[konimail]

So here is a little curveball for all here:

My wife's 2013 stopped charging on L2 at home ( BOSH), but the other two volts i own ( 2011 and 2012) charge fine on that same BOSH charger.
She was able to charge at work on a ChargePoint for a while after the home BOSH stopped. Eventually - that ability stopped a few days later.

No faults, check engine lights. just says "not able to charge" on the dashboard once plugged in .

I took it to my local dealer where they actually have an excellent voltech mechanic. He confirmed there was no codes, and stated that charging was fine on 3 different L2 chargers he tried.
He recommended trying to clean the plug on the BOSH.
So i did, and now - none of the three volts i own charge on L2.
It appears, my cleaning procedure screwed something up

My question is - does anyone have a remedy, a trick, or a wander cleaning solution to try to bring the charging back to life?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Peter

 

[hellsop]

Tell us what you cleaned and how you cleaned it. How to fix depends on how you broke it, right? (charging working on one EVSE and not on another almost always indicates a problem with either the plug at the point where ther two mate outside the car, or the socket on the car itself and the connections just behind it. There's a BUNCH of things that can work not right, but the most common problem is one of the little pins getting screwed up; the big pins (power, neutral, ground) are much less likely to be a problem.

 

[konimail]

Thanks for your response

At first, and based on the voltech recommendation, i used some amount of dielectric grease on each pin of the plug and plugged in and out of the port several times.
CRC 3.3 oz. Technician Grade Dielectric Grease-05113 - The Home Depot
This isn't the one he recommended, ( AC Delco was his choice) but that was the only one available anywhere.

Clearly - that made things worse, so i picked up up an electronic cleaner ( like this: https://www.walmart.com/ip/CRC-5103-Quick-Dry-Electronic-Cleaner-11-wt-oz/16817418 ) and sprayed liberally to clean out most of the grease.

Unfortunately - that didn't help.

Both 2012 and 2013 charge on trickle charger, but not on the L2.

I have another L2 sitting around that is not installed. I am planning on wiring it up over the weekend in place of the BOSH to see if that helps.

 

[hellsop]

Thanks for your response

At first, and based on the voltech recommendation, i used some amount of dielectric grease on each pin of the plug and plugged in and out of the port several times.
CRC 3.3 oz. Technician Grade Dielectric Grease-05113 - The Home Depot
This isn't the one he recommended, ( AC Delco was his choice) but that was the only one available anywhere.

Clearly - that made things worse, so i picked up up an electronic cleaner ( like this: https://www.walmart.com/ip/CRC-5103-Quick-Dry-Electronic-Cleaner-11-wt-oz/16817418 ) and sprayed liberally to clean out most of the grease.

Unfortunately - that didn't help.

Both 2012 and 2013 charge on trickle charger, but not on the L2.

I have another L2 sitting around that is not installed. I am planning on wiring it up over the weekend in place of the BOSH to see if that helps.

"trickle charger"? That means which thing to you? The Level 1 EVSE that comes with the car? Or something else? I'm hoping you mean the Level 1 thing, because that's good news and leads to the following:

At this point, my wild guess is that one of the small connectors inside the "nozzle end" of the Bosch Level 2 EVSE is busted and no longer connected inside the "nozzle" or misaligned, or pushed all the way in or something. All five of the plastic shrouds on the "nozzle" should have a cylinder of metal contact inside, with a gap where the contact was rolled into a tube shape. That contact slides into the pins on the car side of the connection, that sit inside little wells that accept the contact inside its shroud.

File:SAE J1772 7058855567.jpg - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

That link show the nozzle end and you can see the metal bits inside on all five connectors inside the shrouds. Look at the Bosch's in good light and make sure it looks like that, with metal tubes inside all five like that is. If there isn't on one or more, that's your problem.

 

[konimail]

trickle charger is L1 in my mind
IM really irked by this. It feels like BOSH did something to the two cars - neither will charge on any public charger i tried today.
Only one L1 works, the other one i have that always worked does not anymore - same symptom as on L2 - no light, no beep, red alarm light on charger.

 

[JuneBug]

trickle charger is L1 in my mind
IM really irked by this. It feels like BOSH did something to the two cars - neither will charge on any public charger i tried today.
Only one L1 works, the other one i have that always worked does not anymore - same symptom as on L2 - no light, no beep, red alarm light on charger.

Did you inspect the pins on the Bosch plug for any damage? Did you inspect the charging port on both vehicles for damage?

 

[konimail]

the BOSH plug looks fine. Clean and solid, no loose pieces, or apparent contamination.

 

[jayoldschool]

IIRC there are many people that have had the BOSCH EVSE fail. There are also lots of people that have had the charge port receptacle on the car fail (including me) when it develops micro cracks on the back side. There are updated parts for this.

 

[konimail]

irritating - now the 2013 stopped charging completely. No CEL, no faults,
wont charge at any public locations either

The dealer claims since no faults nothing is wrong with the car as the charging system is super sensitive to issues.

Apparently not that sensitive

 

[JuneBug]

irritating - now the 2013 stopped charging completely. No CEL, no faults,
wont charge at any public locations either

The dealer claims since no faults nothing is wrong with the car as the charging system is super sensitive to issues.

Apparently not that sensitive

There are 2 possibilities, either the charge port is defective, or the charger behind the front bumper cover is bad. Neither will set any codes. The charge port is NOT covered by the Voltec warranty, but is inexpensive and easy to change. The charger IS covered by the Voltec warranty, but is expensive and more difficult to change if your warranty has expired.

 

[konimail]

im taking it back - last time i took it when this issue started happening, the car charged fine on their three different charges. Im hoping that wont be the case now

 

[Steverino]

2 of 3 cars where charging on L2.
The one that wasn't charging on the Bosch, was chargeable at the dealer as tested on several charge stations there.
Then you applied dielectric grease, now 3 of 3 don't charge via the Bosch or at other charge stations at L2.

Is that right?

 

[konimail]

2 of 3 cars where charging on L2.
The one that wasn't charging on the Bosch, was chargeable at the dealer as tested on several charge stations there.
Then you applied dielectric grease, now 3 of 3 don't charge via the Bosch or at other charge stations at L2.

Is that right?

The 2013 does not charge at all now on any of the L1 or L2 chargers
The 2012 only charges on the L1, wont charge on any public L2 i tried
The 2011 - is away at college and is charging OK on L2 there

Is it possible that the BOSH did something to the VOLTS it was charging ?

 

[konimail]

btw - just bought a cheap L2 charger off eBay to test . WIll update once it arrives

 

[Steverino]

The 2013 does not charge at all now on any of the L1 or L2 chargers
The 2012 only charges on the L1, wont charge on any public L2 i tried
The 2011 - is away at college and is charging OK on L2 there

Is it possible that the BOSH did something to the VOLTS it was charging ?

The 2013 that would not charge under L2 but was charging under L1 now doesn't charge under L2 or L1 after being "greased".
The 2012 would charge under L1 and L2 now doesn't charge under L2 on the Bosch or public chargers after being "greased".
The 2011 that did not get plugged into the newly "greased" charge handle still charges fine.

The BOSCH did not "do something" to the Volt. But I do wonder whether the greasing did something. Shouldn't but...

What's odd is you say there are no faults, errors or message being displayed in the car or the Bosch. Are you sure? No yellow dash light for example? No werror lights on the Bosch? No car messages?

 

[konimail]

The 2013 that would not charge under L2 but was charging under L1 now doesn't charge under L2 or L1 after being "greased".
The 2012 would charge under L1 and L2 now doesn't charge under L2 on the Bosch or public chargers after being "greased".
The 2011 that did not get plugged into the newly "greased" charge handle still charges fine.

The BOSCH did not "do something" to the Volt. But I do wonder whether the greasing did something. Shouldn't but...

What's odd is you say there are no faults, errors or message being displayed in the car or the Bosch. Are you sure? No yellow dash light for example? No werror lights on the Bosch? No car messages?

Greasing was actually done after i lost charging ability to some extent. Cleaning, / greasing appears to have worsen the issue. I since used contactor cleaner to wash the grease away from all contacts - the car socket and the plugs.

There's no fault on the car display,
When i connect the charger, the dashboard yellow light blinks briefly, then goes completely out, while the charger light blinks red ( both L1 and L2)

 

[FI Spyder]

Blinking red light means pilot or ground fault error. I would check wiring connections/outlet. If you aren't sure about electricity get an electrician to check it. Bad outlet?