[BillinChico]

I am new to this site and posted this issue in another categorie...this appears to be a more proper place for it.
After the recent recall work (June) I noticed that when the vehicle is plugged in and fully charged the font hood is hot to touch and there is noise not usually present when charging. The Dealer mechanic declared it was the water pump cooling down the battery. "Batteries get hot when they are near full charge and the update probably did something to make the cooling system come on." He was simply speculating, which he acknowleged, and has assured me he will call Detroit and get back to me.
I can not believe this to be normal. In the other thread folks shared that it could be due to the hot weather. I do not recall this from last September (Also very hot in Chico CA).
Something feels wrong. Any ideas?

 

[PhilR]

As others have said, this is completely normal behavior.

Page 231 of the owner's manual:
Plug-In Charging
This section explains the process
for charging the high voltage battery.
Do not allow the vehicle to remain in
temperature extremes for long
periods without being driven or
plugged in. It is recommended that
the vehicle be plugged in when
temperatures are below 0 °C (32 °F)
and above 32 °C (90 °F) to
maximize high voltage battery life.

I live in AZ and my Bolt cools its battery often when being driven or plugged in to my level 2 EVSE.

 

[GJETSON]

As others have said, this is completely normal behavior.

Yes. The AC and battery coolant loop running when charging in the heat is normal. I certainly wouldn't pull the plug, as that defeats the purpose of cooling the battery. However, if his fender, and hood was as hot as mine, I don't consider that normal. The 12 volt battery was hot enough to be uncomfortable holding my hand on.

 

[BillinChico]

Still a bit worried

Everyone seems to say it is normal...but the hood is HOT, as well as other specific parts under the hood. this does not happen when it is not plugged in...so...this concerns me.

 

[XJ12]

Everyone seems to say it is normal...but the hood is HOT, as well as other specific parts under the hood. this does not happen when it is not plugged in...so...this concerns me.

what amperage is your EVSE? It will be several days before I charge again, but I can share garage temperatures with temps off the hood and inside components with a remote infrared gun.

 

[E Drivetrain Future]

Is your vehicle parked outside ? Which component is overheated? The hpdm or the apm? Open the hood and place your hand on those components and figure out if one is hot.

 

[BillinChico]

Hard to describe with acronyms.

I really know nothing of "HPDM" and such. I only know that what appear to be the major components under the hood...the box with a lot of wires leading into it and the metal frame of the 12 volt (which I do recognize) etc are all hot to touch. It is parked in a dark garage. We are having extremely hot weather...but in the morning the garage is like an oven compared to the outside temp. Hood is hot. The panel around the plug-in is hot. Another person answered my concern saying he could read the temps with an infrared device. Does he live in Chico CA. If so...give me a call. 636 5952 In answer to another question, I have a standard level 2 charger installed professionally.
This situation did not exist until after the recall work was done.

 

[shotel]

I'm in Vegas. I just went out to the garage where the ambient temp is 91° F (11pm) and the Bolt is plugged in to a 110V [email protected] 12A. Touched the hood, and it was warm, but the rest of body is warm as well. Daytime temps around here have been 105°+ for the past Month.

Your issue seems to be easily duplicated. Perhaps you should schedule a service appointment and have the EV tech measure the area & temperature you're concerned about when you Bolt is charging or post charge at the dealer service bay. They should have a infrared thermal gun such as @XJ12 . If nothing else, it will establish a documented baseline with GM. Moreover, the infrared thermal gun should pinpoint the component generating the heat.

Good luck and keep us updated.

 

[GJETSON]

I can add some temperatures to this discussion. Back on 06-01, I took some readings, near the end of charge, in our 80+F garage. These were taken with a thermistor attachment on my VOM. The hood and charge inlet were not as hot as the one time, since the update, that I noticed it really burning up.

DC-DC 123F (battery @ 13.84 volts)
charger 126F
HVDM 103F

 

[BillinChico]

what amperage is your EVSE? It will be several days before I charge again, but I can share garage temperatures with temps off the hood and inside components with a remote infrared gun.

32 Amp level 2 charger. I would appreciate sharing how yours behaves, temp wise.

 

[XJ12]

32 Amp level 2 charger. I would appreciate sharing how yours behaves, temp wise.

I'll probably not have as high of temperatures that you're experiencing because I've diverted some air conditioning to my garage to keep it below 90F and my EVSE is only running at a little less than 3kW ([email protected]).

A general rule for safe touch temperatures is below 140F. @GJETSON has measured temps as high as 126F. So we're getting close to the unsafe touch temperature.

 

[XJ12]

32 Amp level 2 charger. I would appreciate sharing how yours behaves, temp wise.

     ambient garage hood port  HPDM  APM        ,comments
Time  temp   temp   temp temp  temp  temp   SOC 
12:35  97    84                             7/20,parked in garage after drive
13:13  98    85.5   96.8 103.3 114.2 119.5  7/20,plugged in
14:00  99                                       ,ICE parked in garage
14:30  99    88.2   99.5 102.4 114   119    8/20
15:30 101    89.2  100.4 102.5 112.7 116.6  9/20,hood hottest top right
16:30 101    89.4  100.6 102.2 112.3 116.5 10/20
17:40 100    89.2  103   104   116   121   11/20,APM reservoir 120 F, ICE 97 F
18:45  98    88.5  100.8 102.5 114.5 117.5 12/20
20:00  97    87.5   99.2 102.1 113.2 116.2 13/20,both hood top corners hot
21:00  92    87.1   98.6 100   112.7 116.1 14/20,everything under hood > 100 F
22:00  88    86.7   97.3  99.2 111.3 115.2 15/20,02:30 estimate to finish
06:15  71    84.2   92.8  93.1 103.4 105   18/20,hill top w/ GOM 247, unplugged
07:00  75    77.9                               ,left garage doors open 45 min.   
13:00 100    84.4  118         135   141        ,battery conditioning is active*
14:30 103    87.4                               ,hot Bolt heats garage like ICE

All temps in degree Fahrenheit
HPDM, High Power Distribution Module
APM/OBCM, Accessory Power Module, On-Board Charging Module
SOC, State of Charge, bars/total bars
GOM, guess O'meter
ICE, internal combustion engine

*car started battery conditioning a few miles before getting home.
stopped a few minutes after parking in garage. conditioning 3% of 5.5 kWh used.
SPIM, APM, and Charger Module Coolant Reservoir was 138 F.
Cabin Heating and High Voltage Coolant Reservoirs were 113 F.

 

[JoCi]

Ditto

I am having the same issue. We supercharge at night for around 5 hours. Post recall, when fully charged, the car gets hot to touch and the fan kicks on. My view is that THIS IS NOT NORMAL. We took it back to service and they did not find anything.

In another section on this forum, I read about turning the Hill Top Reserve on. I tried this and it seemed to solve the problem, as it now stops the charging when complete, so no heat and no fan post charge. The side effect is that it only charges to 90%, but the literature seems to support that for better battery life. And I can sleep better knowing I won't wake up to a fire. If I want to charge to 100%, I just need to unplug when fully charged.

I suspect what happened is the software update some how disabled the stop charging signal when the battery is fully charged. But the Hill Top Reserve stop charging signal still works. I don't think our Dealer Service will find the problem.

Hopefully, a software engineer in GM's Bolt division will see this and get it fixed in the next recall ...

 

[GregBrew]

I am having the same issue. We supercharge at night for around 5 hours. Post recall, when fully charged, the car gets hot to touch and the fan kicks on. My view is that THIS IS NOT NORMAL. We took it back to service and they did not find anything.

In another section on this forum, I read about turning the Hill Top Reserve on. I tried this and it seemed to solve the problem, as it now stops the charging when complete, so no heat and no fan post charge. The side effect is that it only charges to 90%, but the literature seems to support that for better battery life. And I can sleep better knowing I won't wake up to a fire. If I want to charge to 100%, I just need to unplug when fully charged.

I suspect what happened is the software update some how disabled the stop charging signal when the battery is fully charged. But the Hill Top Reserve stop charging signal still works. I don't think our Dealer Service will find the problem.

Hopefully, a software engineer in GM's Bolt division will see this and get it fixed in the next recall ...

"We supercharge at night for around 5 hours."

I don't think so...

I suspect you use an L2 charger at 32A.

The term "supercharge" is usually reserved for Tesla's proprietary (up to) 120kW network, but is sometimes incorrectly used to describe other DCFCs, neither of which you would use for five hours at a stretch.

 

[Terry Hancock]

Hopefully, all is still within tolerance. HOWEVER, I am never one to deny the senses, as well as the over all feeling. If those items are hot enough to almost burn, or you ever smell anything like ominous insulation burn, your experimentation is over and it is back to the dealer with as much visual and digital proof as you can bring with you.

 

[drdiesel1]

I am new to this site and posted this issue in another categorie...this appears to be a more proper place for it.
After the recent recall work (June) I noticed that when the vehicle is plugged in and fully charged the font hood is hot to touch and there is noise not usually present when charging. The Dealer mechanic declared it was the water pump cooling down the battery. "Batteries get hot when they are near full charge and the update probably did something to make the cooling system come on." He was simply speculating, which he acknowleged, and has assured me he will call Detroit and get back to me.
I can not believe this to be normal. In the other thread folks shared that it could be due to the hot weather. I do not recall this from last September (Also very hot in Chico CA).
Something feels wrong. Any ideas?

I'll bet the garage isn't vented. I'll bet the battery is being cooled with the chiller that requires
the AC system to operate, as it's trying to cool the battery. I'll bet the system is working double time to release the heat through the AC system, but only makes the garage hotter in an attempt to release the heat into the surrounding atmosphere. You'll need to vent the garage to avoid causing the system to work above a normal threshold, like if the car was parked outside.

You are causing this to happen with the car sitting in an inclosed hot garage with no way to
dissipate the heat through the AC system. DON'T DO IT! The AC system is the heat sink and
you have it trapped in a bottle. It will eventually cause premature AC compressor failure

 

[quirkySquirt]

Was curious what my temps were. They seem hot but not abnormally hot. While charging, the ambient air around the car got as high as 91 degF according to nearby weather station. Unfortunately that was too hot for me to go outside For Science™. I went out when it was 77 degF which I noted in the attached pic of where I took temperature readings in an infrared thermometer.

 

[GlenandhisBolt1!]

I have to agree with GregBrew about JoCi's suggestion that he is 'supercharging'. A Supercharger or DCFC charger requires high voltage DC power (around 400 VDC) at high current levels. It would be highly unusual for any residence to have the necessary line power: even many commercial sites don't have the line power to drive a Supercharger or DCFC. And they cost Big Money, since they require special line conditioning hardware.

 

[BillinChico]

I'll bet the garage isn't vented. I'll bet the battery is being cooled with the chiller that requires
the AC system to operate, as it's trying to cool the battery. I'll bet the system is working double time to release the heat through the AC system, but only makes the garage hotter in an attempt to release the heat into the surrounding atmosphere. You'll need to vent the garage to avoid causing the system to work above a normal threshold, like if the car was parked outside.

You are causing this to happen with the car sitting in an inclosed hot garage with no way to
dissipate the heat through the AC system. DON'T DO IT! The AC system is the heat sink and
you have it trapped in a bottle. It will eventually cause premature AC compressor failure

Well...the windows and attic opening in this garage are all open. It has fair ventilation. This only started happening after the battery recall work. The dealer says it is fine. This does not seem right to me. The weather is hot...yet the noise and heat under, and including, the hood, only happens as the battery is near or has completed charging. another owner has recorded heat as high as 122 to 123 on some components.
I can not help thinking that Chevey messed with something in the update. This does not seem right.

 

[JoCi]

Ditto

Agreed. L2 charger. But this is no ventilation issue. I believe the heat is being caused by over charging the batteries. The Hilltop Reserve turns the charging off and the car is cool to touch.