Home charger problem - advice needed!

Orebro

Hi all,

So just as I start looking into a dual charger solution for home, my existing charger starts acting up! (Rolec 32a wallpod, approx 2.5 years old, untethered). Heres what happens: without the timer set on my Leaf the charger works fine. When I set the timer and plug in the cable, the following video describes what happens (apologies for the quality, I had to take it in the dark and rain!). You can hear the Leaf beeping in the background:

https://vimeo.com/375373102

I've verified it's not my cable or the car as I have tested it today on another charger. I'm guessing its the Communication Unit needs replacing? Any advice appreciated.

eddhorse

Who installed the Rolec 32a wallpod initially?

Orebro

eddhorse wrote: »

Who installed the Rolec 32a wallpod initially?

My electrician - all done by him & certified etc.

eddhorse

Orebro wrote: »

My electrician - all done by him & certified etc.

Id say get him out then to take a look as the units have a 3 years warranty.

Orebro

eddhorse wrote: »

Id say get him out then to take a look as the units have a 3 years warranty.

I was onto the crowd I bought it from and they said it only has a 1 year warranty?

Edit: confirmed on Rolec website

----
5. Quality and Warranty

5.1 Rolec warrants that on delivery, and for a period of 12 months from the date of delivery, unless such period is extended by written agreement in the Order confirmation (warranty period), the Goods shall (the Warranty)
----

Would an electrician be able to diagnose a faulty communication module without some sort of specialized EV charger equipment? It charges away fine without the timer set on the car so not sure how much further he'd be able to get?

KCross

Orebro wrote: »

I'm guessing its the Communication Unit needs replacing? Any advice appreciated.

Yup, that's probably it.

Had the same on my Rolec.

Are the cables fed into the unit from the top or the bottom?


One possibly cause since I could hear water dripping in the background, is there any chance that water has got into the unit?

If water gets in it lodges at the back of the controller and seeps into it over time (its the way its designed!) and it eventually causes it to short and go into a cycle of stopping/starting the charge sesion.

When the unit dries out it behaves again until it eventually gives up the ghost due to corrosion.


Flip the trip switch on your consumer unit to cut power to the charge point and then open the unit and see if its wet inside. If it is that's your problem.

Orebro

KCross wrote: »

Yup, that's probably it.

Had the same on my Rolec.

Are the cables fed into the unit from the top or the bottom?


One possibly cause since I could hear water dripping in the background, is there any chance that water has got into the unit?

If water gets in it lodges at the back of the controller and seeps into it over time (its the way its designed!) and it eventually causes it to short and go into a cycle of stopping/starting the charge sesion.

When the unit dries out it behaves again until it eventually gives up the ghost due to corrosion.


Flip the trip switch on your consumer unit to cut power to the charge point and then open the unit and see if its wet inside. If it is that's your problem.

The cables are fed into the bottom of the until in an effort to keep things dry, but it's possible it's still getting wet in there. I might mount an electrical box around it come to think of it.

Thank you for the excellent advice, will check on that later and order a controller. (It was lashing rain when I took the vid!).

KCross

Orebro wrote: »

The cables are fed into the bottom of the until in an effort to keep things dry, but it's possible it's still getting wet in there. I might mount an electrical box around it come to think of it.

When I was diagnosing mine I found that water was also able to come in via the screw mount points so I sealed those but it was primarily coming in via the main cable which, unfortunately for me, was from the top so I'm not sure how it is getting in for you.

Maybe its not water related at all.

It might be some other issue. Maybe the locking mechanism (solenoid) is acting up and it cant start the session and is just repeating the startup sequence.

Can you tell if its locking the cable in at the charge point? When the light goes green see if you can pull the cable out.

Orebro wrote: »

Thank you for the excellent advice, will check on that later and order a controller. (It was lashing rain when I took the vid!).

Maybe hold off on buying one until you can open the unit. The controllers are ~€100 so I dont want to lead you astray if thats not the issue!

icom

Orebro wrote: »

I was onto the crowd I bought it from and they said it only has a 1 year warranty?

Edit: confirmed on Rolec website

----
5. Quality and Warranty

5.1 Rolec warrants that on delivery, and for a period of 12 months from the date of delivery, unless such period is extended by written agreement in the Order confirmation (warranty period), the Goods shall (the Warranty)
----

Would an electrician be able to diagnose a faulty communication module without some sort of specialized EV charger equipment? It charges away fine without the timer set on the car so not sure how much further he'd be able to get?

Don't think many electricians would have the test equipment to test the comms unit. I have seen one of the test units when a charger was installed at my work place, looks like they cost around 420 sterling.

https://www.cef.co.uk/catalogue/products/4351667-ev-charging-unit-tester

Orebro

icom wrote: »

Don't think many electricians would have the test equipment to test the comms unit. I have seen one of the test units when a charger was installed at my work place, looks like they cost around 420 sterling.

https://www.cef.co.uk/catalogue/products/4351667-ev-charging-unit-tester

Yeah was thinking some specific tool would be needed - I think I'll take my chances on replacing the comm module as I'd have more than it spent getting someone to diagnose it!

slave1

Orebro wrote: »

I was onto the crowd I bought it from and they said it only has a 1 year warranty?

Edit: confirmed on Rolec website

----
5. Quality and Warranty

5.1 Rolec warrants that on delivery, and for a period of 12 months from the date of delivery, unless such period is extended by written agreement in the Order confirmation (warranty period), the Goods shall (the Warranty)
----

Would an electrician be able to diagnose a faulty communication module without some sort of specialized EV charger equipment? It charges away fine without the timer set on the car so not sure how much further he'd be able to get?

Upskill your consumer rights, 1yr warranty has no standing in Ireland, your rights extend to a reasonable time and this includes the quality of installation.
I would expect a car charger to have a longer than 2.5yrs lifespan and no way would I be letting installer or Rolec off the hook so easily...

https://www.ccpc.ie/consumers/contracts-and-services/contracts-and-services/

Orebro

slave1 wrote: »

Upskill your consumer rights, 1yr warranty has no standing in Ireland, your rights extend to a reasonable time and this includes the quality of installation.
I would expect a car charger to have a longer than 2.5yrs lifespan and no way would I be letting installer or Rolec off the hook so easily...

https://www.ccpc.ie/consumers/contracts-and-services/contracts-and-services/

I would normally agree (I've gotten lots of things fixed when the shops said it was out of warranty, including TVs, washing machine and dishwasher), but I ordered this charger from a UK supplier called EVOneStop.co.uk (electrician did the install, didn't supply charger) so it would be messy to get anywhere with this I think.

slave1

Ah, I see, yes, bit shakier ground so

Orebro

KCross wrote: »

When I was diagnosing mine I found that water was also able to come in via the screw mount points so I sealed those but it was primarily coming in via the main cable which, unfortunately for me, was from the top so I'm not sure how it is getting in for you.

Maybe its not water related at all.

It might be some other issue. Maybe the locking mechanism (solenoid) is acting up and it cant start the session and is just repeating the startup sequence.

Can you tell if its locking the cable in at the charge point? When the light goes green see if you can pull the cable out.




Maybe hold off on buying one until you can open the unit. The controllers are ~€100 so I dont want to lead you astray if thats not the issue!

So I managed to take a look inside it earlier - everything is bone dry. Mine doesn't have a locking mechanism, I could always remove the charging cable while car is charging (the particular model I ordered at the time had it as an option), perhaps regulations are different now that they have to lock? Anyway, weird thing is that it will charge no problem if the timer in my car is not set - it charges the car to 100% without issue. If I try the granny charger with my timer set everything works perfectly.

KCross

Orebro wrote: »

So I managed to take a look inside it earlier - everything is bone dry. Mine doesn't have a locking mechanism, I could always remove the charging cable while car is charging (the particular model I ordered at the time had it as an option), perhaps regulations are different now that they have to lock? Anyway, weird thing is that it will charge no problem if the timer in my car is not set - it charges the car to 100% without issue. If I try the granny charger with my timer set everything works perfectly.

I dont really know so.

I cant explain why the car timer would cause it to do that. Could still be the controller I suppose.

Is it only now, after 2.5yrs, that you have decided to use the car timer or was this working with the timer only days ago?


One thing the Leaf will do when the timer is set is that it will flick the charger on/off once, when you connect the cable. Thats to allow the car know what rate the connected charger can handle... but it should only do it once per session. Yours seems to be in an endless loop of doing that. I dont know why.

Orebro

KCross wrote: »

I dont really know so.

I cant explain why the car timer would cause it to do that. Could still be the controller I suppose.

Is it only now, after 2.5yrs, that you have decided to use the car timer or was this working with the timer only days ago?


One thing the Leaf will do when the timer is set is that it will flick the charger on/off once, when you connect the cable. Thats to allow the car know what rate the connected charger can handle... but it should only do it once per session. Yours seems to be in an endless loop of doing that. I dont know why.

I've used the timer since I got the car with this charger without issue - it's only just started to do this. The cycle seems to be an endless loop. The timer with the granny charger is working perfectly so I don't think there is any issue with the car. I'll investigate a bit further by trying a friends Leaf on it to see how it behaves. All signs point to the Communication Module since I really don't see what else it could be - if the other car does the same thing I'm going to take a chance that it is as a best guess.

What were the symptoms yours had KCross?

KCross

Orebro wrote: »

I've used the timer since I got the car with this charger without issue - it's only just started to do this. The cycle seems to be an endless loop. The timer with the granny charger is working perfectly so I don't think there is any issue with the car. I'll investigate a bit further by trying a friends Leaf on it to see how it behaves. All signs point to the Communication Module since I really don't see what else it could be - if the other car does the same thing I'm going to take a chance that it is as a best guess.

What were the symptoms yours had KCross?

Thats the right approach. Use his cable also.
If it does the same thing with the timer on and off on his car then it would point to the comms module particularly since it charges OK without the timer (which proves the contactor is working OK and there is very little else inside the box!)


My symptoms were the same but it was because it took on water. The charge session would bounce continuously as soon as you plugged it in. Swapped out the comms module and sealed up the water ingress points and its running OK since.