I have no electrical background, and am a bit away from an actual charge station. Does anyone know what this means? Regular charger for iphone works on this outlet, not sure what to do except trying to disconnect and reconnect. The indicator means " ground disconnection" but I have no idea what that means and no tutorials anywhere, nothing in the manual
Need urgent help: what does this light mean
- Thread starter sseohero
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Matt007b
Active Member
I'm no expert either but I'm guessing it's not detecting a ground in the plug you are plugging into (which is the 3rd bottom prong on the cord..and why your cell phone charger works). I've seen videos of people plugging in their cars to gas generators and the charger refusing to charge because of the charger not detecting a ground...so a "no ground" situation.
Sounds like the outlet you're plugged into has no ground connected to it... if you have another panel outlet somewhere I'd try that.. OR...a solution (not a great one) is to buy here... but I think the best bet is to have an electrician fix your non-grounded outlets.
*this product might not work but... yeah..again I'm not an expert but I've seen people plug this in a socket tricking the system into thinking there is a ground... but honestly your wiring should probably be fixed to get a correct ground.
https://www.amazon.com/Southwire-Co...ocphy=9029759&hvtargid=pla-637434786144&psc=1
*edit* - after thinking about this I wouldn't bother will the plug I listed.. it's generally used for outdoor generators.. but yeah your outlets in your garage or wherever you're plugging in need to be grounded (electrician)
Sounds like the outlet you're plugged into has no ground connected to it... if you have another panel outlet somewhere I'd try that.. OR...a solution (not a great one) is to buy here... but I think the best bet is to have an electrician fix your non-grounded outlets.
*this product might not work but... yeah..again I'm not an expert but I've seen people plug this in a socket tricking the system into thinking there is a ground... but honestly your wiring should probably be fixed to get a correct ground.
https://www.amazon.com/Southwire-Co...ocphy=9029759&hvtargid=pla-637434786144&psc=1
*edit* - after thinking about this I wouldn't bother will the plug I listed.. it's generally used for outdoor generators.. but yeah your outlets in your garage or wherever you're plugging in need to be grounded (electrician)
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hopefully you can find a grounded outlet plug near the car that is actually grounded and will work.
SameGuy
Well-Known Member
Any chance it tripped the GFCI at the breaker?
AndysComputer
Well-Known Member
If you tripped the GFCI the outlet wouldn’t work at all.
Looks like a ground fault to me. As stated above, the outlet might not even have one (ie that third or middle pin may not be connected to anything).
Unfortunately in the US many outlets (and appliances) did not have a third pin for “ground”. This is a safety feature that gives a path to ground should a fault occur in an appliance. Otherwise if there was such a fault and the body of the appliance became “live” (think metal stand mixer) the path to ground would be through you if you touched it. That would be bad. By tying the metal body of the mixer (or computer) to that third pin in the plug a short inside the appliance would cause the power to flow through that middle pin to ground and the breaker would likely flip due to the large amount of current flowing freely to ground.
As EVs pull a lot of power to charge, are insulated (they sit on rubber tires) and the cable could be damaged the safety systems in the car and in the charger (it’s actually called an EVSE not a charger and is basically just a power cord with extra safety features) will not allow you to charge if they detect a ground fault.
Looks like a ground fault to me. As stated above, the outlet might not even have one (ie that third or middle pin may not be connected to anything).
Unfortunately in the US many outlets (and appliances) did not have a third pin for “ground”. This is a safety feature that gives a path to ground should a fault occur in an appliance. Otherwise if there was such a fault and the body of the appliance became “live” (think metal stand mixer) the path to ground would be through you if you touched it. That would be bad. By tying the metal body of the mixer (or computer) to that third pin in the plug a short inside the appliance would cause the power to flow through that middle pin to ground and the breaker would likely flip due to the large amount of current flowing freely to ground.
As EVs pull a lot of power to charge, are insulated (they sit on rubber tires) and the cable could be damaged the safety systems in the car and in the charger (it’s actually called an EVSE not a charger and is basically just a power cord with extra safety features) will not allow you to charge if they detect a ground fault.
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polyphonic
Well-Known Member
It means you have bad wiring, which is unfortunately common. You need a grounded outlet.
You can purchase an inexpensive (under $10) outlet tester at a local hardware store to verify what your charging cord appears to be telling you about the missing connection to ground. Of course, a quicker test would be to try a different outlet, perhaps at a neighbor's house.
FrankinCarp
Active Member
The problem may be as simple as the socket being incorrectly wired. If the wires are reversed, the wrong prong will be hot.
For many devices, having the “wrong” blade of the plug will not make a difference because the device is smart enough to flip to correct connections internally. This is especially true of things like small device chargers that can accept that can be used with both 220v and 110v at 50Hz or 60Hz.
Chargers for high power devices often employ circuitry that detect improper ground/common and refuse to work for safety reasons.
Bottom line, If you don’t know what you are doing, best to bring in a pro.
Mike Wazowski [emoji1063]
[emoji4]& [emoji23] for more [emoji298]️[emoji298]️
For many devices, having the “wrong” blade of the plug will not make a difference because the device is smart enough to flip to correct connections internally. This is especially true of things like small device chargers that can accept that can be used with both 220v and 110v at 50Hz or 60Hz.
Chargers for high power devices often employ circuitry that detect improper ground/common and refuse to work for safety reasons.
Bottom line, If you don’t know what you are doing, best to bring in a pro.
Mike Wazowski [emoji1063]
[emoji4]& [emoji23] for more [emoji298]️[emoji298]️