snap off the end of the charge connector

[jdr]

Someone other than myself (and who shall remain anonymous) was successful in causing the car to move while the charge connection was in place.

The clip that secures the connector in place (and is lifted when the button on the handle pressed) was snapped off, and the tip that aligns the contacts and goes into the vehicle connector also broke off. The now-exposed contacts were left hanging from the handle.

No damage was done to the vehicle, but someone was very sheepish about the occurrence.

My initial concern was "how was the vehicle able to move while charging?".

It turns out that with the handle in place one cannot engage the traction motor, but it is possible to get into neutral. With the slight decline on my driveway this was enough to permit the car to roll and do the damage. The charger unit suffered no damage.

My recommendation is that you don't find a way to move the car while it's plugged in.

I found a replacement cable and handle assembly (they range from ~$130 to $400, depending on source and brand) and despite Barry's warning this will void the warranty, will be opening up the LCS-25 to attach the replacement. Handles without cable can be had for about $60 if you buy 500 of them from China.

Barry was very good about following up with Clipper Creek to find out how they'd handle this and found that they'd prefer one sent the unit back to them for repair (est. $200). As I'm an unrepentant warranty voider, have no problem with the DIY approach.

[Myles Twete]

If you haven’t plunked down $200 or more yet, just by a replacement J1772 connector for around $100.  You shouldn’t need to open the clipper creek unit or replace the cable if you didn’t damage them.  I replaced the old 1990’s paddle connector on my AVCON and now use a modern J1772 style connector.

 

Here’s the one I use: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Electric-Vehicle-Plug-J1772-Compliant-Rated-70A-/261119425812?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_100&hash=item3ccbee3d14&vxp=mtr

 

There’s a good webpage that goes thru step-by-step instructions how to attach one of these:

http://www.tzev.com/j1772_avcon_head_connector_conversion.html

 

It works fine---though be sure not to accidentally crimp any wires between the proximity microswitch and the housing…I did that and the switch was stuck in one state, which with the earlier PCU software resulted in my charger not starting the charge…took me awhile to discover this since I suspected everything but the insides of the connector…

You’ll need one of those triangular tip tools to install the screws…

 

-Myles

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[jdr]

Yeah, I did consider replacing only the handle but was concerned about having an appropriate crimping tool for the connectors and, while it could be done with pliers, decided against it.

The additional cost for the handle, attached to a 25' cable wasn't very much so went that way. And I would have needed to find bits for the security torx screws, while already having the philips to open the charger case.

Barry indicated the cables are soldered to a circuit board inside the case, so that shouldn't be a problem.

[Steve Bartell]

Well, my wife can in the other day, happy to find out the her car
would NOT let her move with the charger cord plugged in. I had put in
a new charging outlet in front of the car, the other one was at the
side by her door and it bothered her getting stuff in & out of her
car, so I moved it. So, I don't understand why your car allowed you
to moved while plugged in?! Maybe it wasn't plugged in all the way?!
Well, you hear about pulling out of the gas stations with the gas hose
still in the car so, these things are going to happen. I'm am glad
there is a safe guard in place (for most cars, I guess). We have
dropped our plugin a number of times so, there is a good potential to
eventually brake it. I think it's great to know we can send it back
to the manufacture (at least with Clipper Creek) for repair if we do
brake it. Thanks everyone for their comments, help and general
involvement in a growing a positive solution to get us away from our
addition to petroleum. Steve

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[Myles Twete]

Question that is begged: Given that many, most or all of our cars' PCU SW
now address "charging issues" and that there's evidence that this is done by
ignoring the Proximity line during charging, could the PCU be unaware that
the car is still plugged in if the operator has stopped the charging at the
source?

If the EVSE is stopped, there is no 220vAC at the contacts and possibly no
12vDC provided to the Pilot line either. At that point, the only way the
car can detect if the plug is still attached is by detecting the state of
the Proximity line. If these updated SW builds ignore the Proximity state
after charge is complete, that's a recipe for ripped cables. Has anyone
tested this?

1) Start charging
2) At some point later, shut off the EVSE power (press STOP button or
unplug, whatever)
3) Attempt to start the car

I know that before I got my PCU SW upgraded to fix the "charging issues", my
car would not start in this scenario. With my car having the SW upgrades on
Oct 26th for the heater fix and "charging issues", I just tested the
scenario above. After shutting down the EVSE, going out to the car, turning
the ignition key to start results in no instrument lights except the red
battery light and the "Power Limit" light flashing. The car wouldn't start.
I didn't check to see if it'd go into neutral. The car was able to start
fine after removing the plug from the car.

In case this helps...Myles

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[mike overton]

One issue with replacing the J1772 and cable is that you may impact the NEMA water resistance rating of the charger.  It may be hard to get one with the molded strain relief that seals the case.  If you have it mounted indoors you may not care but for a portable or outside install this can be important.

 

If I were to degrade the NEMA rating with other changes, I would replace the input cable as well - on my 110v unit the cable gets about 10 deg C warmer than the ambient - I opened mine up and the wire gauge is pretty small.  So I would upgrade the input with larger wire.  It is probably only a few watts but it bothers me that the wire is warm.  To meet NEC 625 you can only have 1 foot length on the input cable if wired to plug in to an outlet.

 

Mike

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