DAVE Posted May 25, 2013 at 02:05 PM Report Share Posted May 25, 2013 at 02:05 PM Anyone having issues charging their Energi with a Level 2 charger? I purchased Leviton 240 volt charger from Amazon and had it installed (Model EVB32-5ML 7.7 Kilowatt with 25 foot cable) The unit worked 3 times before going into a permanent fault (blinking fault light) The car did not show a fault . When the replacement unit arrived I was able to charge 1 time before it failed. I knew it failed when my car sent me a text (great feature about these new EV Fords) with-in seconds of the charging fault.The whole Blue ring was blinking - never seen that before. I turned the car on and no error on dash so I plugged in the Ford Level 1 charger and all seems OK. The Level 2 charger is now stuck on solid Red. The Leviton now makes a vibration sound for 1 second when you plug it back in the wall. Obviously there is a fault in the unit . I called Leviton (excellent response time) and we walked thru the installation and all seems OK. I know how to use a Fluke meter (as most geeks do) , and he had me take a voltage reading from the top 2 large pins in the charger handle - it was reading 248 volts . I would think that no current would read in a fault state or when not connected to the car. Now for the main question - He said they had another Ford C-Max user with a similar problem - the car was damaging the chargers due to airflow ducks being blocked . His Ford dealer discovered that during manufacturing they were supposed to remove the shields blocking the airflow for the battery charging process . Once they removed them ,all was Ok. Anyone else heard of this? It could just be that I got 2 bad chargers with different issues. Leviton is very concerned and flying someone out to my house to review it next week. They said they are very excited about the new Fusion (they use C-Max's & Leafs in their test group) and want to make sure they are addressing any issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff_h Posted May 25, 2013 at 02:24 PM Report Share Posted May 25, 2013 at 02:24 PM I can't answer anything regarding the charger, but to maybe help isolate/detect whether it might be something with the car it might be worthwhile to drive by your dealer and hook up to their L2 charger and see how it goes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russael Posted May 25, 2013 at 03:02 PM Report Share Posted May 25, 2013 at 03:02 PM I've read a few Amazon reviews about the 16A charger I bought (Leviton) about them failing after only a few months of use. Still... why would the WALL unit fail due to an issue with the vents with the battery???? I could see not removing the vents causing the battery to go in to an overheat status and then the car should stop the charging process, but it should not fault the wall charger. I'm starting to think this is why Ford changed vendors... maybe they're having problems with the Leviton stations. Perhaps that's why my blue charger was discontinued and has been replaced with a white one (perhaps they changed the guts along with the color). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaggy314 Posted May 25, 2013 at 06:40 PM Report Share Posted May 25, 2013 at 06:40 PM Could be... Leviton EVB22-3PT Evr-Green 160 3.8kW Home Charging Station, White Is the new one, the old model is EVB22-3MT, was replaced on amazon only a couple of weeks ago and even on sale at the moment (-$50). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVE Posted May 26, 2013 at 12:20 AM Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2013 at 12:20 AM I got the larger 7.7 kW for future use. It's way more than the Fusion needs but compatible according to Leviton.With various tax credits on the charger I figured better to get it now . I did check take Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooter80 Posted May 30, 2013 at 03:56 PM Report Share Posted May 30, 2013 at 03:56 PM It does seem strange that the car could cause two units to fail, but it also seems strange that two units would fail!! I like the idea of heading to your nearest EV certified Ford dealer and testing their unit. May I also say that it is outstanding that Leviton is concerned enough to fly a tech out to examine the issue!! After so many customer service horror stories (and my personal thought that customer service no longer exists) it is awesome that they are taking the time, money and effort to not just send out another unit, but to try to determine why they are failing!! Well done Leviton! Good luck with the issue. I hope they can help. Maybe you have an update by now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVE Posted May 31, 2013 at 02:31 AM Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2013 at 02:31 AM ** UPDATE ** Leviton showed up today at the house and took the unit apart to inspect it and the motherboard was fried in an an usual place according their rep. Rememeber, the first unit charged 3 times before failing and the 2nd unit only charged once before it failed. I'll be giving it some heavy use over the next week and see if I can get it to fail again - hopefully it was just a case of 2 bad units. All seems to be working now. No question, their customer support is top notch and I would recommend Leviton to anyone. Their phone support was superb as well. I would not expect them to send a tech for a problem like this but as I said, they are excited about the Energi and there are not many of them out there yet and they wanted to make sure there are no issues. I'll keep this thread up to date. Special thanks to Victor from Leviton - you rock! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murphy Posted May 31, 2013 at 10:26 AM Report Share Posted May 31, 2013 at 10:26 AM ** UPDATE ** Leviton showed up today at the house and took the unit apart to inspect it and the motherboard was fried in an an usual place according their rep. Rememeber, the first unit charged 3 times before failing and the 2nd unit only charged once before it failed. I'll be giving it some heavy use over the next week and see if I can get it to fail again - hopefully it was just a case of 2 bad units. All seems to be working now. No question, their customer support is top notch and I would recommend Leviton to anyone. Their phone support was superb as well. I would not expect them to send a tech for a problem like this but as I said, they are excited about the Energi and there are not many of them out there yet and they wanted to make sure there are no issues. I'll keep this thread up to date. Special thanks to Victor from Leviton - you rock!"fried in an unusual place" implies that there is a usual place for the motherboard to be fried.Should I be worried that mine will die?So far it has passed around 125 KWH of electricity to the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russael Posted May 31, 2013 at 10:49 AM Report Share Posted May 31, 2013 at 10:49 AM The fact that the motherboards on these are frying at all screams bad design. All the thing does is control a big, high current RELAY. And to close said relay, just about all the ones I'm aware of only require milliamps of current. It sounds like they either went with subpar components to try to keep the cost down or increase their profits... I'm thinking the latter. If they're using better components, then they probably messed up voltage somewhere and the stuff just cooks after a while. However, I am glad to hear that Leviton's customer service is WAY outside of my expectations. I hope I have the same experience. If I need it. If it were the car's fault, then the relay itself should've fried or gotten stuck. I guess one day my own Leviton station is going to BBQ. I'm just glad the case is metal so hopefully it'll contain a small fire if that happens and not burn down my garage. I've had it plugged in and powered up for about 1 1/2 months before I took delivery of the car and I've used it every day (sometimes twice in one day) since then. No problems yet. It's been a week Thursday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVE Posted May 31, 2013 at 04:13 PM Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2013 at 04:13 PM I'll give Leviton the benefit of the doubt - they have been nothing but helpful and the unit is built like a tank. They swapped out the logic board and that could be due any number of reasons from shipping (very heavy unit) or just a bad component. As with many 220 volt electronics, if they have a bad component it will usually fail within the first week. I agree that there is not much on the inside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaggy314 Posted May 31, 2013 at 06:45 PM Report Share Posted May 31, 2013 at 06:45 PM Got mine today so it goes on the wall with the switch off until there's a car for it. I had a switch installed next to it as I didn't want to try to toss a breaker or unplug stuff IF something was going bad. Car is due within the next week so hopefully the EVB22-3PT has fixes and not problems in the new model number. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVE Posted June 5, 2013 at 12:24 PM Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2013 at 12:24 PM ** UPDATE #2 ** I been trying to do at least 2 charges per day and so far the charger has been no problem. It charges the car in about 2 to 2.5 hours . I've been getting about 25-28 miles with no AC running. Once you turn on the AC it goes down to 22 as expected . After 1650 miles, the average MPG is 83.2 . I do drive longer distances a few times per week so the Hybrid mode is critical for me. I found that knowing your route can save your EV for when you really need it. Running on the highway at 65 mph , the EV runs out pretty quick , so conserving the EV using the EV later for when you know you will be stuck in traffic can really conserve fuel . Again - it's why this EV design got my attention. The EV+ is also a pretty cool idea . If you have not read about this feature , it basically watches your daily routes for when the car is nearing places like home and will do it's best to keep it on EV knowing your daily charging point is near by. DAVE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVE Posted January 6, 2014 at 09:13 PM Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 at 09:13 PM Just another update that the Leviton 240 volt charger from Amazon (Model EVB32-5ML) has been flawless since Leviton replaced it in May 2013 (today is Jan 6th 2014) jeff_h 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.