First a hello to all. I am new to the forum. We bought a 2017 Bolt new on Aug 3, 2017. Best car I have driven. Since we use it mostly for short trips I have only used the supplied 120V charger. I have on occasion, if the battery is low or we are going on a long trip, used the charger boost feature on the driver info screen to increase the charge rate from 8Amps to 12 Amps. The last two times I have used this boost the charger has faulted on me. I disconnect the charger and reduce the charge to the 8 amp level and then it works fine. I have noticed that when the charger faults that the prongs and cord of the charger (the end that connects to the wall) are warm. The prongs are actually too hot to touch. Anyone else have this problem?? I suspect the charger is failing and probably will not be covered under warranty. If this is the case I will buy a faster charger. If this happens any suggestions to the best route to go. I am an electrician and can wire in a 240V circuit for a faster charger. Thank you for your help and suggestions. This is a 2017 premier model with the DC charge ports.
Bolt plug in charger problems
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I would first suspect your wall socket or the connection to it. Push in type wire connections to sockets are a known potential problem. The stock GM Bolt EVSE, what you are calling the "charger" has a temperature sensor in the plug that will cause the EVSE to fault if the temperature gets too high, to prevent fire risk from a poor connection.
First try charging from another outlet or replacing the outlet. If the EVSE is actually at fault it should be covered by warranty, why would you think that it would not?
First try charging from another outlet or replacing the outlet. If the EVSE is actually at fault it should be covered by warranty, why would you think that it would not?
Your problem is a failing outlet, or a loose connection of the white, or black wire to the outlet. If you are comfortable working on house wiring, turn of the breaker to that outlet, remove the faceplate, check the wire connections with a screwdriver. If the connections are tight, the outlet needs replacing.
[edit] As you are an electrician, I assume you already checked the stuff I mentioned. In that case there is a faulty connection in the molded plug. GM should cover that under warranty, I would think.
Thank you-First off I should be ashamed!! Funky contacts in the receptacle. Thankfully it did not melt the rubber around the cord plug. Years ago I stopped using cheap 10 pack (contractor packs at HD) and started forking out money for the high quality 20Amp receptacles around my house and garage. This was one I did not get to and I feel like a dope for not checking it before posting. I replaced and all is well. Thanks!
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Glad that it turned out to be a faulty receptacle.
It also shows something to be pleased about with the design of the provided EVSE. By default it is super conservative only drawing a lowly 8 amps in case the wiring is flakey, and the plug has a temperature sensor to detect problems before you burn down your garage. The system works!
(I'm amazed you managed to get by with 8 amp 120 volt charging, that's less than 35 miles gained in a ten-hour charge; 12 amps at least gives you 50 miles. FWIW, last night after a long trip I added 41.45 kWh back into the battery in 5 hours 38 minutes at 32A×240V — that'd be about 4.5 days of 10-hour overnight charges at 8A×120V and 3 days at 12A×120V.)
Assuming that outlet isn't the first one on the branch circuit, check that all the outlets ahead of it are using screw terminals and not the stabs on the back.
No need for shame. If I had a dollar for every time I should have known better, I wouldn't be wasting my time talking to us little people, here on the internet.
I'm using the stock EVSE on a 240V circuit with a 15A breaker - it works just fine and is exactly at the 80% rating that you should limit yourself to for continuous loads.
Also, ideally, the upstream duplex receptacles should *not* have all of the downstream current flowing through them. The upstream wire, the downstream wire, and a 6" pigtail to the duplex receptacle (for each of the three wires - Hot, Neutral, GND) should be pre-twisted and wire-nutted in each j-box. The three pigtail (6") wires from each of the wire nuts then go to the local duplex outlet. This way, none of the downstream power is passing through (and depending on) connections in the local duplex outlet.
As indicated above...NEVER use the push-it-in-the-little-hole-in-back connections to a duplex outlet. Either wrap it around the screw and screw it down, or buy a better outlet that has the push-under-the-plate-and-screw-it-down type connections. Instead of a contact area measuring in the sub-millimeter category, the "right" way gives a contact area of at least a half-inch. More contact between the copper conductors, the less resistance at the connection, and the less heat build-up.
When my house was built in 1969, the contractors used the cheap duplex outlets, and used the #14AWG push-in connectors on the back....with the downstream connection coming out of another push-in connection. BAD...BAD...BAD!
I learned a *lot* helping my electrician completely re-wire my house the right way. :nerd:
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