Rolec - cutting in and out repeatedly

KCross

My home charge point has been flawless for the last 1.5yrs but decided to act up Fri night.

It is continually (every minute or so) making and breaking the connection to the car. i.e. I can hear the clunk of the contact and the car reports "charging stopped" and then it would start again and stop again etc.

The switch isn't tripping.
The light on the unit is blue, which is as it should be
The car charges fine on the granny cable so I don't think its the car.
I popped open the cover and nothing obvious.
The cable Im using is the OEM Nissan cable and it looks OK to me.

And interestingly, the cable is locked to the unit. Its an untethered Rolec but it won't release the cable from the unit. The car side released fine.


I have a support call with them tomorrow where they are to talk me through a few things but I'm wondering has anyone else had this issue?

Solenoid? Controller unit? Something else?

mordeith

KCross wrote: »

My home charge point has been flawless for the last 1.5yrs but decided to act up Fri night.

It is continually (every minute or so) making and breaking the connection to the car. i.e. I can hear the clunk of the contact and the car reports "charging stopped" and then it would start again and stop again etc.

The switch isn't tripping.
The light on the unit is blue, which is as it should be
The car charges fine on the granny cable so I don't think its the car.
I popped open the cover and nothing obvious.
The cable Im using is the OEM Nissan cable and it looks OK to me.

And interestingly, the cable is locked to the unit. Its an untethered Rolec but it won't release the cable from the unit. The car side released fine.


I have a support call with them tomorrow where they are to talk me through a few things but I'm wondering has anyone else had this issue?

Solenoid? Controller unit? Something else?

Has the cable always been locked to the charge side?

KCross

mordeith wrote: »

Has the cable always been locked to the charge side?

No, its supposed to lock when charging and unlock once finished. I think what is after happening is that the charge session hasn't completed normally and the "unlock command" hasn't happened. Flipping the power to the unit doesn't unlock it either.

My own gut instinct is that the controller has developed a fault but not 100% sure.

goz83

KCross wrote: »

No, its supposed to lock when charging and unlock once finished. I think what is after happening is that the charge session hasn't completed normally and the "unlock command" hasn't happened. Flipping the power to the unit doesn't unlock it either.

My own gut instinct is that the controller has developed a fault but not 100% sure.

That sounds about right. The lockpin isn’t receiving the end session command. Can you get access to the lock pin by removing the face plate? You may be able to manually release it. Of course kill power first

If you havent already, try start a new session and end it yourself. It might release the lock pin.

KCross

goz83 wrote: »

That sounds about right. The lockpin isn’t receiving the end session command. Can you get access to the lock pin by removing the face plate? You may be able to manually release it. Of course kill power first

If you havent already, try start a new session and end it yourself. It might release the lock pin.

I was able to manually release the cable. Once you open the cover you can see the top of the pin and with a pliers you can just pull it up.

I had a call with a service engineer this morning and we tried a few things (removing various wires to disable the pin, check comms wire to the car etc) and he came to the conclusion the controller is faulty.

These controllers are not cheap(£100+)!
He hasn't asked for money yet and the unit is 18 months old so Im hoping he is covering it under warranty!

Im back to the 3-pin granny EVSE for now... painful, but I'm glad I have it! These should really be with every EV for these kinds of emergency situations or at least make them more affordable.

goz83

One would expect that an EVSE lasts for more than 18 months, so it should be a warranty job alright. The warranty is at least 2 years on the rolec stuff as long as a registered installer is used.

The granny cable is indeed an absolute must. Wouldn't be nice to have to rely on the public system.....and in this cold weather, you could lose half the gains on the trip home from the charge point.

Soarer

Mine did that a couple of months back, but *touch wood* has sorted itself out since.

Contacted Rolec customer care, and they were useless. They wanted me to call out the electrician that installed it to clarify all wiring was correct before they'd send the replacement part. This was after I'd contacted the electrician, explained the situation, and he told me exactly the part that went wrong as he'd seen it before!
So I explained to "Gary" that my installer was based up the country, and I'm not going to pay him to come out to confirm what I already know. But "Gary" refused to play ball, and never sent out the part.

It's shocking, but I'll have to lie the next time and tell them that he called out.

oinkely

I seem to have developed a problem with my 32A Rolex too. Connects to leaf and starts charge (blue lights on dash flashing) but cuts out a few minutes later.

Car charges fine with granny cable.

Any ideas on what to check?

I assume it's not the cable as it appears to start charging.

I've had it about 18 months.

KCross

oinkely wrote: »

I seem to have developed a problem with my 32A Rolex too. Connects to leaf and starts charge (blue lights on dash flashing) but cuts out a few minutes later.

Car charges fine with granny cable.

Any ideas on what to check?

I assume it's not the cable as it appears to start charging.

I've had it about 18 months.

Does that cable charge fine when used on one of the standard charge points around the country? That would rule out the car and the cable.

What happens if you start the charge again.... does it just run for a few mins again or does it charge fully sometimes?

oinkely

KCross wrote: »

Does that cable charge fine when used on one of the standard charge points around the country? That would rule out the car and the cable.

Yep, pretty sure it worked recently. Ill try the spare cable I have to be sure.

What happens if you start the charge again.... does it just run for a few mins again or does it charge fully sometimes?

Stops charge again in about 5 minutes.

KCross

oinkely wrote: »

Stops charge again in about 5 minutes.

I'd try the cable on one of the slow public charge points to be 100% sure the car and cable are not the issue.

Then talk to Rolec.

KCross

KCross wrote: »

My home charge point has been flawless for the last 1.5yrs but decided to act up Fri night.

It is continually (every minute or so) making and breaking the connection to the car. i.e. I can hear the clunk of the contact and the car reports "charging stopped" and then it would start again and stop again etc.

The switch isn't tripping.
The light on the unit is blue, which is as it should be
The car charges fine on the granny cable so I don't think its the car.
I popped open the cover and nothing obvious.
The cable Im using is the OEM Nissan cable and it looks OK to me.

And interestingly, the cable is locked to the unit. Its an untethered Rolec but it won't release the cable from the unit. The car side released fine.


I have a support call with them tomorrow where they are to talk me through a few things but I'm wondering has anyone else had this issue?

Solenoid? Controller unit? Something else?

KCross wrote: »

I was able to manually release the cable. Once you open the cover you can see the top of the pin and with a pliers you can just pull it up.

I had a call with a service engineer this morning and we tried a few things (removing various wires to disable the pin, check comms wire to the car etc) and he came to the conclusion the controller is faulty.

These controllers are not cheap(£100+)!
He hasn't asked for money yet and the unit is 18 months old so Im hoping he is covering it under warranty!

Im back to the 3-pin granny EVSE for now... painful, but I'm glad I have it! These should really be with every EV for these kinds of emergency situations or at least make them more affordable.

I got the replacement controller today. Swapped it out and its charging fine now. Fingers crossed for the next few days.

The cable isn't locking in now though so Im wondering was that part of the root cause. Must get back onto them about that. I don't really care about the locking but I want to be sure its not going to blow the next controller.

I bought from evonestop.co.uk and in fairness they have been very good. Its an 18mth old unit and no quibble about sending me a £100+ part for free! All they wanted was the old controller back.

oinkely

Thanks Kcross.

I've just turned off the rolec at the distribution board and have been using the granny the last few nights. Hopefully have a bit of time tomorrow to open it up and see if there is anything obvious, I'll also try the spare cable we have too.

oinkely

Update on mine - finally got around to checking it out yesterday. Tried the other cable we have and no joy so opened up the unit. The Neutral cable leaving the AC contactor is fried. Insulation is melted down an inch or so and the cable itself is now welded into the contactor. Have taken some pics and emailed rolec, hopefully they will get back to me soon as the granny charger is a bit of PITA when you are used to 6.6 charging and a 32 amp charger for a quick top up in the middle of the day.

KCross

oinkely wrote: »

Update on mine - finally got around to checking it out yesterday. Tried the other cable we have and no joy so opened up the unit. The Neutral cable leaving the AC contactor is fried. Insulation is melted down an inch or so and the cable itself is now welded into the contactor. Have taken some pics and emailed rolec, hopefully they will get back to me soon as the granny charger is a bit of PITA when you are used to 6.6 charging and a 32 amp charger for a quick top up in the middle of the day.

Would you be able to post the pic here?

Might help others to find same issue.

Did you buy new?

oinkely

oinkely

hmm, https://www.flickr.com/photos/oinkely/38253748105/in/dateposted-public/

there's one pic anyway.

Bought it new in March 2016 and installed in April 2016. Used with a 3.3 kw leaf with no problem until April 2017 when we got a 6.6. Issues started last week.

goz83

There seem to be a few stories going around about faulty rolecs, but I thought it was the older units that were affected? It makes me wonder now if the right choice was made. I noticed a few weeks when I took the granny charger out of the boot, one of the pins was melted into the plug by about half a centimetre. I replaced the plug and fuse and checked the rolec socket and couldn't see any damage, so I forgot about it until the unit tripped last week.

I might open mine up and see if there are any signs of scorching. I'm probably being paranoid, but best to be safe.

Anyone else having trouble with a rolec? Any scorched wires?

KCross

oinkely wrote: »

hmm, https://www.flickr.com/photos/oinkely/38253748105/in/dateposted-public/

there's one pic anyway.

Bought it new in March 2016 and installed in April 2016. Used with a 3.3 kw leaf with no problem until April 2017 when we got a 6.6. Issues started last week.

Thats bad alright.

Im betting Rolec will contend that the cable wasn't tightened enough causing arcing and then overheating. That seems to be their default answer for these melting wire issues as they won't admit any fault.

I've seen quite a few pics of Rolecs with scorched wires on the incoming wires to the RCBO at the top and they subsequently upgraded the RCBO on later models.

I haven't see your issue though. Let us know how you get on with Rolec.

oinkely

Will do Kcross. I'll update later on when i have heard back from them.

oinkely

Update from Rolec - wont cover it under warranty but contactor unit is only £12. Didn't get too annoyed with them given the replacement part is not too bad. It will be with me on Friday.

oinkely

Quick final update. New contactor installed in late December. All running fine again. Will be keeping an eye on it in future though.