Home charger failure???

[srcla10]

I have a 2015 eGolf, I noticed that the range has dropped off a bit so I took it to the VW dealer to see if something was wrong. The story I got seems to defy logic. I was told my home charger was defective and not sending the correct signal to the battery to drain cells before the charge begins, thus the reduced miles. I wasn't asked if I got any warning lights. I said that the only time I saw one was at a level 3 station and I unplugged and replugged everything was fine.

I informed the service writer that the 230v service I'm using is not a charger, that's on the car, all it is is a plug. He suggested that I use the 110v charger for a while and see if it works better. WTH?? To top it off, they charged me $150 for this nonsense.

Any and all technical support will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[f1geek]

First of all, with AC charging, the charger is in the car. The wallbox (also known as a charging station or EVSE) is just a safety device (implementing the J1772 charging protocol) that sends 240 V power to your car. Inside your car, the charger converts the AC current into DC current and the DC current charges the battery. When you use a DC Fast charger, the charger is indeed the station and the charger in the car is bypasses so the DC can go directly from the rapid charging station directly into your battery.

The EVSE will not send a signal to drain your batteries. That is complete and utter BS. The car's electronics determines how many amps and volts the EVSE can supply and based on how you may have programmed the charging parameters, will pull either the maximum amps the EVSE can deliver, or a reduced amperage based on your settings.

The range may have dropped because the weather got cooler or you have been driving faster or some other way being less efficient in your energy usage. The GOM (Guess-O-Meter) is an estimate of range based on environmental and driving characteristics. You need a dongle with software (see other posts on the forum) to know the true battery capacity.

 

[srcla10]

Thank you so much for your quick and succinct reply. I'm not an electrical engineer, or even an electrician for that matter, and I'm a newbie when it comes to this electric car world. I spent 20+ years managing construction projects and I've heard every conceivable excuse or story about why something is the way it is. That being said, I think I can call BS when I see it. If I had the slightest doubt it was quashed when I was told that the 4th prong of the wall connection was to communicate to the car. Now, I get to go back to the dealership and try to get my $150.00 back. BTW I just read the service invoice, The first item listed on the service order was "CHECK THE INSTALLATION OF DRIVERS FLOOR MAT"!!!!!! Must be code for something shady.

 

[BarryMW]

Before you run back to the dealer....
The device outside the car is called the EVSE.
The actual charger is inside the car.
The EVSE informs the car of the amount of power the EVSE is prepared to provide.
The charger in the car takes this information and ensures that power consumption during the charge does not exceed the capability of the EVSE.

So yes... the EVSE does communicate and send info the the vehicle.

Barry

 

[srcla10]

Thanks Barry. This was in the service order response regarding the correction:

"Ran GFF, found DTC stored for external charger faulty. Test system with our level 2 charger and scan tool working as designed. Need customer to use a different charging station or level 1 that came with the car or leave level 1 to charge overnight."

Being that I couldn't get a straight answer either yesterday or today from them I wonder if you (anyone) has an idea of what this means?

I use both level 2, at home, and quick charge stations when I'm out-and-about.

 

[f1geek]

The only external charger for an e-Golf is a DC Fast charger. According to the verbage in the first sentence from the dealer, there are no issues with an L2 EVSE.

If you haven't seen any issues with DC Fast charging, then your range loss may be just due to cooler weather or a heavier right foot.

 

[miimura]

BTW I just read the service invoice, The first item listed on the service order was "CHECK THE INSTALLATION OF DRIVERS FLOOR MAT"!!!!!! Must be code for something shady.

It's code for "we don't want to get sued for unintended acceleration, so every time a car comes through here, we make sure the driver's floor mat is properly secured so that it can't interfere with the pedals". Toyota dealers also religiously check this because Toyota has been sued over this.

 

[JoulesThief]

Solution, remove your floor mats and put them in back when you take your car in for service. Reinstall them at home.

 

[GlennD]

The 1KHZ pilot varies the duty cycle. At 30A it is symmetrical. OTHER CURRENTS VARY. Nick Sayer makes a device to read the current. If you are near Disneyland in Anaheim I could loan you mine.

Basically if it says at least 30A the dealer is BSing you. I do have a load tester that can check the unit. It uses garage heaters for loads.