Charging error (All 5 segments turn RED) HVB Module failure

[chl]

I have never heard of anyone being shocked by a dcfc but anything is possible. If you know of any links, I'd love to read.

I shared them in another post a while back, maybe in March 2025, not sure if I saved them on my PC, but I'll look.

One was a contractor working on a Tesla charger as I recall who didn't take adequate precautions to avoid electrocution....

Googled Tesla charger death and found these two, one is still not determined if the charger was involved, the second in Norfolk was the one I read about before:

31-year-old man was found dead inside a Tesla at a supercharger station in San Antonio, according to MySA. The cause of death is pending.

In an unrelated incident, a worker was killed at a Tesla Supercharger in Norfolk while doing installation work, and the cause of death is still under investigation, but may have been electrocution, according to WTKR


Details of the Norfolk incident:

• A worker was found dead at a Supercharger station during installation work.
• The cause of death is still under investigation, but police suspect electrocution.
• The Supercharger was scheduled to open the following day.
  

There have been other cases of shocks felt but no death when using L2 EVSEs.

I think I found them after someone on another forum asked about the warning on the Tesla adapter insert about not using it when water or snow is present - here is a pic of the warning and if you got your adapter you can see it.

So I looked for any info about the possibility of injury or death from that scenario.

By the way, the Tesla mobile power charger apparently has a warning about rain:

"Warning: If rain falls during charging, do not allow rain water to run along the length of charge cable, causing the electrical outlet or charging port to..."

One study purportedly found that water incursion was possible with a CCS type 2 which could cause trouble including shorts and shocks, even “rapid unscheduled disassembly” of a plug...but we use type 1 though so maybe the problem is limited to type 2? Also that was in a Reddit post so I guess take it with a grain of salt since who knows if it is accurate or true, but FWIW it said:
---
I am working for a EV OEM and we have not had any cases och electric shocks on vehicles during charging during development. ( We started developing EVs in 2012).

We have however had cases of water intrusion in the charging plug (CCS type 2) causing shortcircuit and plug exploding which in its turn caused pieces of the plug flying.

Luckaly nobody got injured in these three instances since nobody stood near the charging vehicle.

Root cause for the fault is production faults in plug water proofing (different suppliers in all three cases).

It was also concluded that the CCS standard could be improved so that the PE pin is moved above DC pins so that the isolation measurement device in the EVSE could detect isolation drop due to water intrusion. Tesla standard and MCS already have that implemented.
----
Of course, if there is any malfunction in the DCFC equipment, given the high voltages and current, things could get ugly. Hopefully they are well maintained, But have to watch out in case they have been vandalized or damaged and avoid those that have (duh?).

L2 with 240V and up to 80A has to be treated with respect as well. Installation, damage to cords or wiring, damage to J1772 plugs, etc. all could lead to a shock.

There was one case I read about where someone had not fully seated the 240V dongle of a Ford Mobile Power Cord and got a mild shock from it. That could also lead to a fire from the higher resistance connection if the plug or socket pins become corroded, for example.

Not saying this happens a lot. Anything with electricity should be handled responsibly with due care, even a light bulb. Most of the time a 120V household shock won't kill you, but there are exceptions.

People smoke at gas stations and do other careless things with ICE vehicles, lawn mowers, bar-b-ques, as well.

Hope I didn't stir up a hornets nest here...time will tell.

Sponsored

 

[chl]

I charge my Lightning in my driveway, my FCSP is inside the garage, the cord passes through a RV pass-through door and up to a hanger so that when plugged in, the cord has a drip loop so any rain will not flow either into the truck CCS1 port of back inside the garage.

I also place a plastic wrap over the charge port when plugged in if rain is possible to keep it dry.

But I am a generally cautious person when it comes to electricity, EVs and my home.

 

[LightningJB]

Ford might cover the rental if either
1- You have a Ford Extended Warranty with 1st day rental coverage that you paid for
2- They agreed to it front
3- You get the BEV team to agree to it.

My recent Lightning purchase was at a local dealership that provides FREE loaners for only customer's that bought vehicles from them. They picked up my Lightning and delivered a Brand New 2025 Expedition last week when I needed service. I was only responsible to give it back with the same Full Fuel as it was delivered with.

I just returned from Jack Madden service after a wasted trip. The tech on the phone said it was ready - and when I got there it was not. I will have to start a new thread for the full report - I am still out of service with a hope for having the truck back tomorrow if no other problems appear. I understand that they are limited by lack of technicians but their lack of urgency and support for a customer that bought the truck at their dealership is astounding.

 

[ctuan13]

That's been an acronym since cars were differentiated by model year. See also FY - fiscal year, CY - calendar year, and AY - assessment year.

And of course CYA (Cover Your Ass)

 

[TaxmanHog]

I just returned from Jack Madden service after a wasted trip. The tech on the phone said it was ready - and when I got there it was not. I will have to start a new thread for the full report - I am still out of service with a hope for having the truck back tomorrow if no other problems appear. I understand that they are limited by lack of technicians but their lack of urgency and support for a customer that bought the truck at their dealership is astounding.

You can continue sharing on this thread, but if you like, I could partition all your posts here to a unique thread, let me know.

 

[LightningJB]

I just returned from Jack Madden service after a wasted trip. The tech on the phone said it was ready - and when I got there it was not. I will have to start a new thread for the full report - I am still out of service with a hope for having the truck back tomorrow if no other problems appear. I understand that they are limited by lack of technicians but their lack of urgency and support for a customer that bought the truck at their dealership is astounding.

I am going to paste the timeline as captured in text messaging. No editorial comments as the content speaks for itself. I will report back tomorrow, hopefully for the last time when I get the truck back.

 

[LightningJB]

Here are the technician notes from the warranty repair:


,,,,44857 VERIFIED THE CUSTOMER'S CONCERN OF WILL NOT CHARGE WILL NOT
,,,,START. ACCESSED THE DIAGNOSTIC PORT AND PERFORMED A SCAN USING THE FDRS
,,,,WITH THE KOEO TO FIND DIAGNOSTIC TROUBLE CODE P29FF WHICH IS RELATED TO
,,,,THERMAL RUNAWAY DETECTED AND FOUND CODE(S) MULTIPLE IN HISTORY.

,,,,RESEARCHED AND ANALYZED FOR THIS SYSTEM. FOUND NO DOCUMENTS RELATED TO
,,,,THE VEHICLES CONCERN. REMOVED THE HIGH VOLTAGE BATTERY FOR FURTHER
,,,,DIAGNOSTIC INSPECTION. DE-ENERGIZED THE HIGH VOLTAGE SYSTEM. PERFORM
,,,,BATTERY HEALTH CHECK AND ALL CELLS CAME BACK AT 0% EVEN THOUGH VEHICLE
,,,,WAS CHARGED TO 52% DUE TO P29FF THERMAL EVENT CODE REMOVED HIGH VOLTAGE
,,,,BATTERY FOR INTERNAL DAMAGE AND FOUND BECM BLUE AND CLEARLY OVERHEATED
,,,,REPLACE BCEM AND REINSTALL BATTERY AND ENERGIZE SYSTEM. FURTHER
,,,,EXAMINATION FOUND THE HIGH VOLTAGE BATTERY EIGHT IS OUT OF
,,,,SPECIFICATIONS AND ONCE BECM WAS INSTALLED AND PROGRAMMED BATTERY
,,,,HEALTH CHECK SHOED FAULT IN BOTH ARRAY 8 AND ARRAY 9 DE-ENERGIZE
,,,,BATTERY AND REMOVE FOR SECOND TIME TO REPLACE ARRAY 8 AND 9 RE INSTALL
,,,,AND PERFORM ALL NECESARY PROCEDURES INCLUDING PROGRAMMING AND COOLANT
,,,,SYSTEM BLEED. INSTALLED IN REVERSE ORDER OF REMOVAL. FURTHER
,,,,EXAMINATION FOUND THE HIGH VOLTAGE BATTERY NINE IS OUT OF
,,,,SPECIFICATIONS. ACCESSED, REMOVED AND REPLACED THE HIGH VOLTAGE BATTERY
,,,,NINE. RD TEST VEHICLE FOR 15 MILES AND NO LIGHTS OR ISSUES REPORTED AT
,,,,THIS TIME ALL SYSTEMS WORKING AS DESIGNED.

*********************************************

This where I pick up the truck and see another error light​

,,,,44874 VERIFIED THE CUSTOMER'S CONCERN OF CHECK ENGINE LIGHT ON.
,,,,ACCESSED THE DIAGNOSTIC PORT AND PERFORMED A SCAN USING THE FDRS TO
,,,,FIND DIAGNOSTIC TROUBLE CODE P0AA4 WHICH IS RELATED TO NEGATIVE
,,,,CONTACTOR STUCK CLOSED AND FOUND NO RELEVANT CODES IN HISTORY.
,,,,DE-ENERGIZED THE HIGH VOLTAGE SYSTEM. PERFORMED A HIGH VOLTAGE BATTERY
,,,,JUNCTION BOX EXAMINATION AND DIAGNOSTIC FINDING ALL PINS TIGHT.
,,,,PERFORMED A GUIDED TEST(S) USING THE FDRS, TESTING THE PPT R TO FIND.
,,,,PPT R STATES TEST 12 VOLT BATTERY WHICH IT PASSED SO STEP 2 SAID
,,,,REPLACE HIGH VOLTAGE NEGATIVE JUNCTION BOX. FURTHER EXAMINATION FOUND
,,,,THE HIGH VOLTAGE BATTERY JUNCTION BOX IS OUT OF SPECIFICATIONS WITH
,,,,STUCK CLOSED. REMOVED THE HIGH VOLTAGE BATTERY AND COVER TO GAIN ACCESS
,,,,TO THE HIGH VOLTAGE BATTERY JUNCTION BOX. RE-ENERGIZED THE HIGH-VOLTAGE
,,,,SYSTEM. CLEARED ALL DIAGNOSTIC TROUBLE CODES AND VERIFIED CODES DID NOT
,,,,RETURN. THE SYSTEM IS NOW OPERATING AS DESIGNED.
****************************************************

 

[Traconesu]

I guess they figured that out:

"Good morning David. The becm has been installed on the vehicle. After charging the vehicle and retesting we found 2 high voltage battery cells have also gone bad. I'm currently waiting for the parts department to give me information on the availability of the cells. I will be in touch later on today with more information."

When all my light went red and wouldn't charge they found 3 bad battery modules.

Sponsored