[Prohidium]

Went out to my garage and heard a buzzing sound coming from my Sun Country (Clipper Creek) 240v charger. It sounded very much like a transformer buzz you hear from a large transformer, not real loud but loud enough to hear it in the hallway beside the attached garage. I unplugged the charger from the car, waited a few seconds, plugged the charger back into the car and all is normal again.

Has anyone else experienced this and could this be a sign of imminent failure? The charger is about 3 years old and is used daily. I guess time will tell but I have never heard any sounds from the unit other than when the relay operates to start the high voltage charging.

 

[Ralph7]

My Charge Point level II charger did that once last year. So I just unplugged it and plugged it back in. Never happened again. Don't have an explanation for why this could happen. But nothing got hot or anything as far as I could tell. So I'm thinking that since nothing got hot, nothing would be deteriorating or likely to fail.

 

[mhguy]

An AC relay can occasionally buzz somewhat if it pulls in for some reason just a little out of its normal position. My Clipper Creek has not done that (yet), but if it does I would not worry unless it becomes regular.

Dick

 

[Neromanceres]

An AC relay can occasionally buzz somewhat if it pulls in for some reason just a little out of its normal position. My Clipper Creek has not done that (yet), but if it does I would not worry unless it becomes regular.

Dick

This could be it. The coil on the contactor or relay can sometimes buzz if the contacts don't meet just right. Keep an eye on it. It could be a fluke or it could be that the contactor or relay might be showing it's age.

 

[DBMoore]

I had trouble with several Clipper Creek units which resulted in warranty replacement. One of the problems was similar to what you describe. Disconnecting power and reconnecting solved the noise for a while, then it came back.

I will say that Clipper Creek was extremely easy to work with on the warranty replacement.

 

[Aseras]

Mine did that once when it somehow filled up with water. Drained it, butyl tape around the cord gaps and it was fine.

 

[voganni]

I have a aerovironment l2 unit that I bought when I had my Leaf. It has done the buzz a time or two, but usually it goes away. I think it's just the coil in the contactor. As long as it makes juice, I don't care. Can't hear it from the tavern!

 

[Loboc]

My GE has buzzed since day one. Going on 4 years of daily use.

 

[Joe67]

Went out to my garage and heard a buzzing sound coming from my Sun Country (Clipper Creek) 240v charger. It sounded very much like a transformer buzz you hear from a large transformer, not real loud but loud enough to hear it in the hallway beside the attached garage. I unplugged the charger from the car, waited a few seconds, plugged the charger back into the car and all is normal again.

Has anyone else experienced this and could this be a sign of imminent failure? The charger is about 3 years old and is used daily. I guess time will tell but I have never heard any sounds from the unit other than when the relay operates to start the high voltage charging.

While I haven't experienced that yet, I would kill the power to that unit immediately until I had a professional take a look.
Have you contacted Clipper Creek?

 

[Prohidium]

I am going to keep an eye on it. It may have done it in the past but this is the first time I have noticed it buzzing. It did not get hot and it was charging normally and no error lights. I will keep using it until it breaks and I am pretty sure it would be out of warranty being just over 3 years old. When I touched the unit I could not feel any vibration so it is nothing loose in the unit.

Probably similar to what a florescent fixture does to make its buzzing sound.

 

[canehdian]

I would contact CC anyway.
Even if it's out of warranty, they should be able to advise if this can be a normal sound under certain circumstances, or if you need to have it checked out.
If you paid with a credit card, you may still be under warranty if it has the one-year warranty extension insurance.