Three Separate Siemens VersiChargers Have Failed

[eGolfeGirl]

Has anyone experienced a fail like this with a Siemens VersiCharger? I've been sent three of them since May (all issues aside, their customer service is spectacular BTW) and the first two took a couple of months to fail like this, the third failed out of the box.

Does this type of fail look familiar to anyone?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs4GjnS7a2o&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop

 

[forbin404]

Has anyone experienced a fail like this with a Siemens VersiCharger? I've been sent three of them since May (all issues aside, their customer service is spectacular BTW) and the first two took a couple of months to fail like this, the third failed out of the box.

Does this type of fail look familiar to anyone?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs4GjnS7a2o&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop

Yikes, is there maybe some major power spikes at your house? That's awful.

 

[JoulesThief]

who installed the NEMA 14-50 outlet? What gauge wire? how long is the wire run? Size of circuit breaker? Did anyone do load calculations before installing the outlet? What else is drawing current while trying to recharge? Is this a dedicated circuit line?

 

[Stretch2727]

Have you tried charging at a public charger or someone using someone else's charger. Even the 120 volt charger to test the connection on the car. It could be the proximity pin on your car that is making intermittent contact. Basically this pin tells the charger it is connected to the charger. Since I doubt you have 3 bad chargers, it could be this pin on your car. Just a guess if you provide more information such as time to failure, any pattern you notice it would be helpful to trouble shoot. Also, the readout on the car is 79 miles not 79 percent. You could be close to a full charge but the behavior of the charger is still strange as it would shut off completely if the car told the charger it was full.

 

[eGolfeGirl]

The on board charger works fine with the included 110 and any other Level 2 chargers I've tried on the road. It's not the car. The line is brand new and was installed by a licensed electrician. I upgraded the entire service panel on my house for this and it's on an all new line not the garage with what I believe to be adequate amperage. I'm not an electrician or even remotely familiar with it but it's a brand new plug and line. What's interesting is that the first two worked perfectly well out of the box but then started having that problem after a couple of months. This one faulted immediately.

Thanks for the correction on my husband's description. I'll tell him immediately that he was wrong to say 79%.

 

[Stretch2727]

Ok. I would have the electrician out to look at the house wiring. It could be a loose connection somewhere even though it is new. If it is a loose connection it could be becoming more intermittent over time due to the thermal cycling as you charge. (yes the wire gets warm.) The change from hot to cool can loosen connections if it was not tighten correctly. The charger will shut down if there is a large voltage drop due to a loose connection in the house wiring. The electrician will double check the connections in the wall socket and back at you main circuit breaker.

Also, did Siemens verify that there was something wrong with the chargers that were exchanged?

 

[eGolfeGirl]

Thank you for the feedback. I'll get the electrician back in. Siemens did not tell me if they found fault with the first two chargers in engineering but they did tell me that the two charger fails were "mathematically impossible." So there's that.

PS They have been absolutely lovely from the get go.

 

[JoulesThief]

leave your car at the same state of charge, and try to plug someone else's different brand in your outlet and try to charge then. 78 miles might be a full charge the way you drive. What does the fuel gauge needle say, how close is it to topped off?

 

[eGolfeGirl]

Other brands work fine. Both my 110 and Chargepoint and other Level 2 chargers I've used on the road. When my car charges full it goes over 100 so it's not that. It's a fault with either the charger (three separate fails highly unlikely) or my electrical. I'm leaning towards my electrical and getting the line checked thanks to earlier advice.

 

[JoulesThief]

Other brands work fine. Both my 110 and Chargepoint and other Level 2 chargers I've used on the road. When my car charges full it goes over 100 so it's not that. It's a fault with either the charger (three separate fails highly unlikely) or my electrical. I'm leaning towards my electrical and getting the line checked thanks to earlier advice.

If you know someone else with a 14-50 NEMA plug on their EVSE, have them bring their unit over to your house and plug their 240V-30 Amp EVSE into your plug, and try charging your e-Golf again, from your home. If their charger works, it's your unit. If it acts up again, it could be the onboard charger on your VW, or the dedicated circuit and female plug that you are charging from, ie, the electricians work, or materials could be faulty.

Did you hire a licensed electrician to do the outlet and circuit? Did you pull a construction permit? Was the work inspected and signed off?
Was enough wire stripped and wrapped around the screws where the wire attaches to the NEMA 14-50 female receptacle outlet? Were the screws properly and sufficiently tightened?s li

I am a General Contractor, remodels and additions, it's critical to have electrical work done and installed properly, have load calculations prepared first, and not have shoddy materials or workmanship on items like this, they draw 240 Volts and a lot of current, 30 amps worth, continuously. Anything not up to code or standards can cause electrical fires.

 

[Stretch2727]

Thank you for the feedback. I'll get the electrician back in. Siemens did not tell me if they found fault with the first two chargers in engineering but they did tell me that the two charger fails were "mathematically impossible." So there's that.

PS They have been absolutely lovely from the get go.

I'm an electrical engineer involved with manufacturing electronics and I tend to agree with their assessment. Very unlikely for 2 and now 3 failures. My guess is the plug itself or the wiring to the plug. Having done some of my own electrical work in my house and it has happened to me.

 

[eGolfeGirl]

Joules that's a great idea. I'll see if someone can bring over a charger. Yes it was a licensed electrician and it was inspected and permitted but stuff happens, right?

 

[JoulesThief]

Joules that's a great idea. I'll see if someone can bring over a charger. Yes it was a licensed electrician and it was inspected and permitted but stuff happens, right?

Yes.... stuff happens, even to the best of laid plans. Hope you find a quick answer and get things resolved to your satisfaction.... PM me, I have a couple of EVSE's as spares, pretty sure you are somewhere in the Valley, something about Galpin.

 

[nsayer]

The most likely cause for the fault I can think of is excessive ground impedance. Have your electrician check to make sure the connection of the ground wire on both ends is good and that your building's incoming neutral and ground connection is good.

 

[eGolfeGirl]

Will do. Thanks electrical smarties!

 

[EVchemist]

Do you know the rating on the breaker the EVSE is plugged into? I have the same model and installed on a 40 amp circuit with no issues for 3 months now. My only complaint is it does have a loud annoying clunk when it tells the car what kind of power it can supply.

 

[eGolfeGirl]

I had a brand new breaker and all new lines installed for this charger when I upgraded my home to 200 amps. All work was specifically done to support the Versicharger.

Interesting update. Since I haven't had time to have an electrician in to test out the thing I just unplugged it and have been using the 120 to charge the car overnight. It's fine as long as I remember and I only put 20 miles on the car every day so it's fine. However, yesterday a friend with a Tesla was driving through and she needed a charge. I told her I have a Versicharger that doesn't work on my egolf but we still gave it a try. THE THING CHARGED HER TESLA PERFECTLY. Once she was done I immediately plugged it into my golf and once again it didn't charge. Light was green in the port, just one thunk but on the dash it was clear it wasn't charging the battery.

So it's a problem with my car, not the charger just as the folks at Siemens had suggested.

BTW, the Siemens people could not have been better to deal with. They sent me three different Versichargers at their own cost trying to figure this out. It sure seems as if it's my car and not the charger. Now I need to plug in another egolf to see if it works on that. I barely see any in the San Fernando Valley where I live.

Yes, I kinda hate this car.
:?

 

[JoulesThief]

I had a brand new breaker and all new lines installed for this charger when I upgraded my home to 200 amps. All work was specifically done to support the Versicharger.

Interesting update. Since I haven't had time to have an electrician in to test out the thing I just unplugged it and have been using the 120 to charge the car overnight. It's fine as long as I remember and I only put 20 miles on the car every day so it's fine. However, yesterday a friend with a Tesla was driving through and she needed a charge. I told her I have a Versicharger that doesn't work on my egolf but we still gave it a try. THE THING CHARGED HER TESLA PERFECTLY. Once she was done I immediately plugged it into my golf and once again it didn't charge. Light was green in the port, just one thunk but on the dash it was clear it wasn't charging the battery.

So it's a problem with my car, not the charger just as the folks at Siemens had suggested.

BTW, the Siemens people could not have been better to deal with. They sent me three different Versichargers at their own cost trying to figure this out. It sure seems as if it's my car and not the charger. Now I need to plug in another egolf to see if it works on that. I barely see any in the San Fernando Valley where I live.

Yes, I kinda hate this car.
:?

I have an easy solution to this, if you have a NEMA 14-50 plug at your charging area, and your Siemens is not hard wire installed. Try another brand of EVSE box. I have two you can try, a JuiceBox 40 and a Clipper Creek 40-P, both are plug in models. PM me if you'd like to try this.

I also have an e-golf, located in north end of SFV and I am retired. Again PM me, if you'd like to try.

Or you can drive your e-Golf to my location and plug in to my level 2 charger in my garage and see what happens, whether it's your car, your house, your Siemens, etc. Lots of testing to be performed.

 

[eGolfeGirl]

Thanks Joules. I know my car can charge on other Level 2 chargers around town so that's not the problem. It's either my car and the Versicharger or something wonky happening at my house but only with my car not my friend's Tesla.

It's just like an episode of Columbo only instead of Jack Cassidy murdering someone, my car won't charge.

 

[JoulesThief]

Thanks Joules. I know my car can charge on other Level 2 chargers around town so that's not the problem. It's either my car and the Versicharger or something wonky happening at my house but only with my car not my friend's Tesla.

It's just like an episode of Columbo only instead of Jack Cassidy murdering someone, my car won't charge.

Let me know if you would like to try recharging my 2015 e-Golf with your charger at your home, and see if it works or not. If it works on my e-Golf, then indeed it is your car. If it does not work on my car, then it's in the electrical in your home, or your firmware flash for your onboard charger.