my Miev will not charge

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Glad to hear your back on the road again.
Even happier for you to hear that it didn't cost you anything.
:)
Enjoy those electric miles with smiles
 
Well today I had an interesting event happen.

I drove to my father-in-laws about 35 Km away. When I got out I plugged into L2 and the car would not charge.

Unplugged and re-plugged many times still no charge.

Then I went into the car and tried to start it. Could not get the ready light. Again many attempts and no Ready light. I starting to think oh boy I'm stuck... Anyways I when in the house and told my wife about this little problem. She came out after about 10 minutes and I showed her the car not starting. Then she tried and it went into ready. She just held the key in the start position a little longer and it worked. Then I tried again and then poof it worked.

Then I plugged it in and it charged no problem. Drove home plugged in and charging started as usual.

It looks like the car somehow got into a state of un-happiness and would not charge. Then I might have been in a little bit of a panic and tried turn the key to start the car too quickly and really started to worry.

Thinking about this the only thing I can think is when I got there I plugged the pistol into the car and then plugged the EVSE into the dryer outlet. I probably should have done that in reverse. Not sure if this had anything to do with it but I'm kind of grasping at straws.

Anyways I'll keep my eye on this hopefully it won't repeat but I don't seem to be the only person who has seen some marginal behavior with getting the ready light on.

All is well now, my 5 year warrenty runs out next month so I hope this does not re-occure.

Don.....
 
DonDakin, thank you for the writeup. I would find that situation disconcerting, especially if I were in a hurry. At least it makes us aware of the possible key-turning problem/solution as one of the things to look for. At least it doesn't appear to be the 12v battery. :lol: FWIW, I charge my car either having a 'live' or 'dead' pistol when I plug in, and it doesn't seem to make any difference.
 
Hey Joe,

I have to admit when the car didn't charge I started getting nervous and that probably led to the rapid switching of the key to tray and stat it. The only other variable was that it was about 10-15 minutes before I mentioned it to my wife and showed her the problem and then she tried and it started. Maybe I was caught up in a little panic.

Anyways this does highlight that it is possible to "crank" the key and not get a ready light if you do it too quickly.

Also I'm pretty much convinced that my car got into a "will not charge mode" Perhaps there was a glitch. It was as if I had used the remote to set a delayed charge time. I know if I do that I can plug and unplug the car as many times as I want it won't charge until it's time. I know that delayed charge mode is reset by starting the car. So my guess is that it somehow got in that mode.

Anyways lesson learned, remain calm and turn the key slowly. Don't freak out.....

Don.....
 
The car will lock out of starting and charging until the capacitor discharge is complete. Maybe it didn't complete the discharge before you plugged in and that locked out charging?

I've had a few times where I'd shut the car off only to have to restart almost immediately and it wouldn't. I'd have to give it 10 seconds or so totally off before trying again, then it would start right up.

As for which end of the EVSE you plug in first, I always plug in a dead EVSE to the car, then several hours later apply power to the EVSE, and it starts charging.
 
Hello,

I've been a happy owner ofa miev for almost 5 years. Suddenly it stopped charging. The light comes on, the fan starts and then the charge cycle stops after the fan stops. I've read this entire post and I've tried all of the great suggestions. I'll be contacting my dealership once they're open.
 
i've had this happen several times, and found dirt and debris on the pins in the charge port. i cleaned it with alcohol and a cotton swab (there is no high voltage on the port pins), and it is fixed until the next time it happens--rinse and repeat... also cleaned out the socket terminals of the evse handle too. My car and evse is outside all the time.
 
I brought it to a dealer and they said it is the on-board charger. The on-board charger stopped communicating with the rest of the car. It is over 5k to fix. The car is only worth 4.5k. Sadly I have said good bye to the Miev.
 
@Sbess, where abouts are you located?

Piev and i reverse engineered the TCCH/ Elcon chargers and have performed numerous modifications (# of cells, voltage levels) and repairs including replacing the microcontroller chip and loading new firmware.

Maybe we can fix it, got to start somewhere.
 
Turns out i had more than just the usual dirt and debris because it wouldn't charge again, so time to investigate. i have a Blink WE-30 level 2 EVSE unit that is mounted outside under a shade tree.

First obstacle is the security screws on the EVSE handle, and they are not 6 pt torx either, they are called Torx Plus Security screws with 5 splines and a center pin. These are called size TPS15. $25 bucks for a set of bits if you can find them. They were repaced with regular #6 x 1/2" wood screws philips head

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C4YnK6V.jpg
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Then i found bugs in the hardware--alabama fire ants crawled thru the 3 little vent/drain holes in the handle and made a nest.

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29Wvdxi.jpg
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Not much stuff in the handle, just a pocket full of shells. Not surprised to find this handle was made in Germany--silver label under the circuit board, the mains line wiring colors, and the use of those stupid TPS screws were the clues:

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cMKTNaM.jpg
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Gave it a good cleaning, and now it's charging again. So check for bugs, they are not always just in software...
 
I have been slowly stripping a local low mileage crashed I-MiEV, could see how much they'll take for the charger if you like.

Kiev, thx for the "TPS Report", and burning memories of debugging. Fire ants are one thing I do not miss about the South!
 
My 2012 iMiEV's onboard charger has also just recently given up the ghost. Car will only go into 'Ready' mode intermittently. Was quoted almost $5000 Canadian to replace (Part Number is 9481A095 and is listed on a couple sites as being $3100 USD)

I'm out of the bumper to bumper warranty but still covered under "battery warranty" anyone know if Mitsubishi will cover the replacement?

I bought my car in the US so I have to take it back there for any warranty work; the Canadian dealer did the diagnosis for me and quoted me the price but couldn't tell me if Mitsubishi Canada would cover it if the car had been purchased in Canada.... Similarly the US dealer wouldn't tell me over the phone if it was covered, they require me to take it there (I'll have to get it towed about 80 miles). Mitsibishi customer care wouldn't tell me over the phone either, they said it is up to the dealer :roll:
 
Ask them for a copy of the diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) they pulled with the MUT3 tool that indicated the charger was defective and post them up here. Maybe it is written on a service work order or receipt.
 
If your 12V Aux battery is not too old or too weak, then this code has no remedy in the service manual. Hopefully they might cover it, but if not maybe you could find a used one rather than pay full new. We could take a look to fix the PFC circuit on the board, nothing to lose.

Code No. 39: Power Factor Correction (PFC) Circuit Output Voltage Abnormal (either too high or too low)

TROUBLE JUDGMENT
Check Conditions
The on board charger control power supply voltage is more than 8 V.
While the on board charger is powered from the EV-ECU.

Judgement Criterion
Power factor improvement circuit (PFC) output voltage is more than 400 V.
or
The power factor improvement circuit (PFC) output voltage is smaller than the specified value.

FAIL-SAFE AND BACKUP FUNCTION
The charge is stopped.

PROBABLE CAUSE
The on board charger is failed.

DIAGNOSIS PROCEDURE

STEP 1. M.U.T.-III diagnosis code
Q. Is the diagnosis code set?
Yes, Replace the on board charger/DC-DC converter.

No, Then it is an Intermittent malfunction (Refer to GROUP 00 - How to Use Troubleshooting/Inspection Service Points - How to Cope with Intermittent Malfunctions
 
Thanks kiev. So I flatbed towed my car to the closest US EV certified dealer in Williamsville, NY yesterday and paid yet another diagnostic fee, however this time they couldn't detect any error code!!! Sure enough they plugged it into their L2 EVSE and it started charging @#$%@$

I got enough charge there to make it back to the Chademo in Niagara Falls Ontario and topped it off there for the drive home. It charged up normally last night at home from my home L2 charger.

Anyway, the tech there was very nice and quite knowledgeable despite not having seen very many iMiEVs; he did mention something about doing a re-balance of the cells while it was there - one thing I did notice this morning that I only used 1 bar during my 18km commute (0 degrees celcius outside) whereas most of this winter I've used 2-3. I assume this is related.

He was unable to tell me that if I did have the same problem again whether it would be covered by the battery warranty which is the only warranty left on the vehicle. This is quite disappointing to me as the owner of a 2012 Volt still in the 8 year Voltec warranty which covers everything involved in the electric drive system including the charger (my Volt's onboard charger died after the 3 year bumper-to-bumper warranty lapsed and it was covered).

Right now my faith in the little iMiEV is shaken and I'm seriously considering trading it in while it is still running and worth something :/
 
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