110V Charger error

[Cord]

the charger came with a few plastic pages wrapped to the charger handle.
these had the chart and other charge related information.

cord-data.JPG

The owner or dealer might have removed these and files them with the car paper work.

I took cell phone picts of mine and can post a copy.

[Fulgerite]

I guess I should get a volt meter and find out if what the voltage is on this line. Any idea what the high/low values are to trip the charger? Since it seems to work durning off-peak times, I'm assuming it could be due to the power company trying to compensate for higher loads. If this is the case, is there anything I can do? This is so frustrating.

If you measure the voltage you need to do it while the car is plugged in and pulling current. If the circuit is not under load it will just read the line voltage. I suspect your circuit is faulty. Your breaker has corroded contacts. The Neutral has a corroded contact. The outlet is old and corroded. Corroded connections can cause voltage drop and heat. Start by inspecting the terminals in the circuit panel for tightness. Replace the outlet with a high quality commercial grade outlet. (Not a 35 cent one from Home Depot.) Make sure the neutral & ground are properly bonded in the panel. If you don't know how to do all that... Call a qualified electrician. If that does not work... It may be the charger. Have you tried the charger in another outlet?

Also... Are you using an extension cord? If so it need to be 12 gauge wire and have heavy duty (Not old and corroded) plugs.

[Mallard]

If you measure the voltage you need to do it while the car is plugged in and pulling current. If the circuit is not under load it will just read the line voltage. I suspect your circuit is faulty. Your breaker has corroded contacts. The Neutral has a corroded contact. The outlet is old and corroded. Corroded connections can cause voltage drop and heat. Start by inspecting the terminals in the circuit panel for tightness. Replace the outlet with a high quality commercial grade outlet. (Not a 35 cent one from Home Depot.) Make sure the neutral & ground are properly bonded in the panel. If you don't know how to do all that... Call a qualified electrician. If that does not work... It may be the charger. Have you tried the charger in another outlet?

Also... Are you using an extension cord? If so it need to be 12 gauge wire and have heavy duty (Not old and corroded) plugs.

No extension cord, the charger faults out before the car is ever plugged in, and my house is only ~10 years old, so I don't think the outlet or contacts have large amounts of corrosion. I have tried multiple outlets in my home and the results are the same. Now that it's getting late I'm going to try again, but this doesn't give me enough time to get the car fully charged before my commute tomorrow. The last couple nights it has worked after sundown and charged all night.

[tboult]

No extension cord, the charger faults out before the car is ever plugged in, and my house is only ~10 years old, so I don't think the outlet or contacts have large amounts of corrosion. I have tried multiple outlets in my home and the results are the same. Now that it's getting late I'm going to try again, but this doesn't give me enough time to get the car fully charged before my commute tomorrow. The last couple nights it has worked after sundown and charged all night.

Some new houses have been using the "quick-connect" features of modern outlets. They can provide for very weak conntacts that cause problems, especially if they outlets are daisy chained.

Tunn off the break that supports the car, unscree the outlet and see if the wires are screwed in (thy should be) or just poked into a quick-connect. If poked in, remove and screw then in. Some quick-connects also provide a screw that can be used after they are in the quick-connect.

If you have multiple-outlets between the car and the braker a series of these quick-connects can really impact it.

You might try the charger at the dealer or some other place with known good outlets.

[frankydude]

Some new houses have been using the "quick-connect" features of modern outlets. They can provide for very weak conntacts that cause problems, especially if they outlets are daisy chained.

Tunn off the break that supports the car, unscree the outlet and see if the wires are screwed in (thy should be) or just poked into a quick-connect. If poked in, remove and screw then in. Some quick-connects also provide a screw that can be used after they are in the quick-connect.

If you have multiple-outlets between the car and the braker a series of these quick-connects can really impact it.

You might try the charger at the dealer or some other place with known good outlets.

If your outlet is wired with the quick connect method, then you will need to do as Tboult did advise:
unpoke from the back of the outlet, and screw the wires (on the sides of it).
You will need to do all outlets of the house, as they are typically daisy chained, and the electrician that wired
your house will likely use the same connect method throughout the house.
Those quick connect contacts create a parasitic resistance, as the contacts touch a very small surface of the
wires. The outlet work at small amperage loads (lamp, computer) but will heat up a bit and will drop voltage
at the output of the outlet. This will trigger the low voltage fault on the charger.

I use everyday my 120V charger at 12 amps successfully. I never had a problem in my screwed wired outlets.

Francois
B2653

[Fulgerite]

I agree with tboult and frankdude. If the outlets are wired in series with the wires poked into the "quick connect" these can be the source of the problem. If you can get a kilowatt or access to a volt meter I suggest measuring the voltage at the outlet while the charger is plugged in. Either the charger has detected a ground fault or low voltage... OR You may have a bad charger. The only way to really tell is to measure the voltage properly in your home with the car connected OR take the charger to another location and try charging there. You need to isolate whether the problem is with the wiring in your home or the charger.

PS. I live in a 2 year old home and I DID have to replace the outlet with a higher quality type and tighten the connections to get my charger to work reliably.

[frankydude]

I agree with tboult and frankdude. If the outlets are wired in series with the wires poked into the "quick connect" these can be the source of the problem. If you can get a kilowatt or access to a volt meter I suggest measuring the voltage at the outlet while the charger is plugged in. Either the charger has detected a ground fault or low voltage... OR You may have a bad charger. The only way to really tell is to measure the voltage properly in your home with the car connected OR take the charger to another location and try charging there. You need to isolate whether the problem is with the wiring in your home or the charger.

PS. I live in a 2 year old home and I DID have to replace the outlet with a higher quality type and tighten the connections to get my charger to work reliably.

Fulgerite, your suggestion is good, but there is a shortfall: Mallard has it's charger ligth up red - so he can't even start to charge
the car, so there are no measurements under load possible. He is at the point to use a screwdriver to properly screw it's outlet wires,
once the circuit breaker has been put to OFF. Also, technically, all outlets are connected in parallel - black wire to black wire,
white wire to white wire. The daisy chain refer to the pair of wires feeding the outlet is quick connected, then another pair
connects to the other quick connect to go feed the next outlet of the chain and so on. This multiplies the effect of the parasitic
resistance of the quick connects.

Francois
B2653

[Mallard]

Fulgerite, your suggestion is good, but there is a shortfall: Mallard has it's charger ligth up red - so he can't even start to charge
the car, so there are no measurements under load possible. He is at the point to use a screwdriver to properly screw it's outlet wires,
once the circuit breaker has been put to OFF. Also, technically, all outlets are connected in parallel - black wire to black wire,
white wire to white wire. The daisy chain refer to the pair of wires feeding the outlet is quick connected, then another pair
connects to the other quick connect to go feed the next outlet of the chain and so on. This multiplies the effect of the parasitic
resistance of the quick connects.

Francois
B2653

Thanks guys, I had already done this and the wires are attached to the outlet with the screws on the sides. I've been using this charger on this outlet every day since we got the car (beginning of April) with no issues until this past week. The garage is on it's own circuit, so the only other thing attached to this breaker is the sprinkler system controller. This isn't that big of a draw, but even with it unplugged I get the error. I alos get teh error when I plug the charger into any other outlet in my house.

I brought the charger to work today and I'm getting the same fault when plugging it in here. Hopefully it's just the charger and I can get it replaced quickly. I am amazed though that so many of you are able to charge at 12 amps. I've never been able to do that, no matter where I plug it in.

[Fulgerite]

Thanks guys, I had already done this and the wires are attached to the outlet with the screws on the sides. I've been using this charger on this outlet every day since we got the car (beginning of April) with no issues until this past week. The garage is on it's own circuit, so the only other thing attached to this breaker is the sprinkler system controller. This isn't that big of a draw, but even with it unplugged I get the error. I alos get teh error when I plug the charger into any other outlet in my house.

I brought the charger to work today and I'm getting the same fault when plugging it in here. Hopefully it's just the charger and I can get it replaced quickly. I am amazed though that so many of you are able to charge at 12 amps. I've never been able to do that, no matter where I plug it in.

Congratulations! You diagnosed the problem. You have a busted charger! That should be very easy to get a replacement from your dealer. It may take a day or two. Make sure the new one they give you has a BLACK AC cord. (The short cord that plugs into the wall should be black.) The older charger had orange colored 16 gauge wire that overheats. The new ones have 14 gauge black wire that does NOT overheat. (The Voltec EVSE is actually manufactured by Lear. Not GM.)

And yes... I regularly charge at 12 amps at friends & family when I visit and NEVER have any issues charging at 12 amps. I think you just had a defective charger. Hopefully your new replacement will get you up & running at 12 amps without any more trouble.

[frankydude]

Congratulations! You diagnosed the problem. You have a busted charger! That should be very easy to get a replacement from your dealer. It may take a day or two. Make sure the new one they give you has a BLACK AC cord. (The short cord that plugs into the wall should be black.) The older charger had orange colored 16 gauge wire that overheats. The new ones have 14 gauge black wire that does NOT overheat. (The Voltec EVSE is actually manufactured by Lear. Not GM.)

And yes... I regularly charge at 12 amps at friends & family when I visit and NEVER have any issues charging at 12 amps. I think you just had a defective charger. Hopefully your new replacement will get you up & running at 12 amps without any more trouble.

I also agree with Fulgerite, from your last message, Mallard, it strongly smells as a defective 120V charger.
The replacement from the dealer will provide you with the appropriate solution to your charging problem!
The actual charger should display the same bad behaviour at the dealership.

Francois
B2653