Remove/disable charging plug lock?

[vreihen]

Has anyone ever modified the US-spec charging port to remove/disable the charging plug lock feature? My week-old, new-to-me i3 is sitting at home firmly tethered to my house as I write this, and it seems to be a common problem. There are YouTube videos showing how to trip the release with a pointy tool, but that wasn't a realistic option in the rain that was falling this morning. I'm wondering if filing the tab off of the lock plunger would make it not lock to the plug any more, or does the charging software in the car somehow verify that the plug is really locked before enabling the power?????

 

[Anonymous]

Try locking and unlocking the doors a few times.

Some people have reported that reaming out the locking pin hole slightly, and/or lubricating the pin with WD40 helps.

Also check that it isn't the release on the charger handle itself, where the button on the handle is not pushing down enough to release the lock. Mine would not want to release when I was using the car's included occasional use 110 charging cable. When I switched to my new 220 charger - no more charge cable release issues, so assuming it was the charger and not the car.

Failing that, a dealer fix would be in order. I think the plug has to lock, in order for charging to initiate, in which case disabling the lock would also disable your ability to charge the car.

 

[vreihen]

It looks like my car will be taking a trip to the dealer, with the OUC cable hanging off of the side. I'm waiting for an answer from BMW customer service about whether roadside assistance transfers non-CPO, so I know whether it will be making the trip on their flatbed or if I will be winching it onto my enclosed race car hauler to drag it there myself.

Jiggling/lifting the connector while locking/unlocking didn't release it. Pulling the emergency release cable resulted in a broken pull knob (no surprise given other owners' experiences). The ultimate kicker is that BMW apparently tightened up the gap in the pan surrounding the charger port in 2015, so the YouTube trick of pushing the lock plunger with a key or pointy thing is not an option without drilling.

I did find an invoice in the glove compartment showing that BMW warranty replaced the OUC cable for the non-BMW dealership that I bought the car from. I have no idea what prompted that action, or if the new cable is having issues with the old charger port.

In any case, there are enough reports online of that lock solenoid failing where I want to figure out how to permanently delete the feature.....

 

[vreihen]

I tried picking blindly at the locking solenoid tab again this morning, but nothing would move. Time to punt it to the professionals.

Roadside Assistance will be picking it up from my driveway this afternoon. They confirmed that Roadside Assistance transfers to the second owner, so this is a free one. I had to call the local dealer service department and introduce myself, and give them a heads-up that they should be expecting a special delivery later this afternoon.

The RA operator had to ask a series of questions before dispatching someone. One of them was if the car would go into neutral. I laughed, and told her that she should probably ask a BMW design engineer that question because I don't even think that it will turn on with the charging door open.....

 

[vreihen]

I should enter this in a photo contest, with the tow truck being in view behind the error message that necessitated it:

Notice the green "safe to unplug" ring light:

I'm heading down to the dealership now in one of my other cars, to introduce myself and see what the plan is to fix it.....

 

[Srivenkat]

This is scary. Isn't there an emergency unlock lever or something. What would one to do if it happened at a public charging place while on the road?

 

[vreihen]

There are emergency releases for both the door and the charger plug lock, as illustrated in this BMW Hong Kong video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lIO8D3vruc

I barely had the hand strength to pull the bottom blue knob out of the car, and it promptly snapped off of the cable. The Internet is full of other people describing how they snapped the blue cable when trying to use it, so I would suggest not counting on it even in an emergency.

If you are the lucky owner of one of the early cars, you can use this trick to release a stuck solenoid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeZFn5Qd7vg

BMW appears to have installed a tighter shield on my late 2015 production car, to prevent someone from doing this any more (and possibly to combat snow/rain/ice incursion).

If my car wasn't under warranty, I would have taken a drill to the socket shield to make an access hole to push the solenoid. I will probably do it anyway once the plug is out and I can better see where to drill, and cover it with a piece of electrical tape to keep the weather out.....

 

[vreihen]

Back to the topic of deleting the charging lock solenoid, my first thought was to just remove the part completely and 3D print a waterproof cap to cover the open mounting hole on the back of the socket to keep the rain out.

I'm still learning BMW's wiring diagram conventions/quirks, but from what I can determine so far it appears that the solenoid returns a magnetic hall sensor signal when the plunger moves:

I'm sure that a simple circuit to fake the hall signal could be whipped up with a little effort.

It might be easier to just 3D print a shim to raise the solenoid mount up a smidge, so that the plunger cannot block the plug disconnect tab from moving.

It might not even be necessary to fake the hall sensor signal. I remember seeing either a web article or video somewhere about how you could prevent the lock from actuating by either not plugging the charge connector in tight or holding the plug release button while locking the doors. That action prevented the plunger from locking the plug, and then you could finish pushing in the plug or release the button to start charging without the cable being locked. The article was for sharing the plug at a public charging station (not bypassing the lock permanently), but it implied that the solenoid movement is not monitored by the car. Of course, I can't find this page/video again now that I want to look at it again.....

 

[Anonymous]

Seems this was a known issue with i3's built between August 31, 2014, October 25, 2014. To the point it was posted as a Defect Bulletin with the NHTSA May 2015.

You might show the dealer this:

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2015/SB-10058477-5912.pdf


This is the part the guy in the UK video was installing. Available for $105 from a parts house in Denmark that sells and ships world wide. I know a lot of BMW owners in the U.S. who buy from them, as they have items not available in the U.S., and their prices are good.

https://www.schmiedmann.com/en/product/1978852-new?product=61-13-6-805-425

 

[vreihen]

This is the part the guy in the UK video was installing. Available for $105 from a parts house in Denmark that sells and ships world wide. I know a lot of BMW owners in the U.S. who buy from them, as they have items not available in the U.S., and their prices are good.

https://www.schmiedmann.com/en/product/1978852-new?product=61-13-6-805-425

Interesting observation is that the cover appears to snap off by prying a few annoying snap tabs with a screwdriver, so the innards may be easy to modify, repair, or improve:

Plenty of options to explore for removing this pesky feature.....

 

[jadnashuanh]

That doesn't need to be engaged to charge the car as it only operates when you lock it, and charging is not connected to the car being locked. If the plug is still connected, the computer won't let the car go into READY state, though.

In some places, not those that use the J1772 protocol, an EVSE doesn't always come with cable and plug...the EVSE has a socket on it as well as the car, and you would then need to use your own cable. So, they implemented that function to lock the cable to the car. The original software never unlocked that plug from the car until the car was unlocked. This created some issues where people wanted to be able to share an EVSE. Say, you go into work, your car is fully charged in maybe an hour or two, and someone else wants to use the EVSE...they couldn't disconnect the plug even though the car was fully charged. So, they modified the software to unlock it when the car was fully charged, OR, if you unlocked the car. Personally, I'd like to have that be a user option, as if you're using your OUC or some other unit, it would remain locked in place until you decided it was good to release it. Now, if you were using your portable unit, once your car was charged, anyone could just unplug it from the car and walk away with it.

 

[glim1000]

My charging plug lock died on me after a lot of snow, melting, freezing, etc. I followed this video, before starting - disable the HV battery by using the orange disconnect to the right of the frunk under the velcro panel (press in on the clip under the orange disconnect and slide to reveal the security hole, and put something through the hole):
https://youtu.be/ziVu9-v69eE

I used a set of electronics flat head screwdrivers and plyers to remove the two security screws holding it in place - replaced the failed motorized pin unit but I didn't screw it back into the charging port housing. I left it plugged in - in the cavity behind the charger.

I put black electrical tape behind where the pin would normally protrude to blank out the hole. The car now thinks the charger is locked but is now removable at any time. It should no longer fail as it is not exposed to moisture - nor does it come into contact with anything.

Edit: Feb 19/2020
The Pin needs to be in its original location or else fast charging will fail "charger could not be locked to the car". Screwing the plug lock back into its original location enabled fast charging.

I used "Paulin 8 x 5/8-inch DRILL-X Hex Washer Head Self-Drilling Tapping Screws - Zinc Plated" instead of the security screws.
HomeDepot.ca
Model # 846-601
Store SKU # 1000116794

BMW Socket Lock part number: 61136842870
Cost: $225 CDN
Dealer quote: $1400

 

[eNate]

...
The car now thinks the charger is locked but is now removable at any time...

I think that's all fine and good as long as you're the only one handling the charging and are always cognizant of the modification. (Kind of like I made up a "special" 240v 20A connection in my garage that uses a normal 120v receptacle, so that my dual-voltage 16A EVSE can plug into it without adapters -- but it would fry anything else I could plug in to it.)

But I'd be concerned about anybody else -- even some curious kid just walking by and being mischievous -- who can pull the charging handle out of the car while it's pumping away at 30A. I don't necessarily think they'd get injured if they pulled the charging handle out while it was still active, but I'd worry about electrical arcing that might cause damage to the car's charging port.

 

[3pete]

If we're just talking about the lock, it should be fine to remove from a 'random passerby' safety standpoint. As soon as the button on the EVSE cable handle is pressed to disengage the latch, the EVSE should cut power.

However, removing the lock would allow a random passerbys to unplug your car for any reason including theft of your OUC or just general hooliganism. After a long day at work, coming out to a flat battery could be a longer fix than a flat tire depending on how far you need to drive.

As to our good friend the DRIVE UNIT POWER SOCKET LOCK (aka 61-13-6-805-424 for Americans), getting to it is fairly difficult but once you do, defeating it seems it could be fairly trivial. I replaced mine so here are some photos.

First note: it is sealed with some adhesive, probably to make it waterproof but it also means: don't expect to get it open without breaking it unless you know how to defeat the sealant (I chose the "break it" approach).

The back/top/lid holds some of the gears in place, for whatever that's worth.

The lock solenoid is entirely plastic and driven forward/backward by an oddly shaped gear. This gear also presses on a momentary sensor when fully engaged which I would suspect tells the car that the lock is engaged.

From what I can see, it would seem plausible that removing the solenoid alone would trick the car into thinking everything is working fine but without the lock actually being there.

The biggest question mark may be DC Fast charging which will only start if the handle is locked. Does the DC Charger actually know this somehow, or does it reply on the car to report whether the lock is engaged?

Here's the inside:

The solenoid comes out pretty easily.

Lord Varys' reaction when...

Weird shaped gear with built in lever. Sensor/button in the top left.

Solenoid removed. You can see where the gear lever is pressing the button.

It seems you could glue the cover back on and put it back in the car and the very intelligent i3 would be none-the-wiser that it can no longer lock the charge cable handle to the car.

Disclaimer: I have not tried this. I replaced my DRIVE UNIT POWER SOCKET LOCK with a new DRIVE UNIT POWER SOCKET LOCK and it works well (at least for now). Also, I agree BMW should have made it user-selectable whether the lock engages or not. Sometimes I want it, sometimes I don't.

 

[glim1000]

Tested this today, without the locking pin the DC fast charger reports an error "could not lock to vehicle" and then stops.

I replaced the locking pin and DC fast charging works normally again.

 

[3pete]

Tested this today, without the locking pin the DC fast charger reports an error "could not lock to vehicle" and then stops.

I replaced the locking pin and DC fast charging works normally again.

That's interesting. Just to clarify, when you say, "without the locking pin" do you mean you:
a) broke open the piece BMW calls the Drive Unit Power Socket Lock and removed the plastic solenoid that extends to cover the charge cable connector ?
or
b) disconnected the electrical connection to the piece BMW calls the Drive Unit Power Socket Lock?

If it's A, I'm curious how the DCFC would know unless it somehow does a self test to see if the release lever has full range of motion or if it's blocked. It doesn't seem like the i3 would know if just the plastic piece is missing (unless I'm missing something). From the DCFC company's standpoint though, it does kindof make sense they would do a self-test before pumping 50kw (or even higher for other cars) through a connection as opposed to 'trusting' the car on the other side to verify the connection is locked in place.

 

[eNate]

I'm curious how the DCFC would know unless it somehow does a self test to see if the release lever has full range of motion or if it's blocked.

I did a search of IEC 61851-23 that describes connectors and their functions, and came up with the following doc that includes this text:

aria_138_2.pdf (having trouble getting to the site that hosts this doc)

Lock and latch monitoring for vehicle connector

"The vehicle connector shall have a means of
mechanical latching, electrical locking, and
lock and latch monitoring.

In case of failure of mechanical latching or
electrical locking of the vehicle connector, the
station shall not energize the DC power lines
connected to the vehicle connector. If the
failure is detected during charging, the station
shall reduce the DC output current to less
than 5 A in less than 2 s"

In it, there's also a schematic in Amex A that depicts the workings of a charging handle that includes a latch detection circuit, recognizing that as part of ISO 17409, responsibility for mechanical latching is on the vehicle side of the setup.

 

[robthebold]

You don't want to be in a situation where you could pull out the high voltage DC connection without shutting off the circuit first. You could draw a really nice arc that wouldn't quickly self-extinguish when it returned to zero like AC would -- because DC doesn't cross 0V periodically. That might be a very exciting situation to be in!

The latch tab on my "occasional use charger" got broken by a child on a cold day, so the connector can be removed without pressing the latch button to alert the controller box to snap off the relay. Even the relatively low voltage 120VAC can pull enough of an arc that you can smell the ozone if you don't press the button!

 

[glim1000]

DCFC must self-test to see if the locking pin is enabled.

I did not take the unit apart/remove the locking pin, I plugged in a new unit and zip-tied it behind the charging port.

Before putting the housing back together I validated that the pin extended by plugging in my home EVSE and locking the car.

Tested fast charging - failed 'could not lock charger to car'.

Part number: 61136842870
Cost: $225 CDN
Dealer quote: $1400

 

[vreihen]

I wonder if having two solenoids and a multi-pole switch to use the mounted solenoid and not the tie-wrapped one for DCFC is an option?????