Did The MG4 just kill My Charger?

[psybernoid]

So. I have a Project EV charger, has been installed since August 2021. Has charged my MG5 for the past few years with no bother.

Picked up an MG4 this week. Decided to plug it in this morning to give it its first charge. Which was fine, charging from 50%.

I did notice, on the iSmart app it was only charging at 2.4W. Thought that was a bit strange, so hopped into the car to check what the AC current settings where. They where on the default of max. Had a little play, dropped it to 16v etc, could see the charging speed adjust accordingly. Put the setting back to maximum where I then saw it ramp up to 6.4kW. Happy days.

I had the car set to charge to 80%.

Few hours later I have a quick look at the app, see it was no longer charging, and at 78.8%. Odd. Check my router, can see the Project EV box IP isn't there. Doesn't ping, either.

A glance at the consumer unit and I noticed it's tripped. I flip the switch. Charger gets an IP, and I manage 3 pings before it stops responding.

CU hasn't tripped this time. Visual inspection of the charger and it's not lit up. Ok, reset the RCD and switches on the CU. Nothing.

Opening the side panel of the charger to inspect the internal switches, both are in the on position. Then I smell the horrible, acrid smell of burnt electionincs.

Flipped it all off at the CU after that.

So, TL;DR, is it at all possible the MG4 killed it? I'm suspecting not, and this is just one of those coincidences.

I haven't yet confirmed if there's actually power getting to the box - I have no way of testing that (at least, I'm not sure how to test it safely) but normally when I smell that smell, it means things are kaput.

I've ordered an evec VEC01 from Amazon that'll arrive on Saturday. I may attempt an install myself (is that even advisable?)

 

[aitch]

Whilst possible I doubt the mg4 did this, more likely a component gave way in the charger.

 

[AndyL61]

So. I have a Project EV charger, has been installed since August 2021. Has charged my MG5 for the past few years with no bother.

Picked up an MG4 this week. Decided to plug it in this morning to give it its first charge. Which was fine, charging from 50%.

I did notice, on the iSmart app it was only charging at 2.4W. Thought that was a bit strange, so hopped into the car to check what the AC current settings where. They where on the default of max. Had a little play, dropped it to 16v etc, could see the charging speed adjust accordingly. Put the setting back to maximum where I then saw it ramp up to 6.4kW. Happy days.

I had the car set to charge to 80%.

Few hours later I have a quick look at the app, see it was no longer charging, and at 78.8%. Odd. Check my router, can see the Project EV box IP isn't there. Doesn't ping, either.

A glance at the consumer unit and I noticed it's tripped. I flip the switch. Charger gets an IP, and I manage 3 pings before it stops responding.

CU hasn't tripped this time. Visual inspection of the charger and it's not lit up. Ok, reset the RCD and switches on the CU. Nothing.

Opening the side panel of the charger to inspect the internal switches, both are in the on position. Then I smell the horrible, acrid smell of burnt electionincs.

Flipped it all off at the CU after that.

So, TL;DR, is it at all possible the MG4 killed it? I'm suspecting not, and this is just one of those coincidences.

I haven't yet confirmed if there's actually power getting to the box - I have no way of testing that (at least, I'm not sure how to test it safely) but normally when I smell that smell, it means things are kaput.

I've ordered an evec VEC01 from Amazon that'll arrive on Saturday. I may attempt an install myself (is that even advisable?)

I have an EVEC charge point. I had it installed as I needed it installed from the meter with a dedicated consumer unit etc. Now all that is in if I needed to replace just the charge point in the future I would definitely install myself as that bit is as easy as wiring a socket.

 

[tsedge]

I haven't yet confirmed if there's actually power getting to the box - I have no way of testing that (at least, I'm not sure how to test it safely) but normally when I smell that smell, it means things are kaput.

I've ordered an evec VEC01 from Amazon that'll arrive on Saturday. I may attempt an install myself (is that even advisable?)

My general advice on this is if you aren't sure of your skills enough that you have to ask, you should pay a professional instead. It isn't something worth taking a risk on.

 

[psybernoid]

My general advice on this is if you aren't sure of your skills enough that you have to ask, you should pay a professional instead. It isn't something worth taking a risk on.

Exactly what I've just arranged as it happens.

Whilst I'm confident enough with messing with plug sockets, light fittings etc. I'll steer clear of messing around with something like this. They'll fully test it too.

 

[psybernoid]

As an update. New charger, an Evec one has just been fitted & tested.

The old one, it would seem had a bad wiring job, so over the course of the past 3 years, it burnt out.

 

[Diggsy]

Looks like you had a lucky escape there in all honesty! That wiring job looks awful!!

 

[haloweenhamster]

Easily done, 1 terminal had a poor connection, could have been slightly loose, screwed to the insulation, oxidised wire etc
The heat has damaged the insulation so it wouldn't have looked like that beforehand

I hope they cut a good length off or replaced if that was the feed as that would have damaged along the wire as well

 

[psybernoid]

Easily done, 1 terminal had a poor connection, could have been slightly loose, screwed to the insulation, oxidised wire etc
The heat has damaged the insulation so it wouldn't have looked like that beforehand

I hope they cut a good length off or replaced if that was the feed as that would have damaged along the wire as well

They stripped the cable back by about a foot, everything's good now.

Did require moving the charging point though, as the cable wouldn't reach the previous position after that. Given it's armoured cable, I'm glad it didn't all need replacing.