Replacing the On board Charger (OBC)

TomKasse · Aug 30, 2022

So it was finally my turn.....

My beloved Kia patiently waited until the warranty expired and then just destroyed the On Board Charger (OBC).

Now I have to find a new one myself from a parts seller and I have a question:

- My Soul EV is a 2015 mod, can I replace the OBC with any OBC from a later production year? (I should probably stay away from the later models with the larger battery capacity since that is more likely to have some adjustments made to the oBC system as well). There seems to be several different part numbers and replacements produced for the 2015-2019 models, but are they all interchangable?

TomKasse · Sep 18, 2022

Ok, so another question.
When changing the On Board Charger, do I need to also change the ECPU Assy on top of it, or is the fault only in the OBC module?
My car only charges on Chademo, not on type 1/2.
Anyone?

notfred · Sep 18, 2022

You only need to replace the OBC, the modules are separate.

I think you have the order of the modules wrong. I thought top was the switching module, then OBC, then EPCU.

TomKasse · Sep 19, 2022

Update:

The dealer said it was my OBC that needed to be replaced because the code
P1CF2 – HV DC Out of Range
was present when they ran a diagnostic....

So I changed the OBC yesterday myself with a factory refurbished one that I got from a car salvage yard.
Of course - it did not help

When trying to charge with type 1 charger the three blue dash light still just blinks twice and then nothing.....

I stopped by the dealer, they checked and confirmed that the code was now gone (only showed up in the history) and the new OBC is ok.
There are no other fault codes at all.

Any suggestions out there to what it can be? Faulty port or cable from port to obc? Ground issues? Cooling problem?

The dealer have no time to look at the car before in the beginning of November, so I would like to see if I can fix it myself, being out of warranty and all

Any reasonable suggestion will be investigated and I´ll update here

(notfred: the top is EPCU Cable assy, middle is OBC and bottom is ECM engine control module).

IanL · Sep 19, 2022

My Type 1/2 charging stopped working, and I suspected the KIA-supplied cable, as the granny charger worked fine. I checked each conductor for continuity between the plug pins and that was fine, but I noticed that the Type 2 end of the cable (plugs into the EVSE, not the car) has one pin which does not protrude as much as the others. I wondered if that was the problem, so I opened up the plug, and repositioned the pin so that it protruded more, though still not as much as the others. That fixed the problem, as long as the plug is well-seated into the socket.

TomKasse · Sep 20, 2022

IanL;
Checked.
It is not the granny charger or other external charging cables.
I have 2 of these cars and they both use the same charger from the house.

If anything related it might be between the inlet port and the on board charger, but I dont have the schematics to look for any faults in the port/internal wiring.

If someone knows how to check pins and wires with a multimeter pls speak out

JejuSoul · Sep 22, 2022

-
There's a lot of info about On Board Charger replacements in this thread - Charging Fault error.

Here's some photos from when mine was changed back in 2017.

-

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.

TomKasse · Sep 26, 2022

JeJuSoul,

Thx,
Checked.
Continuity is ok on +/-/G and pilot signal.
ohms within <1 ohm and >1m ohm (limits found in the service manual specification pages)

Quickcharging is now a slow event and it takes around 1,5 hr to charge from 20%

Dealer earliest available time for a full fault finding diagnosis was now end of November, so my search for a diy fix contunues...

TomKasse · Dec 3, 2022

Final update:

Car is now fixed.

The dealer found that a 40A fuse was blown in the High Voltage Junction box. The fuse cost a crazy 250$!
For the diagnostic the dealer charged 350$ for 1,5 hours. Total damage 600$

My suspicion that the electronic water pump was not working turned out to be correct, also, and the dealer quoted me 750$ to replace it (part alone is 600$). What a joke.
I got a used one for 58$ and changed it myself. Took me 25 min.

So, in summary:
- The electric water pump stopped working which resulted in the OBC to overheat and fail. That in turn resulted in the 40A fuse to blow.

What a nightmare!

JejuSoul · Dec 4, 2022

-
Glad you got this fixed. And to know the primary cause of this problem, A cascading series of faults.
Blowing the 40A fuse because either the EWP or OBC fails sounds a little strange. Both have 10A fuses.

The 10A fuse for the EWP is shown here in the PCB Block.
Presumably the blown fuse is the 40A Blower Relay above it.

We talked about the EWP fuses here :- anyone know waterpump on/off relay location if exist ?

Mantas Puskorius · Jul 23, 2024

TomKasse said:
Final update:

Car is now fixed.

The dealer found that a 40A fuse was blown in the High Voltage Junction box. The fuse cost a crazy 250$!
For the diagnostic the dealer charged 350$ for 1,5 hours. Total damage 600$

My suspicion that the electronic water pump was not working turned out to be correct, also, and the dealer quoted me 750$ to replace it (part alone is 600$). What a joke.
I got a used one for 58$ and changed it myself. Took me 25 min.

So, in summary:
- The electric water pump stopped working which resulted in the OBC to overheat and fail. That in turn resulted in the 40A fuse to blow.

What a nightmare!

WOW, 600$ only for one blowed fuse

Replacing the On board Charger (OBC)

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