Charging Fault error.

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Did Kia ever say what actually fails in the OBC? I mean, is it an internal fuse? A blown up capacitor? Software bug?
One would think they take the OBC home and test them.

Cheers
 
I read through about the first 9 pages, and the last one or two.

We are leasing a 2017 EV+. Have had it for 6 months. 4814 miles.

Last night's charge failed before the "Stop Time". Charger Failure notice on the dashboard panel. The blue charging LEDs fail to illuminate when attempting L2 charge (regardless of whether immediate or scheduled). Broke out the "trickle charger" that came with the car. It won't charge either. The orange fault on the "trickle charger" illuminates, and, again, none of the blue charging LEDs light up.

This will be interesting (and, no doubt, frustrating). We are in Juneau, Alaska. Over 600 miles to Anchorage, the nearest Kia dealer in the state. We are 1,000 miles from Seattle (where we leased the vehicle).

25 miles indicated range left, and unable to charge.

Does not look pretty.

DG

P.S. Our EVSE is a "plain vanilla" JuiceBox that is rented to us by our local electric utility. Have reset it (unplugged and replugged) several times, but the repeated double beeping continues. JuiceBox web site indicates that double beeps mean some kind of J1772 protocol failure.
 
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If the OBC in the car is broken, it is still possible to use a fast c harger.
It may give you some extra options while you decide what to do.

Do any of these stations marked have a Chademo plug.



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I have a 2015 Soul EV with the original OBC. A couple of days ago I had what looked like the 'standard' OBC error referred to on this page.

I started L2 charging normally, and all looked fine - until I looked into the car and saw the dash.



So I got in, turned on and saw the same on the navi. I started Torque on my phone, saw that the car wasn't drawing power from the wallbox.



A few minutes later 'charging' stopped. I heard a clunk. the 3 blue lights all began flashing.
The navi showed the external c harger error.



But when I disconnected and then restarted everything worked fine. It has been fine for the 3 charges I have done since.
 
JejuSoul,

Thank you for the suggestion.

Unfortunately, there are no Level 3 chargers within at least 500 miles.

Also, when I attempt to start a Level 2 charge, it doesn't eve appear normal. The blue charging LEDs all remain off. Also, the EVSE seems not to be supplying any power at all. It (a JuiceBox) just continuosly emits a double beep, about every second.

Level 1 (using the OEM "trickle charger" [I hate that term-- since it is EVSE and not a charger-- but that's what they use in the Owner's Manual]) behaves similarly. The "trickle charger" lights up the orange Fault indicator, and nothing happens with respect to actual charging.

I note that it has gotten colder the past couple days-- approx 25 degrees F (about -13 degrees C). I wonder if that could be a factor.

I also wonder if I should try disconnecting and reconnecting the 12V battery. Alternatively, would it be equivalent to either cycle the "big red switch", or maybe the fuse box-- instead of getting out wrenches and going under the hood?

Thank you.

DG

P.S. Edit: I observe that I made an error in temperature reference, above. 25 F = -4 C, not -13 C. -13 C = 9 F. Juneau is in the "banana belt" of Alaska. It only rarely gets down to 9 F (-13 C ) in these parts. Now, up in Anchorage, or Fairbanks (the Interior), or the North Slope is a different story. -40 (C or F) and lower is common up there.
 
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The switch is here if you want to turn off the 12V battery. (If you lock the car after disconnecting you will need to unlock with the physical key).

igztcz.jpg


It may also be worth checking the health of the 12V battery with a voltmeter.
Or if you have it use Torque to read out the battery stats.
 
I tried to get the software to reset. First I tried turning the switch off, waiting a bit, and back on. That didn't work. Then I thought, well maybe that doesn't really disconnect everything. So, I opened the hood, and physically removed the negative battery cable. Waited a bit, and then reconnected. That didn't work, either.

So, I phoned Customer Support. They weren't very helpful. It was a struggle to convince the technician with whom I spoke that there was a problem other than a dead battery! He insisted that the absence of blue charging LEDs meant, according to p.15 of the Owner's Manual, which he had me turn to and read, that means "Not Charged", and that means the battery is dead. He thought the solution was to just hook up the charger and charge the battery. I explained that the car was perfectly driveable just the way it was. And that the headlights and heater worked, etc. He didn't quite believe me because (I told him) that the blue LEDs were off, and that couldn't be unless the battery were "Not Charged". Talk about being stuck in the script!

He had me go out to the car and narrate my step by step sequence of plugging in the J1772 connector.

He is going to consult with some other folks, and we will speak again.

The saga continues.

DG

P.S. BTW, it appears that this French gentleman experienced the same thing. I wish I could understand French.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc7UmtBno2U
 
P.P.S. It's interesting to me that the car seems to have done something to the EVSE's that I have used. I have Level 2 EVSE at home. (JuiceBox-- the plain vanilla "dumb" version) It is now emitting double beeps at approx 1 second intervals. According to the JuiceBox web site, that means some kind of problem with the the vehicle's J1772 protocol. So, then I broke out the OEM "trickle charger". I connect it up, and instead of the "charging" LED, the "Fault" LED comes on.

I'm thinking I need a new OBC. But, the Customer Support tech doesn't quite see it that way. (Yet.)
 
in my country, almost all problems need a Kia Assistance process ... to tow the car to the nearest service Kia provider.

so drive to 0%, call KIA Assistance that you can not charge with EVSE Kia official cord ... and a tow-truck push the car to the dealer (and if it don't charge, KIA services start to investigate).

it's the same issue here :

- customer need to "broke" the car in drive ...
- customer must CALL the service assistance ...
- and ... Kia do the good verifications
- and loan a Kia Rio for you ... (or Picanto for broken Soul EV usually)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wanr0LThvkM
 
The "get a two" idea doesn't seem to work where I am.

I live in Juneau Alaska. We are not connected to the North American road system. That means about a 900 mile (1,500 km) barge shipment, or an 80 mile ferry transport to the nearest town connected to the continental road system (which then means a 1,000 mile tow). As you can guess, the price of any transport option to Seattle exceeds $250, and Kia Customer Support has told me they won't pay for it (except for the first $250). There is a dealer in Anchorage, but, even though they apparently sell and service Soul EV's, Kia's position is that they are not an authorized dealer, and therefore I must transport to Washington State. (Even the Anchorage two would be 600 miles [after the ferry trip].)

Kia has told me I should not have taken a Soul EV to Alaska, as it is not designed for our extreme weather. On the phone, the agent made it sound like Kia is a victim, and I am an aggressor. The agent had no coherent response when I pointed out that Kia Soul EVs are sold in Canada and Norway. He simply repeated that it is a violation of Kia's policy for us to have a Soul EV in Alaska!

At the time of purchase, we were quite upfront with the dealer (in Washington State) from whom we purchased (leased) the vehicle about our situation, and that dealer checked with Kia BEFORE we made the deal, regarding warranty service. At that time, Kia told us (via the dealer) that warranty service would be provided in Juneau by contracting with a local service provider. Now that I need the service, Kia is denying they made any such representation, and said any alleged agreement for providing service in Juenau is a violation of Kia policy, and strictly a matter between the dealer and us.

This is not working out well.

Vehicle is unusable-- dead in the water (except for about 22 miles of range left); no plan to repair; and no rental or other car replacement. They just say we violated Kia policy, so ship it to Washington (and back), and they'll be happy to do the repair for free.

It would be a fraction of the cost for Kia to fly a technician here to replace the OBC (a 2 hour job, I understand), but they want us to ship the vehicle.

I shall make one more attempt to speak with Kia Customer Service tomorrow, but it doesn't look good.

:(

DG
 
dgpretzel said:
...I shall make one more attempt to speak with Kia Customer Service tomorrow, but it doesn't look good. :( ...
So what happened in the end? I really hope Kia sorts this our you. Their lack of concern is appalling.

The charging failures as documented on this thread, and Kia's reluctance to inform us on what is going on, are a strong negative when it comes to recommending anyone to buy a Kia car in future. A shame because in many respects this is a great car.

My latest frustration with this issue, after the first failure two weeks ago was two nights ago. Trying to charge from 8% back to 100%. Charging failed 5 times in a row. it started normally but failed each time after 5 or 10 minutes. Not consistent with the time of failure. Not a consistent error message. Very hard to debug. Fortunately it worked on the sixth attempt. I will take the car to Kia to get the OBC changed.

No wonder so many users are frustrated by this bug. You don't know if your car is going to be charged when you need it.
 
When I attempted to back to the case (at Kia Customer Support), I found that they had closed the case, with no further contact!

I contacted our dealer, Lee Johnson Kia, in Kirkland WA. They went to bat for us. They have been very helpful and supportive. It is Kia who has been terribly unresponsive, and denied that they had any obligation because we have the vehicle in Alaska, and Kia said they didn't support Alaska.

Kia is just totally incomprehensible to us. Fortunately, we saved the emails in which they told us (before the sale) that warranty service would be provided IN JUNEAU by contracting with some other local service provider. The dealer has been speaking with Kia Customer Support on our behalf (they still have not had any more contact with us), and, apparently, our saved emails have had some effect. The dealer reports that Kia now wants to have the vehicle transported from Juneau to Seattle for servicing. The downside is that it will take about three weeks, just for the round trip transport (by barge) between Juneau and Seattle. Just the transportation will cost about $3,000. We have suggested that it would be faster and cheaper to fly a technician from Seattle to Juneau to replace the OBC. The roundtrip flight and the service work could be accomplished in a single day. We have not had a response to that idea yet, but then again, we only suggested that idea today.

The saga continues.

Kia (not our dealer) has been antagonistic, and self-contradicting. The left hand knows not what the right hand is doing. They speak out of both sides of their mouth.

Dealer is great. Car is (we still feel) great. The Kia organization leaves a bad taste.

Just as a matter of information... we fully disclosed, from our very first contact that we lived in Alaska, and inquired whether that would be a showstopper in purchasing (actually, we are leasing) the Soul EV. The dealer checked with Kia, and they told us all was fine, and warranty service would be provided in Juneau.

I supppose we should be happy that (it now appears) that they will repair the car. But, we still think they should honor their initial statement that service will be provided locally, rather than having to ship South (meanwhile the lease continues to "tick"). We would really be "up the creek" if we did not have another vehicle, as Kia is not providing any rental replacement. Our Soul EV is basically dead (since we are unable to charge it). BTW, it also damaged our Level 2 charger (Juice Box). That needs to be replaced, too. Fortunately, we are renting it from our local electric utility, and they are replacing it at no cost to us.

DG
 
JejuSoul said:
The charging failures as documented on this thread, and Kia's reluctance to inform us on what is going on, are a strong negative when it comes to recommending anyone to buy a Kia car in future. A shame because in many respects this is a great car... No wonder so many users are frustrated by this bug. You don't know if your car is going to be charged when you need it.

I agree completely. For the past two and a half years my Soul has been a fantastic, practical, economical vehicle for my family. I've enjoyed owning and driving this car much more than I thought I would. However, charging faults related to an issue with the OBC caused me a degree of stress and anxiety almost from day one. The OBC was eventually replaced under warranty at no charge, but I won't buy another Kia/Hyundai EV and won't recommend one to others until these issues are fully resolved.
 
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There does seem to be some action by Kia on this issue - at least in the US.
Although it is not clear to me what this 'test' actually does. see - : What's fixed in 170069 Logic Improvement?

My car continues to misbehave. Am charging again right now after the multiple failures a few days ago.
Got one failure so far and re-started.

The car showed a really long remaining charge time on the dash (it should be 4 hours) -



But when I looked with Torque all looks normal.



I went back out 20 minutes late and the charge is continuing, but the timer is 2 hours less.
Another 20 minutes later and it is still working, but that is the last time I will check tonight.
 
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I got the 170069 Logic Improvement 'fix' today. It's a firmware update to the OBC

Here's the display from Kia's KDS tablet showing the new ROM ID.



My car is a 2015 and previously charged at close to 32A on my home c harger.
The new update changed my software to that used in the 2016 cars. This limits the maximum current by about 10%.
Using Torque I had to swap the codes in my phone from the 2015 version to the 2016 version.

The readout today is



Despite this update my car continues to show really strange charge times. It should show 1 hour.



They have ordered a new OBC for me.
 
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Jejusoul, sorry to hear you got this problem too.. mine is still doing well (knock on wood..)

I had this OBC firmware update (or corresponding, the european OBC HW is apparently different) 3 months ago when doing the 75000km service. There was no notable function change afterwards, except for the MY2016 codes.

My OBC has always limited the AC input current at 27.5A, and it still does. Maybe some sort of stress limiting due to our grid? (240V is allowed)
Not sure if the 6.6kW specification is for the input or the output of the OBC, but still, 240V x 27.5A = 6600W.

It's very unusual for me to charge at the full 27.5A, at home I always use the 2.0kW (8.7A) EVSE that was provided with the car.
 
elmil said:
My OBC has always limited the AC input current at 27.5A,
My car was limited to 32A for the AC input current until yesterday. The highest input power I commonly saw was 7.2kW. That is 32A at 225V. Hence I assume the 6.6kW OBC limit is the output power limit.

Edit: yes it is 6.6kW output power. Here are the labels from my original and new OBCs.





The cars in Canada and US have the same OBC software as me. The software limitation on MY2016 cars is exactly 10%. down from 32A to 28.8A. I didn't know before that MY2015 cars in Europe were already software limited.

My case of OBC failure is unique. No other car has reported the same erratic behavior as mine. It fails sometimes. It works sometimes. The commonality is that at the start my car seems to draw a much lower current than is actually available. It then reverts to the real value or fails.

I am also luckier than everyone else in that I have a Kia garage 500 meters from my home. They are very supportive. Both the owner and the mechanic also have Soul EVs. There are also many hundreds of fast ch argers within driving distance of my house. I can keep driving my Soul EV as normal while we wait for the OBC to be delivered. The hassle is that I charge at off-peak rates which begin at 11pm. Going outside in the winter every half an hour to check that charging is actually working is not enjoyable.

Based on a very small sample size - Elmil and SoulEV2016 - it seems that slower charging is beneficial for less battery degradation. In future I would actually prefer to slow down my normal charging speeds from 32A to 16A. I don't have the choice at the moment, but changing my EV SE to an openEV SE would give me it.
 
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I had my OBC fixed on Thursday. It took an hour. Excellent work by the local Kia garage. Car now charges fine. I will post a detailed series of images from this repair tomorrow. First though I just found these pictures on the Quebec Soul EV Facebook thread. The first time I have seen the inside of one of the OBC units.

Posted by Sylvain Belanger‎ - here https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10212906196503462&set=pcb.1854263821270008&type=3&theater&ifg=1

The OBC fix was done at Véhicules électriques Simon André. This is the (first) used EV repair shop in Quebec. So it's not a Kia dealership. As the car was bought in the US, the warranty does not apply here so that's why they were on their own to change the OBC. They took the opportunity to open the OBC case to check if something is broken and repairable.






The good news here is that it is possible to fix an OBC out of warranty without going to Kia.
The one step that is not possible for DIY fixing is the recirculation of the cooling fluid.
In this case they didn't do it and everything was fine.
Don't know if they were just lucky because it was Quebec winter.
But it should be possible to do this by filling, driving a short distance and then filling some more.

The repair on my car required the official GDS to be running - and an Internet connection to Kia





Safety Hint
Disconnect the 12V battery and wear thick rubber gloves to disconnect the high voltage orange cabling.




 
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The OBC update I received before they changed my OBC is called Service Action 306 in the US (or SA170069 elsewhere)



I had my OBC changed last week. (MY2015, 42,000km)
A few days after having the OBC Update.
I had the Error Code - P1CF5.
Now it's fixed.

 
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Here's the well-worn manual that the tech guy used to check that it was the OBC that was broken and not a cabling fault.
He had done this many times before and went through these steps fast.











Here's a couple of photos showing the checking of the cabling.
He didn't seem bothered if the tolerances were slightly out.
For example the 150 Ohm +/- 5 showed up as 185.



 
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