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240V SPX Charger

11K views 25 replies 10 participants last post by  solar_dave 
#1 ·
I went out this morning on my way to work and unplugged the 240V SPX charger from my Volt. As I was placing the cord on the housing on the wall, I noticed that the strain relief on the plug that connects to the Volt was broken and if I wanted could actually be slid down the cord away from the plug. Has anyone else had this happen to them? I think this should have lasted longer than it has. We took delivery on our Volts on 4/9/2012 so we are 1 day short of 2 months of usage on this charger. What would my options be to take care of this? Are part available to replace the strain relief?
 
#8 ·
fishhawk, where did you find your serial number? I've looked on the unit itself without opening it nor taking it off of the wall, I looked at the instructions, invoice and what appears to be a packing slip. Still no serial number on anything. Without it, I can't send in the email they requested. I would think they could look me up in their system from when I ordered the charger initially and have the serial number recorded from that sale.
 
#10 ·
It's underneath where the plug is stored. It's called the manufacture date. Good luck.
 
#9 ·
I tried to call SPX, It looks like I have to wait until Monday morning before I can find out about the serial number at the earliest, nobody answered when I called. I just checked the box it was shipped in. There's nothing there either.
 
#12 ·
I got a call last week from SPX asking why I had not sent in the pictures of the broken strain relief, the serial number and SPX ticket number for the broken strain relief problem. I told the rep that I had sent to pictures on the day I spoke to them. So... I resent them again this time asking for a reply whether they received it or not. Without any replies back, by curiosity got the best of me. I called SPX yesterday and when I got hold of the rep, I was told he could see the pictures I sent. They are awaiting a determination by GM and if approved would be sending out a replacement cord.
 
#13 ·
UPS delivered a package from SPX this afternoon. What I got was a replacement cord assembly that connects between the charger housing and the Volt. We will see how this one works. It doesn't look like any changes were made from what I have and as a matter of fact, the wires that connect to the terminal strip were stripped already and were really twisted and misshapen like they were removed from another unit. The part number for the cable assembly on the invoice is EL-50580-10. I wish there was an option to have straight/un-coiled cable as opposed to the coiled cable that comes with the unit.
 
#15 ·
Yes, John, the strain reliefs used do seem to have short comings in this application. When I took the cord off to install the replacement cord, I noticed that the strain relief on the cord at the wall side was also broken. I appears that when the strain relief was compressed by the clamp that holds it in place, the wall of the strain relief was reduced to a thickness about double of a sheet of paper. With this minimal amount of thickness remaining, no wonder it ripped apart. The strain relief at the other end did not suffer from this problem but broke about three "ribs" away from the plug and what was what I called about.
 
#16 ·
Have had my 240v SPX Voltec for less than a month and the strain relief is destroyed. Very disappointed, only have ~10 charge cycles on the entire unit. Sent emails to SPX and waiting for response on warranty. Hopefully there is a more robust replacement solution available.
 
#17 ·
Unless they have a large fallout of the strain reliefs I only see a continuance of the same design. Unfortunately the replacement cord I received. It looked like it may have been someone else's repaired cordset. My wife and I both find that it is difficult to unplug the new cord from both the charging station and from the Volt itself. We have called SPX again and are waiting to see what their decision is.
 
#18 ·
I've had two failures on the plug itself. The latching mechanism can jam/break, which leaves the little led on, and it refuses to charge in that state. First time, warranty took care of it after a bit of hassle. Second time, I just fixed it myself since it was merely stuck, not broken this time. It's the weakest link in these, and I'm about to replace this nasty coiled cord that puts a lot of side stress on the connector (including the one on the car) with a straight, high quality cable I got at tuscon EV. Obviously going to be worth it in the long run.

Now that SPX has members here - it's good. Before that it was a disaster to get anything straight with them, they had no clue how to assign one person to a trouble ticket so anyone knew what was going on - and impossible to get the same person twice. The contacts here are far far better than going it on the phone alone.
 
#19 ·
DCFusor, I am planning on doing the same thing. The coiled cord, especially when new, exerts a large amount of pull on the strain relief, connector as well as the socket in the Volt. I would even venture that in a new state, you are lucky to get 8-10 feet of extension on the cable without an undue amount of side force that negatively affects the strain relief. I find as the charger is used the coils on the cable relax to reduce the side force and EVENTUALLY allows the advertised 20 foot range of the cord with out the pull of the cord. The link below offers cable you need for EVSE, in multiple gauges, all I need to do is find a distributor. a 1000' roll would be cost prohibitive and would be more than I would ever use. What is nice is that they offer the wire in 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4 and 2 gauges. So an upgrade could be possible to reduce I2R losses.

http://www.philatron.com/catalog/ev-cable/?gclid=CLfZ1uyiwLECFYFo4AoduDIAQA
 
#21 ·
KGreb, I can only hope that the next cord I get will have the update strain relief. If you do get the updated cable, then a picture would really help in identifying the new design.
 
#22 ·
My replacement connector/cable assembly arrived today from SPX. I AM NOT A HAPPY CAMPER!!! To backtrack a little, the original cable strain reliefs failed after about a month of use. I contacted SPX and they supplied me with a new cable (I'll called replacement #1). The problem with replacement cable #1 is that it takes a lot of effort to remove the connector from both the charging connector on the Volt as well as from the wall mounted unit. I contacted SPX about my dissatisfaction with replacement cable #1 and after multiple phone calls and approval from GM management, replacement cable # 2 arrived today. The problem with cable #2, I thoroughly checked it out after I removed it from the box, PRIOR to connecting it, I found a broken strain relief on this cable and I did not even use it! In addition if you look at the strain relief and just cause a little deflection to the side, I can see 2-3 spots where the strain relief is cracked about 1/2 way through the webbing by the "X" at multiple points around the unit. I just cannot believe I was shipped another unit with cracks already! This ought to really good to try and get SPX understanding that it came this way.
 
#24 ·
Me too, the replacement for my second cable which was defective arrived today also. Looks like the same design as before.
 
#25 ·
The old cable was finally picked up by UPS this week. However the time for it to be picked up took more time than the strain relief on this new cord lasted! I called my Volt Advisor about what's been going on with these cables, including the couple of cables that were not 100% right out of the box and how short the life of these cable strain reliefs are. My Volt Advisor was really surprised to hear what has been going on with respect to this. They are supposed to be "elevating" this with GM Management to make them aware to the problem. It sounds like they weren't even aware of the problem. Has anyone else tried going the route of informing your VA that your strain relief is repeatedly breaking? This may illustrate that it is more than 1 Volt Customer dealing with strain relief problems.
 
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