[PhilAmp]

Hi All.

New to the forum.

I have owned a Vauxhall Ampera for the last 2 years, 13 reg and love it.

I have a problem.

My granny charger ceased working 4 days ago, so I researched online and as a quick fix I bought a 10amp home 3 pin plug charger from Screwfix.

Connected it this morning and nothing. I've changed the setting in the car to 10amp and it registers that it is connected, but there is no charging.

Any advice?

 

[DomJ]

When it stopped charging from the original granny was the red light on/flashing on the EVSE? Is it possible the granny wasn't at fault and its something in the car?

 

[PhilAmp]

No, I went to plug the old charger in and it didn't even register it. I had been twisting the cable over the last 6 months to get it to work, but in its last day even that didn't work.

Never had a red light

 

[HandyAndy]

@Admin plz move this ro Ampera section under GM motors, thx.
If your old charger was an OEM GM one, they're known to fail. The very original had orange cable, mins lasted about 3 years. The replacement under wty had a black cable, maybe tehse last better, but I'd changed to a totally different one. You say you had to twist the cable to make that work, were you twisting near the car socket end? If so, could be a bad contact/connection in the car's chargeport. If you were twisting at the 13A mains end thet sounds like the cable in that failed, not the cars fault.

Have you got a Type2 -> 1 cable for use at a 7Kw supermarket pospoint or similar? Anyone nearby with an early Leaf, or Outlander, which I think both have the Type 1 socket? If so, try a charge on theirs. You need to establish where the fault is, EVSE, or inside the car. No idea if the Screwfix grannies work, anyone here got one on an Ampera?

You may get an engine warning light? If so, the car's unhappy with something inside itself, so you need to get a dongle & app to help diagnose probs, almost essential kit anyway on these. I suggest Viecar 4.0 wit bluetooth comms from Amazon £15 ish, and free Torque Lite app, will let you read the car's error logs, and clear some. Always write down all the numbers you see, eg P1E00 will be there, just means "some problem, see other numbers for details" so you can get a whole slew of them. I'm currently debugging a similar-sounding problem to yours, but probably a different thing going on. But possibly not).

If there's a fault in the car, you should get an error in the logs. This car's very good at logging these, not much escapes it! But it's possible for a failed EVSE to damage the car's internal chargers (there are 2, in series for 240V). THis is what's happened to me; EVSE burnt out internally, fried the insides, and has sent a voltage/current spike down one or other line into the car, and damaged it. Car now sees cable connected but charging doesn't ever start. Error code says 240V is all over the place & unstable. So it the 240V line damaged but easily repairable by me? Or is the voltage-sensing doodah damaged, and the 240V is actually fine? That's what I'm about to investigate in detail soon. Repairable by me = costs time but cheap; else it's a dealer trip, may cost £600 up to maybe £1000.

 

[Spiny]

As per @HandyAndy test with a known working unit or at a public charge point using a cable. There are forum members all over the place so a note on where about you are may find you a member who can help.

As Andy says you need a type 1 car to borrow a lead from so leaf (older) Outlander(older) the triplets (IMEV and its clones) and any Ampera or Volt owner.

 

[PhilAmp]

Cheers.

I'm really hoping it's not the latter of a dealership visit!

Just thinking on, I never use public charge pints, but the 2 occasions when I tried too with a different cable, that didn't work either.

There's no engine warning light.

The old granny cable was being twisted at the car end. I took it apart to see if I could fix it, but it was FUBAR inside the socket.

 

[Spiny]

Just what happens when you attach the granny, does the Amp beep once or twice? What does the dash light do? Flash, turn orange turn solid green?

 

[PhilAmp]

The dash light is not turning on.

The new granny charger is just showing a solid green light with no faults, but no indication that it's charging either.

 

[PhilAmp]

Could there be a fault on the 10 amp charge and it's only able to charge at 6 amp for some odd unknown reason?

I have no idea, just putting that out there.

 

[dk6780]

As per @HandyAndy test with a known working unit or at a public charge point using a cable. There are forum members all over the place so a note on where about you are may find you a member who can help.

Seconded. I can lend you a known working (Nissan Leaf) Granny and Type 1 - Type 2 cable if you are between Malvern and Birmingham, or you can visit and try a 32A EVSE that works.

 

[Spiny]

No light on the top of the car dash suggests there is no connection. The Amp will beep when connected (double when on timer)
This could be the new plug not going home / the trigger not working. The type 1 must click into place. there is a small switch in the plug itself that is operated by the latch.
I'm in the St. albans/hertfordshire area with an Amp and both a Granny and a 32A EVSE (working).

 

[Hilltop Dave]

In my (Nissan supplied) Type 1 connector, there is (was) a rubber washer presumably to provide a seal with the fixed part of the connector on the car. This rubber seal can become dislodged (see below) preventing the connector mating properly. After several tries at re-seating this rubber washer (remove the inner black plastic sleeve first), I have now removed it permanently.

 

[HandyAndy]

It may be worth gettign a spray switch-cleaner aerosol, such as this from Screwfix. Halfords etc probably do similar, dunno the prices though. Squirt liberally into the car socket, and the cable plug, tip it over in case any crud to fall out, leave it a bit to dry off & try again. It may just be slight corrosion/dirt jamming it.
WD-40 Specialist Contact Cleaner 400ml

When you plug into the car, the light on dash should go amber to say it knows there's a cable plugged in & it's thinking about it all, then solid green on dash when it's actually started charging ok. I've been seeing mine go amber, then green for say 5 secs then flashing amber for maybe 10 secs, then solid green for 5, ... as it tries to start a charge, then isn't happy after a few secs & moans. Repeatedly. Not quite the same problem as yours.

I think if it's charging ok on green, and you squeeze the trigger, it should go to amber. This switch-press detect is entirely local to the car & the plug, nothing to do at all with the granny. There's one wire (PP) going out from car into the plug, then through a resistor, and current goes back to car via Earth. When you press the trigger, this just puts another resistor in which reduces the overall resistance in the plug, so this is how the car knows a) there's a plug in there, with trigger pressed as it goes in, and b) it's ok to start doing stuff because the trigger has been released, resistance is nice low, therefore it must be locked safely & fully in place.

So if you can use the trigger to get the car showing nothing or amber or ideally green finally, that would be great. Pressing the switch should stop a charge. 'Coz you're about to pull the plug out.

 

[PhilAmp]

Cheers to those offering to help by lending their granny chargers, but I live up north near Newcastle.

I'll try some of the suggestions and get back to you with an update.

Had to fill her up with petrol today, first time in 10 months 😔

 

[PhilAmp]

Hi all.

Thank you again for your suggestions.

So I bought a new variable granny charger, didn't work at all. I tried to source a part for the electric plug outlet- still haven't heard anything yet from Vauxhall.

However, I took a look yesterday and found one of the pins in the outlet bent down, plus some build up of debris on the others. After bending the pin back and cleaning the others, hey presto it's working again.

Cheers again.

 

[Elethiomel]

Glad to hear it was something relatively simple!

 

[agyemandes]

Hi, I hope someone can recommend a good EV specialist who knows how to work on the Vauxhall ampera. The car is refusing to charge or start, we've changed the granny but no joy. The car is in London N17, near the stadium. Can you please help , thanks

 

[Cjl160]

Hi, I hope someone can recommend a good EV specialist who knows how to work on the Vauxhall ampera. The car is refusing to charge or start, we've changed the granny but no joy. The car is in London N17, near the stadium. Can you please help , thanks

Bellingers in Wantage are my go to. Not cheap and a bit of a hike from London, so others may have better suggestions for your location. I’ve not tried any independent HEVRA registered garages yet.

 

[SHA222]

Hi, I hope someone can recommend a good EV specialist who knows how to work on the Vauxhall ampera. The car is refusing to charge or start, we've changed the granny but no joy. The car is in London N17, near the stadium. Can you please help , thanks
[/QUOTE
Does the instrument display come on? Is there an engine warning light? Does the engine start if the bonnet is open?
If the engine warning light is on then you can use a diagnostic dongle to get the error codes which may pinpoint the problem and someone here may be able to provide more advice.

 

[Spindrift]

The car is refusing to charge or start

First of all make sure the 12v battery is in a good state. It might even be worth disconnecting it for 30mins and reconnecting just to be sure its not some controller that has got its knickers in a twist.

When you say 'start' I assume that means it is unresponsive to pressing the blue button? Or do you mean that you cannot get the petrol engine to start?

When you try to charge does the indicator stay orange or not illuminate at all?

Charging and starting (pressing the blue button) are two separate electrical circuits that only come together in the HV battery. So the fact that both functions are inoperative suggests a problem there. The car will fail safe if it believes there is a serious HV problem.

If you cannot start it then I don't think you can get a diagnostic readout from the OBDII port. The car does have a maintenance mode which involves pressing the start button for 5 seconds without pressing on the brake pedal. If the dashboard powers up using that then you may be able to get some diagnostic codes as suggested above - you'll need an OBDII dongle from ebay and download a reader app eg Torque Lite. To exit maintenance mode you have to press the start button and hold it again.

Was there any unusual behaviour leading up to this failure?

Unless you can post some more diagnostic info, then I'm afraid it's a matter of googling for Vauxhall or independent HEVRA garages and interrogating them on their Ampera knowledge - both theoretical and empirical - then making a choice. Those of us that are within 100 miles or so tend to use Bellinger at Wantage OX12 0DH because of their reputation. Maybe you'll find a mobile technician that can come and run some diagnostics where the car is first?