Has anyone else had an error on their dual level charge cord (chevy's dual level EVSE) I have been using my dual level charger (EVSE) for about two weeks now and since I haven't had my dedicated outlet installed yet, I've been using the outlet for my stove (NEMA 14-50 on a 50 amp breaker) and haven't had any issues until today. I saw both the blue light and amber (yellow) light on at the same time after about 10-15 minutes being plugged into both my car and wall. I can't find anything in the manual about those two lights being on at the same time. Any advice or knowledge about thoa would be greatly appreciated.
Dual Level Charge Cord Error
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according to the manual it looks to be from high temperature??? Not sure what fade means on the blue light.
AMBER BLUE MESSAGE
Solid Fade Charging derated due to CCID at high temp
Blink Fade Charging derated due to GridPlug at high temp
OK, thank you for the information. I couldn't find that anywhere. Where abouts did you see that info in the manual?
I am having the same lights showing on my Dual Level Charge Cord. This is the manual that was included with my 2022 Premier EUV in the charge cord packaging. As a side note I am in Las Vegas where the temperature is high and I have the Qmerit 240 installed. The lights are explained in this manual.
I found it, was looking at the wrong manual. 🤦♂️
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Some people have mentioned if you don't get it plugged in tight, there can be odd intermittent issues.
that can be the adapter too the brick
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Thank you for posting the Manual. I have no idea why Chevy does not have it on their website. If it’s there, it’s well hidden. The manual only manual I could find for the Dual Level Charger did not have the info your manual has on the error lights. Thank you.
My problem is that I just had a new house built and had two NEMA 14-50s installed on the front wall of the garage. At the time, I did not own any EVs, but since we had not worked on a gas engine vehicle at any of the Detroit car manufacturers, the writing was on the wall that gas engines were on the way out, so I decided to put the 50 amp receptacles in the new house from the get-go.
So after living here 6 months, I bought my first EV — a Chevy Bolt. Its a great little car for anything within 200 miles radius, but beyond that, the slow DC Fast Charging reduces the fun factor a lot. I will probably move to the Equinox EV to fix that problem, until then, I am enjoying my Bolt. I have put 1300 miles on it in about 2 weeks.
But this amber charger error is driving me nuts! Both 50 amp receptacles appear to be identical. They are both wired to independent 50 Amp breakers. One gives me an intermittent amber light and one does not. I’m using the same Dual Level Charger on both, and yes the Level 2 adapter plug is seated all the way “below flush” against the white Dual Level Charging “brick”. So to my knowledge, the ONLY difference is the receptacle. Nothing feels hot, except the brick and the charging wire. Both feel the same in temperature, and I REALLY don’t feel like hooking up my data acquisition hardware with 12 thermocouples quite yet, although if my wife keeps complaining about it, my hand will be forced to “do the engineering thing” and instrument the heck out of it to find out what is really going on.
The manual says it is triggering the CCID to reduce the charging power. CCID is the Charging Cord Interrupt Device. Unfortunately, I am not sure of the algorithm of the CCID, so it could be a temperature issue, or ground fault, perhaps? I have opened up the receptacle and re-torqued the terminal screws. This did not change anything. I am retired and living in Florida now, so ambient temperature might be playing a part, but there is no reason why there should be a temperature difference between the two receptacles! That is why I am thinking it must be in the receptacle itself? My next move is to swap out the receptacle. I know some online people are saying there is a big difference between receptacle designs, and I currently have “Leviton” brand receptacles. I just bought a Hubbell brand. It appears to have more metal-to-metal contact area where the prongs of the plug insert. Theoretically, that should lower the internal resistance of the receptacle so it would build less heat. That still doesn’t explain why there is a difference between the two receptacles, but maybe there is some variation that I am just not seeing? Either way, it the issue is heat, then this should help.
And if you guys have any other thoughts, hey I am not too proud to listen to other thoughts and comments. I just didn’t know this charging would be so finicky!
most likely a tolerancing variation within specification. maybe another nail in the coffin for the Leviton brand compared to the Hubbell.
The manual for the EVSE should have been with the EVSE in the "trunk". Look again down there.
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Only the Level 1 came with the Bolt EV. I had to buy the Dual Level from the dealer. It did not have a manual in the plastic bag.
EV Powertrain Engineer, I also have the same warning lights appearing on my Level Two ESVE furnished by Chevrolet. Since I have the Premier EUV it was standard equipment and installation was done by Q-Merit. Our heat (Las Vegas) seems to affect the ESVE as it does yours in Florida. I contacted the Chevrolet EV Concierge Contact Us for Electric Vehicles | Chevrolet 1-833EVCHEVY and got a response from them two days later. I explained that the ESVE was pulsing the blue and on occasion the amber lights they asked if the car was taking the full charge. I have it set for 84%, parked in garage and charging at night. As told to me by them as long as it is taking the set charge it is okay. This happens usually towards the end of the charge cycle. I too had a concern, but everything is working fine.
This is my first EV, learning a lot in this Forum and enjoying EV ownership.
This is my first EV, learning a lot in this Forum and enjoying EV ownership.
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I have now changed to the Hubbell receptacle. It has reduced the amber light occurrences to much later in the charging cycle. I am only seeing it come on 15 seconds every 2-3 minutes. Most of the heat seems to be located in the charging “brick” (my word), around the letter “L” in the word “Chevrolet”. I assume there are is a transformer that jumps the voltage from 240 volts to around 400 volts. The reason I am saying this is the input cord to the brick is much larger than the output chord. Since the vehicle runs up around 400 volts, then it would make sense if the voltage was doubled and the current was cut in half. Hence the smaller gauge output cord. Of course, the transformer would have some efficiency losses, and that is what is generating the heat. All this is a guess, since this is one system I did not design. I would love if one of the GM engineers would confirm all this.
So to test my theory, I am now planning to add a small fan blowing on the brick to see if this is the offending temperature. If it is, I think I am ok. If, on the other hand, the problem is still in the receptacle, then I need to locate the cause of the higher impedance in that electrical box. I wish I knew where the sensors were that feed the CCID. Then I could just start down through the list until I found out if it was something that might cause a problem down the road by getting worse with time.
those bits are in the car. also the car can cool those components on its own.
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BTW. I think your comment about the blue light “pulsing” is what the manual calls “Fade”, so that part is perfectly ok. I’m still debating if their definition in the manual for “blinking” on the amber light is 1hz? Or does, 15 seconds on and 2 minutes off, mean “blinking”??!! If 1hz is “blinking” then is, 15 seconds on and 2 minutes off, their definition of “solid”? Obviously, these descriptions need some further explanation. One my cordless drill charger, it uses dots and dashes to describe differences in frequency of “on” vs “off” on the status lights. That would help here if very long dashes we’re used with the words “may be nearly continuous”. “Solid” just doesn’t quite cut it, for me.
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So what in the brick is generating all this heat we are seeing? Maybe something that changes the frequency of the AC Current? A rectifier bridge? Do we go to the car with 240 V DC? Whatever. I just hate to slow down the charging by dropping the current like that, but ok. My main concern is that I don’t have my house burn down due to a bad 14-50 wall receptacle. So until I am sure of what’s causing the intermittent amber, I guess I keep investigating.
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Then I have a bad brick. The heat is not centered anywhere near the swappable connectors, it is lower in the brick, more toward the output cord end as I said earlier. Also, if the voltage is not raised and the current lowered in the brick, why are the cables so different in diameters? More conductors in the input cable for thermocouples in the plug?
I have the older model and it indeed had extra wires for a temp sensor located in the plug.
You're not the first to complain about the newer version being intermittent in a hot garage.
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