name) died a few weeks back. I got a new 12V battery which allowed me to get it home to work on it. It still wouldn't charge. I have had some guidance and help from a mate (Rob) up in QLD and did a diagnostics scan to find error code PA14AD.

I watched this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynFKclo ... l=SydneyEV and did mostly what they said to do. Minus replacing the heat transfer paste.

I plugged the charger in and heard a pop. When doing so, the charge light flashes on the dash or the charger ready light turns off. The initial attempt short circuited the garage door. There was also a chemical smell coming from the OBC when I opened it back up again. Not sure what it could have been..

If you haven't noticed already I'm a bit of noob when it comes to EV maintenance and knowledge of electronics. I am a dog walker and use my Minicab MiEV for work so I need to get it back on the road ASAP

So I took it to a guy (Russ) who converts ICE cars to EV and sells chargers. He used his MUT3 tool to scan Keivan and found the following DTCS:
POA09 - DCDC Converter fail
02 - Unconnection of battery (load connection abnormal - main battery not connected)
04 - Control power supply voltage
06 - AC Input voltage abnormal
29 - Pilot signal fail
39 - PFC (power factor control) circuit output voltage abnormal
43 - Inverter over current abnormal

Russ suggested I get a new OBC/DC Converter from Mitsubishi Australia (they don't even have the part number on their books) Graham from Suzi Auto in QLD might be able to send a much cheaper used one (which Russ doesn't recommend because you don't know how many charges it's had and if it's been faulty before etc. Or maybe.... I try and work out how to fix all these codes on the current one I have.

Do you guys think I should get a used one sent down from QLD or would anyone be able to help guide me to fix the current one by any chance?

The link below is the previous thread on AEVA is here:
https://forums.aeva.asn.au/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=6848

Any help/tips or guidance would be really appreciated

 

[kiev]

Please read the first page of this thread and look at the pictures to see what sort of damage can occur, e.g. on the AC input side or the HV DC output side. You can remove the cover while the unit is in the car to inspect the AC capacitors, plus peek under the top board to see if the snubber caps have blown again. The blue caps were cracked and you replaced them, but you didn't determine why the initial damage occurred, so my guess is that it blew your replacement yellow caps too.

The balls of solder on your yellow caps occurs when that the solder didn't "wet" the joint and might not have made good contact with the solder pads. i doubt that is your primary issue.

Your list of fault codes in the OBC makes me think there is a problem in the "waffle plate", which holds the high power semiconductors for the Power Factor Control (PFC) and the Inverter stage. There is information on the first page to check the plate by measuring the diode voltage drops.

The repair video is quite good to illustrate the steps involved after finding the culprit(s),
SydneyEV's repair video

 

[Lic]

Me again.
Car stopped to charge from wall. Look like it starts and stops. CHademo charging is working. I am in US now but car is canadian, so I am not sure if dealer will repair it for free. I guess I need to call and ask. Also closest Mitsu dealer 200 miles away from me. For so small mileage as I have right now too much hard troubles.

 

[kiev]

Does the car start and drive? The 12V battery is getting charged also (measures 14.4 after starting)?

If so then then the issue is likely in the AC input section as seen in photos on page 1 of this thread, filter capacitor, precharge resistors or AC relay or small fuse on upper board.

 

[Lic]

Car starts and drives. 12v system is fine, AC relay too. I will open OBC and look for fuse.

 

[Lic]

One snubber cap blown.
Bottom pcb relay is working, one or both 4.7 resistors are fused.

 

[kiev]

Sounds like you have damage on both the AC input side and the DC output section, that's somewhat of a puzzle as it's usually one side or the other, not so much both.

 

[Lic]

I don't see 9,6Om resistance between points N00 and waffle board N contact, so one or both 4.7Om resistors are dead.

 

[kiev]

WOW! Never seen so much smoke damage before, that thing really exploded.

There is discoloration on one of the white ceramic resistors--that one may be cracked.

 

[coulomb]

WOW! Never seen so much smoke damage before, that thing really exploded.

It looks to me more like an arc flash than a component burning. The fibreglass of the printed circuit board will have been damaged by carbonization, which is bad news as it is conductive. It will be difficult to clean all the blackened material so that it is safe for high voltage DC operation again. Every last spec has to be removed, and a good conformal coating applied. It may not be practical to repair that board, depending on the damage.

 

[Lic]

I was able to reach resistors contacts, so resistor with discoloration is fine, other one (P10K fuse) is dead. I don't want to remove waffle board (but I can - it just takes time), so I will try to reach resistor contacts by soldering iron or may be I will try to cut bad resistor to reach his legs. Also I checked diode voltage drop and it looks fine.

 

[kiev]

oh yes i agree arc flash is more accurate description.

You probably should check or replace the AC relay since the ceramic resistor fused. i'm guessing maybe for some reason that relay opened while charging--that might explain the damages.

 

[Lic]

AC relay is working fine. I checked several times.

 

[shamie]

Hey brains trust,
In theory would I be able to change the OBC charger in my Mitsubisihi Minicab MiEV for one from an iMiEV?

 

[coulomb]

would I be able to change the OBC charger in my Mitsubisihi Minicab MiEV for one from an iMiEV?

Yes, I believe that you can.

 

[pierluc248]

I have a problem similar to ChristopheFR earlier in the thread, but did not open anything yet as i don't know if my car still has a warranty on it, as i'm in canada. My car is a 2012 with chademo. It still charges on 110v and chademo, but on 220v it charges for a few seconds, than a yellow light starts flashing in the dash, and the charge then stops. The 12v battery still seems to be charging. Does anyone know if the warranty extention in the us still applies to canadian cars?