Charge port overheating

[amalik123]

I noticed charge port in my egolf getting really hot. Battery would still charge ok. Also occasionally heard a buzzing sound when plugging in the port.

I took the car to the local VW dealer in Dublin, CA. They checked it out and said it is fine.

After 10 days today, I noticed that the plastic around one of the pins on the port melted away. I cannot even get the charge port to go inside.

I guess there was a real problem. Taking car back in for service. Did anyone else see this issue?

 

[JoulesThief]

Where were you charging and with what handle? It's possible your J1772 handle is bad, and causing the heat, not the port.

 

[amalik123]

This is the charging port at my home. It is a Blink charger. I have noticed that charge port getting hot at my work also. They use schneider chargers from chargepoint.

My home J1772 handle is definitely bad now, as plastic on one of pins melted.

I have used this same charger for 3 years with the Nissan leaf I had with no issues. Now I need to change that as well. VW should pay for that, as I had no issues with this charger until I got the egolf.

 

[SJCyclist]

Blink makes crap products. The reviews for their Blink HQ were so bad I completely disregarded it while shopping for EVSEs. So glad I went with the Juicebox.

 

[JoulesThief]

Sounds like you wore your Blink out on your Leaf. Buy a new EVSE unit. You should have stopped charging the moment you saw heat being generated at the charge port while recharging, and taken the car in immediately for service.

 

[amalik123]

If this is related to Blink charger, why would egolf port would still heat up with chargepoint Schneider charger also.

This is a problem with the port on golf. VW already changed the onboard charger 3 months ago when it stopped charging completely.

 

[RonDawg]

The original Blink EVSE's have a known problem with overheating when charging at higher amperages. This is due to defective charging handles. Blink replaced some handles but as the early units were connected via WiFi, Blink simply used that to dial down the current. If yours wasn't connected when Blink sent out the update, and your charging handle was never replaced, that could be what happened with your EVSE and charging port.

All pre-2013 Leafs, and some 2013 and later Leafs, only charged at 16 amps so if your Leaf was one of these, you would not have seen this occur until you plugged in an EV that can draw much more current. Now that the pin is damaged, any EVSE is going to make it get hot, not just Blink.

There is a guy at MyNissanLeaf who had a Blink charging handle completely melt on him when he plugged it into his RAV4 EV (which can draw 40 amps). Google "Blink EVSE overheating" and you'll get a lot of hits. http://insideevs.com/under-threat-from-oems-ecotality-turns-down-the-output-on-chargers-to-avoid-failures/

 

[amalik123]

Thank you that was very informative.

I am surprised there was no recall or safety warning issued for this charger. I contacted Blink, and they said this is obviously out of warranty, and I can buy a new charger for $500 or replacement cable/port for $335. I will not let them get away that easily. I will file a formal complaint with CA attorney general office as this is a public safety issue. You can burn you car, house and even risk lives.

When I first took the car in, VW dealership said it's normal to have ports get hot. If they would have mentioned anything about Blink or excessive heat, this issue could have been avoided.

 

[JoulesThief]

Thank you that was very informative.

I am surprised there was no recall or safety warning issued for this charger. I contacted Blink, and they said this is obviously out of warranty, and I can buy a new charger for $500 or replacement cable/port for $335. I will not let them get away that easily. I will file a formal complaint with CA attorney general office as this is a public safety issue. You can burn you car, house and even risk lives.

When I first took the car in, VW dealership said it's normal to have ports get hot. If they would have mentioned anything about Blink or excessive heat, this issue could have been avoided.

Ignorance is no excuse. You should have not been so cheap and bought a new EVSE for your new car. Electrical devices have a finite life span before failure, including EVSE's. It's the price you pay for being a pioneer, or an early adopter of new technology. Update the whole package for charging when you get a new car. Every time. The old EVSE should go with the old car. Common sense.

 

[f1geek]

I'm sure that JT is just joking with this comment. He knows it is ridiculous to suggest purchasing a new EVSE for a new car. It's unfortunate that you got a lemon in that Blink charging station and they should have done a better job informing you of its defects. Sure, everything has a limited lifespan but I suspect a well built and properly taken care of EVSE should last well beyond the warranty (3 year warranty for standard Clipper Creek EVSEs). The "ruggedized" one ($100 extra) comes with a 5 year warranty.

https://www.clippercreek.com/ruggedized-hcs-40/

I don't see why these EVSEs couldn't last 10 years or more.

 

[RonDawg]

When I first took the car in, VW dealership said it's normal to have ports get hot.

Warm, maybe. But not hot. I would also file a complaint with VWoA about their lack of knowledge.

 

[amalik123]

Ignorance is to not ignore ignorant comments

VW is still has my car and investigating the issue as this is a safety concern. Many car makers these days have thermal sensors installed at the charge port to monitor temperature and shutdown charging if it starts to overheat.

 

[JoulesThief]

Ignorance is to not ignore ignorant comments

VW is still has my car and investigating the issue as this is a safety concern. Many car makers these days have thermal sensors installed at the charge port to monitor temperature and shutdown charging if it starts to overheat.

VW is not one of them. Not at the price point they offer.

Maybe if you buy a Tesla or a Fiskar next time.

 

[amalik123]

I am a hardware engineer and know that thermal sensors cost couple of dollars at most. The whole solution may cost extra $50.

I think charge port thermal protection should be standard. People charge their cars at public chargers, which no one know what condition they are in.

Anyway, VW has decided to send one of their engineers to look at the car as well as my blink charger.

 

[miimura]

The Honda Fit EV has thermal monitoring in the charge port and they were the first cars to discover this issue. In the beginning, the Fit would just stop charging when it got hot. Then Honda engineers found out what was going on and they changed the firmware so the car would just slow down the charging to reduce the heat generated by the bad REMA J1772 handles. Somebody took apart one of the bad REMA handles and the way the pins were crimped was really atrocious.

Those crap REMA handles have damaged quite a few cars and the carmakers have been eating the costs for repairing the cars under warranty. REMA is clearly liable, but I don't think anybody has sued them to recover the damages.

 

[rickypam]

Checking if anyone is still reading this thread: Just had the same problem as amalik123 -- Blink HQ charger and 2015 eGolf. Plastic melted off a pin in the nozzle/handle, and in the charge port on the car. Installed the Blink in 2011 and ran a Leaf for 4 yrs on it, almost 2 yrs on this eGolf. Using the carnet app to control the delayed charging at the max rate (what is that amperage, I assume the onboard charger controls this?). No charging schedules on the Blink unit, but it took me a year of eGolf ownership to figure out how to make the carnet app and the Blink software play nice together


amalik123, what was your resolution on this? Did the VW engineer come and look at things? The Redwood City VW dealer has my car, asked for photos of my charger installation. Are they going to come back and say it's the fault of the Blink/REMA J1772 nozzle, sorry, no VW warranty on this?

 

[RonDawg]

I know the original Blink home units (the ones that look like their commercial units) had problems with the J1772 handles overheating when charging at more than say 25 amps (which the eGolf is capable of). Blink started to replace the handles but then decided to go the cheap way and simply dialed down the amps :roll:

However, I have not heard this issue with the Blink HQ units, which are rebranded Delta? EVSE's. Also, are you sure it's an HQ? IIRC those models didn't come out until after I got my Leaf in January 2013. The Bosch units recommended by VW are the same as the Blink HQ, just with a white case.

Original Blink (the kind known for overheating J1772 handles):

Blink HQ:

Bosch:

 

[rickypam]

oops, my bad. I don't have the HQ, I have the original one as shown in your first photo. Have you also experienced this charge port problem?

My wifi is spotty at the Blink, so I easily could have missed a firmware update.

 

[PacBlue]

I'm sure that JT is just joking with this comment. He knows it is ridiculous to suggest purchasing a new EVSE for a new car. It's unfortunate that you got a lemon in that Blink charging station and they should have done a better job informing you of its defects. Sure, everything has a limited lifespan but I suspect a well built and properly taken care of EVSE should last well beyond the warranty (3 year warranty for standard Clipper Creek EVSEs). The "ruggedized" one ($100 extra) comes with a 5 year warranty.

https://www.clippercreek.com/ruggedized-hcs-40/

I don't see why these EVSEs couldn't last 10 years or more.

+1 on the 10 years or more service life of EVSEs; the Schneider EVlink 1st gen EVSE I used with my LEAF originally needed its circuit board updated to handle the 7.2 kW charge rate of my e-Golf which they actually provided me well out of the original warranty period at no charge (my unit is about 5 1/2 years old now); just my own labor to replace it. Most if not all EVSEs will get warm (except perhaps those used at 120V) due the amp draw. If however the cable, etc. is too hot to hold/touch than something is wrong and needs to be checked out -- I plan to continue using this Schneider unit when I get my Tesla Model 3 to charge it as well; won't be quite as fast as a Tesla Wall Connector; but may be marginally higher rate than the e-Golf (7.7 kW at 40A with expected onboard charger with the Tesla) so 23+ mile/hour (see link below); this is still fine for overnight charging.

https://www.tesla.com/support/home-charging-installation

 

[RonDawg]

oops, my bad. I don't have the HQ, I have the original one as shown in your first photo. Have you also experienced this charge port problem?

My wifi is spotty at the Blink, so I easily could have missed a firmware update.

I personally have not as I have a Clipper Creek unit, but I have heard about it through MyNissanLeaf forums. The pre-2013 Leafs only charged at 3.8 kW so it wasn't a problem, but another member who went with a Tesla-powered RAV4 EV (which charges even higher than 30 amps) said that his charging handle actually melted.