Tonight I set the car to 12A and let it OU charge. I just went to the garage (11pm) and disconnected the 12A (it was charging like a champ), reset the car to 32A, plugged in the CC box. 20 green blinks and I went inside.
I guess it needed some 12A primer before upgrading to the 32A juice. This will not be a practical exercise for me, as I will most certainly forget to go back down some nights and will only get a night of 12A. After a few days this will not work for me.
There doesn't seem to be a pattern yet on the PEU or the CC box being the cause. But 32A charging as soon as I pull in doesn't seem to work well anymore.
Remember, I just got a new CC box and cable because of this very issue.
I called for service today and they were trying to arrange for a rental car. I never heard back so I couldn't drop off my car. She didn't ask any real questions, so I am not sure how the flow of information is supposed to work.
Most interesting part of the call however was when I asked her about the Mini loaner fleet rather than the Enterprise route and she said they are NOT ALLOWED to loan out their fleet for MINI-E, only rentals. So the most expensive car in the building by far can't get a loaner. I hate to be cynical about this but I can only guess that this is because the local dealer does not want to loan out their cars when MINI corporate is willing to pay for a rental. I would hope the 35k mile Hyundai would be a last resort and not the default.
Either way. I'm starting to get concerned that this may be a more systemic issue. My only working theory is related to the colder temperature. I seem to only remember this ever happening once it started turning colder. Highs in the 40s and 50s now. And going in the wrong direction for the next several months.
Here we go.....
Mike,
ReplyDeleteThere is one more thing you can try to determine if the problem is on the car side or the power supply side. Have you tried to charge at 32 or 50 amps anywhere but at your house? If you were to use someone elses charger and the problem repeats then it's definitely the car. If the car will accept full charges without incident, then maybe it's on the power supply isde somehow. You can use my charger at my home in Chester or the one at Nauna's in Montclair to test it out; even a couple of times to be sure. Just send me an email to let me know you are coming.
Tom
Michael
ReplyDeleteHave you tried charging at 12 amps from the big wall box? I often do that, Mini said it was OK. The amperage rating for the box is only a maximum. And if it will start charging properly at 12 amps on the wall box, then I can always turn it up to 32 amps after just a minute and it will keep going.
Yesterday I had the same problem as you 3 times, then I tried turning the car back on and off. After that it started charging just fine. I saw that tip about turning the car on and off in an old posting on the Facebook discussion list.
I would guess this problem is caused by leakage in the battery pack, tripping the ground fault circuit in the wall box. What you describe is identical to what I have seen.
Mini actually responded when I emailed them about this, engineering will get back to me. The people from Mini at the gathering at Tom's restaurant today were aware of the issue.
It has been getting less severe for me, so I don't think it is the cold. First time it happened to me was after I ran the battery down way past zero. But now I think that is coincidence. Maybe it was the recent rains?