[Monza64]

Just the other day coming out for a small trip I realized there has been no charging overnight. Having two charger cables, one for home and one with type 2 inlet I sped of to Ikea to test my secondary cable, seldome used.
The other cable was working fine so the problem must be in the home cable. All six green lights is lighting up when beeing plugged in so everything feels normal in that end.
I always suspect the loose cable end with the big handle on beeing used and abused every day for the past three years and I have started to dismantle it, have managed to get the "shell" off. Upper and lower parts including the four tiny screews, but then ? I think Im supposed to pull out the connector in the front of the handle, but how ? Is there something holding the cable ? I seem to be as stuck as the connector.

 

[DonC]

Have you tried immediate charging to confirm the home EVSE isn't working? If all the lights are green that's a very good indication there isn't anything amiss on the EVSE end. Also can you try it in a different outlet to make sure it's not an outlet issue?

 

[Monza64]

Not quite sure what "immediate" charging means. My chargings always starts immediatly. Will check another plug.

 

[Monza64]

As I suspected, no charge from another wall outlet.

 

[llninja]

Check the end of the J1772 connector. One time a kamikaze moth headed towards the light and prevented the connector for making contact. I took a small screwdriver to pry the bug guts from both the plug and connector before the current would flow again.

It could be a fried EVSE where there are some online fixes involving replacing fuses, but folks who aren’t electrically inclined would sometimes just get a new EVSE instead of risking creating an electrical fire.

 

[Monza64]

An EV hating moth, interresting !
I feel confident with electrics having working on the electric dept at Volvo cars my entire carer. Have ordered a new charger cable but I would like to repair the old one to have a spare. Im quite sure the problem is at the handle end of the cable, if for instance it was the fuse the green leds would not light up at plug in.

 

[Monza64]

Finally figured it out myself. Heres a description if someone else needs to take theirs apart:
The handle has a shell, upper and lower part. The uppert part is pried off with a screwdriver, the lower part holds the interior handle with 4 small, black screws. Two in the side front, two in the side rear.
You know should have the interior handle in your hand and looking at it you can see it is split vertically.
Now you have to remove all of the parts involved in the lock mechanisme since these stradle both the handle parts. This is fairly simple and most of them fall right out (with a little bit of help) but there is also a aluminum rivet. I managed to remove the flange with a Dremel leaving enough material to rivet it one more time.
Now cut the blob of silicon glue in half following the split of the handle and then you can take the two parts away from the innermost part and the connector. You will find that the cable inside has been soldered to the connector and then the inner handleparts has been filled with silicon glue.

My next step will be to cut the cable maybee 4" before it goes into the rear end of the handle, if there is a break in the cable it is likely it is closer to the handle than 4", solder it to the connector and fill the handle with silicone before putting it all together.

I'll try to add some pictures but is not quite sure how to, yet.

 

[Monza64]

The first and second picture show the handle without the shell with the lock mechanisme and the aluminum river with the flange in need of being removed.
The third picture show the connector and the silicone around the cable.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the pictures! Your 2012 plug looks to be quite different from my 2015. Mine has a black button on top for the latch and it also turns on a built in led flashlight. I would have done the same thing--cutting the cable back past the break and reconnecting it to the pins. Is there any kind of strain relief at the end of the handle? If not I would see about adding one.

 

[Monza64]

OK, so now most of the cables has been freed from the silicon.
I have not disected the area around the microswith and led since all those cables are quite thin and easily cuts when carving.

The brown cable goes straight through to the connector as does the blue and orange.
The ground cable, green/yellow, goes through but also go to a resistor of 330 Ohms and to somewhere around the micro switch that controls the led.
The purple cable does not go through but goes to an unknown component the seems to have been both hot and also corroded. Hopefully there is i picture included to show what it looks like. I tried to measure it with a multimeter but there is no resistance at all (infinity). There is 500 printed on it but there could be a number missing in front.

 

[JuneBug]

Thanks for the pictures! Your 2012 plug looks to be quite different from my 2015. Mine has a black button on top for the latch and it also turns on a built in led flashlight. I would have done the same thing--cutting the cable back past the break and reconnecting it to the pins. Is there any kind of strain relief at the end of the handle? If not I would see about adding one.

 

[Monzsta]

OK, so now most of the cables has been freed from the silicon.
I have not disected the area around the microswith and led since all those cables are quite thin and easily cuts when carving.

The brown cable goes straight through to the connector as does the blue and orange.
The ground cable, green/yellow, goes through but also go to a resistor of 330 Ohms and to somewhere around the micro switch that controls the led.
The purple cable does not go through but goes to an unknown component the seems to have been both hot and also corroded. Hopefully there is i picture included to show what it looks like. I tried to measure it with a multimeter but there is no resistance at all (infinity). There is 500 printed on it but there could be a number missing in front.
View attachment 153610

That component is either a slow blow fuse or a thermal fuse. Looks like there's one on the other wire as well.

 

[JuneBug]

Yes, that component with the 500 on it is a thermal fuse. They get hot, they open up.

 

[brett_cgb]

Yes, that component with the 500 on it is a thermal fuse. They get hot, they open up.

Before you re-assemble things (ideally BEFORE you disassembled the plug), check the condition of the plastic parts of the plug and the socket it plugs into for signs of overheating (burnt/melted/deformed plastic around the large electrical contacts). This is a sign that the electrical contacts between the plug and socket were overheating, either by not making a good electrical connection between the plug and socket, or the contacts in the plug were not properly attached to the cable wires. Both cases will cause overheating of the contacts, possibly causing thermal fuses to overheat and open, and possibly melting/burning the plastic connector body.

The melted/burned plastic may cause the plug to not fully insert into the socket in the car. Normally, you will hear a click as a latch in the plug locks the plug to the car, preventing removal without operating the release in the plug (in your case, the orange button).

Inspect the car socket for overheat damage. If damaged, it may not matter what charger you try to use - it wont latch correctly. If you don't hear that click when inserting the plug, or the latch doesn't hold it in place, you may end up purchasing another charger and repairing the car socket as well.

The car can also be configured to generate a short honk when it begins charging 3 to 15 seconds after plugging in. That honk may have been turned off.