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V2G charger not working - what does a solid red light indicate?

  • 28 February 2020
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Hello,

I had my trial V2G charger after 3 installation attempts on Thursday 27th February. It worked for an 1 hr or so and has not worked since, I have followed the reset steps suggested by support but no luck. On final try to switch on and off RCD the charger LED light turns RED and fan makes a loud noise it keeps doing that and the charger LED light does not change. 

 

Did anyone else face same issues ? What was the resolution can Indra be contacted directly can they help ?

 

Any guidance would help me 

 

Thanks

 

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Best answer by Ash_OVO 2 March 2020, 10:37

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@Darran_OVO @Ash_OVO @Nancy_OVO can you please help me resolve the above issue

Ash_OVO
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Updated on 25/05/22 by Jess_OVO

 

Sorry to hear your EV charger isn’t working at the moment. 


If you have a V2G or Smart EV Charger offered by OVO please contact the team at smarthome@ovoenergy.com to troubleshoot any technical issues.

 

Hope this gets resolved quickly and you’re back on the move soon! :slight_smile:

"The nation that leads in renewable energy will be the nation that leads the world"
Transparent
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Hi @Parikh27; I have three observations:

A: If you wish to cycle the power to the V2G charger I suggest you use the 32A MCB rather than the larger RCD beside it. Neither item is intended to be an on/off switch and therefore has a lower number of switch-cycles specified in its lifetime. However, the MCB is much cheaper to replace!

B: @Darran_OVO is no longer with OVO :disappointed_relieved:  Having nurtured the Forum from its inception, he’s moved on to another company. He may still be lurking here under a pseudonym, but I haven’t spotted him yet!

C: We would still be interested to hear how your red-light error gets diagnosed and resolved. So please post back here because it will help others in the future. Thanks.

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@Transparent : - Many thanks for getting back to me, when The OVO installer showed me the Pop switch which needs to be turned off an on. 

I have managed to finally get the Charger working the issue seems to be a temperature sensor which was thinking the unit is not warm enough. I tried to restart the units a multiple times keeping it on for 30 - 45 mins but no luck. But on Sunday I kept it on for 2 hours when Display LED was showing as solid RED. But while I doing so I covered the charger with a sheet to keep it warm. Nothing  changed in 2.5 hrs so I again restarted the charger and then it started working,. 

 

I have received the email from Kaluza and they have suggested a software update will be applied to the unit so that the issue does not reoccur.

The members of V2G Facebook Group guided me with above options to get the charger working again

Ash_OVO
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Hi @Parikh27; I have three observations:

A: If you wish to cycle the power to the V2G charger I suggest you use the 32A MCB rather than the larger RCD beside it. Neither item is intended to be an on/off switch and therefore has a lower number of switch-cycles specified in its lifetime. However, the MCB is much cheaper to replace!

 

Hello @Transparent, one slight caveat with this is that the V2G/Smart chargers have their own consumer unit and do not feed off of the main consumer unit.  Also, the main consumer unit isn’t covered by the V2G warranty and as such, we would always recommend customers follow the advice in any emails/calls received with the support team to ensure their warranty is kept intact.


​​​​​​@Parikh27,  I can confirm an update run will be completed today for new installs and should be completed by the end of the day. You will receive an email once this has been carried out. 

"The nation that leads in renewable energy will be the nation that leads the world"
Transparent
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Thanks @Ash_OVO . Yes I was aware that you use a separate Consumer Unit for the V2G charger. I believe it’s a slightly more advanced version of the photos which have previously been posted here.

Does it still have both an RCD and an MCB?

 

I’m amused by @Parikh27 ‘s description of using a sheet to try and keep the charger warm!

I suspect Kaluza will find it simpler to change the software than issue duvets with each unit :wink:

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@Ash_OVO Thanks and I will wait for the email confirmation. @Transparent :- I was willing to try anything which will make the charging unit turned back on.

Transparent
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@Parikh27 - as this is a Trial, I think any solutions you can think of are worthwhile trying.

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I fully agree try it and you will succeed! it doesn't work only for someone who doesn't try

D10hul
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Hello , best to email Kaluza Support@kaluza.com

 however results are happening by leaving the unit running with fans etc for a hour then doing another power cycle, the units usually start working then. After this Kaluza should performa software update to version 7xx this will almost certainly fix our issue. 

Happy V2Ging 

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Hi what is the best way of getting support from Kaluza / OVO to sort this out.  The charger wont work at all now.,

Transparent
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Hi @Dambrogio - can you give us a bit more to go on?!

Have you contacted Customer Services?

Have you emailed SmartHome@ovoenergy.com ?

Do you have any other way of charging your Nissan, or are you in the same predicament that hit @Jequinlan at the beginning of the year?

If you’ve got a light on, then I’m assuming you haven’t had trips switching off. Correct?

Do you have a Matt.e box?

What’s your earthing situation?

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Jequinlan
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I feel the pain you are about to go through.…

 

2x i have had the Red light of death, months on I *currently* have a working charger...

John Quinlan
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@ John Quinlan can it be fixed when there is a solid red light? 

 

Blastoise186
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Heya @Dambrogio !

In some cases, yes but not always. It’s recommended to reach out to the Smart Home Team so that they can get someone out to take a look. Volunteers such as myself, @Jequinlan @NinjaGeek and @Transparent can offer advice that might help in the meantime though.

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@ John Quinlan can it be fixed when there is a solid red light? 

 

Not normally! Have never had a Red light (of DEATH) fixed. Replacement units take ages too.

John Quinlan
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Erm @Dambrogio - can we reach an agreement please?

If you give us a set of symptoms, then we’ll try to analyse them. :slight_smile:

But the less information we have, the more conjecture will fill this column!

At the moment we don’t even know what was happening when you experienced the red warning light.

  • Was your Nissan being charged?
  • Had it just finished a charge-cycle?
  • Do you normally keep the charger switched on or off?
  • Have you recently had any other trips go?
  • What sort of earthing does your house have?
  • Whereabouts do you live? (Please complete your Forum Profile page)

Remember, we don’t have the circuit diagram for this V2G charger. Nor do we have access to the telemetry which passes between it and Kaluza.

That red light could be switched on for all manner of reasons. It may or may not be related to a fault that has previously occurred on a V2G unit at another site.

 

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See response below

 

  • Was your Nissan being charged?
    It came on after a boost session, when i returned to charge my car 
  • Had it just finished a charge-cycle?
    It had finished a boost cycle.  
  • Do you normally keep the charger switched on or off?
    Always on
  • Have you recently had any other trips go?
    A few weeks ago i was having problems with red flashing light.  depowered for a day and it was ok.
  • What sort of earthing does your house have?
    The charger was fitted in July 2020.  They inserted an earth rod into the ground.
  • Whereabouts do you live? (Please complete your Forum Profile page)
    Northallerton, North Yorkshire .

No problems with the charger until about 4 weeks ago.  I then got 1 week of problems, persistent red flashing light.  2 weeks or  so with no problems, and now a sold red light.

Transparent
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Thanks @Dambrogio 

As I don’t have a V2G charger myself, I’d like to hear what @D10hul and @Jequinlan have to say about the use of the Boost facility and the gradual growth in intensity of red-light issues.

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Jequinlan
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Thanks @Dambrogio 

As I don’t have a V2G charger myself, I’d like to hear what @D10hul and @Jequinlan have to say about the use of the Boost facility and the gradual growth in intensity of red-light issues.

Boost has always been ok with me, all it seems to do is override the timings. Not once has my system gone red when on boost mode, normally my red happens at "handshaking" time and then fails all the time at that point.

John Quinlan
Jess_OVO
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Some great community diagnosis going on here (although from the sounds of @Jequinlan’s experience this might be one for the smarthome@ovoenergy.com inbox)

 

Interested to here the outcome - whether a solid red light always means a replacement or there is the chance of a potential repair?- Let us know how things go and what the Smart Home team suggest.

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I still think the Smart Home Team would need more to go on, @Jess_OVO 

I’m going to stray into the realm of conjecture…. but I hope that this is reasonable conjecture!

 

There is probably a cooling fan within the charger to maintain air-flow over the heavy-current electronics when it gets hot.

Let’s assume that this is linked to a temperature sensor, and that the fan is modulated. Thus the air-flow increases as temperature rises.

The power devices in the charger are most likely to be MosFET transistors. They will be bolted to a chunk of aluminium that acts as a heat-sink.

The fan will draw in dust. Although there will be some sort of filter, this can’t be very fine because it would be too easily blocked. So it’s likely to be a mesh with holes about 3-5mm in it. That’s enough to stop fingers, mice and larger insects getting inside!

Some of the dust which enters the electronics will come to rest on the heat-sink. If this is cold and the charger is within an unheated space, then the aluminium will also attract condensation due to its high thermal capacity. This sticky layer of damp dust slowly coats the surface of the heat-sink and reduces its efficiency.

A MosFET which gets too hot can malfunction, causing it to switch off. As it then passes no current, it cools down, which allows it to recover. So the first sign of cooling inefficiency is probably going to be manifested as intermittent faults, indicated to the user via the Red-light flashing.

If power is left off for a few hours it is likely that matters will appear to improve.

But the source of the problem is still present.

 

Using the charger in Boost mode will exacerbate any issues relating to internal heating. A fan will run at a higher rate, thereby depositing more dust on the aluminium cooling fins.

The next time the charger is used the temperature sensor quite rightly closes the system down.

 

Now that story fits the symptoms, such as we know them. It may or may not be true.

But only @Dambrogio can give us information about the fan running and the environmental conditions around that particular charger.

The same facts would be needed by Kaluza and Indra.

Each piece of background information will help to diagnose the source of the fault.

 

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D
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After leaving it de energized for 2 days.  it is suddenly working again.  No red light and exporting to the grid over lunch time.

 

D
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It is also a lot cooler today.

Transparent
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Great news @Dambrogio 

So these nuggets of information need to come to the attention of the Smart Home Team.

I suggest you now email them with a link to this topic.

I don’t believe that the issue affecting your charger is resolved. It’s likely to present you with another red light shortly. So let’s use the interim time to get as much background knowledge as possible.

Tell us a bit about where your charger is sited, cable lengths to your consumer unit and what sort of trips got installed by the fitters. Photos would be wonderful. Don’t crop them too much because we want to see the surroundings. Thanks

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