Schneider EV2430WS (1st gen) troubleshooting

[redLEAF]

Have an issue perhaps a bit unique but may not be as it may relate to 3.6 to 7.2 kW charging rates --

My Schneider EV2430WS (1st gen) EVSE has provided troublefree charging for my '12 LEAF SL for 5 years (the first gen LEAF has a 3.6 kW charge rate) but now since 'upgrading' to a '15 VW e-Golf (has the 7.2 kW onboard charger), the car charges fine but when I get up the next day, the charger is showing a red 'fault' light --- car charges fully, 40A breaker is NOT tripped, but EVSE is of course is 'off'.

The charger will restart after I reset the breaker but concerned the EVSE may eventually not work at all -- sent a request off to Schneider but won't hear back until they have office hours -- any suggestions perhaps people have seen this when the upgraded their LEAF's (from 1st gen to later ones with 7.2 kW rates) ... the EVSE is rated to handle 7.2 kW and again the car DOES get a full charge.

[jjeff]

New Leafs don't have a 7.2kw charger but rather 6.6kw so using your EVSE on a 6.6kw Leaf will still leave a little bit or breathing room for your EVSE. Running a 7.2kw EVSE at 7.2kw is max and may be overheating your EVSE?? I generally like to slightly derate things if possible, hopefully someone with a 6.6kw Leaf and your EVSE will respond how well it works. Any possibility of dialing down your EVSE? Many have jumpers or trim-pots to lower the maximum output, maybe dialing it down might give it a bit of breathing room??

[GlennD]

If you are technically inclined in the worst case the current OpenEVSE ver 4 is tiny and it is pretty universal. It will drive 240VAC or 12VDC relays. You may need a GFCI coil in addition but everything is just over $100. I put one in a damaged Aeroenvirement unit with no problems.

[redLEAF]

Thanks for the replies so far, I guess I just assumed that it was 7.2 kW but I see also on the CARWINGS app that it's 6.6 kW on newer LEAF's --- I don't think that the EVSE is overtaxed as it always fully completes charging the battery; why rate the charger for 7.2 if it can't handle it, but again this EVSE is 5 years old now?

I've been busy with work so haven't been able to fiddle with it much but had a chance late yesterday and so far the problem seems to be once charging has completed, I was able to see the charger complete a few charging 'segments' on its display over a few hours (anyone who has one of these will know what I'm talking about --- bright green arc of a circle appears to show how long the car has been charging), but once the car completed charging and basically stops the charger, I think that's where it 'faults' -- so, I'm going to try a timed charge (or like if we were at a public L2 station during a shopping trip) and try and disconnect before its fully charged and see if it faults; I'd actually like to 'partially' charge the battery 80% anyway to extend its service life (I know, probably negligible) as well as be able to use regen right away but don't think VW has that option built-in automatically like the earlier LEAF's; still waiting on my VW Car-net mobile app to be activated to see if I can though.

At L2 it charges 24 miles/hour so will try a 2-hour segment and see what happens --- I should mention that whatever VW uses is extremely quiet, much less on-board noise from the car while charging than the '12 LEAF made and it charges much faster, go figure.

This EV is my stop-gap until we start seeing the Tesla Model 3 -- other than this minor glitch love the car, will add more specific comments on the VW e-Golf thread

[SageBrush]

This Schneider document
http://download.schneider-electric.com/ ... e=EV2430WS

says 30A maximum input and 30A maximum output. I don't think that can be right at steady state

[GerryAZ]

This Schneider document
http://download.schneider-electric.com/ ... e=EV2430WS

says 30A maximum input and 30A maximum output. I don't think that can be right at steady state

SageBrush,
Careful reading of the document indicates it requires a 40-ampere supply breaker (so supply circuit must be rated for 40 amperes). The actual continuous input and output current is a maximum of 30 amperes.

RedLEAF,
Have you tried charging to full charge with other L2 EVSEs to see if any others have errors when the car stops charging? I will be looking for your reports about the e-Golf

Cheers,
Gerry

[redLEAF]

This Schneider document
http://download.schneider-electric.com/ ... e=EV2430WS

says 30A maximum input and 30A maximum output. I don't think that can be right at steady state

SageBrush,
Careful reading of the document indicates it requires a 40-ampere supply breaker (so supply circuit must be rated for 40 amperes). The actual continuous input and output current is a maximum of 30 amperes.

RedLEAF,
Have you tried charging to full charge with other L2 EVSEs to see if any others have errors when the car stops charging? I will be looking for your reports about the e-Golf

Cheers,
Gerry

Will try that tomorrow at work if they have a charger open -- its on a 40A breaker and like I said, breaker never trips, its just the EVSE that shows a 'fault' -- I did try a public charger today (Chargepoint) for around 45 minutes and no issues; I did notice that unlocking the car (the '15's 'lock' the cable to the car regardless if the car is locked or not -- can't be unplugged by anyone other than the person with the key fob) turned off charging at the public station. I did plug it in at home and my 'nozzle' is a tight fit, pushed it in until I heard a click and it started charging; we'll see if it faults again tonight at home and report back if I can charge at a public station as well

EDIT: just tried to stop charging just before it was 'full' and it worked fine; perhaps a bit slower to respond but unlocked the car, indicator turned the charge light on the charger port on the car off and was able to disconnect the cable, EVSE was still flashing but eventually just turned off w/o faulting (this time anyway)

[redLEAF]

Fully charged successfully at a free L2 public station late last night; no issues at all -- that's good because yesterday was my last day to return it for full refund. I think now that the problem is localized with my 'nozzle' fit -- still no response from Schneider but at least its not the car itself. If I get a response from Schneider I'll post it here otherwise this is probably the last post for this thread.

Thanks of the replies ---

[iluvmacs]

The Gen 2/2.5 EVLink improved on car compatibility issues. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the cause, especially since the eGolf didn't exist when Gen 1 came out. Hopefully someone at Schneider can help you out, I had extremely good service from them a few years ago with a very odd problem on my Gen 1 (which got replaced with a 2.5). I did once see my Gen 1 give a fault light when it charged a friend's Focus Electric, but it was actually after charge completion, so it actually charged fine...

[redLEAF]

The Gen 2/2.5 EVLink improved on car compatibility issues. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the cause, especially since the eGolf didn't exist when Gen 1 came out. Hopefully someone at Schneider can help you out, I had extremely good service from them a few years ago with a very odd problem on my Gen 1 (which got replaced with a 2.5). I did once see my Gen 1 give a fault light when it charged a friend's Focus Electric, but it was actually after charge completion, so it actually charged fine...

As I mentioned earlier; I did reach out to Schneider and they came back late yesterday with this suggestion which I do plan to take them up on:

The EV2430WS units used a 5ma CCID, this works well for the early model Leaf, but not so well at a 30a charge rate and newer battery packs.
We have since upgraded the circuit board for these to a 20ma version and it is a drop in replacement.
If you are ok with the notion, I'll be glad to send you a replacement circuit board to swap out!

Once I get this replacement part and swap it out we'll see if any other 'fault' issues arise -- the car now does seem to initially charge OK, its seems I only get a fault error if I let the car 'try' to signal to the EVSE unit to shut off once its 'full' --- if I unlock the charge port on the car (which shuts off charging) first before its full that seems enough to NOT have the EVSE stop with a red 'fault' code; again, it never trips the breaker -- perhaps the threshold for faults is set too low as their tech seems to think with a lower amp rating; now that my current EV can charge at their max it will need this higher limit