How old is it? Could easily be the dreaded burnt up RCCB.

 

Tethered or untethered? Will it not reset even with nothing connected?

 

It is just a couple of years old and has the new style green button RCCB which I believed was more reliable.

 

Tethered. Have disconnected from car before trying to reset.

The rolec unit is getting power. I had a 3 pin socket module installed as an option and granny currently plugged in to this and delivering a charge.

 

Turn it off at the CU with that switch. Leave it off for a short while. Turn back on.

Press the test button. If that doesn't flick the trip switch on the unit then the unit is now faulty and you need to go and badger the installer to fix it.

I had to do that with mine once when the Soul didn't do the climate timer thing. Switching it off at the mains in the house sorted whatever tizzy it had got itself into.

 

Thanks chaps. Have tried turning off and on at CU but no difference. Guess it must be faulty. Will try again in the morning then call the installer. At least I have a granny to keep me on the road. Car in for Service on Wednesday so will ask Kia to check if any fault reports showing on the car.

 

Are you sure you're resetting the RCBO properly ?

After it trips (including when pressing the test button) you have to push the reset lever fully down until it clicks then push it right up. If you only try to push it up nothing will happen.

This is in contrast to a standard circuit breaker which can be reset by just pushing it up.

 

Timer charging issues with the Soul in cold weather has been an issue before. Can be a duff 12v or it has the faulty charger unit or it is missing the software update from March last year which is supposed to have tackled the climate and charge timer gremlins.

I'd definitely get the installer out to look at the charge unit.

Normally if the climate timer fails or the charge timer fails the car itself shows an error when you start it up and it doesn't go away until you charge it somewhere else successfully.

 

But not resetting when not connected doesnt suggest charge timer.
Even water in the plug wouldn't cause this as there's no power to the lead until it receives the signal to close the contactor.
Faulty RCCB which is rare or something else untoward in the EVSE. Im surprised the docket is not protected through the RCCB though.

 

Hmm, I'm wondering burnt out RCBO / wiring connection from the two I have had to replace. Any burning smell around the unit?

 

Not patronising but are you sure you are not touching the T test button at all when resetting? That pic in the guide obscured things slightly.
If you take it all the way go then when pushing up it should give a little resistance and then if there's a fault it flicks and has no resistance. Not terribly easy to describe but you get a feel for it when you have done it thousands of times. Haha.
I guess your mate didn't connect the socket off the RCCB. I hope it's protected by an RCD on the supply otherwise it's against the regs.
If the supply comes off an RCD at the mains then as that's not tripping then it would further suggest it's the Rolec one.

 

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1...m/s/files/1/1959/7639/files/Product_Guide_-_RCBO_Reset.pdf?16861611281640390162 Looks exactly like what I have. Step 2 talks about pushing the button fully down, but judging by the indicator line on the photo it hasn't been pushed down any further. The 13A module only cost me £6.90 as per this posting plus a couple of beers for my mate to fit it. I have 4 sockets in the garage within a couple of metres of the charger anyway and have got the granny plugged in to one of them at the moment.

Have tried resetting while holding down the trip button, and studiously avoiding it.

 

That description suggests to me that the action of pressing the switch down is to reset the RCBO in which case, if it won't click downward, it could be because it is detecting a constant earth fault and refusing to reset itself? Or am I off beam there? Not seen the innards of one of those to know which bit is connected to what.

My guess is when you open it, you'll find a loose or burnt connection. Especially if your leccy mate (and I'm not casting aspersions here ) has inserted the 13amp cables into the same supply side connectors that the 32amp is inserted into without properly crimping them together.

Those screw down blocks come loose pretty easily when there are multiple stranded wires in them.

 

Thanks for everyone's contributions on this. So I have solved the problem and feel a bit daft but wanted to post in case it helps anyone else. When I opened the box a small amount of water leaked out so it evidently isn't 100% weatherproof, but none of the electrics were wet and I dried all moisture residue with a soft cloth. Any ideas on dealing with water ingress btw? Would taping seals help? Could I leave a sack of silica gel at the bottom?

Anyway, good news is that there are no signs of loose or burnt connections. The RCCD was pointed downwards slightly which prevented me pushing down on the buttons. With the cover removed (or had I pushed the top of the RCCD back with one thumb so it sat flush) I was able to push the button down and reset.

Reassembled and charging at 7kW now. Glad to have had a granny charger to fall back on but wouldn't want to rely on it on a daily basis.

Have included a couple of images in the hope they might be useful to others at some point.

 

I would put a gob of silicone rubber over the fixing screws. Be sure to use the neutral cure type, not the commoner type that smells of vinegar, as it is very corrosive.
Edit:
Better still remove the screws one at a time and pump the silcone in so it seals behind.

 

As the 3 pin looks to be wired on the supply input to the Rolec (what I’d expect) the consumer unit RCD should be acting as the protection for the 3 pin socket.

I’m assuming the answer is yes but does the supply to the Rolec come through the RCD on the consumer unit?

It should do but think I’d make sure by hitting the test button on the consumer unit RCD when convenient to make sure it cuts power to the Rolec.

It’ll knock everything else off in the house too hence the “when convenient” statement

 

I am wondering if the back of the unit at the top has been sealed to the wall with silicone?

The supply cable comes in through a hole in the back of the unit and if water can get down behind the unit from above then it may be entering on the supply cable?

It might be worth drilling a small drain hole in the bottom of the unit.

 

I always found it a good idea to drill a small drain hole in the bottom of a troublesome "weatherproof" unit. Would suggest about 4mm hole.

 

Just noticed there is a label on the side of the unit that recommends pressing the T button every few months to check the protection is working. So I pressed the button and then I found that I couldn't reset the unit! Fortunately I found this post above and this gave me the confidence to press down harder that I was doing on the re-set arms and sure enough it re-set. You do need to actually press down reasonably hard.

 

Very helpful instructions. My EV stopped charging and this was the only place I found that told me how to reset a Rolec charger

 

I'd like to add my thanks for this post - the tip about hard pressing "the wrong" way to get the switch to reset was what enabled me to get my charger back online. It's a "Matt:E" protection unit for my Wallbox rather than a Rolec but your instructions were invaluable.