High pitched and loud humming sound from 2015 6.6kw charger

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1krr

Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2013
Messages
5
Hey guys, I just picked up a new 2015 a couple weeks ago. Have loved it and it's been great so far. Today, I got a new Clipper Creek HSC40 EVSE installed. I plugged it in when I got home to test the new unit. Everything appeared fine. Starting with two bars left, it seemed to be charging super fast (est 4.5 hours) at least compared to the stock L1 I've been using.

So I went out to the garage to check the battery temp to see how hard it was pushing the batts at 6.6kw but was caught a little offguard to hear a pretty loud high pitched hum from under the hood. So I to trace it down, I got out my stethoscope and started checking things. I found the coolant pump and it had a nice quiet purr of a diaphragm pump as expected. No fans running so nothing to check there. Finally, I worked my way over to the power stack and the sound through the stethoscope was slightly louder on bottom motor component, somewhat louder on the inverter sandwich, and loudest from the charger case. it was also hot enough that you couldn’t comfortably hold your hand on it. Laser thermometer said the top of the charger cover was 117.5*. Even this doesn't surprise me since these run about 85% efficient, the other ~1000 watts are going up like a 1kw space heater.

So it's the charger component, not the evse, or the charge cooling system that is making the high frequency (much higher than 60hz). It's also getting hot. Real question is that amount of heat normal? And is the high pitched hum normal as well?

Thanks all!
Bryan
 
1krr said:
Hey guys, I just picked up a new 2015 a couple weeks ago. Have loved it and it's been great so far. Today, I got a new Clipper Creek HSC40 EVSE installed. I plugged it in when I got home to test the new unit. Everything appeared fine. Starting with two bars left, it seemed to be charging super fast (est 4.5 hours) at least compared to the stock L1 I've been using.

So I went out to the garage to check the battery temp to see how hard it was pushing the batts at 6.6kw but was caught a little offguard to hear a pretty loud high pitched hum from under the hood. So I to trace it down, I got out my stethoscope and started checking things. I found the coolant pump and it had a nice quiet purr of a diaphragm pump as expected. No fans running so nothing to check there. Finally, I worked my way over to the power stack and the sound through the stethoscope was slightly louder on bottom motor component, somewhat louder on the inverter sandwich, and loudest from the charger case. it was also hot enough that you couldn’t comfortably hold your hand on it. Laser thermometer said the top of the charger cover was 117.5*. Even this doesn't surprise me since these run about 85% efficient, the other ~1000 watts are going up like a 1kw space heater.

So it's the charger component, not the evse, or the charge cooling system that is making the high frequency (much higher than 60hz). It's also getting hot. Real question is that amount of heat normal? And is the high pitched hum normal as well?

Thanks all!
Bryan

High pitched hum is normal for power electronics with that kind of load. 60hz doesn't matter because the first thing it does is boost it up. Tens of KHz to hundreds of KHz is not uncommon all of which have audible switching harmonics.

No need to worry :)
 
loud noise and high pitched hum are different things. Most people can't even hear electronic switching frequencies. I can hear CRT monitors, TV's, switched power supplies like the Leaf charger, and so on. It is loud and high pitched. But perfectly normal.

So the OP needs to clarify if it is a loud low frequency sound, or high frequency I suppose...
 
Sorry, thought I did that. It's not a 60hz hum, it's much higher frequency in the 100's of khz. Curious if anyone knows what the output wave form looks like on the Leaf's charger? I've built relatively high power rectifier circuits (3-5kw) for home brew wind turbines and they didn't make noise even with the wild AC we put through them. I would have actually thought the half wave rectification from the 120v level 1 charger would have been louder. If the noise is normal then it would seem as if the output is higher frequency pulsed DC to the battery.

Also, I've not put a scope on it but in looking at the OpenEVSE type projects, it looks like the EVSE doesn't modify the input AC? It seems as if it only functions to provide control for the high power connections to the vehicle's charger. I read through the specs and say that control is just a variable voltage dc circuit and it did not modify the inbound 240v power at all.

In any case, I've attached a video that captures the sound below. You might turn your sound up but it was plainly audible in the garage. I appreciate your input and tolerance of my paranoia!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu0D0D55oEE&list=UUYM1e-67JnzDezJeTPwQ9IQ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
Take it to the dealer, my 2015 is quieter than the 2011. Do yo have any other source of harmonics? Like solar inverters.
Try to charge at a different L2 location.
 
That sounds exactly like my 2014 and 2015 when using the Clipper Creek 6.6kW. And the same area gets hot on mine. IIRC, it doesn't start making that sound immediately, but does after a little while. I was assuming it was fans or pumps doing some cooling. But I haven't noticed any problems with either car.

The same area gets hot when I use the L1 as well.
 
I forgot to add that I rarely used the 6.6kW at home. I usually use 3.3 kW EVSE to charge the 2015, and the 6.6kW to charge the 2011. Most public L2 is Blink, limited at 24A and likely 208V, so about 5kW.

The noise seems too loud to me. Can't hurt to go to the dealer.
 
camasleaf said:
Take it to the dealer, my 2015 is quieter than the 2011. Do yo have any other source of harmonics? Like solar inverters.
Try to charge at a different L2 location.


This one is straight grid power. I don't have any main solar/wind inputs on this house (yet:). I have a friend with an Aeroviroment 6.6kw charger I might try charging from. I live in Oklahoma City which means we have crap for a public charging infrastructure. That was some of my question about how/if the EVSE modifies the input power. If it's just a highly technical switch (as it seems to be) then I can't imagine different EVSEs causing the charger to act differently (I guess that is more of a question than a statement)?


forummm said:
That sounds exactly like my 2014 and 2015 when using the Clipper Creek 6.6kW. And the same area gets hot on mine. IIRC, it doesn't start making that sound immediately, but does after a little while. I was assuming it was fans or pumps doing some cooling. But I haven't noticed any problems with either car.

The same area gets hot when I use the L1 as well.


Mine did the same thing last night. Plugged it in and you could hear the contacts closing and a little 60hz hum which didn't cause any concern for me. Like you said, it didn't start immediately, but I noticed it after I came back an hour later and that was when I noticed the heat in the charger. I did use my cheapy clamp meter and saw a draw at the panel of about 28-29 amps. So have you ever tried another 6.6kw charger? Something is telling me as I saw mentioned previously, many aren't around their cars when they are charging so I'm wondering how many buzzes and hums go unnoticed since I searched this topic and didn't see many of the "my car buzzes when charging" threads I hoped to find if this were a common observation. Maybe others with a less of a background in electronics are just accepting the noises as "normal"?

camasleaf said:
I forgot to add that I rarely used the 6.6kW at home. I usually use 3.3 kW EVSE to charge the 2015, and the 6.6kW to charge the 2011. Most public L2 is Blink, limited at 24A and likely 208V, so about 5kW.

The noise seems too loud to me. Can't hurt to go to the dealer.


Yeah I paid for a new car with a warranty. The dealership is a but inconvenient for me to get to so I figured it best to ping you guys to see if I'm just being paranoid.
 
Ok, quicker followup than I expected from a friend who just bought his 2015 SL a couple months before mine. He is the one with the Aerovironment charger and he said his made the exact same whine from his charger as well. He is on a different grid than I am and he is on 200 amp service and I'm on a 400 amp service. So I guess that makes me feel a little better...
 
You might contact Clipper Creek and ask them. Also send them a link to your youtube video. I think it's probably normal for that many amps, but their CS department is great. My car makes a similar sound when using my CC, but not that loud. Of course, I'm only charging at 3.3 kW.
 
Yep, my 2014 does that when I charge at 27.5 Amps. After a while it will start to "sing" and after 2+ hours the fans cut on, it gets hot, etc. Even if I dial it down 3 amps to 24 Amps (OpenEVSE) all that goes away and it charges to 100% quietly and with little heat. I wouldn't worry.
 
I also installed a L2 station (Clipper Creek HCS-40, 32A) last week for my 22 day old leaf and I can hear the same high humming sound.

I found a youtube video of a 2013 doing the exact same thing. It does sound like a fan (cooling maybe?).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKGXzWLNmqs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
I don't see what difference the EVSE could possibly make. All it does is turn the power on and off and tell the car's charger how many amps to draw. My 2013 S has been humming and getting hot from the day I bought it. Not hot enough to be a concern though. How loud the humming is can be subjective. There's coils in there. It's bound to hum. You should hear the 400 cycle power converters at my work hum. It's deafening. It's the core of the coil moving back and forth that's making the noise. It can run forever that way.
 
1krr said:
Hey guys, I just picked up a new 2015 a couple weeks ago. Have loved it and it's been great so far. Today, I got a new Clipper Creek HSC40 EVSE installed. I plugged it in when I got home to test the new unit. Everything appeared fine. Starting with two bars left, it seemed to be charging super fast (est 4.5 hours) at least compared to the stock L1 I've been using.

So I went out to the garage to check the battery temp to see how hard it was pushing the batts at 6.6kw but was caught a little offguard to hear a pretty loud high pitched hum from under the hood. So I to trace it down, I got out my stethoscope and started checking things. I found the coolant pump and it had a nice quiet purr of a diaphragm pump as expected. No fans running so nothing to check there. Finally, I worked my way over to the power stack and the sound through the stethoscope was slightly louder on bottom motor component, somewhat louder on the inverter sandwich, and loudest from the charger case. it was also hot enough that you couldn’t comfortably hold your hand on it. Laser thermometer said the top of the charger cover was 117.5*. Even this doesn't surprise me since these run about 85% efficient, the other ~1000 watts are going up like a 1kw space heater.

So it's the charger component, not the evse, or the charge cooling system that is making the high frequency (much higher than 60hz). It's also getting hot. Real question is that amount of heat normal? And is the high pitched hum normal as well?

Thanks all!
Bryan


that level of warmth is not normal. I have checked mine several times and it barely gets warm. can you hear water running? there should be more than enough volume being pushed that you can hear it going thru the hoses.
 
johnrhansen said:
I don't see what difference the EVSE could possibly make. All it does is turn the power on and off and tell the car's charger how many amps to draw. My 2013 S has been humming and getting hot from the day I bought it. Not hot enough to be a concern though. How loud the humming is can be subjective. There's coils in there. It's bound to hum. You should hear the 400 cycle power converters at my work hum. It's deafening. It's the core of the coil moving back and forth that's making the noise. It can run forever that way.

my EVSE currently runs at 4.8 KW but it does not get hot. Warm yes. But nowhere near uncomfortably so. I have to say its just below the warmth of my seat heaters on low setting if I was pressed for an example
 
well, yes this is a way an evse would make a difference. If you plug in a 30 amp EVSE, obviously the charger in the car is going to make more noise and heat than when it is connected to a 20amp EVSE. It is working harder! Doesn't mean the amount of heat put out at full charging power is not normal.
 
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