[CW4]

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone here has experience of Rolec wallpods.

I've had a 32A type 2 socketed unit installed at the office to charge a 16A Leaf. All seemed well until I noticed that charging had stopped prematurely. On inspecting the front of the wallpod the LED was off - not red, green or blue, but off. Whilst stood looking at it, the contactor clunked in the red, green, blue, green sequence ran through and the car started charging again. This pattern was repeated about every 20-30 minutes.

Monitoring on Leafspy, I see that each time this happens the L1/2 charge count increments by one - if I continue to allow this to happen then it wouldn't look good if I ever had a battery problem as Nissan could claim I'd made lots of short charges. To charge from 30% to 100% racks up about 15 counts.

I consulted Rolec who eventually sent me a new "Com" unit. Having had it fitted this weekend the result is almost the same, the only difference being that the contactor clunks in and out 6-10 times each time the vehicle starts to charge. The electrician removed it and replaced the old one!

Whilst here he checked the earth (PME) and found it to be good.

Does anyone else have any experience of these units? My first thought is overheating, though the behaviour seems to be much the same regardless of ambient temperature.

I'll contact Rolec again next week, but at the moment I'm thinking that I might as well return the unit and put a 13A socket in its place for the EVSE that came with the car!

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

 

[CW4]

Thanks for the replies.

1) Does the Leaf charge OK elsewhere? - Charges fine on EVSE supplied with vehicle at same location.
2) Do other cars charge on the Rolec OK? -Don't know anyone else with an EV!
3) Is there dirt/damp in the car/J1772 connectors? - All new and nice and clean
4) Have you switched the breaker/RCBO off/on? - Yup, has no effect. Have checked it's not the breaker - power passes to the Com unit even with LED off.

The LED being off normally means there's no power to the EPC module? There is power to the EPC (EPC = Com Unit?)

A) At the other end of the supply cable - have you checked the breaker/RCBO (off/on)? Yep, RCBO at power cabinet is ON
B) Are all the terminals screwed down tight? [Obviously - Only if you know what you're doing!!!] Electrician double checked all terminals (found one connection to contactor was loose, tightened it)

i) Might be interesting, to stick a meter on a Live supply terminal and see if the power cuts off when the LED goes out?
Electrician had a meter on it when the LED was off - power arriving at Com Unit (EPC?), but no power on the live line from the Com unit to the contactor (presumably this is the line that energises the contactor?).

So it all seems rather odd - I can't see that it's the car rejecting the charger (such as when the car doesn't like the earth impedance) as I would expect the LED to stay Blue if this was the case. The wallpod LED is simply OFF while the car is not charging. When it springs back to life (after 10-15 minutes of being dead, the wallpod LED sequence is normal and the contactor engages in one go.

As I said earlier, the replacement Com Unit showed the same symptoms, except that additionally it caused the contactor to open and close 6-10 times at each re-start before staying energised.

Here are some pics we took before swapping the modules.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pinkfin1/14643299725/in/photostream/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pinkfin1/14642878822/in/photostream/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pinkfin1/14641117374/in/photostream/

 

[CW4]

Nope - type 2 socket 32A. Car is Leaf with 16A charger. Lead is 32A type 2 to type 1.

 

[CW4]

The lead has been used elsewhere - just the once at Ikea and I wasn't watching the whole time it was plugged in. I've no idea how to check the resistor in the lead.

My thinking was that if it was the car or the lead then I would either see a red LED or the LED would return to steady blue. What would cause the LED to go out completely? Could a duff cable bring on this scenario.

Many thanks for your help, by the way - it's much appreciated.

Is there anyone in the South Cheshire area with a type 2 to type 1 lead I could borrow for a quick test?

 

[CW4]

Sorry Lee, I managed to stuff up the permissions on the photos. Should be working now.

It's labelled as a 32A Mode 3 controller ACSE0020

 

[CW4]

Thanks Lee,

I guess the next thing to do is rule out the cable as I've tried two EPCs with similar results.

 

[CW4]

Well I can put this one to bed now for anyone else who has had the same problem.

Having made loads (AND I MEAN LOADS!) of calls to Rolec, I must honestly say their support is severely lacking. Lee, the factory manager, seems to perform their support role and is knowledgeable,but he's harderto track down than Osama himself. Still, my SEAL unit eventually captured him and forced him to call me back.

It seems that the problem comes from a duff batch of socket locking solenoids that draw too much power whilst locked and cause an overheat in the EPC, which stops the charge and extinguishes the LED. Disconnecting the solenoid solves the problem.

So that's 2 months, 80 quid in extra leccy's fees, an unnecessary purchase of a second charging cable (£155 on the nuworld offer) and 3 hours of my life travelling to Stoke and sitting watching blue leds only to find that it's the Rolec box at fault. If you have a similar problem, don't bother calling Rolec, just RMA it and hope the next one works. They're friendly people at Rolec Boston, but hopeless at returning calls.

 

[CW4]

Sorry Lee Howard, it never occurred to me that there could be any confusion - nothing to do with you at all, thanks for your input though!

 

[CW4]

Not a duplicate thread. Two rather different problems with different charger models.