[skinnydoc]

Hi all,

hoped I could find an answer here. The dealers are pretty useless still with EVs.

I have a 2018 Bolt, ~30K miles on it. Love the car, very few issues.

Now in the last wk the car just won't sense a Level 2 connection from my home charger. I dont hear the familiar clicking and the car gives a charger error. Thinking it was the charger, I tried my neighbor's charger, same thing (his definitely works).

Then I tried my trickle charger, and it works normally.

Finally I plugged into my closest rapid charger, and it works too!

So seems the bolt not connecting to JUST the level 2 charger. Any thoughts? Can I do a reboot of the whole system? : )

I looked online and havent been able to find any discussions of this issue. We use this car for commuting, so a Level 2 charging scheme overnight is a must.

thanks for any info....
Ben

 

[XJ12]

have you inspected the pins on the connector on the car for any damage?

 

[ga2500ev]

Hi all,

hoped I could find an answer here. The dealers are pretty useless still with EVs.

I have a 2018 Bolt, ~30K miles on it. Love the car, very few issues.

Now in the last wk the car just won't sense a Level 2 connection from my home charger. I dont hear the familiar clicking and the car gives a charger error. Thinking it was the charger, I tried my neighbor's charger, same thing (his definitely works).

Then I tried my trickle charger, and it works normally.

Finally I plugged into my closest rapid charger, and it works too!

So seems the bolt not connecting to JUST the level 2 charger. Any thoughts? Can I do a reboot of the whole system? : )

I looked online and havent been able to find any discussions of this issue. We use this car for commuting, so a Level 2 charging scheme overnight is a must.

thanks for any info....
Ben

Unit testing protocol indicates your next move is to try charging with a different Level 2 charger. If it charges OK with it, then it's your charger. If not, then something is going on with the car.

My bet is on your L2 charger. L1 uses exactly the same protocol and the same pins, just at lower power. So if it works for L1 and not L2, it's likely that the L2 charger has gone bad in some way.

ga2500ev

 

[skinnydoc]

thx for thoughts.

As I mentioned, I DID try it on the working Level 2 charger next door... no dice. I know that charger works as my neighbor has no issue charging with it. (I did not go all out, and try charging HIS bolt at my house however. He might not agree!).

So Neither Level 2 charger worked, and yet Level1 and Rapid did.

I did look at the pins cursorily, they look ok. Plus you'd think NO charging would work if there was a pin problem.

I'm off to try another level 2 on the way home, just to be super complete. This time a public charger.

Any other theories / suggestions?

 

[wonderbolt]

Do you both happen to have the same manufacturer evse installed in your garage?

BTW, FWIW if the connector and pins are good, take a flashlight and make sure nothing is preventing the connector from fully seating in the socket, then I am betting on the EVSE being at fault as well...

Edit: I did think of one more thing that could impact both you and your neighbor, if the 240v line voltage is out of spec, too high or too low, your vehicle might not charge. It could very well be right on the edge where your vehicle thinks it is out of tolerance and your neighbors vehicle thinks it is just fine

 

[wonderbolt]

The attached image is the charge test the Bolt does when first connected to a EVSE. It steps the current up while monitoring the voltage and will error out if not within specifications.

 

[skinnydoc]

He has a different charger than I do. Both brands are popular reputable brands.

So weirdly I was just able to connect to a public level 2 charger! Now I’m really confused.

I’m doing a rapid charge now but will head home and try it again.

All the status lights on my clipper creek charger are fine. I wonder if
There is a fuse or reset button somewhere ? I don’t have the model name on me but it’s a few years old, the most basic model.

Ben

 

[XJ12]

So weirdly I was just able to connect to a public level 2 charger! Now I’m really confused.

I think @wonderbolt is on to something with your neighborhood power being suspect.

 

[skinnydoc]

yeah only thing is the chargers been working flawlessly for about 2 years... speaks against an infrastructure issue. I'm going to call clipper creek now as I think somehow the plug has an issue. I'm going to mentally block out that the neighbors charger didnt work, as the public one worked without a hitch yesterday. will report back.

 

[bww129]

Do you have a multimeter that you can use to check the AC voltage at the outlet while plugging in the car?

 

[GregBrew]

yeah only thing is the chargers been working flawlessly for about 2 years... speaks against an infrastructure issue. I'm going to call clipper creek now as I think somehow the plug has an issue. I'm going to mentally block out that the neighbors charger didnt work, as the public one worked without a hitch yesterday. will report back.

I wouldn't say that "speaks against an infrastructure issue". Neighborhood power loading continuously varies all over the map, and it's relatively common for transformers to fail. I vote with the suggestion that your 240V utility feed is the culprit, but perhaps just one of the legs...the leg that's not feeding your 120V EVSE.

 

[bww129]

... it's relatively common for transformers to fail.

That should not be the case unless the transformer is under specified or overloaded. They are pretty rugged components if specified and installed properly.

Does your house receive power from overhead or underground wires? I have heard of a couple cases where the overhead service point was corroded which caused a large voltage drop under heavy load. This is why I suggested checking your outlet voltage under load.

 

[psyflyjohn]

I wonder if it may be a grounding problem? You might consider having the outlet checked by an electrician. I would also find some more L2 chargers and try them. Good luck !

 

[skinnydoc]

thanks for all the responses. Given I could readily connect to a public L2 charger, I am assuming its my clipper creek charger. My neighbor continues to have no issue with his. I called CC and they agreed it sounds like an issue with the HCS40. He said I should hear a clicking from the plug when I engage/disengage the plug lock, and I didnt. I had been noticing over the last year that the plug lock is progressively getting odd, not engaging as smoothly, getting stuck pretty often in the unlock/depressed state.

They are having me send it back. I bought it second hand 2 years ago, but apparently its 3+ years old so out of warranty. It was totally new / unused when I bought it. It has not been abused. So I haven't been super impressed with the durability of the plug components on this CC charger.

Hopefully it is the issue, as constant trickle charging in a car we heavily commute in is a pain. I had to curtail a driving trip the other day due to not being topped off.


Ben

 

[XJ12]

Hopefully it is the issue, as constant trickle charging in a car we heavily commute in is a pain. I had to curtail a driving trip the other day due to not being topped off.

if your ClipperCreek is a plugin, you could get an adapter to plugin the one that came with the car to double its charge rate. you can add over 100 miles overnight with it running on 240V.

 

[GregBrew]

That should not be the case unless the transformer is under specified or overloaded. They are pretty rugged components if specified and installed properly.

Does your house receive power from overhead or underground wires? I have heard of a couple cases where the overhead service point was corroded which caused a large voltage drop under heavy load. This is why I suggested checking your outlet voltage under load.

The three in my neighborhood and several in surrounding neighborhoods that I have seen fail would seem to disagree with your assessment. I don't doubt that they grew to be overloaded, as they were installed over 25 years ago in underground vaults in a beach community whose energy requirements have grown significantly.

 

[Will7201]

Same here. Tried 2 different level twos in 2 different cities and it won’t work. It will power up and then power down

 

[cwerdna]

Did we ever get a resolution on this?

In Leaf-land on 2011 and 2012 Leafs (which have their on-board chargers in the rear hatch area and differ from all Leafs 2013 and later), some of them would develop a blown diode in the OBC. They would charge fine on CHAdeMO and EVSEs that didn't do a diode check. Apparently, the stock L1 EVSE (Nissan-branded, made by Panasonic) and allegedly the round Nissan-branded Aerovironment L2 EVSEs (Curious What $750 Gets You? Pics of the Guts of Nissan LEAF's Charge Station) didn't do diode checks whereas most others did.

If the car could charge on CHAdeMO or ones that didn't do a diode check but failed on others, it was usually a failed diode. Example threads:

2011 Not Charging. Bad diode. Aerovironment Works. - My Nissan Leaf Forum

www.mynissanleaf.com

DIODE FIXED! - My Nissan Leaf Forum

www.mynissanleaf.com

- they fixed it the hard way

Nissan dealers would never fix the blown diode nor solder one inline. They would replace the whole OBC and if out of warranty, was kilobucks in price.