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

[kiev]

Search for a used OBC from a salvage yard--there are lots of wrecks out there and they want to sell the parts. i have bought several OBCs that way in the $300 to $500 range. Also aebay.

 

[ceskimiev]

Hello all you great members of this amazing forum. On my saga to repair my i-Miev, last I left was that the waffle plate H Bridge IGBTs are bad, some shorted, some open. Tried several things to remove the epoxy, and with no replacement used charger in sight, plus no decent offers with the car on that condition, I decided to make the H-Bridge on a separate PCB outside of the waffle plate. Waiting on this half bridge IC STGSH80HB65DAG. While waiting, I would like to know if someone has scoped the gate voltage (pins 25 and 26). I mainly want to know the shown peak to peak voltage, since the device is not the same and there are no specifications for the RJP6012 anywhere and I want to ensure there is no magic smoke with the replacement. I'm still looking for a known good waffle plate to avoid the modification. Thanks!

 

[kiev]

Placeholder for edits, since posts are limited to 10000 characters.


Beautiful Snubber Repair Job by Simon:

Correct Polarity to check operation of the AC Input Relay in the Bottom Board DogHouse

Blown AC Input capacitor

Ceramic Pre-Charge Resistors

MCU 20A Fuse under Access Cover on MCU

****An excellent collection of pictures of a disassembly and repair by Easky15

****
[Top Level Wiring Diagrams]

Pack Quick Disconnect Locations

Here are some wiring diagrams just to get started

Workshop Manual High Voltage 20 Amp MCU (aka Inverter) fuse links:

drawings with location of connectors and polarity of the Main HV lines into the MCU here: OBC Code 02 troubleshooting

How to access and replace the MCU fuse

 

[kiev]

Additional material from Post #1,
Flat Ribbon Cable connects between the top and bottom board. Notice that the black wedge piece is attached to the cable end. Don't try to separate the delicate flat cable from the black wedge on the control board. The cable will slide out on the power board side so be very careful. See instructions for removal in the HOW-TO Section of post #2.

Bottom Board "DogHouse"--the fenced-in potted area.

Side view of the bottom board and waffle plate.

Bottom board with waffle plate removed.

The Waffle Plate™

internal schematic of waffle plate

Top Layer of Top (Control) Board

Bottom Layer of Top Board

Fuse F701 on 12V input line of the top board

Blown Snubber Capacitors (Board Version)

Blown Snubbers (Blue M&Ms Version)

 

[kiev]

Save another placeholder for edits,

 

[Piki]

Hello all you great members of this amazing forum. On my saga to repair my i-Miev, last I left was that the waffle plate H Bridge IGBTs are bad, some shorted, some open. Tried several things to remove the epoxy, and with no replacement used charger in sight, plus no decent offers with the car on that condition, I decided to make the H-Bridge on a separate PCB outside of the waffle plate. Waiting on this half bridge IC STGSH80HB65DAG. While waiting, I would like to know if someone has scoped the gate voltage (pins 25 and 26). I mainly want to know the shown peak to peak voltage, since the device is not the same and there are no specifications for the RJP6012 anywhere and I want to ensure there is no magic smoke with the replacement. I'm still looking for a known good waffle plate to avoid the modification. Thanks!

I see there are several user OBC units in Norway for around 800$ but that would probably cost a fortune to send to US (I guess you are located there)

 

[coulomb]

Hmmm. I may be veering into hillbilly country here (and crowding the little real estate there is to deal with), but how about functionally replacing the P10K resistor with your pair of paralleled 10 Ω Ohmite resistors in series with a parallel pair of the AuPo 16 A thermal fuses I found?

Or just one 16 A thermal fuse. The P10K resistors have a single 15 A rated thermal fuse in them:


The chargers have the J15 model, 157°C rated temperature, and interestingly only 5 W continuous @ 25°C.

 

[ceskimiev]

I see there are several user OBC units in Norway for around 800$ but that would probably cost a fortune to send to US (I guess you are located there)

Thanks Piki. I found one in Japan, but $920 in shipping was rather unappealing. Where did you see this, Ebay?

 

[Piki]

Thanks Piki. I found one in Japan, but $920 in shipping was rather unappealing. Where did you see this, Ebay?

https://finndel.no/bildeler.aspx?dk=0233&bk=3728&srt=0

 

[ceskimiev]

https://finndel.no/bildeler.aspx?dk=0233&bk=3728&srt=0

Thanks Piki for the quick reply. I'll take a look

 

[edsonedson]

I've reached the same point with my charger, the waffle plate is damaged. I've asked around locally and it looks like there is no chemical stripper that will work to soften the epoxy and scrape it out. It seems like the only way to remove it is mechanically. I wish I had a mini milling machine, but I will attempt to remove it using a dremel with a carbide cutting bit.

 

[mwahlgreen]

I have spare parts for cap replacement in the Dog House and a few (should be working) OBC's in Denmark
And I can do the cap replacement. Done 2-4 of them by now.
Also have the OBD II Dongle for canIon, that via another app (Car Scanner) will reset codes.

And my 2011 I-MiEV is currently for sale, but I am not quitting this forum any time soon,
as I am great support for the Danish Ion, C-Zero, and i-MiEVs on Facebook.

 

[wadoe]

Ebay:

CZ1525-RPWR-012 Hybrid IC (Waffle Blade) OBC C-Zero, IONE, I-Miev

 

[coulomb]

Ebay:

CZ1525-RPWR-012 Hybrid IC (Waffle Blade)

Can you provide a link please? I can't find it.

I wonder where they are getting these from. Perhaps a parts seller went out of business?

 

[ceskimiev]

Can you provide a link please? I can't find it.

I wonder where they are getting these from. Perhaps a parts seller went out of business?

Me neither... Hopefully they will not be gone when I get to see it

 

[Piki]

OK, so the old battery was not the issue. How do I modify the old post, cannot find that function on the forum?

After successful charging all the way to 100% for 2-3 times at 8 A I tried charging at 14 A and it stopped after 30 min and the same problem started again. After few 30 min charges it finally charged from 50% to 100% during 3 h at 8A. So the problem was intermittent, sometimes it charges, sometimes it stops. I checked the battery and it was 12,6 V after leaving overnight. After turning on the lights for about 1 min and waiting for another 2 min the voltage was 12,3 V, so quite ok. I didn't measure the battery capacity (have no battery tester) but I finally spotted another label on the battery which indicated that the battery was installed in dec 2021. So the marking of nov 2022 was probably the end of warranty period, not when it was recommended to change the battery. With only 2 years old battery it is unlikely that the battery is the issue. So I decided to open the OBC. The 2.2 mF capacitor next to the ceramic resistors is definitely blown. It is hard to see from the photo (a better photo is coming when the board is removed) but it is swollen on the side next to the resistors and puked on one of the resistors. I am in the process of removing the lower board now. I saw a similar issues in this thread and will review those but some quick questions here before I go to bed:
1. Would the blown capacitor result in the issues I experienced (intermittent charging that stops after some time)?
2. Is it likely that the capacitor failure was caused by another issue which also needs to be solved?
3. Does the Waffle plate need to be desoldered for soldering a new capacitor? Can the old one be just ripped apart to reveal the contacts and solder to those?
4. Which capacitor to buy? The marking says 310 V, which is kind of strange, with 230 VAC in Europe the peak voltage is 324V, shouldn't the capacitor be rated to that/higher voltage? Is it ok to buy a capacitor rated for a higher voltage? It should be ok with a higher capacitance, right? Any brand/type recommended?

Also, I spotted some corrosion probably due to moisture coming through a plastic plug. Some residue ended up on the lower board. Is it common? I plan to clean it and silicone the plug in place

Update:
Replaced two X2 caps with new ones. Was hard to desolder from the small "external" board even with a soldering station, lots of thermal mass around (and also a wrong soldering iron tip). At the end ripped the X2 apart and thought to practice before doing the same with the lower board in the OBC. After an hour of carefully removing it got two contacts to soleder to, but finally desoldered it altogether and installed a new one the traditional way. That X2 was more like one solid piece of molten plastic inside, was easier to rip apart. The X2 on the lower board was damaged on one side only (molten inside) so it was actually harder to rip apart since I was pealing the layers of foil one by one and there are literally thouthands of layers inside. In the end ripped it apart, soldered a new one in a laying position and assembled back. Lots of neutral silicon around/under. New thermal paste.

Tried to charge at 14 A and it stopped after around 45 min ... because my circuit breaker popped, turned out I had only 10A breaker at those sockets . Charged at 8 A all the way. After that probably around 5 charges at 8 A from 30% to 100% and once at a public charging station at 3,1kW max. No problems so far, no stops. Fingers crossed.

Was it X2s causing the issue? Not entirely sure. When connecting back the 12 V battery tightened the clamps firmly and just gave it a slight wiggle just to be sure it sits good ... and the negative terminal was loose. The clamp is of a strange design, it might bended a bit and then was not grabbing the pole even if screwed really tight. Bended it back a bit and now it sits good. Not sure if that could be a factor, it wasn't totally loose but not fully tight anyway.

 

[kiev]

When connecting back the 12 V battery tightened the clamps firmly and just gave it a slight wiggle just to be sure it sits good ... and the negative terminal was loose.

Thanks for the report back.

That is a good observation and a likely cause for an OBC failure if it came loose while charging.

 

[wadoe]

Here is the link to the spare part on Ebay

Hybrid IC für Onboardladegerät 9499A437
Ebay Artikel No:
325986290718

 

[ceskimiev]

Here is the link to the spare part on Ebay

Hybrid IC für Onboardladegerät 9499A437
Ebay Artikel No:
325986290718

Thanks, it's on ebay.de, https://www.ebay.de/itm/325986290718. Bidding starts at 500 Euros. A bit expensive, considering the whole charger could be found for $500.
I'm thinking about making the H bridge on a board outside of the waffle plate, thinking on options of where to stick it inside the box for cooling. Perhaps that project would extend to do the whole waffle board as a module if I decide to keep the car. The lack of used parts is killing the joy of owning this nice little beast.

 

[ceskimiev]

A quick question: May the OBC from a 2014 be installed on a 2012? Possibly found one and might buy if yes