ALL POSTS Charging Sounds, Buzzing when Charging, Noises

[TeCKis300]

I just took delivery of my Wife's brand new 2012 RAV4EV and we are getting to know the car slowly.

We are charging on the 120V with the included Panasonic 'backup' EVSE while we await the installation of a 240V changer.

The car is making a 'buzz' while it's charging as I've come to expect when I first started charging with the batt at roughly 80%. I just stepped into the garage about an hour later and the on board electronics (which I assume to be the charger) is now making a fast pace cyclical - toc buzz toc buzz toc buzz. Without being familiar with the car, is this how the car normally charges?

 

[Damchi]

What you hear is the car trying to keep the battery warm when charging. My car will start out with a steady long buzz, than after about 3 minutes it is a fast on off buzzing sound. Just like you described. I took the car by Toyota when I first heard the sound that was back in early October. I also contacted corp. Toyota corporate and tesla all ran test on the car and said everything is fine. It is a tesla thing cause the roadster is very loud when charging too. I am just very happy I have a great warranty.

 

[TeCKis300]

Thanks for the positive confirmation that this is as expected.

I went in the garage after another long while and it's now showing 8 hours (down from 14 hrs) until charge complete. But this time the car is almost devoid of any sound or buzz at all. The charging does seem to be rather sophisticated in all it's buzzing/whirs/and ticks as it progresses.

Hopefully this will help familiarize future owners as well.

I'm also interested from a technical POV in the charging phases and steps if anyone is familiar with that aspect?

 

[Khaihon]

Since our EV's sound much different from the ICE equivalent, I'd like to attempt to compile a list of all the different sounds that should be expected, abnormal noises, and any resolution that any owners would like to share:

EDIT: I've added in links to the recordings of some of the sounds. I placed my recorder under the hood to capture these noises.

I'll start:

Noise Description
What it is
When you hear it
Normal or not?

Buzzing sound (driving)
Buzzing sound (parked)
Brake Assist Vacuum Pump
When you open the driver door (sometimes), when you brake (sometimes)
Normal


Spaceship-like sound
Vehicle Proximity Notification System (VPNS)
Low speed driving (<18mph)
Normal

High pitched whistle that changes frequency with speed
Inverter sound?
Medium-High speed (40-65mph)
Normal or abnormal?

More recently, I've been noticing this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIOWNmd8F-o
Grinding/Rattling-like sound that changes frequency with speed. Not sure what it is. At first, I thought it was the VPNS, but I still hear it all the way up to 40mph.
Happens at >10mph when I apply any sort of pressure on the pedal
Normal or abnormal?

I call this the WTF noise. Anyone else hear this? Would someone have a clearer way to describe this sound when I take it into the service shop?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJZEkPhwSf0
Assorted noises of driving from 0-50mph, including VPNS, WTF noise, brake & assist. I will attempt a freeway recording some time soon to get the higher speed inverter noises.


I plan on taking my car in to get it checked out, but I'd hate it if they say that these last two sounds are "normal" or "falls within acceptable noise threshold" since they didn't exist when I first got the EV. Either the sounds are getting louder or I'm getting more nitpicky.

Anyone in the Los Angeles or OC area who can meet up and compare noises?

 

[cwerdna]

You can hear Toyota's VPNS sounds at http://priuschat.com/threads/2012-prius-vehicle-proximity-notification-system-vpns-video.104980/.

I'm pretty sure the VPNS noises on Priuses is the same as all their other '12+ hybrids, PHEVs and EVs. You're also hearing some inverter/noise and/or motor whine mixed in there.

 

[Bassman]

Every once in a while my inverter will whine a mid to high pitched sound when accellerating with the pedal all the way to the floorboard. It almost sounds like a harmonica. It will do it for about 3 to 5 minutes and then it will quit. Kinda weird. Also at 70 mph +, I get a whistle from my ac/heater ducts while in recirculation mode. It's like the recirculation damper is not sealing completely. It's very irritating! I'm going in for my 10,000 mile checkup and I'm going to ask them to fix the whistle.

 

[duggie]

Anybody hear a louder than normal buzzing sound when charging on Level 1? I don't seem to hear it when using Level 2 but it's easier to hear when in my garage because of the silence and acoustics. Sometimes it's a solid buzz and at other times it goes on and off every second or so.

 

[mhkp]

Anybody hear a louder than normal buzzing sound when charging on Level 1? I don't seem to hear it when using Level 2 but it's easier to hear when in my garage because of the silence and acoustics. Sometimes it's a solid buzz and at other times it goes on and off every second or so.

Yup. Its pretty loud on start up. Don't hear it so much when its topping off.

 

[evsinav]

Hello to everyone! This is my first post and a quick thanks for all the great information I found here while doing my research. DW and I leased the R4EV last night and are now fully electric!

I'm charging my R4EV for the first time this morning and using L2. I heard the expected buzzing but over that I heard a tapping sound (probably 5 taps per second or so) from the rear of the vehicle for the first hour. Now just the buzzing. Charging appears to be going fine. Since I will probably be charging overnight I won't be around to notice these strange sounds in the future.

My L2 charger has been used for more than a year on a Focus BEV and a Model S.

Is the tapping sound I heard for the first hour normal or should I be heading back to the dealer?

Thanks for your help.

Tim

 

[evsinav]

The tapping returned and I now would call it intermittent. When it returned, it starts slowly and then increases to 2-4 times per second. I stopped and restarted charging. At first just buzzing then the tapping returned. I can tell its modulating the charge current as well so it might be a relay click.

 

[evsinav]

I visited the dealer this morning and tried L2 charging in the service bay with the tech. We were unable to hear the sound after a couple of brief attempts. The tech didn't seem to know what to expect and the service bay is quite noisy so this noise would likely go unnoticed. Tech will call Toyota on Monday and see if this is expected. I was advised to try to isolate the conditions under which the noise appears.

Anyway, I posted a youtube video of the charging with the sound just after it started up and was increasing in tempo in case anyone can identify it as normal.

 

[user 340]

I listened to the sound on the video - sounds like a coolant pump or something to me.

I'd treat this as normal if the car charged as expected (range gained commensurate with charging time) and if there weren't any flames. At least not any really big flames coming from the car.

 

[Khaihon]

Found the post problem. Original post updated with links to some noises.

 

[Khaihon]

I visited the dealer this morning and tried L2 charging in the service bay with the tech. We were unable to hear the sound after a couple of brief attempts. The tech didn't seem to know what to expect and the service bay is quite noisy so this noise would likely go unnoticed. Tech will call Toyota on Monday and see if this is expected. I was advised to try to isolate the conditions under which the noise appears.

Anyway, I posted a youtube video of the charging with the sound just after it started up and was increasing in tempo in case anyone can identify it as normal.

Have you tried another L2 charger to see if you are getting the same clicking sound? I don't think I've ever heard that one before. Would you let us know what you find out when Toyota responds?

 

[miimura]

My car definitely does not make the intermittent grinding "WTF noise" now linked in the first post.

 

[Damchi]

My car has been making the Rapid pulsing noise when charging ever since I bought it in September. I took it to Toyota with in the first week and since there was only a couple of Rav4 EVs out there at the time the mechanics did not really know anything about the car. We connected it to a charger at the dealer to see if it made the same noise. It is normally to loud in the shop to really here it, I could hear it, but I knew the sound and both the mechanic and the serve supervisor said they could kind of here something. They contacted Toyota which had to contact Tesla to see if they knew anything, Tesla said it is normal to make different noises when charging, This I already knew from driving the roadster a couple of times. So I did not look into it anymore, I figured if they had it on the books that they looked at it and said it was normal and I am under warranty, that if anything broke it would be fixed. I have recently been talking to the customer service people at Toyota corp about something different and I decided to bring the charging noise thing up again. I was asked to make a video that I could send them https://vimeo.com/71665641. I now have an appointment to take it in so the mechanic can work with the tech guys at toyota to figure out what is making the noise. Does not sound like its a fix right away thing (It has been happening for 10 months), but at least they know more about the car and are willing to look into it.

 

[evsinav]

I normally charge the Tesla at midnight but decided to test to see if I could hear anything like the pulsing sound I get with the RAV, but it was very quiet during charging.

@tgreene
Thanks for listening to the video. I agree it seems likely to be a pump of some kind probably conditioning the battery temp as necessary during the charge cycle. And since no errors were reported and the charge time was fine, I'm inclined to say normal or at least low risk given Damchi's comments.

@Khaihon
I haven't been able to try a different charger except at the dealer (Leviton 40A) but either the noise didn't appear during our brief check or it was too loud to hear well in the shop. I will certainly update when Toyota responds. This will always be a low volume car so we need to share information as much as possible.

@Damchi
The pulsing sound on your video matches mine and it seems my trip to the dealer yesterday went about the same as yours. I'm still waiting for Toyota's response on Monday, but I'm not too hopeful since they didn't take the link to the YouTube video and I don't know how accurately the tech will be able to describe it from listening to it on my iPad speaker. I'm looking forward to hearing what Toyota tells you as well and in the mean time I'll treat it as normal since you've been living with it for 10 months.

 

[evsinav]

I left the car with the dealer last Tuesday and it was returned that evening. They found no fault codes. The tech also noted that my Schneider charger is not 100 percent Toyota approved ("only basic testing has been done") which I take to mean it hasn't been extensively tested and proven by Toyota. So far, I haven't found any charger that's considered 100% compatible by Toyota except the Leviton. Was there an official statement anywhere indicating support for other chargers or has that information been sourced by users only?

The tech also opened a "TAS CASE NUMBER and was advised there is a humidity pump that will at times depending upon demand operate while charging and make a similar sound as what the guest described which is a normal condition for this vehicle." I'm guessing the T in TAS could be Tesla or perhaps could be Toyota. Anyone ever heard of the humidity pump needed during charging? Cooling, sure, and perhaps that drives the need for humidity...

Anyway, it was left with me as these are considered normal sounds. Although I don't see a lot of confirmation on this site that every vehicle makes similar pulsing noises throughout the charge period I'll assume they are until something goes wrong or I'm advised otherwise.

@Damchi
Did you have a chance to visit the dealer yet? Is your story different from mine?

 

[Ampster]

.........

Anyone in the Los Angeles or OC area who can meet up and compare noises?

Yes, I am in Hermosa Beach. I have a few favorite restaurants in Gardena. Lunch or coffee sometime next week?

I know another RAV4EV owner who might also be interested in comparing sounds. PM me.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Yes, I am in Hermosa Beach. I have a few favorite restaurants in Gardena. Lunch or coffee sometime next week?

I know another RAV4EV owner who might also be interested in comparing sounds. PM me.

You guys can all drive down to my house and compare sounds!!!

August 24:

http://www.myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7018#p7018