Charging fault

[origjedimaster]

So in the app I noticed that my Taycan was reporting a charging error - I can’t really remember what the error was but I had never seen it before but I assumed it was something new with the app.

I’ve noticed in the past that my car sometimes doesn’t connect fully to the PMCC - and if I disconnect the car and reconnect it, it seems fine. I thought it had something to do with sleep mode.

well, it turns out that it popped the circuit breaker. I flipped it back and now the car is only drawing .6A out of 40A.

Has anyone seen this happen before? I’m trying to determine if it’s the charger that’s the problem or the car. I tried putting the 120v plug on to see if I could at least draw something more than .6 to eliminate the circuit being the problem. It connects but draws zero amps.

I’m hoping to get some charge so I can bring it to another charger to see if that works.

any thoughts would be great.

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[_Brian_]

So in the app I noticed that my Taycan was reporting a charging error - I can’t really remember what the error was but I had never seen it before but I assumed it was something new with the app.

I’ve noticed in the past that my car sometimes doesn’t connect fully to the PMCC - and if I disconnect the car and reconnect it, it seems fine. I thought it had something to do with sleep mode.

well, it turns out that it popped the circuit breaker. I flipped it back and now the car is only drawing .6A out of 40A.

Has anyone seen this happen before? I’m trying to determine if it’s the charger that’s the problem or the car. I tried putting the 120v plug on to see if I could at least draw something more than .6 to eliminate the circuit being the problem. It connects but draws zero amps.

I’m hoping to get some charge so I can bring it to another charger to see if that works.

any thoughts would be great.

Check for 240 volts with a VOM meter. Possible you may have only one leg of the 240 volt circuit active (i.e., 120v). The 240 volt breakers are a double breaker, one for each 120 volt leg.

Good luck

 

[W1NGE]

So in the app I noticed that my Taycan was reporting a charging error - I can’t really remember what the error was but I had never seen it before but I assumed it was something new with the app.

I’ve noticed in the past that my car sometimes doesn’t connect fully to the PMCC - and if I disconnect the car and reconnect it, it seems fine. I thought it had something to do with sleep mode.

well, it turns out that it popped the circuit breaker. I flipped it back and now the car is only drawing .6A out of 40A.

Has anyone seen this happen before? I’m trying to determine if it’s the charger that’s the problem or the car. I tried putting the 120v plug on to see if I could at least draw something more than .6 to eliminate the circuit being the problem. It connects but draws zero amps.

I’m hoping to get some charge so I can bring it to another charger to see if that works.

any thoughts would be great.

A couple of things
- PMCC is not a charger (charger is physically in the car) - supplies electrical current safely to the car and is your EVSE
- the App can sometimes report false positives eg red charging error
- use the web interface on the PMCC and set the amps to the max value and check earthing
- do you get a ref light on the car charging port, if so this could indicate an issue with the onboard AC charger?
- check your overall electrical setup for your EVSE

 

[whitex]

So in the app I noticed that my Taycan was reporting a charging error - I can’t really remember what the error was but I had never seen it before but I assumed it was something new with the app.

I’ve noticed in the past that my car sometimes doesn’t connect fully to the PMCC - and if I disconnect the car and reconnect it, it seems fine. I thought it had something to do with sleep mode.

well, it turns out that it popped the circuit breaker. I flipped it back and now the car is only drawing .6A out of 40A.

Has anyone seen this happen before? I’m trying to determine if it’s the charger that’s the problem or the car. I tried putting the 120v plug on to see if I could at least draw something more than .6 to eliminate the circuit being the problem. It connects but draws zero amps.

I’m hoping to get some charge so I can bring it to another charger to see if that works.

any thoughts would be great.

I would try a different charger first, try to narrow down the issue to the PMCC or the car. If the car charges fine from a different charger, good news, it's the PMCC or its wiring. For PMCC to pop the breaker, something went wrong. Some questions which might help folks here diagnose:

1. Was the breaker which popped dedicated to PMCC, or shared with other device (or pehaps the main home service breaker)?
2. What was the breaker Amp rating?
3. Is your PMCC hardwired or using a NEMA 14-50?
4. What is the capacity of your cars charger (do you have the 22KW option)?
5. How fast (A) has this PMCC charged your car before?

 

[origjedimaster]

I would try a different charger first, try to narrow down the issue to the PMCC or the car. If the car charges fine from a different charger, good news, it's the PMCC or its wiring. For PMCC to pop the breaker, something went wrong. Some questions which might help folks here diagnose:

1. Was the breaker which popped dedicated to PMCC, or shared with other device (or pehaps the main home service breaker)?
2. What was the breaker Amp rating?
3. Is your PMCC hardwired or using a NEMA 14-50?
4. What is the capacity of your cars charger (do you have the 22KW option)?
5. How fast (A) has this PMCC charged your car before?

I would try a different charger first, try to narrow down the issue to the PMCC or the car. If the car charges fine from a different charger, good news, it's the PMCC or its wiring. For PMCC to pop the breaker, something went wrong. Some questions which might help folks here diagnose:

1. Was the breaker which popped dedicated to PMCC, or shared with other device (or pehaps the main home service breaker)?
2. What was the breaker Amp rating?
3. Is your PMCC hardwired or using a NEMA 14-50?
4. What is the capacity of your cars charger (do you have the 22KW option)?
5. How fast (A) has this PMCC charged your car before?

Thanks for your replies...

I'm leaning toward it being the PMCC - I'm going to be able to confirm today when I can get to an AC based chargepoint (DC based charging worked fine.)

The breaker is dedicated to the PMCC and is a 50amp circuit. The PMCC uses a NEMA 14-50 plug. Both legs are confirmed to be working.

I have the standard charger in the car. The PMCC passes the full 40A on a regular basis (I've had the car since June.) Sometimes it drops into the 30s but almost always at the full 40A.

 

[whitex]

Thanks for your replies...

I'm leaning toward it being the PMCC - I'm going to be able to confirm today when I can get to an AC based chargepoint (DC based charging worked fine.)

The breaker is dedicated to the PMCC and is a 50amp circuit. The PMCC uses a NEMA 14-50 plug. Both legs are confirmed to be working.

I have the standard charger in the car. The PMCC passes the full 40A on a regular basis (I've had the car since June.) Sometimes it drops into the 30s but almost always at the full 40A.

The one concerning thing to me would be why did the 50A breaker trip? If the car has a standard charger, that means it can at most draw 48A, if the PMCC had a malfunction and incorrectly identified to the car as a 48A+ supply. PMCC itself cannot draw more than 50A unless something is shorting out in there. I would definitely try a different charger in a different location (public AC charger perhaps), as well as different charger in the same location (plugged into the very same NEMA 14-50). That might help narrowing down whether it's the car, the EVSE (PMCC), or the house wiring/breaker.

 

[origjedimaster]

The one concerning thing to me would be why did the 50A breaker trip? If the car has a standard charger, that means it can at most draw 48A, if the PMCC had a malfunction and incorrectly identified to the car as a 48A+ supply. PMCC itself cannot draw more than 50A unless something is shorting out in there. I would definitely try a different charger in a different location (public AC charger perhaps), as well as different charger in the same location (plugged into the very same NEMA 14-50). That might help narrowing down whether it's the car, the EVSE (PMCC), or the house wiring/breaker.

Now that you mention the malfunction - I think that might be it. I can't remember exactly but I feel like when I was going through the PMCC to figure out what was wrong, I could have sworn I saw it set to 48 amps -- I can't confirm that because I did do a factory reset at one point to see if the PMCC was stuck on something when it was only providing .6amps. I hadn't touched the PMCC config since it was first setup.

In any case, the car seems to be accepting charge from other stations properly. The car and the PMCC are going in for service to see what's going on.

 

[origjedimaster]

Here’s the current update - sent the car to the dealer and it comes back with them saying car and PMCC are both good, must be your circuit. So I have the electrician check everything. Circuit is fine.

What I have come to realize is that the service people really don't know that much about EV cars and it's 100% the onboard AC charger.

I get the car home, same problem - .6 amps being drawn. So I do all the following:

- check PMCC at 240v, doesn’t work (.6 amps)

- check PMCC at 120v, doesn’t work (.3 amps)

- check PMCC at 120v at different location, doesn’t work (.3 amps)

- get a new level 2 unit and check at my house, doesn’t work (.3amps). But what I do see with this charger is that the car connects, draws some power for 30-40 seconds and then loses the connection and tries reconnecting. I see it on the display of the level 2 unit. So then I sit in the car and watch the center panel. Car connects, charging display turns green. Then it turns gray, then back to green. Process repeats indefinitely.

- take car to a public charging station, left port doesn’t work. Same issues as with the new level 2 charger at home except after about 2 minutes, the car goes to a charging error state. The level 2 unit must tell the car to stop trying to charge and cuts it off.

- use another station on the right one, doesn’t work. Same issue as the left port.

- take it to a 3rd station, doesn’t work. This station is a bit dumb so it behaves the same way as the new level 2 unit I tried at home.

- take car to a DCFC at 50 Kw -- car accepts charge at 35-40 Kw (expected as it's cold here.)

I've escalated to the service manager and he tells me "have my EV expert look at it." Awesome -- how about you did that when I brought it in. The car came back to me charged. There is no possible way they used my PMCC to charge the car.

 

[McgR]

Here’s the current update - sent the car to the dealer and it comes back with them saying car and PMCC are both good, must be your circuit. So I have the electrician check everything. Circuit is fine.

What I have come to realize is that the service people really don't know that much about EV cars and it's 100% the onboard AC charger.

I get the car home, same problem - .6 amps being drawn. So I do all the following:

- check PMCC at 240v, doesn’t work (.6 amps)

- check PMCC at 120v, doesn’t work (.3 amps)

- check PMCC at 120v at different location, doesn’t work (.3 amps)

- get a new level 2 unit and check at my house, doesn’t work (.3amps). But what I do see with this charger is that the car connects, draws some power for 30-40 seconds and then loses the connection and tries reconnecting. I see it on the display of the level 2 unit. So then I sit in the car and watch the center panel. Car connects, charging display turns green. Then it turns gray, then back to green. Process repeats indefinitely.

- take car to a public charging station, left port doesn’t work. Same issues as with the new level 2 charger at home except after about 2 minutes, the car goes to a charging error state. The level 2 unit must tell the car to stop trying to charge and cuts it off.

- use another station on the right one, doesn’t work. Same issue as the left port.

- take it to a 3rd station, doesn’t work. This station is a bit dumb so it behaves the same way as the new level 2 unit I tried at home.

- take car to a DCFC at 50 Kw -- car accepts charge at 35-40 Kw (expected as it's cold here.)

I've escalated to the service manager and he tells me "have my EV expert look at it." Awesome -- how about you did that when I brought it in. The car came back to me charged. There is no possible way they used my PMCC to charge the car.

Probably your dealer tested your car with their DC charger and it worked and they tested your PMCC with another Taycan and that also worked? I would ask them to show you that the PMCC works with your car. Probably it won’t.

so for now you can only use DC to charge? I hope it will be solved soon.

 

[origjedimaster]

Probably your dealer tested your car with their DC charger and it worked and they tested your PMCC with another Taycan and that also worked? I would ask them to show you that the PMCC works with your car. Probably it won’t.

so for now you can only use DC to charge? I hope it will be solved soon.

Correct, only DC at the moment.

I agree with you. They charged the car up with DC and if they connected my PMCC to my car they only saw that It was connected, not that it was supplying proper power.

 

[W1NGE]

Here’s the current update - sent the car to the dealer and it comes back with them saying car and PMCC are both good, must be your circuit. So I have the electrician check everything. Circuit is fine.

What I have come to realize is that the service people really don't know that much about EV cars and it's 100% the onboard AC charger.

I get the car home, same problem - .6 amps being drawn. So I do all the following:

- check PMCC at 240v, doesn’t work (.6 amps)

- check PMCC at 120v, doesn’t work (.3 amps)

- check PMCC at 120v at different location, doesn’t work (.3 amps)

- get a new level 2 unit and check at my house, doesn’t work (.3amps). But what I do see with this charger is that the car connects, draws some power for 30-40 seconds and then loses the connection and tries reconnecting. I see it on the display of the level 2 unit. So then I sit in the car and watch the center panel. Car connects, charging display turns green. Then it turns gray, then back to green. Process repeats indefinitely.

- take car to a public charging station, left port doesn’t work. Same issues as with the new level 2 charger at home except after about 2 minutes, the car goes to a charging error state. The level 2 unit must tell the car to stop trying to charge and cuts it off.

- use another station on the right one, doesn’t work. Same issue as the left port.

- take it to a 3rd station, doesn’t work. This station is a bit dumb so it behaves the same way as the new level 2 unit I tried at home.

- take car to a DCFC at 50 Kw -- car accepts charge at 35-40 Kw (expected as it's cold here.)

I've escalated to the service manager and he tells me "have my EV expert look at it." Awesome -- how about you did that when I brought it in. The car came back to me charged. There is no possible way they used my PMCC to charge the car.

When at public AC charging locations have you disabled all profiles and timers OR pressed the direct charge button (to override these)? If these are active then they may interfere with the session.

 

[origjedimaster]

When at public AC charging locations have you disabled all profiles and timers OR pressed the direct charge button (to override these)? If these are active then they may interfere with the session.

Yes, disabled.

 

[W1NGE]

Yes, disabled.

Only thing I can suggest is to invite your Sales Rep to go with you to a public AC charging location and demonstrate the issue if they can't replicate at the garage.

Also have you tried the PMCC units at your dealers - these will be AC and should also replicate the issue.

Cabling - are you using the cables that came with your PMCC - PMCC to car cable and the supply cable - 40A?

Earthing was mentioned before - has the Electrician confirmed all is ok and do you see the confirmation of this in the PMCC (use the web interface to logon and check all settings) - it needs to be at 32 / 40A and the earthing monitor reporting all is well.

 

[origjedimaster]

Only thing I can suggest is to invite your Sales Rep to go with you to a public AC charging location and demonstrate the issue if they can't replicate at the garage.

Also have you tried the PMCC units at your dealers - these will be AC and should also replicate the issue.

Cabling - are you using the cables that came with your PMCC - PMCC to car cable and the supply cable - 40A?

Earthing was mentioned before - has the Electrician confirmed all is ok and do you see the confirmation of this in the PMCC (use the web interface to logon and check all settings) - it needs to be at 32 / 40A and the earthing monitor reporting all is well.

Cables are original and the web interface reports Ground Monitoring is activated (if that's what you mean by earthing)

I did not try the PMCC at the dealer -- I assumed they would. At this point, if I could get the car to charge anywhere else, I would think it was a PMCC issue, but 1 other home and 3 other commerical grade level 2 chargers fail too.

Hopefully the service manager comes back with an answer, but otherwise I was planning to go to my sales rep.

 

[Windpower]

- check PMCC at 120v, doesn’t work (.3 amps)
- check PMCC at 120v at different location, doesn’t work (.3 amps)

This should be pretty easy to demonstrate at the dealer. Every one has a 120v socket (the NEMA 14-50 socket is not so popular) so bring your PMCC in with the 120v plug. If it triggers a fault on your PMCC, then they should fix either your car or the PMCC.

I have the PMC+ which came with my Taycan. I can charge my Taycan fine at 100% but when I try to charge my Tesla at 100%, the unit issues a fault (all lights go red). I switched the Tesla to request a max of 32amps, but its still triggering a fault. I moved the PMC+ to 50% and its charging the Tesla.

So I'm going back to a Juicebox and will use the PMC+ when I road trip with the Taycan.

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