Mitsu Tech said I set car to not charge on Mondays

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Joined
May 18, 2015
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8
Long time lurker first time poster,

We have been having a frustrating issue where our car will intermittently stop charging after a random amount of time. Sometimes we plug it in and it will charge all the way up, sometimes it will only charge for a few minutes and then stop, sometimes it will charge for an hour or two and then stop. This happens at different times of day and on different days of the week.

After my partner was late for class (she is a professor) two days in a row we took our beloved Miev-o-tron in to the only dealer in our area who is certified to work on the Miev. After keeping the car for a week they told us two things:

1) we have to pay them to do a battery reconditioning(?) where they run it down to turtle mode and then charge it all the way back up or we will void the warranty on our battery.
2) the problem with charging is because we have accidentally set our car to stop charging on certain days at certain times.

Here are my questions:

1- we have never used the remote control, it is sitting in a drawer in our apartment with dead batteries, is there any way we could have accidentally set the timer in this sort of way?
2- we can't find anywhere in the manual that says we have to do this renewal thing to keep our warranty. Is there any truth to this?
Bonus: Has anyone had weird issues where the battery just stops charging at random intervals?

Thanks Everyone.
 
So . . . . they kept the car for a week and did . . . . absolutely nothing? Great Dealer!!

As to question #1) I would ask them to show you where it says this in writing. I've never heard of such a thing and it's not a requirement

#2) There have been other instances of the behavior you're speaking of discussed here and as I recall, the remote did have something to do with the problem. It may take you some time to find those discussions here - I would link you to them if I had the time

IMO, you need a better dealer - I know they are far and few between, but the one you used is . . . . inexcusable

Don
 
logicalmethods, to answer your two questions:

1) Remote Control activity is stopped a number of ways - the one I remember is to simply activate the car and get to READY. I don't recall anything being stored that would affect charging, especially since you haven't used the Remote.

2) To further support you with regards to battery care and feeding -

In the letter from Mitsubishi dated February 2012,

"To further reduce the amount of maintenance, Mitsubishi has added software to the i-MiEV enabling a customer to calibrate their battery without visiting a certified i-MiEV dealer."

Furthermore,"... we recommend performing this at least once the first year and every 24 months thereafter..."

Aha, found it:

6520724_orig.jpg


Charging randomly stopping completely (and not just the brief "timeout" during charging) has been discussed in the past and, like Don, I can't put my finger on it. For starters, I would have a close look at the EVSE plug and socket and carefully clean all the contacts.
 
logicalmethods said:
...
After keeping the car for a week they told us two things:

1) we have to pay them to do a battery reconditioning(?) where they run it down to turtle mode and then charge it all the way back up or we will void the warranty on our battery.
2) the problem with charging is because we have accidentally set our car to stop charging on certain days at certain times.

Here are my questions:

1- we have never used the remote control, it is sitting in a drawer in our apartment with dead batteries, is there any way we could have accidentally set the timer in this sort of way?
2- we can't find anywhere in the manual that says we have to do this renewal thing to keep our warranty. Is there any truth to this?
Bonus: Has anyone had weird issues where the battery just stops charging at random intervals?

Others have replied on 1), that you can do this on your own at home without paying the dealer. They are not being honest with you in this matter.

re #2), If you read the manual it does not indicate the possibility of using the remote to do any such thing that they claim. You can have charging start at the same time everyday with the remote, but there is no way to set it for certain days of a week.

What sort of EVSE are you using for charging? i have a BLINK Level 2 EVSE and it does allow setting up schedules for charrging such as only on Mondays, etc. If you use the Level 1 unit that came with the car, then there is no provision for daily or weekly schedules.

Bonus: i have had weird chargging where the car will cut off the chargge after only 20 minutes or so. i sometimes use the remote to control the length of charging session, etc. It can exhibit some strange action such as cutting off early or chargging longer than i thought was programmed. Several times i have gone to the car in the morning, only to find that the session had quit early and the pack was still empty from the previous day. i haven't found any patterns or reason for this, it's just weirdness that occasionally rears it's head.

Make sure that the 12V Aux battery is not worn out or old--a fresh 12V is cheap insurance to get you through the winter. A weak or old 12V can cause a multitude of issues with Electric Vehicles...
Good Luck to you
 
kiev said:
Make sure that the 12V Aux battery is not worn out or old--a fresh 12V is cheap insurance to get you through the winter. A weak or old 12V can cause a multitude of issues with Electric Vehicles...
Good Luck to you
Excellent point - I should have mentioned that. A weak 12 volt battery is probably to blame for more weird, unexplained problems with these cars than any other single thing. If your car is a 2012 and still has the OEM battery, a preemptive change about now would be a good idea - True, you may get a few more months out of the battery, but it's on it's last legs for sure and changing it now may keep you from a good bit of grief later on

Don
 
kiev said:
...Bonus: i have had weird chargging where the car will cut off the chargge after only 20 minutes or so. i sometimes use the remote to control the length of charging session, etc. It can exhibit some strange action such as cutting off early or chargging longer than i thought was programmed. Several times i have gone to the car in the morning, only to find that the session had quit early and the pack was still empty from the previous day. i haven't found any patterns or reason for this, it's just weirdness that occasionally rears it's head....
Same here, which has resulted in my checking the charge level right after getting up in the morning if it's going to be a higher-use day. I usually program the car to stop charging at around 12-13 bars.
 
A note regarding use of the remote charging timer. It is not compatible with all EVSE models. It definitely won't work with the Bosch Power Xpress (originally designed and sold by SPX). Send a command remotely; it stops charging and will not resume.
 
Both things the dealer told you are not true (although they may try to use it against you for future work).

The i-MiEV has no capability for per-day timed charge. The only programming available are one-time start and stop timers. This means that if you get home at 5, plug the car in, and use the remote to set the ON timer to 7 hours, the car will wait until Midnight before starting to charge. Once you start the car and get READY on the dash, all timers are cleared and future plug-ins will immediately charge, unless you set the timer again.

The only "smart" capability the timers have is that they remember the previously set time. So, the 7 hour timer you set at 5 tells the car to start charging at midnight. If you plug in the following night at 8 PM, when you go to set the timer, the remote will come up with 4 hours so that the car will start charging at midnight. The i-MiEV has a non-accessible 24-hour clock that is used just for this purpose so setting a charge timer each night doesn't require math, just turn the remote on, tap right, and tap send.

That said, for the issue you're having, my list of things to check are, in order:

1. EVSE connector fully engaged. The latch should click in, and you should not be able to pull the connector out without pressing the button.
2. Clean contacts. Make sure the pins and sleeves in the charge connector and port are both clean.
3. 12 volt battery. If it's the original 12 volt battery, it's due for replacement.
4. Start a charge and note how fast the car charges while it charges. On a level 2, 240 volt charging station, you should gain 3-4 bars of charge. I only say 4 as one bar may only need a percent of charge before appearing. 3 bars is the norm for one hour, though. On 120 volts, you should see 3 bars every four hours (stock, 2012 EVSE which feeds 8 amps) or one bar per hour (12 amps, aftermarket EVSE or 2014-2017 stock EVSE).
 
wellp, they replaced the 12 volt battery, saying that it was the OEM one. That seems to have solved the problem for a while though from an electrical engineering perspective I have no idea how or why replacing the 12 volt would effect the operation of the charge circuitry of the drive battery. I'm very skeptical.

It has been a few months since that work was done and today for the first time since replacing the 12 volt, we experienced the decreased charging speed again. Im posting a screen shot of the charging profile from the charger.

http://imgur.com/a/YOvfR1J
 
From an engineering standpoint, there are numerous relays and contactors throughout the vehicle that are critical for safe vehicle operation and for chargging, and some must never be switched under load due to arc-flash damage to the contacts.

The 12V aux battery is the power source for the energizing coils of these contactors, and if the aux is old, weak or worn out, then it can wreak havoc and permanent damage to relays, ECUs and the expensive Chargger Unit, Motor Controller Unit, DCDC Converter, etc., if it drops out or gets pulled too low while driving or chargging.
 
logicalmethods, glad to hear the 12v battery replacement solved your car's erratic charging behavior.

1) The 12v battery is the source of most of the problems experienced by the i-MiEV, although it is normally not an issue while the car is charging (because the dc-dc is keeping the 12v at the proper level). Best thing everyone can do is replace that battery after a few years, even though it 'tests' ok. This is especially good to do if there is any history of that particular battery having been deeply discharged one or more times during its lifetime (as often happens with i-MiEVs sitting on dealers' lots).

2) The graph you posted is perfectly normal behavior:
a) The temporary dropout after you started charging is normal, and is believed to be the car's attempt to determine if there is excessive sag in the traction battery voltage when power is removed. This 'timeout' can range from about six minutes to 20 minutes, and can be infuriating if you're trying to recharge the car quickly in order to get on your way.
b) As the battery approaches full charge (fuel gauge displaying 16 bars) the input current decreases, the cells get balanced if needed, and then the input simply cuts off when the charging current drops to a certain level.

Both of these topics are fairly extensively covered in many different posts on this forum.
 
I appreciate the quick response about my charging graph. I agree that it makes logical sense for the current to gradually decrease as the car approaches fully charged however that is not normal behavior for charing the car. 90+ percent of the charge graphs are pegged to the top of the chart until the battery is full and then there is a hard cut off. The gradual decrease that you see in the graph i posted above is abnormal and usually coincides with the car not getting a full charge.

In the case of the graph above. the car was short 3 bars when we disconnected it from the charger.

Any further thoughts?
 
That session was just short of 4 hours, and the current ramp-down started after a little less than 2 hours.

It says you added 6.64 kwh, and you said that it was 3 bars short of full. So when you started the session you were at about 7 bars.

4 hours at a true level 2 will usually add about 12 bars, so it should normally have been full after 3 hours.

When a car won't reach 16 bars after a full charge it can sometimes mean a defective cell. The Canion android app along with a Scantool OBD LX dongle can read and display the voltage of all the cells, and help determine if any are worn out and holding down your pack.

Is this a home EVSE unit that you are using?

[EDIT]
Nevermind, Now i see that this is from a public chargepoint station.

Unless you have a bad cell, i would tend to think that this is an issue with the station rather than your car.

All bets are off when someone else controls your chargging session.
 
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