How I fixed my RAV4 EV On-Board Charger

[eddib17]

So I just replaced the fuses in my charger and it still does not work. I get 2.6M ohms between either AC input and ground. But I get 0.47 M ohms between the 2 AC inputs.

But I have a suspicion that maybe I broke something in the charger when I replaced the fuses. How do I find out for sure, and if I did, how do I replace it? Considering it'll have to be reflashed. Or would I be better off waiting till the QC fast charge is back in stock and just using that?

 

[alflash]

To determine the cause of this malfunction, it is necessary to make diagnostics (reading fault codes and parameters of Tesla systems) in all modes, including charging mode. Analysis of the received data will allow to localize the cause of the malfunction. All other "ways" are playing the lottery and/or swapping parts for nothing.
Describe (video?) the behavior of the two indicators in the side window when trying to charge the HV battery.

You read this report https://www.myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2537#:~:text=Mon%20Aug%2015%2C%202022%204%3A38%20pm-,I%20am%20posting%20this%20story%20as%20a%20link%20to%20a%20PDF%20for%20my%20simplicity.,-https%3A//1drv.ms/b/s!AtSKKmN%2D5msBg_oYXNH9E1vYZ_8bDA%0A%0AIf ?

 

[hokiematt]

So I just replaced the fuses in my charger and it still does not work. I get 2.6M ohms between either AC input and ground. But I get 0.47 M ohms between the 2 AC inputs.

But I have a suspicion that maybe I broke something in the charger when I replaced the fuses. How do I find out for sure, and if I did, how do I replace it? Considering it'll have to be reflashed. Or would I be better off waiting till the QC fast charge is back in stock and just using that?

Does the car otherwise run ok (eg READY indicator on steady, goes into Drive)? It's easy to miss bits of the high voltage interlock system, but if the car runs properly then you're good in that regard.

As Vlad says, it's hard to make a guess without data; the Tesla Powertrain software would hopefully provide some insight.

Were the fuses in your charger open circuit? If you did damage something in the charger, or if it was something more than the fuses causing the problem, then replacing the OBC with a gen 1 unit that's been reflashed with RAV4 firmware is probably your best bet, and certainly most affordable.

 

[Christopher Castagne]

Hi, can anyone help me with this (Updating with the RAV4firmware through the Tesla Powertrain Software) I just went through about 2 weeks of working on my car to remove and replace the failed OBC with a used Tesla Gen 1 model charger but it still wont charge!! Error message says "Charging malfunction. Check External power Supply" .... Iʻm NOT sure if this means my charging cable is bad but it was working fine the whole time before the car stopped charging, and the car would not charge on any other chargers either. I aslo tried a different cable and got the same message... could it be that the OBC is not being recognized due to not having the right firmware?? Also I filled back up coolant but did not do the purge -but it has been cycling and the level dropped a couple times and I topped it up...

I am posting this story as a link to a PDF for my simplicity.
https://1drv.ms/b/s!AtSKKmN-5msBg_oYXNH9E1vYZ_8bDA

Thanks for sharing your write-up, and glad to hear everything is now working. Vlad (Alflash) is indeed a great asset to this community, and I wish him and all Ukrainians health and safety in these difficult times.

Regarding your questions about the replacement Model S charger: as I mentioned in your original post, the same Tesla part # is used for the both RAV4 and the Model S, however the internal firmware is different, and thus not quite plug-and-play. You were able to get the second charger working because you swapped over the control board that contained the RAV4 firmware. Used gen 1 Model S chargers are indeed viable candidates to replace a RAV4 OBC, but they must be updated with the correct RAV4 firmware, a task that can be performed through the Tesla powertrain software.

 

[alflash]

...

Regarding your questions about the replacement Model S charger: as I mentioned in your original post, the same Tesla part # is used for the both RAV4 and the Model S, however the internal firmware is different, and thus not quite plug-and-play. You were able to get the second charger working because you swapped over the control board that contained the RAV4 firmware. Used gen 1 Model S chargers are indeed viable candidates to replace a RAV4 OBC, but they must be updated with the correct RAV4 firmware, a task that can be performed through the Tesla powertrain software.

That is how it is.
This RAV4EV had a faulty charger:
https://youtu.be/SHFDk4RDMS0

And after installing a Tesla S Onboard Charger and reflash (screenshot) his ECU, this vehicle looks like new

p.s. Video of another RAV4EV Tesla system reflash after installing Tesla S onboardcharger
https://youtu.be/85oQ5CRNq0U

 

[eddib17]

Does the car otherwise run ok (eg READY indicator on steady, goes into Drive)? It's easy to miss bits of the high voltage interlock system, but if the car runs properly then you're good in that regard.

As Vlad says, it's hard to make a guess without data; the Tesla Powertrain software would hopefully provide some insight.

Were the fuses in your charger open circuit? If you did damage something in the charger, or if it was something more than the fuses causing the problem, then replacing the OBC with a gen 1 unit that's been reflashed with RAV4 firmware is probably your best bet, and certainly most affordable.

I finally got with Aflash and we could not get any data from the car. It was not talking. The fuses were open, the new ones are not. I’m tempted at this point to just buy a Model S charger and throw it in and see if we can’t reflash it. But if the car would not talk then I don’t know how we’ll be able to flash it.

 

[asavage]

The fuses were open, the new ones are not. I’m tempted at this point to just buy a Model S charger and throw it in and see if we can’t reflash it. But if the car would not talk then I don’t know how we’ll be able to flash it.

If both fuses were open, I'd skip directly to installing a Model S GEN1 OBC.

If you can't get TPD to talk to your car, that's bad. You'd have to sniff the CAN using other tools, and/or disconnect CAN-connected items. Since the OBC was the thing you were fixing, I'd disconnect the 12-way logic connector at the OBC and re-try TPD. Disconnecting the OBC from the CANbus will screw up the CANbus termination, but most of the time it will still work somewhat, enough to gather data; just not reliably.

If you don't have TPD installed local (eg the free/cripped TPD 1.1.46 or the full-featured (but of dubious origins) 1.1.42) then you're taxing alflash on this; since it's not "simple", and if you want to continue to DIY this, set up a laptop to run TPD locally, then post screenshots and we'll try to help.

Since you weren't able to get the car to talk . . . may I suggest acquiring a tested cable instead of a DIY one? That will eliminate one possible reason for TPD to not talk with the car. I sell and ship them at cost, and every one I ship has been tested to work on my own car with TPD.

Finally, please start your own, dedicated thread on your car, rather than asking in this thread. It's much easier to have multiple conversations when they're all in their own threads. That's the nature of forums technology. We already have several convos in progress here.

 

[toyotaev]

I am posting this story as a link to a PDF for my simplicity.
https://1drv.ms/b/s!AtSKKmN-5msBg_oYXNH9E1vYZ_8bDA

If you have trouble accessing it then contact me and I can email it to you. Here is the summary from the first paragraph and a teaser picture of the repair process (if I can get the image tag to work).

The bottom line is this: If your RAV4 EV tries to charge a few times but won’t then it is probably a problem with the on-board charger. 90% of the time, just replacing the fuses fixes this problem like this (https://www.myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=29795#p29795) and this (https://www.myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2463&sid=29a9bda734c0e413058ea12395f8a713). Unfortunately, I was in that 10% where a “simple” fuse replacement did not fix my on-board charger. Not only did I need to buy a used Gen 1 Tesla Model S onboard replacement charger, but it took nearly six months to get my car back up and running because, 1) I knew almost nothing about electric cars, 2) I am fortunate enough to have two cars so repairing my RAV4 EV, while important to me, was not urgent, 3) several other issues surfaced along the way, 4) I needed help from some amazing people on this forum, especially alflash and Davio, 4) it took swapping some of the guts between my original charger and the replacement charger. For those interested, here is my story and the details of how it unfolded.

Can you please find a way to share your story? Im having the same problem and your link is not working.

 

[asavage]

Can you please find a way to share your story? Im having the same problem and your link is not working.

My own OBC AC Input fuses replacement thread.