[dewalter]

I use a standard outlet to trickle charge my XC40 recharge, but I haven't been able to charge using this method for a week or two now. Fast charging at a public station works. The Volvo cord I use at home is showing a solid white light, which I gather means it is ready to charge, but the car refuses to recognize it, showing an error instead. It's gotten colder recently--does that have something to do with it? I'm at my wits end with this and am worried about not being able to charge overnight, especially as we enter cold winter nights and the car is sitting outside.

 

[340driver]

I use a standard outlet to trickle charge my XC40 recharge, but I haven't been able to charge using this method for a week or two now. Fast charging at a public station works. The Volvo cord I use at home is showing a solid white light, which I gather means it is ready to charge, but the car refuses to recognize it, showing an error instead. It's gotten colder recently--does that have something to do with it? I'm at my wits end with this and am worried about not being able to charge overnight, especially as we enter cold winter nights and the car is sitting outside.

Have you tried holding the cable handle up until it starts charging, there are quite a few write ups that because cable is so heavy it sometime pulls away or doesn't connect properly unless you lift up slightly to offset the weight of the cable.
Worth a try!

 

[dewalter]

Have you tried holding the cable handle up until it starts charging, there are quite a few write ups that because cable is so heavy it sometime pulls away or doesn't connect properly unless you lift up slightly to offset the weight of the cable.
Worth a try!

Thanks for that suggestion. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to change anything. Still getting the red light in the charging socket and the error message on the dash.

 

[XC90_Dinosaur]

Thanks for that suggestion. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to change anything. Still getting the red light in the charging socket and the error message on the dash.

is it possible to try another Volvo charger or to try to charge another one with your current charger? Call your dealership and start there perhaps.

 

[340driver]

I use a standard outlet to trickle charge my XC40 recharge, but I haven't been able to charge using this method for a week or two now. Fast charging at a public station works. The Volvo cord I use at home is showing a solid white light, which I gather means it is ready to charge, but the car refuses to recognize it, showing an error instead. It's gotten colder recently--does that have something to do with it? I'm at my wits end with this and am worried about not being able to charge overnight, especially as we enter cold winter nights and the car is sitting outside.

The other problem that seems to be happening with the Volvo charging cable is the joint where 120/240 adapter is fitted gets loose easily and you should check this is still turned on tightly

 

[dewalter]

The other problem that seems to be happening with the Volvo charging cable is the joint where 120/240 adapter is fitted gets loose easily and you should check this is still turned on tightly

But isn't the adapter plug "above" the charger? So if I'm getting a white light on the charger that says it's ready to charge, it couldn't be a loose connection that's causing the problem. Whatever it is seems to be between the car and the charging cable.

 

[B-mtrd]

But isn't the adapter plug "above" the charger? So if I'm getting a white light on the charger that says it's ready to charge, it couldn't be a loose connection that's causing the problem. Whatever it is seems to be between the car and the charging cable.

How far are you from a dealer? I would go to one and see if you can test another charger they might have.
Heck, if you were close to me I would let you try mine.

 

[dewalter]

How far are you from a dealer? I would go to one and see if you can test another charger they might have.
Heck, if you were close to me I would let you try mine.

Unfortunately I'm 100 miles from the nearest dealer, so I'll have to wait to get it in until I can justify the trip. It's odd that public charging stations seem to work fine.

 

[SeattleCat]

Public charging stations (assuming you are using a level 3) use a different pathway. Dc vs ac.

Have you tried plugging in your cable to someone elses house (with permission) to see if it your home that is at fault.

can also try charging at a low level public charger (blink?) see if that works.

 

[He Keith]

Yeah first thing I did when I got my newest P8 home was to plug in the Volvo supplied charger and hook it up to make sure they both work. Since the new P8 has 250kW of free EA it is time to test fast charging with both cars.

 

[SeattleCat]

Yeah first thing I did when I got my newest P8 home was to plug in the Volvo supplied charger and hook it up to make sure they both work. Since the new P8 has 250kW of free EA it is time to test fast charging with both cars.

Ooh that’s a good point. Never used my home charge cable. I really should just to make sure it works!!!

 

[dewalter]

Update: I talked to a Volvo tech and it seems like maybe the issue has to do with the voltage being so low on the ordinary outlet that all of the juice goes to keeping the battery warm enough to charge, and then nothing is left over to charge it. That makes some sense, since on warmer days I had fewer issues. I'm generally getting kind of worried about what I'm going to do over the winter--I gather that it's good to keep the car plugged in over the winter when not using it to prevent it from going into a damaging deep freeze. It's kind of weird that Volvo wouldn't tell you any of this up front. I may have to just install a 240V outlet and hope that gives the car enough power to keep the battery warm enough to charge.

 

[B-mtrd]

Update: I talked to a Volvo tech and it seems like maybe the issue has to do with the voltage being so low on the ordinary outlet that all of the juice goes to keeping the battery warm enough to charge, and then nothing is left over to charge it. That makes some sense, since on warmer days I had fewer issues. I'm generally getting kind of worried about what I'm going to do over the winter--I gather that it's good to keep the car plugged in over the winter when not using it to prevent it from going into a damaging deep freeze. It's kind of weird that Volvo wouldn't tell you any of this up front. I may have to just install a 240V outlet and hope that gives the car enough power to keep the battery warm enough to charge.

Have you tried the charger at someone else’s house?
Before I installed the level 2 charger I used the Volvo charger daily plugging it to the regular outlet and never had any issues other than the charge being excruciatingly slow (3mi/h).

 

[BikerBill]

Update: I talked to a Volvo tech and it seems like maybe the issue has to do with the voltage being so low on the ordinary outlet that all of the juice goes to keeping the battery warm enough to charge, and then nothing is left over to charge it. That makes some sense, since on warmer days I had fewer issues. I'm generally getting kind of worried about what I'm going to do over the winter--I gather that it's good to keep the car plugged in over the winter when not using it to prevent it from going into a damaging deep freeze. It's kind of weird that Volvo wouldn't tell you any of this up front. I may have to just install a 240V outlet and hope that gives the car enough power to keep the battery warm enough to charge.

Have you taken the time to check your voltage at the outlet? Since you are concerned now that its getting cold do you happen to have anything connected to the same outlet electrical circuit like any form of electrical heaters?

 

[DeaneG]

Have you tried holding the cable handle up until it starts charging, there are quite a few write ups that because cable is so heavy it sometime pulls away or doesn't connect properly unless you lift up slightly to offset the weight of the cable.
Worth a try!

That advice is specific to CCS DC fast charging. It's unnecessary for Level 2 (J1772) charging.

 

[SeattleCat]

Update: I talked to a Volvo tech and it seems like maybe the issue has to do with the voltage being so low on the ordinary outlet that all of the juice goes to keeping the battery warm enough to charge, and then nothing is left over to charge it. That makes some sense, since on warmer days I had fewer issues. I'm generally getting kind of worried about what I'm going to do over the winter--I gather that it's good to keep the car plugged in over the winter when not using it to prevent it from going into a damaging deep freeze. It's kind of weird that Volvo wouldn't tell you any of this up front. I may have to just install a 240V outlet and hope that gives the car enough power to keep the battery warm enough to charge.

You can also charge it at a pay to charge place (if you have them there). I do not have a home charger due to condo living (old building) so since May and until we move in a couple of years we charge out in the wild.

I am slightly amazed / horrified that the power flow is less than the power used to keep it ready to charge.

How cold does it get there? Not sure where you are.

 

[dewalter]

Have you tried the charger at someone else’s house?
Before I installed the level 2 charger I used the Volvo charger daily plugging it to the regular outlet and never had any issues other than the charge being excruciatingly slow (3mi/h).

I did plug it in at another house, also outdoors, and found similar issues. When I took it over to the Volvo dealership they let me charge it on their level 2 charger and we also tested it on an indoor regular outlet--both worked fine.

 

[dewalter]

Have you taken the time to check your voltage at the outlet? Since you are concerned now that its getting cold do you happen to have anything connected to the same outlet electrical circuit like any form of electrical heaters?

I haven't done that yet--I'm not an electrician, so I don't know the first thing about how to check voltage or figure out what's on that circuit. We have a gas furnace, so I don't think that would be eating up a lot of the voltage on that circuit even if it was on the same one.

 

[dewalter]

You can also charge it at a pay to charge place (if you have them there). I do not have a home charger due to condo living (old building) so since May and until we move in a couple of years we charge out in the wild.

I am slightly amazed / horrified that the power flow is less than the power used to keep it ready to charge.

How cold does it get there? Not sure where you are.

I live in State College, Pennsylvania, so right now we're getting highs in the 30s and 40s and lows in the 20s and 30s. It'll get worse--we occasionally go below 0 in the dead of the winter. Should I be worried about leaving the car unplugged in that kind of weather? If it's just that I need to go to a public charger in the winter when I want to use the car, that's something I can just deal with. If it's actually going to damage my battery, then maybe I'd want to explore more drastic solutions, like installing a 240V line outdoors so I can get more juice to the car or something like that. I had hoped to avoid that for the time being for reasons too complicated to go into now, but I guess I'll do it if it's going to ruin the car to leave it out unplugged in that kind of weather.

 

[SeattleCat]

I live in State College, Pennsylvania, so right now we're getting highs in the 30s and 40s and lows in the 20s and 30s. It'll get worse--we occasionally go below 0 in the dead of the winter. Should I be worried about leaving the car unplugged in that kind of weather? If it's just that I need to go to a public charger in the winter when I want to use the car, that's something I can just deal with. If it's actually going to damage my battery, then maybe I'd want to explore more drastic solutions, like installing a 240V line outdoors so I can get more juice to the car or something like that. I had hoped to avoid that for the time being for reasons too complicated to go into now, but I guess I'll do it if it's going to ruin the car to leave it out unplugged in that kind of weather.

Brrr alas I know nothing about the extreme cold but someone shared some info vids on another threat about the cold and having an ev.