J1772 Failure

[grichard]

I tried to charge my MS from a J1772 this weekend--for the first time ever--and failed miserably. Was this my fault, or was there a problem with the charger?

I was using the Chargepoint chargers in the Aqua garage in downtown Chicago. No problem unlocking them with the Chargepoint keyfob thingy. I connected the adaptor to the charger, and then plugged this combination into the car.

When I made the connection, the car would charge for about half a second. Then the port's green light would go dark. The charger spat out an error message "line voltage low, return cable to charger" or something like that. I tried again on a different charger and got the same behavior.

It *looks* to me like the problem is in the chargers, but I've never done this before and so am not willing to rule out my own stupidity. Anybody have thoughts? Thanks.

 

[NovemberXray]

I have used public chargers all over the country, and my experience has been that as much as 30% of the time there's a problem with the charger. Sometimes if you call the owner, Chargepoint in this case, they can get it going or at least confirm that the charger is offline... So they can be very useful when away from home, but I would be very wary to depend on one as your only option.

 

[brkaus]

I've found that in some cases you can ramp the current. Set the car to lower current. Start charging. Increase the current a bit at a time.

 

[JPP]

I tried to charge my MS from a J1772 this weekend--for the first time ever--and failed miserably. Was this my fault, or was there a problem with the charger?

I was using the Chargepoint chargers in the Aqua garage in downtown Chicago. No problem unlocking them with the Chargepoint keyfob thingy. I connected the adaptor to the charger, and then plugged this combination into the car.

When I made the connection, the car would charge for about half a second. Then the port's green light would go dark. The charger spat out an error message "line voltage low, return cable to charger" or something like that. I tried again on a different charger and got the same behavior.

It *looks* to me like the problem is in the chargers, but I've never done this before and so am not willing to rule out my own stupidity. Anybody have thoughts? Thanks.

'Line voltage low' sure sounds like the charger, or more likely the electrical service to the Chargepoint EVSE in question. FWIW, one of the places I charge at has poor 3 phase service to the garage where there are some Sema Level 2 chargers. Initial charge voltage as displayed on my instrument panel/display is usually 203-205 V, but then sags to about 190-195 V after charging starts. Sometimes this voltage sag causes my S to reduce charge current from 30 to 22 A. Even if I manage to not get the current reduction when I start charging, if another EV parks at the 4 bank charging area and plugs in, they pull the voltage down more and for sure my S cuts back on the current.

If so inclined, report the issue to Chargepoint (have the location and charger number available). They can check their logs, and maybe also ask the facility owner to have a recording voltmeter placed on the electrical feed to the EVSE.

 

[grichard]

I've found that in some cases you can ramp the current. Set the car to lower current. Start charging. Increase the current a bit at a time.

Thanks; I tried that, in fact. Didn't help. Oh, well.

I ended up using my 5/20 to plug into a wall outlet and leaving it plugged in all weekend.

 

[AWDtsla]

Chargepoint=garbage. They sometimes "work" for things like leaf's and volt's, because they draw relatively little current. My car consistently drops from 30 to 22A while using them - well assuming it's not out of service period. Barely better than 120@16A plug at that point, which in my situation I can find with much less fight.