Is my Grizzl-E dead???

T

Teddydogno1

Active Member
My wife went out today and when she came home, she said she noticed Sparky was down to 15% SOC. She only went into our little town which takes 1% or so charge round trip when fully charged, so that's pretty weird. I asked if the green light came on when she plugged it in at home. Of course, she didn't notice.

I checked the app and saw Sparky showing at 13% and not charging. The charge history shows that it did not charge at all on Friday and on Thursday (6/20) it shows "interrupted" early in the charge session. Wife has been taking the kid to summer school (they are an out-of-district attendee at my wife's school), so it had done basically 2 round trips since its last full charge and the normal commute uses about 35-40% SOC. And some errands yesterday afternoon.

I went out and saw that the Grizzl-E had zero lights on when it should have been slowly blinking when charging. No light on Sparky. I checked the circuit breaker and it was not tripped, but I flipped it anyway. No change. I have a Mustang living in semi-storage (until I can do some work on it) in the garage right now blocking better access to the Grizz and its plug and adapter. I climbed up on my workbench to get to the wall plug and it looked fine. Plug and unplugged with no change. The adapter/extension looks OK, but I could not really get to it and there is no reason for a solid connection to just get loose. No obvious damage and we have never had rodents in the garage.

Not sure if there is anything I can really do with this thing. Take it down and open it up? I'll contact Grizz on Monday and see what they say. It is about 2.5 years old and has never had a problem. I hope I don't have to buy a new Level 2.

So for the very first time since Sparky's adoption, it is plugged in using the supplied 110v charger! I plugged him in at 1:44 PM today with an estimated 30+h till full. Is now up to 28% at 6:38 (15% in 5 hours, or 3% per hour).

Rob
 
There is a chart around here somewhere that tells you what the lights mean. I think no lights means its not getting power or its dead.

"If the indicator light on the front of the Grizzl-E charger is not illuminated:
  1. Reset the breaker to check if the unit restores power.
  2. Check that there is power to the outlet/circuit with a multi-meter.
  3. If the indicator light is still not illuminated fill out the Technical Support form with all details. The charger is dead and will need to be replaced."
 
I finally made time this weekend to clear the Mustang out of the way and check this out. The wall had full power and the adapter (30A to 50A) did as well. The two small glass fuses are intact and there are no obvious visual or olfactory issues with the thing. Just dead with no lights.

I opened a ticket with them on Sunday and they SAY they will respond in about 1 business day, but has now been 2.5 with no response other than "your ticket has been created." Annoying.

I purchased my unit in August 2021 (when I ordered Sparky, so a couple of months before I actually had a car to use it with) and it has a 3-year warranty. So should be good there. I paid $539 for the "Smart" unit which now costs only $349. And my "Smart" is not so much as it works through a third party server. The new Smart has direct access via an App. They'll happily upgrade the older one for a mere $100. Yeah...so I PAID nearly $200 more and I can shell out another $100???? I'm hoping that if they have to replace it they give me a newer one (or maybe upgrade for free since it has to go in for warranty repair). A man can dream, right?

Will keep you updated.
 
Not downplaying your rightful concerns about lazy CS, but Monday was a federal holiday in Canada. Things get backed up during a compressed workweek.
 
FWIW I'm in the same boat wrt the so-called "Smart." I really can't justify what they want for the "upgrade" – along with two-way shipping of a fairly large, heavy box. Fork over an extra couple hundred dollars to get something that hopefully works the way this one should have in the first place? Definitely not cool.
 
My 1.5 year old Grizzl E dumb has a problem with the handle that sometimes refuses to unlatch. They sent me a new cable after 4 weeks.

I have a hardwired Autel Smart that Ill be installing soon.
 
I have been going back and forth with United Chargers support. Their email had an unexpected "from" line display so apparently I was deleting their email as spam initially. They keep asking questions and for photos of stuff, including of live voltage readings at the terminals of the EVSE. Annoying. They don't just accept "the thing is dead." Next expected communication on Monday.

rob
 
MrSnrub said:
My 1.5 year old Grizzl E dumb has a problem with the handle that sometimes refuses to unlatch. They sent me a new cable after 4 weeks.
Click to expand...

Mine does this occasionally and I have to pry the hook up with a small flat-blade screwdriver to get it unhooked. Then bend the hook "up" a bit with pliers to make it work again. It is a piece of shitty pot-metal that bends if you look at it cross-eyed. I'll ask about that after I get the RMA, but really I don't want to send my long charging cable as that will make a larger, heavier shipping box.

Rob
 
How did did you purchase it? If via CC check to see what the warranty is for electronic devices on mine its one extra year. If so I start a ticket with them for a either a back charge or claim.
 
Teddydogno1 said:
Mine does this occasionally and I have to pry the hook up with a small flat-blade screwdriver to get it unhooked. Then bend the hook "up" a bit with pliers to make it work again. It is a piece of shitty pot-metal that bends if you look at it cross-eyed. I'll ask about that after I get the RMA, but really I don't want to send my long charging cable as that will make a larger, heavier shipping box.

Rob
Click to expand...
Wasn't there a tip awhile ago that involved a bit of filing. Whatever it was mine has been fine for years now. Not that I'm bitter about the smart function. You would think they would offer tha refund of the price difference. I blocked its MAC address awhile ago.
 
Teddydogno1 said:
The return for replacement has been finalized. They sent a pre-paid shipping label. I asked about the replacement and they said it would be a Gen 2 with the newer Smart setup. So there's that.

Rob
Click to expand...

Did you provide the photos and video of the live voltage reaching the charger etc etc. I am in the exact same situation and just received the email asking for all those things. Just curious. Thanks
 
Yes, when I said I didn't take pics of that but just provided the readings, they said, "we'll wait while you get pictures." So... I did NOT send them a video of it malfunctioning like they asked because it didn't DO anything. It was just dead with no lights. They did not push on that one.

rob
 
Teddydogno1 said:
Yes, when I said I didn't take pics of that but just provided the readings, they said, "we'll wait while you get pictures." So... I did NOT send them a video of it malfunctioning like they asked because it didn't DO anything. It was just dead with no lights. They did not push on that one.

rob
Click to expand...

Ok thanks. Yeah sending them exactly that this evening. Using the 110v charger is painful!
 
The shipping address for the return is to California, not Canada. So that should expedite receipt time. I actually haven't shipped it yet. I was going to do it today, but the box I used was too flimsy and I wasn't happy with how it sealed up. I will need to find a better box.

rob
 
Not to hijack - I have a JuiceBox, the white version - i think 40A. Message me with a fair offer. The car was totaled when parked. I have the original box.
 
Replacement Grizz is here. Have not yet "installed" it as my project Mustang is in the way and I'm getting ready to be out of town for a few days. It looks fine in the box.

rob
 
Finally got the new Grizz installed. It is working just fine. Sparky is now getting his juice much faster. The new one has 2.0 Smart setup which connects directly to a phone app, rather than to a third-party web service. I can now see from the EVSE side how much power the car is getting and can set timed charging if I want (no incentive right now with flat-rate power rates).

So a successful, if long, warranty replacement.

Rob
 
Teddydogno1 said:
Finally got the new Grizz installed. It is working just fine. Sparky is now getting his juice much faster. The new one has 2.0 Smart setup which connects directly to a phone app, rather than to a third-party web service. I can now see from the EVSE side how much power the car is getting and can set timed charging if I want (no incentive right now with flat-rate power rates).

So a successful, if long, warranty replacement.

Rob
Click to expand...
So despite your pain and suffering, maybe it's good that your old Grizz broke so you could get this upgraded version? What's the max power it indicates when you plug in?
 
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