[brian]

My 2 year old Fisker/Lear Charging station went kaput. I get the red Fault light and two blinking charging lights (which I assume is some short of error code).

Anyone seen this before, and is there a way to fix it, or am I screwed? I really like the Lear charger simply because it's the only one with a coiled cord. Home Depot sells the same charger under a different brand, but it costs $750. Anyone know of a place to get new ones for less than that?

Thanks,

-Brian

 

[P90XMC2]

get a OpenEVSE!

 

[LonePalmBJ]

Brian,

I have the same charger and I've seen this issue. The first time it happened I tried cycling the breaker, plugging it into the car and removing it, and general Voodoo and nothing helped. I called EVConnect who installed it and they told me it went bad, there was nothing I could do, and they would send me a new one. (That whole saga is documented elsewhere in the dusty archives of this forum). The new unit arrived a few days later - just as the Lear magically went back to operational and all-green again. I've seen the error again since and after giving it a day or two it resolved itself.

As a separate but related issue, I'll also sometimes (rarely, maybe 5 times total) come out to the car in the morning after charging to find the red error light on, but it all turns Green as soon as I unplug from the car. The car is always fully charged too. I think maybe that case happens if there's a power fluctuation while charging.

Regarding the error code; you are correct that the flashing charging lights mean something. There's actually a sequence of three flashes to provide the error code, such as 2 flash, then 1 then 3. Then the sequence repeats. See this thread from back in the early days which includes a full desciription of all of the Fisker Lear Charger error codes and what they mean: http://www.fiskerbuzz.com/forums/21...ing-fault-codes-fisker-branded-lear-evse.html


Good Luck! Keep us posted; I'm curious how it turns out.

Brent

 

[brian]

Thanks for the info and moral support. The first thing I did try was to flip the breaker to reboot it, but that didn't fix it. I haven tried plugging it back into the car since the reboot, so maybe I'll try that.

I don't understand why this is the only station with a coiled cord. You'd think they'd all the coiled or at least retractable.

 

[doug]

You'd think they'd all the coiled or at least retractable.

Both these are only practical/safe for relatively low power (for which I guess the Karma may qualify). A higher power cable is too thick to do the handset-cord coil in a way that would be helpful.

I've seen some rather neat home-made setups with a retractable spool from the garage ceiling. If you're actually charging, though, you'd want the cable fully extended so that heat doesn't build up in the cable.

There are some interesting ideas in this thread:
http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/10471-Retractable-cord-reel-for-the-Model-S

 

[brian]

It's amazing how much that photo looks like my own garage! The hanging wire thing was my original thought 2+ years ago as well, but my installer didn't want to do it.

-Brian

 

[brian]

Wow! I actually managed to fix it! The error code I was getting was the same 2,1,2 code which indicated a "Relay Open Failed" error. There were only 2 relays in there, so I figured one of them had gotten stuck or burned out, so all I did what whack both of them hard with the screwdriver and that seemed to un-stuck it. The lights all reset green and the unit appears to be working fine again!

I'm sure that relay will get stuck again, and if I can find someone who's good with a soldering iron we can just replace that single $5 part, but until then I'll just keep whacking it with the screwdriver if/when it happens.

-Brian

 

[Fabulist]

until then I'll just keep whacking it with the screwdriver if/when it happens.

-Brian

Pretty much my second step, after a hard reboot, for any hardware problem. Works surprisingly often.