Charging Fault error.

[Hazeyone]

Well it did not have a problem on Friday... But it did today! Thankfully I was able to get the car to the dealer while it was acting up! They ran test and found errors... I am waiting for confirmation but it looks like the OBC is faulty. Part may be on back order though. Now we can get on with it really getting fixed. Love the car it will suck driving an ICE for a bit

 

[Ray]

Hello - I'm not sure if I have the same charging issue, related to this string. When using the charger which came with my 2015 Soul EV, and plugging into a 110v plug in my garage, the car charges for awhile (maybe an hour to two), and then stops, no matter if the battery is fully charged or not. The "Fault" light is lit up as well, so, of course, something is wrong.

When looking at my UVO app, on my phone, it states the car is "connected", but not charging. When clicking on the "Charge" button on the app, I get an error, then a text which reads, "Charging could not be started because the charging station is not supplying any power". This is of course, due tot the "Fault" indicator. Any idea what I'm doing wrong, if anything" Why am I getting the "fault" indicator light now? In the past, this was never an issue.

I typically charge my car at work, but on occasion, when needed, I'd like to top the battery up to 100% overnight when planning a road trip the next day.

Thanks in advance - Ray

 

[Hazeyone]

Hi Ray, I have had that too, for me I found the problem was that my circuit was not dedicated at least I think that is why. But I rarely trickle charge. When the circuit was overloaded it would shut the charger off. Is your car providing any message with it? I got the error message "check electric vehicle system" and then sometimes the EV light would come on for a while. Public chargers started giving me messages "charging complete or paused by the vehicle". I had to get it to service while it was acting up. They are telling me that my Battery Controller needs replacing...is that the same as OBC or different? Anyone know. The part is BO 6 weeks to 2 mos.

 

[Ray]

Thanks. I'm not getting an error message in the car. It's a good thing I don't need to trickle charge much....

 

[Hazeyone]

Then probably not the car. Just make sure you are using a dedicated electrical circuit for trickle charging. Then you will probably be OK and it won't kick off. I used to unplug our built in vacuum in the garage it is a dedicated circuit. Good luck.

 

[Hazeyone]

Well an update, Kia found my Battery Management System to be faulty. They replaced it and the wiring harness connected to it under warranty. They expedited the parts in. Just picked it up hopefully that should be it. Sure missed it, great car when all is running well.

 

[JejuSoul]

There is a discussion in French on this topic from Soul EV users in Quebec - http://menu-principal-forums-aveq.1097349.n5.nabble.com/Possible-probleme-de-batterie-ou-d-electronique-ou-de-borne-td32621i40.html
They have a list of 11 Souls with this issue. Seems a lot for a single province.
They have a photo of the C harger Error warning you get on the main driving display.



I have seen a different External C harger Error warning on the infotainment display.
I have seen this twice now. Once on a slow ch arger whilst testing the OBD dongle and once on Chademo while doing nothing unusual at all. I have had no actual problems with the battery or charging at all. The error message just goes away when you click 'OK'.



-

 

[Hazeyone]

Well unfortunately you will see my name too many times in this message thread. Since I have owned my 2016 Kia Soul EV Oct 2015 it has had nothing but problems with charging. After suffering out intermittent charging and being stranded and struggling to get the car to the dealer for weeks while the problem displayed itself, they finally found that I had a faulty battery controller. The controller was replaced and I had a few weeks of driving bliss enjoying a problem free EV experience. That all ended yesterday, my car stopped charging at 93% at home for some reason, I still took the car to work there was not a charger in Richmond that I tried where I did not get the same old charging error message and a knot in my gut. Chargepoint Stations gave me "charging is complete or car has paused charging". My car displayed "check electric vehicle system". It appears to me to be the same problem I had before perhaps they are having component issues? The car was towed to the dealer after me blowing off yet another workday afternoon. The dealer here is frustrated and trying to support me but is saying there are so many problems with the Soul EV's and they have 4 people that want their money back already, I will be #5 they have one more chance and then I am done. Apparently they sent their Tech to Korea for further training and investigation and there are unknowns they can't fix! Keep you posted but stay away from this car right now.....I hope to be a proud new owner of a Leaf, unless they can make this all go away I would not trust another Kia Soul EV!

 

[JejuSoul]

Hazeyone: sorry to hear you have so much trouble with your car. Hope this finally gets fixed.

Am trying to understand the different error messages we are getting and what fault each is related to. Have edited this post with updated info from the Facebook page and the German forum. It seems this is a common problem and has effected many cars in Norway, Canada and Germany. The strangest thing about this is the variety of error messages people are reporting and the variety of fixes to what seems to be a single very annoying and very expensive problem.

1/ Vinnymess in the first comment on this thread reported a "Charging fault error" which I assume is the same as the one in French above (Erreur de Chargeur !). He said "Since they changed the OBC I have had no more issues with the car."

2/ AyeJay and Fanbanlo have reported Charging Module Errors. The error message displayed is "Check EV light" which sounds like your (Hazeyone) "check electric vehicle system" Both had the Charging Module replaced (presumably the OBC) and have not reported errors since. It would be good if someone could post a photo of this error.

3/ Hazeyone states "..they finally found that I had a faulty battery controller. The controller was replaced.." and earlier "Kia found my Battery Management System to be faulty. They replaced it and the wiring harness connected to it" Despite changing all this the problem is still not fixed.

4/ On the German forum Leontine reports, "since tonight it will not charge, when inserting the three blue lights blink twice and then nothing..." They replaced the OBC - cost 8000 Euros. Didn't work. Then the Cable Assy-High Voltage. A new post here from Elmar Burke, "The lamps in the dashboard did not even blink an error. When I start the car, standing in the middle "charger fault". This error message is similar to the one seen by Vinnymess and others.

5/ My car has had the external charger error message displayed (see above) but this has not effected my ability to charge. It is not related to the errors here. Just using it to show the variety of error messages shown.

A large cluster of these errors seem to be in Quebec. They have 11 instances of these.
Their list -

Isabelle :                              2015, Base, Borne Schneider,    pas de nouvelle d'Isabelle
CarlP     :                             2015, Luxe,  Borne EVduty 30a, (convertisseur, selon Carl + de $12000, remplacé sur garantie)
Baoutch :                             2015, Luxe,  Borne EVduty 30a, (convertisseur remplacé sur garantie)
Guillaume Godbout :              2015, Luxe,  Bosch 30A,           (chargeur embarqué, valeur + de $5000, remplacé sur garantie)
Daniel Poirier :                      2016                                        (chargeur embarqué, remplacé sur garantie)
Roch Lanthier:                      2015, Base, Bosch 30A,            (chargeur embarqué, remplacé sur garantie)
Mélanie Chicoine Ledoux:      2015, Luxe, Borne EVduty,        (chargeur embarqué, sera remplacé sur garantieù)
Sylvio Perreault:                   2015,Luxe,   ???
Jocelyn Paradis                    2016,Luxe +, Borne Bosch 30A
Pierre-Étienne                       2016,Luxe +, Borne EVduty,       (diagnostic à venir)
Soul EV de EEKO                 2015,Luxe,                                (chargeur embarqué)

Just found much more on this :- The problem is a major one in Norway.
There is a thread on the Facebook page dealing with this issue. - https://www.facebook.com/groups/SoulEV/permalink/979462865467660/
Tommy Christensen from Norway ..."I belive its between 80-200 cars at this time with OBC problems. Still growing."
Pierre-Étienne Messier " ...it's about 6% of the Soul EV that have the problem. The percentage is about the same in Norway and here in Canada!"

The discussion on the German forum about this issue is here - http://www.goingelectric.de/forum/kia-soul-ev/er-will-nicht-mehr-laden-t15193.html

 

[GizmoEV]

Is there something different with the US and other market Soul EVs where they aren't having this type of problem? Maybe Kia can start with what is different and narrow things down a bit. Other than a loose battery pack fan ground screw and the flickering bars in the cluster I haven't had any issues with our Soul EV+ and I have over 12,700 miles on it since July.

Oh, I have been having issues with the navigation program scrambling or just plain losing things in the address book.

 

[JejuSoul]

That the location of cars with this problem are all in certain areas does seem strange. For instance why do we get lots of reports from British Columbia and none from Washington State. I have asked locally (Jeju island) and no one seems aware of this issue here.

 

[Hazeyone]

Well hello again, my Kia dealer says they are replacing my battery pack. I should get my car sometime this coming week. Do you think a faulty battery would cause intermittent charging? They have already replaced my battery controller. I miss the car and it is great to drive when it runs properly. I just want one that does not strand me! Keep you posted, I really want to get to where I can just drive and enjoy the car...

 

[Hazeyone]

@Jejusoul... I agree, BC, Quebec are having some problems. Norway too! Very strange.

 

[wrickcook]

That the location of cars with this problem are all in certain areas does seem strange. For instance why do we get lots of reports from British Columbia and none from Washington State. I have asked locally (Jeju island) and no one seems aware of this issue here.

If it helps, I am in WA state and am not seeing any errors (knock on wood) just the flashing SOC bars.
Mine is a 2016 that I picked up in Oct of 2015.
The 11th digit of my VIN is 7 which means my car was made at the Seosan, Korea plant. I had a record of the month of production but do not see it, I think it was in July.

I think I read there were 4 factories building them, maybe that is something to consider (where and when). But those are the details on my model that seems to be fine.

 

[JejuSoul]

My car has not had the battery problem or the blinking range bars. It is a year old now.
Given how expensive these issues are to fix I am hoping all these early problems are solved long before the car goes out of warranty.
Also as far as I know all the Soul EVs are assembled at the Gwangju plant in South Korea.
There is a page for decoding the VIN here - http://www.kiasoulforums.com/29-how-diy/4178-vin-decoder-vehicle-identification-number.html

I don't know who makes the OBC or where. The electronics are probably not made at the assembly plant. The battery for instance comes from SK Inno's factory in Seosan.

Comparing the two issues:
The blinking range bar problem seems to be rare but occurs everywhere. People who had a new instrument cluster still have the problem. Suggesting Kia does not know what the problem is or how to fix it.
The Charging Fault Error is more common but specific to certain countries. People who had a replacement OBC seem to be good. Suggesting either Kia does know what the problem is and has fixed it, or it has just gone away in newer versions of the OBC. That the problem occurs in Norway / Canada may be something to do with the kind of EVSE's sold there, and not the fact that cars come from a different batch.

 

[Hazeyone]

You can also decode your VIN here. http://www.vindecoderz.com/EN/Kia
I have been told that the EVs are all made in the same plant.

 

[Hazeyone]

Yes it looks like all souls are made in Gwangju. The Gwangju facility produces the Kia Soul, Kia Carens/Rondo, Kia Sportage, and Kia Bongo/K-Series, as well as buses and military vehicles.

http://pr.kia.com/en/now/tour/global-plant/gwangju-plant.do

 

[JejuSoul]

I went into the local Kia service center to chat about used EV prices. Noticed this.

This is a car having its OBC replaced. The OBC has been taken out.
It normally sits between the High Voltage Junction Box (the part lifted up and to the side) and the EPCU
So the Charging Fault Error is happening here too now.
The service guy said they have had a few recently.
The car being fixed was from July 2014 with 18,000km on the clock

The old OBC had this sticker on it

And the new one

The OBC is made by a company called Mando in Korea. We think the new version has a new control unit that fixes the problem.
More info about the OBC

Here is the OBC taken out of the car.

Looking at photos 2 and 3 you can work out the mfg date of the OBC from the sticker on the side.
14F23 is 23rd June 2014 and 16B05 is 5th Feb 2016
This sticker is visible at the back of the motor unit without taking anything apart.
In picture 5 - the Mando sticker would be on the left behind the orange power outlet. (You can't see it in this pic)
The info sticker seen in photo 4 is only visible when the car is disassembled.
There is a 3rd Daewoo Electronics sticker visible at the front of the motor unit without taking anything apart.
In picture 5 - the Daewoo sticker would be on the right. (You can't see it in this pic)

 

[Hazeyone]

Thanks jejusoul, interesting. I pick my car up later today so we shall see how it goes. You say this was from 2014... Do you think the later models and the ones being made today have an improved component? I will have to see if I can this part under my hood.

 

[nibularr]

watching this problem closely since who knows who will get it...

my 2016 soulEV luxury was has a built tag of NOVEMBER 2015



i took a picture of my OBC sticker

http://imgur.com/Ns9z83z



im in Toronto fyi