[Harleyguy]

I know it's posted all over the forum but I have to stress it again to let the car go to sleep before you plugged the charger in .When you are ready to charge the car make sure none of the outside fans are running it takes only two minutes for the car to go too sleep .Also another point try and avoid opening the door while the car is charging trust it's charging . Doing both of these will help avoid check engine lights and possibly other problems . Another point if you do all these steps and no fans are running when you hook up the charger but come out too the car and you hear a fan running there is a very good chance you have a charging issue the fans running mean the OBCM could be running to hot

 

[Sparky168]

I know it's posted all over the forum but I have to stress it again to let the car go to sleep before you plugged the charger in .When you are ready to charge the car make sure none of the outside fans are running it takes only two minutes for the car to go too sleep .Also another point try and avoid opening the door while the car is charging trust it's charging . Doing both of these will help avoid check engine lights and possibly other problems . Another point if you do all these steps and no fans are running when you hook up the charger but come out too the car and you hear a fan running there is a very good chance you have a charging issue the fans running mean the OBCM could be running to hot

:thumbup:

 

[ffcars]

Thanks. This really helps.

I've noticed that since I've been using the three step process to start the car I have had much fewer issues. (Go into ACC, Agree, then start) We took another 250 mile road trip this weekend and the car was flauless. In fact, the check engine light has been off for two days. That's the first time the light has turned off.

 

[Sigurd]

Thanks. This really helps.

I've noticed that since I've been using the three step process to start the car I have had much fewer issues. (Go into ACC, Agree, then start) We took another 250 mile road trip this weekend and the car was flauless. In fact, the check engine light has been off for two days. That's the first time the light has turned off.

This car is interesting as it seems like whatever works for your car might not be the best for others. I used to do this Ffcars, but always had a CEL, but since I started just getting in the car and hitting the brake and start my CEL went away and the car has been flawless. Most likely a coincidence, but I'm going with it. At least as long as it's working for me.

 

[Harleyguy]

I'am sure in time some of these start and charging steps will be modified and I agree what ever works for you go with . Right now the focus is being put on the TPI and CIU issue's

 

[Fabulist]

It's amazing how much impact this simple procedure has. I have been driving with no CEL/MIL or other display issues for days following the Lock-then-plug and unplug-then-unlock procedures. Today, in my haste, I unlocked the doors before I unplugged the car and got a "Low Fuel" indication of less than a Gallon remaining when I started the car, even though my gas tank is over half full. The correct display came back when I started the car after my meeting.

 

[Harleyguy]

It's amazing how much impact this simple procedure has. I have been driving with no CEL/MIL or other display issues for days following the Lock-then-plug and unplug-then-unlock procedures. Today, in my haste, I unlocked the doors before I unplugged the car and got a "Low Fuel" indication of less than a Gallon remaining when I started the car, even though my gas tank is over half full. The correct display came back when I started the car after my meeting.

I hate to use normal on a Karma but when you plug the charger in the gas gauge goes to zero while charging one of the reason's I recommend after charging the car letting it go back to sleep after removing the charger but just a side note I understand the next software update will address the gas gauge also .

 

[Ross a klein]

My question has been "go to sleep" w just the turnoff then plug or turn off, lock via remote, them sleep, then plug? I know it seems dumb, but I've been anxious about locking before charging, thoughts?

 

[LonePalmBJ]

I know it's posted all over the forum but I have to stress it again to let the car go to sleep before you plugged the charger in .When you are ready to charge the car make sure none of the outside fans are running it takes only two minutes for the car to go too sleep .Also another point try and avoid opening the door while the car is charging trust it's charging . Doing both of these will help avoid check engine lights and possibly other problems . Another point if you do all these steps and no fans are running when you hook up the charger but come out too the car and you hear a fan running there is a very good chance you have a charging issue the fans running mean the OBCM could be running to hot

I've seen this posted by HarleyGuy before but have not heard this from my dealer, my local Fisker tech, or any of the other knowledgeable folks on this forum. I've been plugging in immediately after pulling into my garage and I've never had the car not charge or the fan not behave correctly. It doesn't match my experience, and it doesn't seem to make sense to me so I've been largely ignoring this advice. After HarleyGuy's "need to stress this" repost, I figured what the hell, I'll give it a shot.

Today I drove my car for the first time ever since delivery without staring at the CEL/MIL indicator.

It only took two or three charging cycles for the car to decide that the MIL didn't have to come on. That stylized analog clock never looked so good. It didn't last; when I started back up after leaving my destination my CEL/MIL was back, but I'll take it as a good sign it went away for at least a little while. I'm curious if I will see it tomorrow.

According to my dealer and tech, my CEL/MIL is due to a battery issue leading to the indication. This is apparrently not uncommon and was explained by Nimisys as "There is a DTC that will be in the BECM (battery module) that causes the CEL/MIL to come on, but requires a Fisker engineer or FSR to come out for to reflash that module directly and depending on their scheduals, it can be a few days to a week for them to come out. it is a software checksum error, so it has no negative affects on driving." According to my dealer, they are unable to clear the CEL/MIL themselves and needed the Fisker regional rep (the FSR) to reflash and clear this for me.

I wonder if the reflashed BECM avoids the need for the shut-down-before-charging dance. Harley, Nimisys or HardReset: Any thoughts or insight?

 

[Nimisys]

The one problem i have with the advice is with the fans, only because they will be commanded to run based on the inverter temperatures and OBCM temperatures, and if they are heat soaked due to extended use or high ambient temperatures, they need to run to get the coolant temp down. what complicates this, is that there is a valve controlling coolant flow into the OBCM (On Board Charge Module) that got mis-wired on some early cars. what is supposed to happen is that the OBCM would get warm, the valve would be commanded open and coolant will circulate, cooling the module. if the coolant gets too warm, the fans are commanded on to bring the temperature back down. On some early cars, the valve got wired backwards, and so instead of opening, it closes. the OBCM continues to get warm and the fans get commanded on. Eventually the OBCM gets too warm and shuts down and you end up with an incomplete charge.

Now what the going to sleep before charging, or after charging thing does is different. the OBCM communicates with other modules to facilitate charging, including the Hybrid module and Battery Module. By allowing the car to goto sleep first, you are making sure the data bus lines are clear and all modules have shut down properly. When the OBCM detects an outside charger being plugged in, it wakes up the Vehicle Control Module to have the other modules it needs to talk to to be woken up (IE the BECM to unlock the HV system). becuase it deals with HV, the OBCM is a finnicky bastard, so if somehting isn't right, it won't charge. Now it maybe something as too much resistance in the charger detection circuit, but it may also be something such as it doesn't recieve the expected responce from the BECM or HCM. Either way it says i see a problem, i am not doing this anymore, get it fixed. the BECM sees that and then triggers a CEL/MIL.

AT this point the checksum error DTC is a 100% software glitch (a portion of the bootloader is corrupted in the BECM) that can only be fixed with an engineering re-flash right now, but it does actually fix that problem. i know surprising. Doesn't matter what you do in terms of letting it goto sleep or not, you won't affect this, nor induce it.

The letting everything go to sleep and not openning a door thing HOWEVER does affect the OBCM communication codes that cause the BECM to report an issue, triggering a CEL/MIL. Which is why at the minimum, don't awaken the car while it's charging.

 

[pactoll]

I am constantly getting an incomplete charge on my car. Sometimes my 220v charger only charges the car 5 miles then stops. I have had ev connect check my charger 2 times now and they tell me all is right with the charger. I have taken the car back to the dealer twice and they tell me it charges fine for them. Sometimes I also get incomplete charges with my 110v charger. My car is an early release vehicle, do you think that maybe my car is wired wrong?

 

[Harleyguy]

I am constantly getting an incomplete charge on my car. Sometimes my 220v charger only charges the car 5 miles then stops. I have had ev connect check my charger 2 times now and they tell me all is right with the charger. I have taken the car back to the dealer twice and they tell me it charges fine for them. Sometimes I also get incomplete charges with my 110v charger. My car is an early release vehicle, do you think that maybe my car is wired wrong?

Ok lets do this first off if your car charges on 220 Volts it will charge on 110 volts . Next when you have it hooked up to either charger providing you let the car got too sleep do you hear any of the cooling fans running while the car is charging this is very important to know ? A couple of reasons for the car not to charge the OBCM has a valve that opens and closes it opens when you plug the car in this valve lets coolant flow in and out of the OBCM if it doesn't open the OBCM will over heat and shuts off so no damage is done . If you use the 110 charger and after plugging it in if you get a red light where the lightning bolt is you may have a ground wire issue with you electric called a floating ground but like I said if 220 works 110 should also unless you have a defective 110 charger . Let us know how you make out

 

[pactoll]

I am constantly getting an incomplete charge on my car. Sometimes my 220v charger only charges the car 5 miles then stops. I have had ev connect check my charger 2 times now and they tell me all is right with the charger. I have taken the car back to the dealer twice and they tell me it charges fine for them. Sometimes I also get incomplete charges with my 110v charger. My car is an early release vehicle, do you think that maybe my car is wired wrong?

Ok lets do this first off if your car charges on 220 Volts it will charge on 110 volts . Next when you have it hooked up to either charger providing you let the car got too sleep do you hear any of the cooling fans running while the car is charging this is very important to know ? A couple of reasons for the car not to charge the OBCM has a valve that opens and closes it opens when you plug the car in this valve lets coolant flow in and out of the OBCM if it doesn't open the OBCM will over heat and shuts off so no damage is done . If you use the 110 charger and after plugging it in if you get a red light where the lightning bolt is you may have a ground wire issue with you electric called a floating ground but like I said if 220 works 110 should also unless you have a defective 110 charger . Let us know how you make out

Most of the time my 110v charger works fine. My 220v charger doesn't work at all. I have not heard the fans turn on while charging with either 110v or 220v. However, my dealer tells me that they charge the car with 220v no problem. Ev connect came out yesterday told me that the charger checks out with no problem. I have solar on my house and ev connect told me that there is possibly some bleed over power from that somehow. Any suggestions.
[hr]

I am constantly getting an incomplete charge on my car. Sometimes my 220v charger only charges the car 5 miles then stops. I have had ev connect check my charger 2 times now and they tell me all is right with the charger. I have taken the car back to the dealer twice and they tell me it charges fine for them. Sometimes I also get incomplete charges with my 110v charger. My car is an early release vehicle, do you think that maybe my car is wired wrong?

Ok lets do this first off if your car charges on 220 Volts it will charge on 110 volts . Next when you have it hooked up to either charger providing you let the car got too sleep do you hear any of the cooling fans running while the car is charging this is very important to know ? A couple of reasons for the car not to charge the OBCM has a valve that opens and closes it opens when you plug the car in this valve lets coolant flow in and out of the OBCM if it doesn't open the OBCM will over heat and shuts off so no damage is done . If you use the 110 charger and after plugging it in if you get a red light where the lightning bolt is you may have a ground wire issue with you electric called a floating ground but like I said if 220 works 110 should also unless you have a defective 110 charger . Let us know how you make out

Most of the time my 110v charger works fine. My 220v charger doesn't work at all. I have not heard the fans turn on while charging with either 110v or 220v. However, my dealer tells me that they charge the car with 220v no problem. Ev connect came out yesterday told me that the charger checks out with no problem. I have solar on my house and ev connect told me that there is possibly some bleed over power from that somehow. Any suggestions.

I always let the car go to sleep before hooking up the charger.

 

[Fabulist]

I have solar on my house and ev connect told me that there is possibly some bleed over power from that somehow. Any suggestions.

That's one of the dumbest things I have heard in a long time. Many of us, myself included, have solar installations in our homes and there is no "bleed over power" or any such thing from one system to another, mostly because, in my case anyway, the sun has long set when my car is charging.

My suggestion would be to see if you can charge from a public Level II charging system or at someone else's home charger. This would isolate the problem to the car or the charger.

Also, when I first got my car, it was very sensitive to voltage fluctuations and would shut off the charging cycle prematurely if there was any noise on the line but Fisker released a patch (generally referred to as 613.5) a few days later that solved that problem and I have had no problems with Level II charging since. So it would be helpful to make sure you have a version of the patch that would correct that specific issue.

Good luck.

 

[pactoll]

I have solar on my house and ev connect told me that there is possibly some bleed over power from that somehow. Any suggestions.

That's one of the dumbest things I have heard in a long time. Many of us, myself included, have solar installations in our homes and there is no "bleed over power" or any such thing from one system to another, mostly because, in my case anyway, the sun has long set when my car is charging.

My suggestion would be to see if you can charge from a public Level II charging system or at someone else's home charger. This would isolate the problem to the car or the charger.

Also, when I first got my car, it was very sensitive to voltage fluctuations and would shut off the charging cycle prematurely if there was any noise on the line but Fisker released a patch (generally referred to as 613.5) a few days later that solved that problem and I have had no problems with Level II charging since. So it would be helpful to make sure you have a version of the patch that would correct that specific issue.

Good luck.

I thought it sounded pretty stupid myself. He suggested I turn my solar off and try charging the car. I told him I ussually charge the car at night. I will try your idea and charge the car on a public charger. I guess I'm lucky that this has been my only real problem with the car. Still love it. Thanks for the help.

 

[Nimisys]

We had a customer whose 220v at the office would not charge the car, though 110v at home would and our 220v chargers at work would. turns out the entire buildings 220v was wired wrong (negative and nuetral were switched IIRC), EV connect missed it, as did the local electrician who installed the charger, it took the actual utility company to find the problem and fix it.

if there is one thing these EV cars have been great at doing, its discovering miswired/poorly wired/incompletely wired circuits.

 

[Fabulist]

We had a customer whose 220v at the office would not charge the car, though 110v at home would and our 220v chargers at work would. turns out the entire buildings 220v was wired wrong (negative and nuetral were switched IIRC), EV connect missed it, as did the local electrician who installed the charger, it took the actual utility company to find the problem and fix it.

if there is one thing these EV cars have been great at doing, its discovering miswired/poorly wired/incompletely wired circuits.

So I am commuting to work every day in a 125MPH circuit tester? That's pretty cool.

 

[Dutch]

I was having some problems with 220V-charging, where it would stop in the middle of charging. I would have one or two red lights in the control box of the convenience cord that I'm using. It only happened at home and not at the office, so it was clear the problem was not the car. Turned out my wall socket (which I had installed for the purpose of charging, with a separate group) was not grounded well enough.

 

[LonePalmBJ]

According to my dealer and tech, my CEL/MIL is due to a battery issue leading to the indication. This is apparrently not uncommon and was explained by Nimisys as "There is a DTC that will be in the BECM (battery module) that causes the CEL/MIL to come on, but requires a Fisker engineer or FSR to come out for to reflash that module directly and depending on their scheduals, it can be a few days to a week for them to come out. it is a software checksum error, so it has no negative affects on driving." According to my dealer, they are unable to clear the CEL/MIL themselves and needed the Fisker regional rep (the FSR) to reflash and clear this for me.

I wonder if the reflashed BECM avoids the need for the shut-down-before-charging dance. Harley, Nimisys or HardReset: Any thoughts or insight?

I finally got around to swinging by the Fisker dealership so that the Regional Service Rep could reflash the BECM. I dropped it off last night, picked it up this morning and lo and behold, no more CEL/MIL! I drove around a lot today - it's warm and sunny in Atlanta - in both sport and stealth and lots of shut downs and restarts as I ran my errands. So far the CEL/MIL is gone and has stayed gone!

That was the only glitch I had that was visible to me - the others are the intermittent SW/Command Center things we all see from time to time - so I'm inordinately pleased at the moment. I really like this car.

 

[SoCalGuy]

The Karma really doesn't like it if you lock your doors AFTER you've started charging... the moment the PRNDL goes off, the Karma stops charging. A simple unplug (from the car) and replug fixes the issue.