Charging Fault error.

[Elmil]

What the difference is between the R and E variants is I don't know. They are mixed up in terms of build date. One kind does not precede the other.

Maybe E is "Europe" and R is "Rest of the world"..?

 

[JejuSoul]

Maybe E is "Europe" and R is "Rest of the world"..

Yes, that fits the data we have. And it makes some sense. Europe uses a higher domestic voltage 220V/240V than elsewhere 110V.

So we have European OBC E versions have part number - 36400-0E240

There are still two part numbers for the Rest - 36400-0E040 and 36400-0E140

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On the Facebook forums we are still getting reports of second and third failures. And another 'smoked' B osch E V SE. It's mostly in Canada so it doesn't seem random.

 

[Spartaca]

I just had my on board charger replaced and I'm at 16,000 km. I had to wait three weeks for the part to come in but they gave me a rental car. I think the invoice was for about $3k but I didn't have to pay as it was covered by the warrantee.

 

[JejuSoul]

I just had my on board charger replaced and I'm at 16,000 km..

Hope the new one will last longer! Am assuming you are in Canada, correct? You use km not miles.

 

[JejuSoul]

Having to pay for a replacement OBC when the car goes out of warranty is not something any of us would care to do.
Although is going to be a few more years before any of us get there I think.
Before that happens I hope a fully fixed replacement has been given to all of the effected cars.

The car with the greatest mileage is in Georgia, USA.
It's from a post by RJ Hadley on the facebook forum - https://www.facebook.com/groups/SoulEV/permalink/1264817653598845/



And the warranty for the OBC should be 10 years, 100,000 miles.



This issue is discussed for a different car the Renault Zoe by Alloam in Scotland.
He just waited 3 months to have his broken OBC replaced.
Renault paid the full costs for a hire car during that time.
The warranty for his car is only 4 years which is almost up for him.
He talks about how much of a problem it would have been had the warranty already expired.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yeACXDIFw4

 

[Elmil]

Report on double OBC failure in UK:

https://speakev.com/threads/ev-soul-not-charging-again.29809/

 

[Cam]

We bought a Soul EV (2016) a year ago. Our Level 2 on board went kaput last month. I heard KIA is sending a bunch over by ship from Korea (this is taking forever and the dealer won't give us a courtesy car.) But this thread seems to indicate this isn't a big problem. Am I reading it correctly.

 

[JejuSoul]

... But this thread seems to indicate this isn't a big problem...

This is the most common major problem on our cars. This thread has 23 pages worth of problem.
BUT
No one is killed or hurt by having the OBC fail.
All expenses to repair should be paid by Kia. And that includes a replacement car, while yours is being fixed.

If you have a fast c harger nearby you can carry on using the car until the replacement OBC arrives. That is what I would do. But obviously not possible for many. In your case, insist on the replacement car. Are you one of the users from the UK, who are talking about this on the SpeakEV thread linked above. They are having problems with who should provide the replacement car. Fleetdrive the company that they hired from, or Kia the manufacturer.

 

[mactech]

Hi JejuSoul,

Reporting another dead OBC in SoulEV+ 2016, bought in July 2015 in Vancouver, Canada. VIN ends with 5310, little over 41000km
OBC MANDO V12.2R 36400-0E040,
HMC P/N 36600-0E140
Part is backordered at both local dealers, ETA unknown.
Surviving by using Fast charger on the way home.

The worrying part is there are 2 other Soul EVs sitting in the dealer shop waiting for replacement OBCs.

 

[Rigatoni]

2nd Update: OBC replaced. Car charging fine now.

Glad the car is fixed. Any info on the replacement OBC.

I don't have any info on the new OBC, sorry.

However, I do have a new update. My car just had the same error show up again today and it's being towed back to the dealer :-(

 

[JejuSoul]

-
Hope all of you with OBC problems get a repair done quickly.
Obviously this is still a major issue. There are still many reports on the Facebook page too.

The original error screen associated with this problem is 'Charging Fault Error'
The error screen 'External C harger Error' is normally caused by problems with the stand outside the car.
Many reports however now associate the External Error as the one linked to the faulty OBC.

I have never seen this one on my car. The others below are frequent.
It is this message that is most clearly linked to a faulty OBC on the car. Also common is the blue lights flashing.


Yesterday I tried these 3 stands. Two of the three were broken. My car is fine.


This is the error message after using the faulty L2 slow c hargers. My car is fine.


This error is different for faulty fast Chademo c hargers. (with the most recent Navi software installed.) My car is fine.

 

[JejuSoul]

The point of the message above is to show that it is often the external c harger that is at fault not the car. Many of the recent OBC failures seem to be double and triple failures. They have shown the external c harger error message. Isn't it possible that it is the external c harger that is causing the OBC to fail. Just replacing the OBC in the car, and continuing to use a faulty external c harger, seems the possible reason for all these multiple failures.

There is a Facebook thread discussing this issue. - https://www.facebook.com/groups/SoulEV/permalink/1282251905188753/

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Here's two more external c harger error OBC failures. OBC Fehler
Both in very new cars. These must be MY2017 failures.
Soul EV 1: 18.01.2017
Soul EV 2: 15.02.2017

The second car has an interesting write-up in Google Translate.

That's how it is!
Again an OBC went up ...
Just me!
Sent
2 seconds loaded and bang!
FI out. Fuse out 32A.
Does not load anymore. Also not with emergency.
External battery charger error.
Car will be towed to the dealer tomorrow.
About Kia Assistance.
Kia Soul EZ 15.02.2017 ...
Did not last long :roll:
Well is not a VW ...
I only say 7 years ... :lol:

 

[charlesm1950]

My car is only 4 weeks old and I got a Charging Fault error. I took it to the dealer who diagnosed a bad OBC last Wednesday. They order the part to be air freighted in from California to Austin. It arrived Friday but due to some confusing reason it was not installed. The service rep said they were waiting for KIA's approval to replace it. At least they gave me a loaner from day one. Hopefully on Monday it will get fixed. Now I'm worried that my brand new 240V charger may damage my car's OBC. Does anyone have any idea what is causing all these failures of the OBC?

 

[nibularr]

Supposed to be something faulty inside the obc .
At 4 weeks old is it a 2017?
If 2016 do you know what month it was built in?

 

[JejuSoul]

... Now I'm worried that my brand new 240V charger may damage my car's OBC...

Don't be. Kia will replace your OBC under warranty. They are obliged to fix this. The primary problem is with the car.
A working OBC should not be damaged by a faulty wall box. It is only guesswork that this has ever happened at all.
The reality is that lots of OBCs have broken and need to be replaced. We don't know why.
We have heard rumours that this was fixed in MY2016, then MY2017 and now rumours it will be fixed in MY2018.
It does not inspire confidence in how much effort Kia is putting into this.
There has been no official comment from Kia about what is going on.

A fully working OBC is one that tells you the external c harger is broken, but cannot be damaged by it.
Similarly a fully working OBC cannot damage the external c harger.

 

[SoulEV2016]

Now I'm worried that my brand new 240V charger may damage my car's OBC.

your EVSE device is not a charger.

It's a PCB card that it generates 12v signal to indicate at witch rate, the charger in the car, must be charge (in kW, in Current in A).

your EVSE device have this PCB card and a contactor (32A or more).

so, if the car indicate a "charger error", it's because :

- the supply is a problem (contactor problem)
- the supply is the problem (below the 105v ... to long and tiny cable gauge)
- the EVSE protocol is wrong (EVSE PCB card problem, contact in the Type 1 connector with dust/rust)
- the Charger in the car have a problem

that's why Kia have delayed the change of your OBC.
because the car charge correctly on the EVSE device in the seller ... for a complete night.

In France, Kia say that only the assistance must be engage a change of the charger, no the seller.
Because the customer have tried to charge with his EVSE device and with the official cable provide with the car ... and the 2 have failed to engage the charger even when the official cable have been tested at the seller with the town truck.

 

[JejuSoul]

your E VSE device is not a c harger.
It's a PCB card that it generates 12v signal to indicate at which rate, the c harger in the car, must be charge (in kW, in Current in A).
...

Yes, you are correct. For L1 and L2 the only c harger is the one in the car. The OBC.
For fast Chademo charging the c harger is external and the OBC is not used.

The error message seen for faulty L1 and L2 connections is therefore quite misleading.



This error message encompasses a range of possible problems. It could be the connector, the cable, the E VSE, the wiring, the fusebox, or the power supply. Or it could be a faulty OBC that just blames the external connection. What it doesn't include is an External C harger.

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Some more details about one of the German MY2017 cars mentioned above. It had a June 2016 OBC.
He was using this cable.



The dealer is trying to say that it is the non-standard cable that is at fault, not the OBC.

 

[Elmil]

The dealer is trying to say that it is the non-standard cable that is at fault, not the OBC.

This might very well be the case, as this cable seems to be a Type2 only, so an adapter of some kind would have been used, possibly compromising safety or function.

 

[nibularr]

I hope so for my case since my replacement OBC was built in may 2016

 

[JejuSoul]

-
Am curious. If most public L2 c hargers in Europe are Mennekes Type 2 and the Soul EV has a J 1772 socket wouldn't most owners get an adapter.

Image from evcables.co.uk - Type 1 to Type 2 Charging Cable

Here in Korea the opposite will be true for T esla owners. Almost all public L2 c hargers are J 1772 and the T esla has a Mennekes Type 2 socket

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Here's a new variety of OBC fault reported on the Facebook group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/SoulEV/permalink/1290510684362875/

So now the car is going into turtle mode every time we start the car this morning. Turn off to reset, then goes back into turtle. This is off a full charge and pre-conditioning this morning(usual schedule)... anyone else have this happen? :-( ... another interesting thing I just noticed, the car starts charging at 2AM, it didn't finish until 6:59AM this morning... too long for a full charge. Even if the new on board c harger is slower it should have only taken 4.5 hours.

and

The inverter/OBC (not sure if they are separate, the tech said they were the same) has two hoses for the coolant - our supply hose had drained the reservoir(the car gave me 'Replace inverter coolant' warning on the way to the dealer) because of a bad weld/crimp to the metal body of the inverter. This was the new unit they installed in January. Good news is that I got it to them in time before it destroyed anything else, they are replacing the entire OBC again and got approval from Kia same day so it will be ready tomorrow which is pretty incredible.
So in summary - noticed some coolant in our driveway past couple weeks, thought it was just visiting ICE vehicles, didn't occur to me that it could be the Soul. Turtle flashed on a couple times last week, went away on its own. Then yesterday the turtle came on twice while my wife was driving to work, the car slowed and she had to pull over twice. Power on/off to reset and car went again. This was going up hill. That's when I checked under the hood and saw coolant all over the place but couldn't see exactly where it was coming from. OBD scanner gave error code P0A93 - 'Inverter Coolant Performance'. Took it in today and the turtle came on while going up hill but did not stop and then later the replace coolant warning came on (and it does not go away btw).