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      01-14-2021, 08:32 AM   #1
PAULX545E
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Charger cable fault - breakdown

2 miles into my ownership - took the car a short drive and it's now stuck in the middle of my street - won't start / move as it thinks the charging cable is plugged in.

I've tried plugging in the cable (car side only) and locking / unlocking car and removing but still the same.

BMW emergency services contacted and waiting on a call back.

Any ideas?
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      01-14-2021, 09:07 AM   #2
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Sounds like a faulty sensor. Try rebooting iDrive. Hold volume knob in for 30 sec to reboot
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      01-14-2021, 09:16 AM   #3
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I also had some charging weirdness on day 1. Mine was different that it wouldn't charge, but I did the 30 second iDrive reboot and left it a couple of hours. I'm not sure whether those fixed it, or whether they were snake oil, but the car hasn't put a foot wrong since.

EDIT: Our weather was rubbish on delivery day too, and I suspect there may have been some damp somewhere around the charging port
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      01-14-2021, 09:19 AM   #4
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I did try the reboot - but didn't fix it- thanks though!

Got BMW emergency services out just now although appear none the wiser! My pulsar plus Wallbox showed an error / was lit up red - which I noticed when I unplugged the car before the drive but dismissed it as the car drove ok.

Hopefully they can sort it - doesn't inspire much confidence!
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      01-14-2021, 09:21 AM   #5
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Thinking on my feet - just like you I saw messages about services being updated soon after delivery. I wonder if there are updates to the remote charging controls that caused the issues and my iDrive reboot did help.

I suspect just like me, the first thing you did was register your car with the phone app.
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      01-14-2021, 09:22 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PAULX545E View Post
My pulsar plus Wallbox showed an error / was lit up red
Very similar - my Pod-Point wall box also showed a red error.
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      01-14-2021, 09:53 AM   #7
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Also what's with the almost empty fuel tank? Don't you get a full tank of fuel when you take delivery?
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      01-14-2021, 10:21 AM   #8
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It's a lease - which probably is part of the minimum fuel deal!

Low and behold, with a minute of the tech leaving, the car burst back into life. It charges fine now although it's booked for a recovery to the local dealership- I'm loathed to have it sent away as I suspect it'll be a bit of head scratching and a day or so later no clear answer.
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      01-14-2021, 10:28 AM   #9
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If my experience is anything to go by, although mine wasn't charging, it sorted itself out and hasn't been an issue since. I would see how you get on before letting the local dealer get their mitts on it.

I'm convinced there was some Day 1 stuff going on
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      01-14-2021, 11:19 AM   #10
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I've told BMW I'll drive it to the local dealer tomorrow - they'll get me a courtesy car....no doubt a mini!

I didn't want to have a recovery vehicle involved out of paranoia of it getting damaged.

I'm tempted to not send it to the dealership - but if this happened out on a drive away from home or with my wife out with kids on their own then I'd be feeling pretty bad about not getting it checked so will take it down.
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      01-14-2021, 04:03 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BrummyGit View Post
If my experience is anything to go by, although mine wasn't charging, it sorted itself out and hasn't been an issue since. I would see how you get on before letting the local dealer get their mitts on it.

I'm convinced there was some Day 1 stuff going on
Brummy,

I tried a little experiment there - plugged the car into my Wallbox again - almost right away, it went red again and the car wasn't taking a charge.

I checked the setting in the car - amp limit was set to 6A. I disconnected the charger and reset the circuit breaker on the Wallbox to clear the red fault light. I then changed the car setting to 16A max and plugged in again - this time no problem, it's charging away.

I wonder if it can cause a error if the car is set at 6A with a 7.4kW wall charger (noted it only powers to 3.7kW/16A)??

Do you think you had the red light on your Wallbox only when you had the car at it's default limit of 6A?

All of this still doesn't explain fully why mines stopped in the middle of the road after a 2 mile drive!!

I'd also have thought that the Wallbox would just alter the power to the limit of the car - as it does at 16A - but then I'm no electrical engineer and not too up on my transformers
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      01-14-2021, 05:40 PM   #12
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I'm fairly confident mine was set to 16amp, but I did go in and set it to 16amp at some point on the first day so I couldn't be certain.

I created a thread just like this, but my car was delivered by a driver so had a flat battery, I charged it fine straight after delivery and then took it for my first drive at around 80% charged, having set the My BMW app up and many of my iDrive settings. When I returned and plugged mine in it started charging, then displayed some High Voltage warnings (which subsequently disappeared) and stopped charging. Over 2-3 hours I tried a 30 second reboot, powering down my Pod-Point for a reboot, the BMW 13-amp plug-in charger but nothing would work. Eventually I gave up and left it knowing that I could drive mine on Petrol and planned to contact BMW the following morning. Later I spotted our smart meter display showing high electricity consumption and a check revealed it had started charging on it's own.

My only 2 theories have been:
  • My car was delivered dirty in foul weather and I car washed it on my first drive, so I initially wondered if water had got in the charging port
  • I now think more and more that various things were downloading to my car and updating after I'd registered the connected services. It took me a while to get all services active - Remote 3D View was nearly 48 hours before it fully kicked into life.

Since my first day, it hasn't put a foot wrong when I go to charge.
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      01-14-2021, 05:52 PM   #13
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Thanks for the info - appreciate it.

I'll let you know what the outcome is once the dealership has checked it.
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      01-14-2021, 06:23 PM   #14
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Other than slowing down the charging, having the vehicle set to a lower charge rate than the EVSE can provide should have no effect on a charging event other than slowing the process down.
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      01-15-2021, 08:59 AM   #15
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That was my thoughts too - I called the Wallbox support team today and they did a load of checks remotely (from the US!) such as voltage records, temp etc and found no historic or present problems with the Wallbox.

Car is now with the BMW dealership for checks - it's a pain losing the car within a day after a 6 month wait 😢.

Dealer gave me an 840i convertible - all they had. Not the best vehicle for January in Scotland!
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      01-15-2021, 11:48 AM   #16
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Car collected at dealership late afternoon - they ran the diagnostic checks and recommended action was to clear the error and return the car to me. None the wiser as to why it happened - let's hope it doesn't happen again!
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      01-15-2021, 02:36 PM   #17
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Fingers crossed that it was a one-off.
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      01-16-2021, 12:53 AM   #18
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That is not the ideal way to start your ownership. Let's hope it is solved. And congrats on your new car.

If it happens again maybe you could try to pull the emergency release in the motor compartment? I know the cable wasn't plugged in and the lid was closed but maybe it would have reset or released something?

What did happen to me once in my f15 40e is that the fuel lid wouldn't open during a road trip. The pressure release button didn't work. A similar emergency release is available in the trunk to manually release it. Glad I thought about it.
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      01-16-2021, 02:26 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by X5 45e View Post
That is not the ideal way to start your ownership. Let's hope it is solved. And congrats on your new car.

If it happens again maybe you could try to pull the emergency release in the motor compartment? I know the cable wasn't plugged in and the lid was closed but maybe it would have reset or released something?

What did happen to me once in my f15 40e is that the fuel lid wouldn't open during a road trip. The pressure release button didn't work. A similar emergency release is available in the trunk to manually release it. Glad I thought about it.
Thanks - I'll keep that in mind- didn't try it at the time although I was aware of that cord as I couldn't get the charger out of my 530e a couple of weeks back - think that was due to a little ice round the periphery of the charger and I was hesitant to use too much force on it.

When I got the car back yesterday the max current was unknowingly to me set back to 6A (maybe dealer reset it to factory as part of their work) and the Wallbox went into error (red light) again. Changing to 16A it was fine - strange but I've no reason to set to 6A so won't dwell too much on it.
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      01-16-2021, 05:42 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PAULX545E View Post
I'd also have thought that the Wallbox would just alter the power to the limit of the car - as it does at 16A - but then I'm no electrical engineer and not too up on my transformers
EVSEs (chargers) don't adjust power output; they're passthroughs. it's the vehicle that adjusts.

For example, I set my car rate back to 6A and connected my level 2 32A charger (non adjustable power output)...no errors from either the car or charger. The car showed max rate at 6A despite my charger putting out 32A.

have you tried a different charger or at an EVSE charging station while set to 6A to see if it charges your car or throws an error? if it throws an error, it's likely the car and not your Wallbox. Good luck!
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      01-16-2021, 06:43 AM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nZtiZia View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by PAULX545E View Post
I'd also have thought that the Wallbox would just alter the power to the limit of the car - as it does at 16A - but then I'm no electrical engineer and not too up on my transformers
EVSEs (chargers) don't adjust power output; they're passthroughs. it's the vehicle that adjusts.

For example, I set my car rate back to 6A and connected my level 2 32A charger (non adjustable power output)...no errors from either the car or charger. The car showed max rate at 6A despite my charger putting out 32A.

have you tried a different charger or at an EVSE charging station while set to 6A to see if it charges your car or throws an error? if it throws an error, it's likely the car and not your Wallbox. Good luck!
Mine is at 10A. It sometimes goes back to 6A.

When I plug in to a public charger it goes up to 16A automatically and after disconnecting back to 10A.
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      01-16-2021, 07:20 AM   #22
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is that normal for it to automatically go up to 16A despite setting it to 10A? is that something inherent only with public charging stations?
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