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The charger supplied with my '19 e-tron always ran a little hot, around 150 F. The plug on the Chargepoint Flex runs around 100F in the same outlet. It's possible that the Audi plug is defective, over heating and melting both the plug and outlet. You will have to get a new plug for the Audi charger [and outlet] see if that doesn't clear up the problem. The outlet install looks fine generally speaking.
Additional Datapoint on this end-- my Etron charger charing unit starting throwing an error below.. took it to the dealer who swapped out the part of the cable that plugs into the charging unit.
That didn't seem to solve the problem, so I had an electrician come out who showed that the outlet had been fried at some point, due to the car drawing too much current for the cicruit.
I spoke with the original electrician who did the install, and he insists he installed everything to spec (240V 50A), and actually used 6-gauge wiring instead of 8-gauge. At this point i'm at a loss to where the issue is.. wondering if anyone has had a similar issue and a resolution.
Additional Datapoint on this end-- my Etron charger charing unit starting throwing an error below.. took it to the dealer who swapped out the part of the cable that plugs into the charging unit.
That didn't seem to solve the problem, so I had an electrician come out who showed that the outlet had been fried at some point, due to the car drawing too much current for the cicruit.
I spoke with the original electrician who did the install, and he insists he installed everything to spec (240V 50A), and actually used 6-gauge wiring instead of 8-gauge. At this point i'm at a loss to where the issue is.. wondering if anyone has had a similar issue and a resolution.
Remember that the car only does what the EVSE says to. If the EVSE says "you can draw 80 amps", then the car will draw up to 80 amps and fry the plug.
Therefore, there are only two reasons that an over-current condition might occur.
1) the EVSE is faulty and told the car to draw more current than allowed.
2) the vehicle is faulty and ignored the signal from the EVSE and drew too much current
Given the proliferation of software glitches in Audi's products, I wouldn't put it past them to have either of these problems. But I'd say the EVSE being faulty is more likely.
If Audi insists that the EVSE is fine, you might try squirting some contact cleaner into the pilot pin port on the J1772 plug on the EVSE, and the receptacle on the vehicle. Perhaps the pilot pin signal is marginal and so the vehicle is getting a bad reading and thinking it can ramp up the current?
Thanks for your input skaven81! My (totally uninformed) gut feeling is that it is the EVSE as well. The 2nd electrician that came out did mention that the outlet and wiring was installed properly. I also took the car and EVSE to a friends house who has Level 2 charging as well, and whenever we plugged it in, the breaker would trip after a few minutes..
My plan of action is to get my original electrician to provide a detailed breakdown of the install so I can provide that to the dealer, and see what they do from there. Are you aware of any troubleshooting / testing the dealer should be doing to test the EVSE is functioning properly?
Remember that the car only does what the EVSE says to. If the EVSE says "you can draw 80 amps", then the car will draw up to 80 amps and fry the plug.
Therefore, there are only two reasons that an over-current condition might occur.
1) the EVSE is faulty and told the car to draw more current than allowed.
2) the vehicle is faulty and ignored the signal from the EVSE and drew too much current
Given the proliferation of software glitches in Audi's products, I wouldn't put it past them to have either of these problems. But I'd say the EVSE being faulty is more likely.
If Audi insists that the EVSE is fine, you might try squirting some contact cleaner into the pilot pin port on the J1772 plug on the EVSE, and the receptacle on the vehicle. Perhaps the pilot pin signal is marginal and so the vehicle is getting a bad reading and thinking it can ramp up the current?
But, shouldn't the circuit breaker say "NO, YOU CANNOT PULL 80 AMPS!"?
My High Voltage Battery Charger Module (https://parts.audiusa.com/p/Audi_201...QE915684J.html) was replaced under warranty for this exact reason- lucky that I only got tiny bit of charring/softening of the outlet end.
Replacement cord (https://www.oemvehicleparts.com/oem-...bl-7pp971678ed) was much shorter than the original- trying to get the same length- however, eTron is still in service pending ACC/Driver's Assistance errors.
But, shouldn't the circuit breaker say "NO, YOU CANNOT PULL 80 AMPS!"?
Absolutely, so I can't explain that part. From the photos, it does look like the 14-50 receptacle was installed correctly with 6 gauge wire. Any overheating would have to be from either pulling too much power (in which case the breaker should have tripped) or because of excess resistance. Maybe there was some corrosion built up around the screw securing the black hot cable? Anything that adds resistance between the sink and source of power is going to cause a hot spot. But with a pair of electricians both looking at the setup and agreeing that it wasn't an installation issue...
Are you aware of any troubleshooting / testing the dealer should be doing to test the EVSE is functioning properly?
The J1772 standard is pretty straightforward in this regard -- the EVSE is supposed to output a 1kHz square wave on the pilot pin, using pulse width modulation to indicate to the charger in the vehicle how much current it may draw. A simple oscilloscope probing the pilot pin while charging is active would be sufficient to determine the waveform the EVSE is generating and verifying that it is within spec.
That said, I highly doubt that the Audi techs are equipped to do something like this. It would be far faster/easier/cheaper for them to just replace the EVSE.
As someone who is considering an Audi BEV when my currently lease expires, this scares the crap out of me. Maybe an EV is not for me.
Although I can understand why you might feel that way, you have to understand you’re reading the experiences of a small minority (not trying to trivialize the issues these folks have and are facing). I have had my e-Tron for two years without any issues w/r/t charging. I have several friends in the same camp. I wouldn’t let the fear of charging change your mind.
08-24-2021, 05:10 AM
