Piece of charger plug stuck in charger port

F

Flyingellas

New Member
I have a level 2 charger at my house and charged yesterday without any hint of an issue. When I got to work this morning I tried to plug in to charge and the charger wouldn’t seat properly. I couldn’t see anything inside the charger port. However, when I got home tonight I can now see the very end of one of the prongs of my home charger is broken off and I can plug in and charge, so mystery solved. I’m unclear of how to get the piece of plastic out so I can charge at work and other charging stations. I’ll deal with worrying about fixing my home charging station once I’ve sorted out my car.
 
It's difficult to imagine why the plastic prong would break off. Who made this EVSE? Ask them what they would do because this problem has probably happened to other customers, too.

If the prong tip is wedged solidly in your Clarity's charge port you may have to drill a hole into the prong and insert a long, thin screw into the hole to pull it out. If not wedged solidly, you might try superglue (not very much superglue) on a thin piece of plastic.
 
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Please be careful about sticking anything metal into or around the chargeport, there's 311 volts behind those ports just waiting to bite you. If at all use wooded chopsticks or something plastic but never metal.
 
Claire Green said:
Please be careful about sticking anything metal into or around the chargeport, there's 311 volts behind those ports just waiting to bite you. If at all use wooded chopsticks or something plastic but never metal.
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Nothing in the receptacle (car) or plug (EVSE) is hot until multiple conditions/checks are achieved. A metal dental pick (or two) is most likely to succeed in removing the broken part of the plug from the car's receptacle.

Which pin has the broken plug piece stuck?
j1772chargersocket-insertarrangements.jpg

This orientation is looking at port on the car (the plug is a mirror image).
 
DucRider said:
Nothing in the receptacle (car) or plug (EVSE) is hot until multiple conditions/checks are achieved. A metal dental pick (or two) is most likely to succeed in removing the broken part of the plug from the car's receptacle.

Which pin has the broken plug piece stuck?
j1772chargersocket-insertarrangements.jpg

This orientation is looking at port on the car (the plug is a mirror image).
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L2/N and this is a four month-old charge point level 2 station at my house that only I use. No idea how this prong broke especially while plugged into my car. I'll be inspecting every charging station I use from now on.
 

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Flyingellas said:
L2/N and this is a four month-old charge point level 2 station at my house that only I use. No idea how this prong broke especially while plugged into my car. I'll be inspecting every charging station I use from now on.
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Actually it's stuck on the L1, just reexamined the diagram.
 
If it doesn't pull out relatively easily with a pick, then I'd probably carefully tackle that issue with a small drill bit...just drill a few small holes in the plastic carefully on opposite sides until the piece breaks in half, releasing from the pin, then blow out any debris with compressed air. Can't imagine taking more than about 5 minutes to get that little plastic donut free from the car so you can use other chargers and replace yours. Shouldn't need a whole new charger...presumably you just need to replace the cordset to fix this? I'd contact Charge Point and see if they'll help with the cost as they're not cheap either.
 
When removing the broken piece, be aware that the car actually has the "male" connector. The pins are on the car side and the broken "donut" is surrounding a metal pin. Breaking or bending that pin will likely require replacing the charge port on your Clarity.

It is very likely that your Chargepoint plug with the small missing piece will work as is. I would still contact them and try and get them to fix/replace it.
 
I wonder if some moisture got in there and froze? Probably a good idea for us to put some dielectric grease on the connector a couple times a year.

When you replace the cable or connector, be sure to use a high quality one. I had problems with 2 new cables that came with GE EVSE's. Finally replaced with high-quality Leviton cable that has worked flawlessly. The connector is made by Yazaki, which my research indicated makes one of the best.
Screen Shot 2018-11-27 at 1.11.09 PM.webp
 
New update. A second piece of plastic broke off my home charger. I caught it before it broke off inside my car charging port since I’ve started inspecting it before using it. I’m disappointed that this happened again, but even more disappointed that ChargePoint hasn’t responded to my original request for information about them replacing this part under warranty.
 
JimW said:
I wonder if some moisture got in there and froze? Probably a good idea for us to put some dielectric grease on the connector a couple times a year.

When you replace the cable or connector, be sure to use a high quality one. I had problems with 2 new cables that came with GE EVSE's. Finally replaced with high-quality Leviton cable that has worked flawlessly. The connector is made by Yazaki, which my research indicated makes one of the best. View attachment 3008
Click to expand...
Do you have a link of where to get this cable?
 
When I needed a longer cable, I went with a trusted source - Tony Williams/Quick Charge Power.

The Fit EV came with a Leviton 32A EVSE, and worked flawlessly for the nearly 5 years we had the Fit. When we got the Clarity Electric, we had to shuffle garage spots. The Clarity is ~30" longer than the Fit and moving the furnace and water heater was not an option. That left the choice of relocating the EVSE or getting a longer cordset - I chose the latter.
https://shop.quickchargepower.com/J-Plug-40-Amp-J1772-Plug-Cable-Assembly-JPC40A.htm
Chances are good the e-bay seller is fine, but no details on the cable construction and/or wire gauge. Not unheard of for such sellers to claim UL listing or amperage tolerance based only on the plug, and not the whole assembly. QC Power has been around for many years, develops innovative products (adding CHAdeMO to a RAV4, Merc B-Class, etc). They're in the US, assemble the're products here and are available if there are any questions or issues.

I looked at the cheaper alternatives, but my peace of mind was worth a slightly lighter wallet. YMMV

But, ChargePoint should definitely step up and take care of the issue. They are active on some of the other forums, and seem concerned about customer satisfaction. If you tried by email, I'd be on the phone to them ASAP:
https://www.chargepoint.com/about/contact/
ChargePoint Home Assistance
U.S. and Canada Toll Free: 1-888-758-4389
(24 hours a day)
Headquarters
ChargePoint, Inc.
240 East Hacienda Avenue
Campbell, CA 95008 USA
Tel: 1-408-841-4500
US and Canada Toll Free: 1-866-480-2936
 
@DucRider... I like the cable you referenced (parallel #12 conductors and both pilot and proximity as well as ground and neutral I assume). Should carry 40A fine. The price is good, too although I didn't check shipping cost.

As to the ebay Yakazi I posted, the listing shows the exact item:
General brochure can be downloaded from inventory.smdinc.com/search/pdf/7335-9426.pdf. This is the 16' version of assembly p/n 7335-8719
Yakazi connector with conductors which are 3 #10 Cu with blue #18 for pilot/control wire. This is a perfectly fine replacement for a 30A EVSE. All depends on what someone wants (30A vs 40A) or (16' vs 25' or 50'). I wouldn't lose any sleep over the Ebay listing if it fit my needs.
It would be a good idea to look at the number of wires in the cable being replaced to see if the EVSE had both blue and orange wires (control pilot and proximity detection). Most seem to use blue only. I'll be honest that I don't know what the 20 awg purple would be.
Also, it wasn't the OP that requested where to get the cable, it was @Teamchang. Chargepoint should definitely take care of the OP's problem under warranty.
 
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Flyingellas said:
New update. A second piece of plastic broke off my home charger. I caught it before it broke off inside my car charging port since I’ve started inspecting it before using it. I’m disappointed that this happened again, but even more disappointed that ChargePoint hasn’t responded to my original request for information about them replacing this part under warranty.
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@Flyingellas, you might want to tweet chargepoint about your issues.
In the past I have had good responses from other companies. Might be worrh a try.
Screenshot_20181210-091129_Twitter.webp


Sent from my SM-G955U using Inside EVs mobile app
 
Richard_arch74 said:
@Flyingellas, you might want to tweet chargepoint about your issues.
In the past I have had good responses from other companies. Might be worrh a try.View attachment 3086

Sent from my SM-G955U using Inside EVs mobile app
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Charge Point has acknowledged my case and has committed to sending a replacement. It hasn’t arrive yet but I’m hoping this situation is fully resolved after I receive the new charger.
 
Flyingellas said:
Charge Point has acknowledged my case and has committed to sending a replacement. It hasn’t arrive yet but I’m hoping this situation is fully resolved after I receive the new charger.
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Charge Point sent me a replacement charging station and cable. I’m satisfied with the outcome of this inquiry with their customer service.
 
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