Only charges on ACC

[turpin1548]

A curious problem has developed on my car. I plug it into the chargemaster unit or using the 13 amp lead and it refuses to charge unless I leave it switched to ACC. Obviously, this means that I cannot lock the car, although I can take the key away.
Last week, I forgot to switch the car off after charging and left it on ACC for three days. I had already switched off the ACC position timeout on the MMCS, so that I could fully charge the car, although I am not convinced that this is necessary if the car is plugged in. As a consequence, the auxiliary battery drained and the car died completely. I 'jump-started' the car from my wife's Suzuki and drove it around for a while. So far, so good.
Then I plugged it in to the chargemaster unit and was astounded to see the car charge correctly without needing to be switched to ACC. I was able to lock the car and leave it charging. I have been telling my dealer that it is a software problem with the car, and now I appear to have proved that I am right and have mended the car by breaking it.
Has anyone had any similar experiences? Can anyone confirm that I am right?
TIA

 

[jaapv]

ACC is driven from a small 12V battery, that you can jumpstart like you did. The 240 V charging system will only charge the big battery pack, which cannot be used to fire up the car. The main battery pack will recharge the secondary battery once a day, but the power drain may well exceed the charging. Hence it is quite possible to run the car flat by forgetting to switch it off, despite a fully charged main battery. There is nothing wrong with your car.

 

[maby]

ACC is driven from a small 12V battery, that you can jumpstart like you did. The 240 V charging system will only charge the big battery pack, which cannot be used to fire up the car. The main battery pack will recharge the secondary battery once a day, but the power drain may well exceed the charging. Hence it is quite possible to run the car flat by forgetting to switch it off, despite a fully charged main battery. There is nothing wrong with your car.

Discharging the 12v battery under the circumstances described is to be expected, but the question remains why it was apparently necessary to leave the car switched to ACC in order to get it to charge. That should not be necessary and if it happens again, needs to be investigated.

 

[jaapv]

I had a similar problem. The cause turned out to be a faulty microswitch in the charge cable plug. Bent the lip a bit and all was back to normal.

 

[turpin1548]

I had a similar problem. The cause turned out to be a faulty microswitch in the charge cable plug. Bent the lip a bit and all was back to normal.

Could you give me some more details, thanks.

 

[turpin1548]

ACC is driven from a small 12V battery, that you can jumpstart like you did. The 240 V charging system will only charge the big battery pack, which cannot be used to fire up the car. The main battery pack will recharge the secondary battery once a day, but the power drain may well exceed the charging. Hence it is quite possible to run the car flat by forgetting to switch it off, despite a fully charged main battery. There is nothing wrong with your car.

Discharging the 12v battery under the circumstances described is to be expected, but the question remains why it was apparently necessary to leave the car switched to ACC in order to get it to charge. That should not be necessary and if it happens again, needs to be investigated.

Thanks for your info. The car is due back at the dealers when it goes for repair after my sheep-killing experience.

 

[jaapv]

I had a similar problem. The cause turned out to be a faulty microswitch in the charge cable plug. Bent the lip a bit and all was back to normal.

Could you give me some more details, thanks.

It suddenly got erratic in charging, sometimes refusing and then suddenly working again. I opened up the plug of the charging cable (car side) and found that the microswitch that controls the car feedback sometimes did not engage. So I bent the lip a little, screwed everything together again and everything worked as it should and kept on working.

 

[Regulo]

That microswitch controls the proximity pilot resistances. It's primary function is to tell the car someone's about to pull the plug out, which gives the car 100 mS to stop taking the charge current, thus preventing arcing when the circuit is broken. This also helps prolong the life of the relay contacts in the charging station. As you insert the plug, it also signals the car to prepare for charging. Worth checking the resistances, and microswitch operation, if you have intermittent charging problems.

 

[turpin1548]

That microswitch controls the proximity pilot resistances. It's primary function is to tell the car someone's about to pull the plug out, which gives the car 100 mS to stop taking the charge current, thus preventing arcing when the circuit is broken. This also helps prolong the life of the relay contacts in the charging station. As you insert the plug, it also signals the car to prepare for charging. Worth checking the resistances, and microswitch operation, if you have intermittent charging problems.

Ray, that's far beyond my competence. I am loathe to take the plug apart as I do not know what I am doing and could easily mess it up and any warranty along with it. This is my second chargemaster unit, and charging problems have arisen on the lead supplied with the car.

 

[turpin1548]

..Then I plugged it in to the chargemaster unit and was astounded to see the car charge correctly without needing to be switched to ACC. I was able to lock the car and leave it charging. I have been telling my dealer that it is a software problem with the car, and now I appear to have proved that I am right and have mended the car by breaking it.

A bit overenthusiastic there. The car has reverted to not charging ...

 

[jaapv]

Try it with another cable.

 

[Regulo]

If the problem persists with the supplied cable, as well as the chargemaster one, I'd suggest the problem lies within the car, rather than external cables. A problem for your dealer, unfortunately. Anyone near you with a working unit you could try?

 

[turpin1548]

Totally fed up now. Will not charge with either cable. It's going back to the dealer today, as soon as he can sort out a loan car. Thanks for your advice everyone, I'll keep you posted.

 

[turpin1548]

The charge timing software was still set. Dealer's service manager, dealer's technicians and I all though it had been cleared down. Turns out that it was still set. I had begun to attempt to set the car to charge only when the sun was shining (we have PV panels), but then decided against and (thought I had) cleared the settings. It appears that there is no way to override these settings, and no warning that you are trying to charge the car outside the specified time period. Dealer is discussing the UI with Mitsubishi UK.
Simple error, so difficult to track down. Thanks to everyone who tried to help.

 

[DrSlackBladder]

The charge timing software was still set. Dealer's service manager, dealer's technicians and I all though it had been cleared down. Turns out that it was still set. I had begun to attempt to set the car to charge only when the sun was shining (we have PV panels), but then decided against and (thought I had) cleared the settings. It appears that there is no way to override these settings, and no warning that you are trying to charge the car outside the specified time period. Dealer is discussing the UI with Mitsubishi UK.
Simple error, so difficult to track down. Thanks to everyone who tried to help.

So it's not just as simple as hitting "OFF" next to the timer settings for each day?

 

[Hypermiler]

Oh well, glad you got it sorted. I agree the app screens could be a bit more intuitive. Whereabouts are you turpin, out of interest?
Cheers
H

 

[turpin1548]

The charge timing software was still set. Dealer's service manager, dealer's technicians and I all though it had been cleared down. Turns out that it was still set. I had begun to attempt to set the car to charge only when the sun was shining (we have PV panels), but then decided against and (thought I had) cleared the settings. It appears that there is no way to override these settings, and no warning that you are trying to charge the car outside the specified time period. Dealer is discussing the UI with Mitsubishi UK.
Simple error, so difficult to track down. Thanks to everyone who tried to help.

So it's not just as simple as hitting "OFF" next to the timer settings for each day?

Apparently not. I have not investigated what I did or did not do, and to be honest, I don't want to fiddle with those settings again ... Maybe one day when I am bored I shall take a look at it all again. It is stupid that the only possible override (to charge the car outside the set times) is to leave it on ACC.

 

[turpin1548]

Oh well, glad you got it sorted. I agree the app screens could be a bit more intuitive. Whereabouts are you turpin, out of interest?
Cheers
H

Robin Hood's Bay

 

[Daniel]

Watching a Mitsubishi video, they stipulate: 'always turn off the charger before removing the lead from the vehicle'.

 

[DrSlackBladder]

The one time I switched off the charger before disconnecting it corrupted the transfer of data to my ChargeVision online account. All ok since I don't bother switching off anymore!