Cannot charge with broken charger latch - Any workaround?

[whitebmwi3rexx]

Hello. Most public chargers in my area have broken latches on the charger handles, prohibiting me from charging my vehicle. The funny part is that I have seen other non i3's
charge with said broken handles so I believe this is an i3-specific restriction.

Have any of you found a workaround or hack?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[whitebmwi3rexx]

Examples

 

[Mondomensch]

Examples

Those are level 1/2 AC chargers, right?

To access more AC charging options, I've recently purchased one of the following adapters that are supposed to allow AC (but not DC) charging from Tesla connectors:



If you haven't already, I'd also report the broken clips to Chargepoint; they did eventually fix a broken touchscreen that I reported on a local DC charger.

 

[alohart]

Most public chargers in my area have broken latches on the charger handles, prohibiting me from charging my vehicle. The funny part is that I have seen other non i3's
charge with said broken handles so I believe this is an i3-specific restriction.

Have any of you found a workaround or hack?

I'm pretty certain that I've charged our i3's using plugs with broken latches. You'd need to insert the plug fully into the charge port and make sure that the weight of the cable doesn't pull the plug out a bit. If charging is successful, it would be better if you could press the remains of the broken latch prior to unplugging which would turn off the power and prevent possible arcing.

 

[whitebmwi3rexx]

Those are level 1/2 AC chargers, right?

To access more AC charging options, I've recently purchased one of the following adapters that are supposed to allow AC (but not DC) charging from Tesla connectors:

View attachment 1814

If you haven't already, I'd also report the broken clips to Chargepoint; they did eventually fix a broken touchscreen that I reported on a local DC charger.

Yes, level 2 chargers, I tired the reporting strategy once before but the tech support at Chargepoint was nothing but impossible to deal with. TY.

 

[whitebmwi3rexx]

I'm pretty certain that I've charged our i3's using plugs with broken latches. You'd need to insert the plug fully into the charge port and make sure that the weight of the cable doesn't pull the plug out a bit. If charging is successful, it would be better if you could press the remains of the broken latch prior to unplugging which would turn off the power and prevent possible arcing.

Forgive me but I am highly skeptical of your claim. The i3 is designed not to charge unless the latch clicks in. It is possible not every MY has such a "failsafe" but I have no clue since barely anybody is even aware of this.

 

[alohart]

Forgive me but I am highly skeptical of your claim. The i3 is designed not to charge unless the latch clicks in. It is possible not every MY has such a "failsafe" but I have no clue since barely anybody is even aware of this.

How would an EV know that the latch on the plug has locked on to the charge port's locking pin? The locking pin has no sensors on it so doesn't know whether anything has latched to it. There's no sensor on the latch, so the EVSE doesn't know that the latch is broken.

The button on the plug that lifts the latch is attached to a switch that tells the EVSE when the latch button has been pressed or when the latch has been lifted by the charge port locking pin as the plug is inserted into the port. When either happens, the EVSE turns off power to the plug pins so that arcing doesn't occur when the plug is inserted or pulled out of the port. When the button is released or the latch has slid over the locking pin and falls down into the locking pin to secure the plug, the EVSE powers the plug pins.

When the latch is broken off the plug, the plug could be inserted into or pulled out of the port while the EVSE is still powering the plug's pins resulting in arcing. It would be better to press the latch button to shut off the power to the plug's pins to prevent arcing, but not doing so shouldn't prevent charging from succeeding. Maybe in some EVSE's, charging won't start until the locking lever has lifted and the dropped as would happen when the plug is inserted with an unbroken latch. If so, just pressing and releasing the latch button should power the plug's pins.

Searching for "EV charging with a broken latch" finds several accounts of EV owners who've successfully charged using plugs with broken latches as well as others who've not been successful. I might have been successful charging our Mitsubishi i-MiEV with a broken plug latch more than a decade ago and might not have had this experience with our i3's, so maybe there's something that prevents an i3 from charging when the plug latch is broken.

 

[Mondomensch]

This article suggests that at least some charge ports DO detect the presence of a charge plug’s latch. I am of course completely unfamiliar with the actual design details of the i3 port in the various model years.

https://www.evengineeringonline.com/how-does-a-position-lock-sensor-work-during-ev-charging/

 

[evanstuff]

How would an EV know that the latch on the plug has locked on to the charge port's locking pin? The locking pin has no sensors on it so doesn't know whether anything has latched to it. There's no sensor on the latch, so the EVSE doesn't know that the latch is broken.

The button on the plug that lifts the latch is attached to a switch that tells the EVSE when the latch button has been pressed or when the latch has been lifted by the charge port locking pin as the plug is inserted into the port. When either happens, the EVSE turns off power to the plug pins so that arcing doesn't occur when the plug is inserted or pulled out of the port. When the button is released or the latch has slid over the locking pin and falls down into the locking pin to secure the plug, the EVSE powers the plug pins.

When the latch is broken off the plug, the plug could be inserted into or pulled out of the port while the EVSE is still powering the plug's pins resulting in arcing. It would be better to press the latch button to shut off the power to the plug's pins to prevent arcing, but not doing so shouldn't prevent charging from succeeding. Maybe in some EVSE's, charging won't start until the locking lever has lifted and the dropped as would happen when the plug is inserted with an unbroken latch. If so, just pressing and releasing the latch button should power the plug's pins.

Searching for "EV charging with a broken latch" finds several accounts of EV owners who've successfully charged using plugs with broken latches as well as others who've not been successful. I might have been successful charging our Mitsubishi i-MiEV with a broken plug latch more than a decade ago and might not have had this experience with our i3's, so maybe there's something that prevents an i3 from charging when the plug latch is broken.

I have encountered this problem with (level 3) DCFCs recently (not using an AC EVSE). The CCS plugs are getting vandalized, with the locking tabs broken off, as shown in the pictures above. I've noticed that US car brands will still accept a charge this way (even though it exposes the operator to lethal voltage, and can cause arcing of the high-current contacts), but my 2017 i3 refuses to charge without it, so I'm thinking these are sophisticated vandals. I agree that using the thumb lever button should cause the current to be switched off, so I'm hoping that bimmercode provides a bypass soon. In the meantime, I'm planning to buy a NACS/CCS or ChaDeMo/CCS adapter to work around this. I did report the problem to ChargePoint for both locations. They had not yet fixed either one after two months. I'll check again when I make that trip this year.

 

[alohart]

This article suggests that at least some charge ports DO detect the presence of a charge plug’s latch. I am of course completely unfamiliar with the actual design details of the i3 port in the various model years.

https://www.evengineeringonline.com/how-does-a-position-lock-sensor-work-during-ev-charging/

This article appears to describe sensing the position of the charge port's locking pin, not the locking latch on the plug. This locking pin can refuse to extend resulting in charging failure even though the plug's locking latch isn't broken; the latch has nothing to lock to when the charge port's locking pin doesn't extend. Corrosion of the locking pin's extension motor can prevent it from extending on i3's.

 

[Mondomensch]

Thanks for the clarification, Art! Really appreciate your posts here providing a wealth of detailed knowledge and experience with i3s.

 

[Ollie]

I have two chargers with broken latches. They both work fine. You just have to remember to press the thumb button to cut the power before separation. I have a 3d printer to make new latches if I could find the g code program for it or I'm going to buy a scanner and go that route