Car not charging. Just buzzing.

[Lacap421]

Hi my 2014 rex suddenly won’t charge with the factory level 1 charger. I unfortunately used the battery to zero and I’ve had it on the charger for about 2 days. It’s not building up any miles. It just buzzes. About 4 days ago I noticed it didn’t charge on the level 1 but I was able to drive/connect to a level 3 and it charged. I’ve bought an aftermarket level 1 charger in hopes that maybe it was that, but it keeps tripping my surge protector. At this point it won’t move because the battery is too low to use the rex. What can I do at this point? Am I missing something? Please any advice would help. Thanks. Btw the port blinks blue and the dash gives an estimate of completion but it’s not actually charging.

 

[EvanstonI3]

if the aftermarket L1 charger "trips" your surge protector, try going into the iDrive settings and adjust the L1 charge rate to the lowest setting. Then see if it will "work". If it still trips the breaker, you most likely have an electrical problem that is external to the car.

The only other option I can think of is that you ran the main battery down so low that it can't keep the 12v battery charged enough to allow the car to initiate a charge now. Charging the 12v battery alone may help with that. Of course if your 12v battery is failing bad, it could also be the culprit.

 

[mojo]

As EvastonI3 says, the place to start is checking the 12V battery, because it's easy to check and cheap(ish) to replace.

Can you say what your surge protector is rated to trip at?

 

[Lacap421]

I don’t know if the 12v battery is the low, it’s about 2 years old since I replaced it. I can charge it to confirm. But right now I adjusted the level 1 charge to the lowest setting and we’ll see how that goes. It did stop the buzzing right now and I’m sure my neighbors appreciate that. I will give it awhile and update you guys. Thanks.

 

[cpallenjr]

If the car is displaying the charge estimate I don't think it's the 12V battery. When you say the surge protector is tripping, do you really mean a ground fault interrupter built into the electrical outlet or circuit breaker? Or is the breaker tripping from overcurrent When you say it charges OK on a Level 3 charger do you mean that FAST DC Charging is working? Have you tried a Level 2 Charger?
Sounds to me that you might have a problem with the outlet, GFI, breaker, or wiring in your home. Can you try a different outlet that is on a different breaker?

 

[Lacap421]

If the car is displaying the charge estimate I don't think it's the 12V battery. When you say the surge protector is tripping, do you really mean a ground fault interrupter built into the electrical outlet or circuit breaker? Or is the breaker tripping from overcurrent When you say it charges OK on a Level 3 charger do you mean that FAST DC Charging is working? Have you tried a Level 2 Charger?
Sounds to me that you might have a problem with the outlet, GFI, breaker, or wiring in your home. Can you try a different outlet that is on a different breaker?

I bought a level 1/2 charger because my factory bmw charger wasn’t charging the car. It blinked blue, but the hv battery wasn’t showing it was being charged on the display. Although it does read 52 miles on it. I plugged into an extension that has a surge protector. It tripped that. I connected straight to the outlet and it tripped the outlet and also the circuit breaker in the main box. I then went back to the factory charger and I’ve left it overnight. Still doesn’t show the charging on the display but still shows electrical miles on top of the bars. I hope I explained that clearly.

As of today I plugged the 12v battery to a charger/trickle charger and I’m hoping it knocks something into play. I also cleared as many codes possible on my BimmerLink.

 

[tob1as]

I bought a level 1/2 charger because my factory bmw charger wasn’t charging the car. It blinked blue, but the hv battery wasn’t showing it was being charged on the display. Although it does read 52 miles on it. I plugged into an extension that has a surge protector. It tripped that. I connected straight to the outlet and it tripped the outlet and also the circuit breaker in the main box. I then went back to the factory charger and I’ve left it overnight. Still doesn’t show the charging on the display but still shows electrical miles on top of the bars. I hope I explained that clearly.

As of today I plugged the 12v battery to a charger/trickle charger and I’m hoping it knocks something into play. I also cleared as many codes possible on my BimmerLink.

Seems that if neither your BMW EVSE nor the aftermarket EVSE are charging on AC, but level 3 (DC - fast) charging works, you may have a faulty onboard charger. (Yes, the things we call "(AC) chargers", are actually just EVSEs - Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment - the actual "(AC) charger" is an onboard unit).

https://www.evconnect.com/blog/what-is-evse
From the article:
"When you’re using an AC charger (which still make up the majority of connector types), you aren’t actually charging the battery. You’re charging an onboard charging system inside the electric vehicle (EV), which then converts that power to DC electricity and sends it to the battery. If you’re charging with DC power, this isn’t necessary. Instead, the power goes straight to the car’s battery."

So, it could be the onboard charger or the control unit prompting the (AC) charging process.

 

[cpallenjr]

I bought a level 1/2 charger because my factory bmw charger wasn’t charging the car. It blinked blue, but the hv battery wasn’t showing it was being charged on the display. Although it does read 52 miles on it. I plugged into an extension that has a surge protector. It tripped that. I connected straight to the outlet and it tripped the outlet and also the circuit breaker in the main box. I then went back to the factory charger and I’ve left it overnight. Still doesn’t show the charging on the display but still shows electrical miles on top of the bars. I hope I explained that clearly.

As of today I plugged the 12v battery to a charger/trickle charger and I’m hoping it knocks something into play. I also cleared as many codes possible on my BimmerLink.

I still think you might have a problem with your receptacle, wiring, or breaker. If you had a problem with the EME as noted below there should be a clear indication in your error messages. I don't think battery chargers (or EVSEs either) work very well with ground fault interrupters. Your best bet would be to get an electrician, or someone with a volt meter, or buy a plug - in electrical tester at the hardware store and rule out an electrical supply problem in your home. If you can drive it to a neighbor's house, try out one of your chargers there.

 

[808Pants]

I plugged into an extension that has a surge protector. It tripped that.

Surge protector built into an extension cord of the gauge you'd need for charging sounds unlikely - I've never seen them built into any "extension cord" per se, other than a power-strip, which isn't usually long enough to warrant consideration. Are we talking about a GFCI? (At the panel? Portable?) The two serve entirely different purposes. Definitely avoid a GFCI in any form, at least until you isolate this problem; they are notoriously finicky.

 

[Lacap421]

So still not able to charge. This is my current error list and what my dash currently looks like. It shows electrical miles but the bars aren’t charging. The plug light blinks blue like normal. I’m using the bmw level 1 charger on the lowest charging setting.

 

[mojo]

It certainly sounds as though you have a failure within the convenience charging electronics (KLE), or an associated module.

Is your car modified in any way? The fault codes seem to suggest that it may have had some non-standard parts fitted at some point - but I doubt they are related to the current problem.

 

[Nanniepoo]

You could try running REX in emissions mode to see if you can get some level of charge from that?

1. Open hatch
2. Start stop 1 time (no pedals)
3. Acc pedal hold to floor them press brake simul 3 times
4. Release gas while holding brake and simul push start/stop

 

[EvanstonI3]

It certainly sounds as though you have a failure within the convenience charging electronics (KLE), or an associated module.

Agreed. Based on the earlier observation that it charged on L3 (DC). If I recall the KLE is divided into two lines so if one failed, a L2 charge would act as a L1 charge but a L1 charge alone would not work. Is there any way you can get this on a tow truck and get to a L2 charger to test this? Sounds like it is going to cost money no matter what.

 

[Lacap421]

Agreed. Based on the earlier observation that it charged on L3 (DC). If I recall the KLE is divided into two lines so if one failed, a L2 charge would act as a L1 charge but a L1 charge alone would not work. Is there any way you can get this on a tow truck and get to a L2 charger to test this? Sounds like it is going to cost money no matter what.

I actually did. I was at an evgo charger when I had to tow it home because it was failing to communicate with the charger. the charger would say “will resume charging when power returns”. I was able to use 2 different chargers at the time and they were level 3. I ended up towing it home. Crazy enough it did start to charge today after leaving it plugged in for the last 4 days. Thank you for all the support from the forum. I appreciate all the advice of the community.

 

[Lacap421]

It certainly sounds as though you have a failure within the convenience charging electronics (KLE), or an associated module.

Is your car modified in any way? The fault codes seem to suggest that it may have had some non-standard parts fitted at some point - but I doubt they are related to the current problem.

It was coded for the driving assist to work. Also the steering wheel was bypassed so that u don’t need to keep holding it during the driving assist.

 

[mojo]

It was coded for the driving assist to work. Also the steering wheel was bypassed so that u don’t need to keep holding it during the driving assist.

Ah yes, I thought it looked familiar. Not a mod that someone in the UK or Europe could consider, as the insurance companies there would probably not accept a mod like that without voiding insurance cover - but it seems that insurance companies in the US are more understanding!

 

[robthebold]

Ah yes, I thought it looked familiar. Not a mod that someone in the UK or Europe could consider, as the insurance companies there would probably not accept a mod like that without voiding insurance cover - but it seems that insurance companies in the US are more understanding!

Well, you'd do it at night . . .

 

[mojo]

Well, you'd do it at night . . .

Of course - then the spies from the insurance company who are watching you won't be able to see!