Sv: Endelig noe nytt om Model-X

[Jens_Think]

Hello,

I'm in contact with a ZEBRA Think driver whose car does not charge anymore after he discharged it to about 15% (maybe less) on an long trip.

Situation as he told me:
- no warning/fault lights on the dashboard
- both green lights on top of dashboard are on
- charger does not start
- power consumption on 230V side alternates between ca. 50W and 500W (DC/DC?)
- after some time, the red "FAULT" light on the ICCB comes on
- ICCB seems ok because he has another Think where it works
- reset button and disconnecting 12V battery did not help

Anyone had something like that before?
In what cases the FAULT light on the ICCB goes on?

I've not seen the car yet (it's about 300km away) and the owner is no electrician so it's hard get more detailed info. But I might be able to visit it in two weeks and check it myself.
Most probably the battery cooled down already .

Regards,
Jens

[Citrus]

Dear Jens,

The EVSE has 2 fault indicators
- Power fault, illuminates in case of an incorrect ground (ground resistance of the house installation to high)
- Car link fault, Pilot signal not according to specs

The Power fault is not caused by the car but the electrical installation in the house. It seems though that the "Car link fault" occurs (since the EVSE works with the other car). In that case check https://code.google.com/p/open-evse/wiki/J1772Basics for the shape (and possible faults) of the pilot signal (picture under "pilot states". With a simple oscilloscope connected to the pilot pin and the ground of the Lewden plug one can simply check the actual signal and compare it with the picture under pilot states.

I've done it a while ago to check if the Th!nk protocol was similar to the Mennekes protocol (which is the case). Check the pictures below.

Good luck, Jaap.

[jur]

Instead of some hints another tale of "me too", I'm afraid :-(

I have bought a 2008 Think City with ZEBRA Battery recently. Some Weeks ago, after a rainy night, the mains fuse was blown and charging had stopped. We tried to remove possible humidity from under the hood, to the effect, that the fuse now stays intact, but no charging. In the meantime, the 12V battery was killed off, too, and had to be replaced. After that driving was still possible, but still no charging of the ZEBRA battery.

We checked the car for some well known faults which were reported on the web (12V GND, AC Transformer...) and tried most of the stuff mentioned above without success. The ICCB  seems to operate correctly. I will have to check the detail with the pilot signal levels, though.
I had the opportunity to lend some diagnostic gear and S/W and was able to check both PCU and BMI. So far, both units responded normally on their CAN interfaces, but do not report any failures.

I have found, that charging problems in connection with dead 12V batteries have been reported more often recently. Does anyone know about a common failure mode or cause to look for, also inside of PCU or BMI?
Badly needed: technical documentation (shop repair manuals, car level schematics etc.)

about me:
I live in northern Germany, so employing Røhne & Selmer or the like is not exactly feasible, unless its _really_ necessary. As an electrical engineer with experience in EV conversion, I am interested not only in getting the car up and running, but - if possible - to understand the root cause and stop it from happening again (and tell the tale, of course). 

BTW:
I chose to write this in english for clarity, ...
men jeg taler også dansk, og svar på norsk er velkomne.         

tusind takk for hjelpen,

Jens-Uwe

[Go-carter]

Jeg tok sikringen i huset, og ødela min ladekabel under forrige regnvær. Boksen på ladekabelen er ikke vanntett!

Etter dette tok ikke bilen lading, selv om alt så "OK" ut. Har du sjekket at alle lysene lyser i ladekabelen, og at den "klikker" når du setter den i støpselet?

Jeg måtte til slutt kjøpe ny ladekabel.

[jur]

Jo, det var vi klar over, at ICCB'en er ikke vandtæt. Men den viser nu ingen fejlkoder og leverer både 230V AC og pilotsignal til bilen. I bilen lyser også "E"-symbolet. Derfor synes vi indtil videre, at boksen i ladekabelen fungerer korrekt.

Jens-Uwe

[jur]

Update:

having seen the report by cs (see http://elbilforum.no/forum/index.php/topic,16147.0.html), we also removed the Gen0 PCU from my 2008 Th!nk and found an even more severe fault on the AC line input filter board (see photos).

Arcing between the power lines did melt away part of the filter choke wires and burned holes in the PCB. Since this happened in the 2nd stage of the filter, the root cause might be within the actual charger circuit (looks intact from outside).
- Did anyone come across something similar?
- if yes, were you able to repair the defects (or have it repaired)?
or
- did anyone try to replace the internal charger by an external one?

Hilsen,
Jens-Uwe

[hma]

Hi Jens-Uwe,

I can think about a few alternatives for repair / spareparts to your gen0-PCU:

1) Contact Elbilmek  www.elbilmek.no https://www.facebook.com/pages/Elbilmek/122761811260338?fref=ts
  They are located at Fornebu near Oslo city center. They are FZ Sonic (Zebra) certified and they might do some work on PCU (or replace pre-repaired)

2) I can provide you contact info for a PCU repairshop in Norway. If you prefer this option, please send me Personal Message at the forum.

3) You can contact the Think Club "Trondheim Thinkers". They have a stock of pre-repaired PCU's and can ship to you. You have to return your current PCU and pay the repair cost and all shipping. (They use the same repairshop at in option 2). PM 'Arnie' at this forum for request.

Best regards.
Håkon