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

[shamie]

Hey guys, bit of an update. I have been trying to find an OBC for Keivan and eventually calling around lots of places Graham from Suzi Auto in QLD put me onto Mark from EV Canberra. Both awesome guys. Mark has a wrecked iMiEV and me clutching at straws, got the OBC from the iMiEV to try putting it into the MiEV. Andy from Victoria has been helping me out a whole lot and I don't think they are interchangeable.

If anyone has any contacts with people in Japan who might be able to locate a OBC for a 2012 MiEV that'd be amazing. I'm really in a bit of a pickle. I can't keep charging Keivan from the fast charge stations forever. There is another concern though as well, even if I do get an OBC for Keivan. There is no guarantee the issue that happened before won't happen again to the new OBC. I've tried reading the MyiMiEV thread about fixing the current OBC but it's like learning a new language with all the acronyms and circuit maps etc. Unfortunately I'm in over my head here

If anyone would be able to sift through the 64 pages with me that'd be really great. I'm happy to learn and /or even pay someone to help to fix the current OBC. I really don't know what else to do or who to speak to.

Thank you and I hope I can help others like me in the future,

- Liam

 

[coulomb]

For those outside Australia, QLD (Queensland) and Canberra are in Australia.

If anyone would be able to sift through the 64 pages with me that'd be really great. I'm happy to learn and /or even pay someone to help to fix the current OBC.

Liam, where are you located? I'm a bit stretched at the moment, but it might be a quick fix if you are located near Brisbane.

Edit: Oops, I see from your nearly identical post in the AEVA that you are from Melbourne.

 

[Darma]

Hello, I bought a favorable Peugeot Ion in 2011, with a defective home charger. His reach was 30km. I managed to restore filling at 100% with a quick charger in lidl. I could only charge up to 70%. In the charging process I disconnected the 12V battery and the charger displayed a fault at 44% charging, then I returned to 12 battery and jumped to 64% on the charger. The range jumped from 30km to 65km. I accidentally accidentally managed something that no mechanic could discover 2 years.

 

[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.

I repaired charger. I changed resistor-fuse and disappeared capacitor.

 

[Darma]

https://imageupload.io/i/XniqR8n4yM
Peugeot ion 2012,

 

[Darma]

https://vimeo.com/532392071

 

[Matheos]

Hi everyone in this forum,
First I like to say shame on the manufacturer Mitsubishi that build cars with secrets expensive problems! They have no honor and they are like eligible thieves!
If the charger goes bud they do not repair it and neither provides you with the boards that is in this charger like Toyota is doing! They charger cost 4200 euro and that is a lot of money for this car if you consider that in view years you must give (until yet) 10.000 Euros for the battery!
I buy this car for economy reason but this car is more expensive to drive than a regular diesel car if you consider charger and battery cost!
But I have it now and I like to make the best of it!
Some time ago I had a problem with the car. The car after a full charge starts and drives ok in the morning. Then I plug in the fast charger (220 Volt) and I hear the integrated blower started for a 2 second like always it did and then nothing! Not indication at the dashboard and no charging indication on the 220V outside voltage checker!
I open the Charger on the car to see if I can see something but nothing suspicious!
So I contacted Peugeot and take it to them! 6 month they are trying to figure out what is wrong with the car! They told me that the Peugeot France cannot communicate with the on board charger. And the thing the top board has an issue but they don t sell it separately. So the change all the charger for 4200 Euros and the car work again! So now I have a Charger on the car that work and the car is fine again but I also have a defective charger outside the car that I can compare both and is easy to fix the second !
My question here is can I safely change the boards and see witch board is not function and with little help from here to fix it?????

 

[kiev]

Howdy Matheos, and welcome to the forum, sorry to hear that you had OBC issues with such expenses.

For sure that is the reason for this thread, to help determine what has failed and how to repair it.

There are 3 boards inside the OBC/DCDC Converter; 2 for the OBC in the upper chamber, and 1 for the DCDC in the lower chamber. You can see pictures and many details of failed parts on the first page of this thread to help you get started.

 

[Matheos]

It is so many where to begin and where to end! I am a Pc technician and electronic guy, so I have some experience with boards but I have no similar issues like the fellows here! at least I think so because I have no trouble codes!
But the question is is it safe to interchange the borts between the new one and the old one to find the trouble? I am sure they have the same vin code ! suggestions? :?: :!:

 

[Matheos]

And 1 more think, It will be easier to track the problem if everybody at the and tell what did they do to fix the charger!
With few word! Problem …..>solution!
Another solution that I suggest is, that the charger has 3 motherboard so what defective parts has been changed until yet in the first board in the second, and in the third! So it will be easily for the new ones to spot the defective parts and replace them! So simple! Now you must go from side to side 65 especially, searching for your specific problem! If we Exclude this 2 blu high voltage capacitors everyone else I don t think they have find a solution!

 

[kiev]

The first page of this thread was organized such that the entire 66 pages do not have to be read to find and fix a failure of your OBC. You just need to read the first page and you can fix it. Is that too much?

On the first page is a list of people and a link to their problem, and if they fixed it, there is a description and sometimes a link to where they explained what they found and how they repaired it. Maybe this is useful?

In the list of pictures are examples of the type of damage found by many different folks. That could be useful for comparison of what is inside your unit if you decide to remove the cover?

As far as i know, nobody here has ever tried replacing boards to find a problem; you would be the first to want to try such a risky and potentially expensive troubleshooting technique. Is that how you repair electronics?

 

[Matheos]

Why it is so risky to swap the plates to see what functions and what not? And yes I swap plates in TVs (Same model) to find the problem and it always worked! If I repair Succesful my charger I will post pictures ( here and on youtube ) of all the parts that ever have failed at those chargers so everyone can simply check these parts fast and easy and repair his charger! In other forums, some people found some other defective parts that will be integrated into my report!
If my logic is incorrect please advise me and tell me why? On the first side of this forums, links exist for fixes but My opinion is that it is no easy for a new guy here to spot his problem with his charger unless he has 2 blow high voltage capacitors or fauld precharge resistors!
I think I owe that to Mitsubishi ho build a charger that will fail in 8 or so years and sell only a new one for 4200 euro for a car that the price is now 6000euros. Also, they have no separate parts to sell you and no service for this charger! Is that no green Driving ??

 

[Sandrosan]

Hello everyone,
First of all let me congratulate with all the members of this forum specially with the active members!

I have a Peugeot iOn of 2012 where I have replaced 2 times the Pre-charging resistors of 4.7 ohm in a period of 9 months.
Now I have changed the resistors again, the AC input relay even if measuring it with a milliohmmeter with 10A test current the contact resistance was less than 10 milliohm, that for me it was OK. Once the relay was on my hand I opened it and the contacts were OK, clean. So I changed it for nothing...

Now I have been monitoring the charging current, the relay coil voltage, and the voltage across the 2x4.7 ohm resistors using a Power Quality Analyzer simultaneously.
I hope you can see the images here:
https://we.tl/t-C9pWeZmYKR

I have carried out just a few charge processes fully monitored. And in all of them I have noted that the relay coil voltage is always 5V but it has some instability / anomaly period too.
During that period it drops to 3.6V instead of 4.8 / 4.9V for several seconds also several minutes (in another survey even down to 2.6V!). Of course if the coil voltage drops too much, the relay will open and then the resistors blow....
I have tested another relay but same brand and model by my power supply, if the voltage drops down to 1.5-1.7 V it opens its contact, as its nominal voltage coil is 5V. I think that at 3V the force to close the contact will be lower than the normal and this can cause sparks and soon or later the resistors blow too.

The 5V for the relay and its return of come from the top board, and as I have another OBC, I tried swapping the top board including the flat cable, just to insulate the fault, but without success.

Has someone traced the part of the circuit that supplies the coil ? I guess there will be a transistor and some other basic component around it. But the top board works, so probably the problem is in another part.

Can the problem come from the circuits connected to the connector CN101, so from outside the OBC?

I have tested the voltages (5V, 5V, 12V , 16V) on the capacitors on the top board and looks OK (even no ripple) but I have not monitored them by the PQA over the time....

I think to use hot air and cold air to stress some components, but dangerous for the resistors...

Can someone give me any suggestion? Thanks in advance.
Sandrosan

 

[Matheos]

hallo, Sandrosan and welcome to the forum! I have not the solution for you but I have a question! How can you measure and tell that the resistors go bud? Are there visual black spots or so on the resistors or you measure them after you desoldering this big plate?

 

[Sandrosan]

hallo, Sandrosan and welcome to the forum! I have not the solution for you but I have a question! How can you measure and tell that the resistors go bud? Are there visual black spots or so on the resistors or you measure them after you desoldering this big plate?

Hello Matheos,
In my case one resistor was visually burned with a black spot. So I gently destroied it without desoldering it and the big plate.
But you can test if the resistors are open or not checking the continuty (resistance) between the AC input with N mark (one of the two orange cable fixed by screws) and the output on the white jumper with faston.
Sandrosan

 

[Matheos]

sandrosan, Sorry that I can not understand the meaning of <<<and the output on the white jumper with faston>>> Can you send me a picture with a mark of this faston clip ! You can directly send it to my email adress if you can not post it here! Thanks
[email protected]

 

[Sandrosan]

sandrosan, Sorry that I can not understand the meaning of <<<and the output on the white jumper with faston>>> Can you send me a picture with a mark of this faston clip ! You can directly send it to my email adress if you can not post it here! Thanks
[email protected]

Ok sorry. Pls ignore what I said before and refer to this photo: https://we.tl/t-acJhrnmhrr

Applying the tester on the two indicated points you should measure 4.7 + 4.7 = 9.4 ohm,

 

[Matheos]

Thanks for the photo! I measure the points and found that I have not 9.4 ohms. So I gently destroy the resistors and found out that the big resistor has a thermal Fuse inside and this fall! These resistors must never put there from the beginning! They must be placed outside the charger because they get hot so after a while, maybe in 6 or 10 years or so, the thermal fuse inside the resistor will blow! I will search for a constraction to put the resistors outside the charger! First, they get better cooling and second if they fail it is easier to change them, also this heat that they produce will not more trap inside the charger! Thanks for your help !!! I advise you to do the same and maybe put resistors inside without thermal fuse! I found bigger and durable resistors on eBay :
search under:10/25/50W Watt Shell Power Aluminum Housed Case Wirewound Resistor 0.1-470 Ohm

 

[Sandrosan]

You are welcome Matheos, but I think these resistors blow only if there is something wrong, because I think they work just for few seconds on the precharging process of the 3 big capacitors.
Where are you from?

In my case I am monitoring why the 5v for the coil of AC input relay is unstable as I have written in my long post.
I hope someone has some advise.
Sandrosan

 

[Matheos]

It is 50/50 !!! The resistors don t blow the thermal fuse in one of the resistors is triggered! From my experience, it happens sometimes without reason in some devices if the thermal fuse has continuous stress from heat! I will put them outside of the case because they produce heat and heat is stressful to all the components! I am from Greece! You? And also how can I put pictures in the forum, do you know?