"Charging With Reduced Power" message

[drhardee]

When connecting my 2014 i3 to my home 120v occasional cable, I have begun occasionally seeing the message "Charging with reduced power to avoid damage to sensitive electronic components", or words to that effect. It sometimes happens when I plug the car in, and sometimes I'll see it when I unplug the car in the morning after the car is fully charged.

Any idea what's going on? The 120v outlet is properly GFCI protected,and is dedicated. This message popped up along about the time my CEL came on and stayed on (about two weeks ago). The car is now at the dealer (BMW of Columbia, SC), and I'm in a 320i loaner for a few days.

I don't have a 240v charger at home, as 120v charging suits my needs for the time being. I do have the 120v charging rate set at "maximum", but the posting showing the burned wires behind another posters outlet have me rethinking this. :?:

 

[drhardee]

<<If your vehicle needs a s/w update, you'll likely either get an e-mail from BMW or maybe in addition (that's what happened with mine bought in June), a phone call. They have that info from when you registered the car and made your first phone call to them from the car to verify and setup your account so you can monitor it via the app, and so that they can provide help should you have an accident.

Since you bought it in September (if I got that right), your car probably already has the latest s/w in it. That software decreased the maximum rate of recharge to protect the KLE module until they could design, build, and stock up enough new versions of them to retrofit. I just checked with my local dealer today on this, and their latest info says probably early 2015. If you happen to actually have the KLE fail, you'd probably now get a new design one, but I'm not sure that the software to restore the full charge rate is ready yet, but at least you wouldn't need both the software and hardware to be replaced later, just the s/w update.>>

Just browsing through old posts and saw that. Hmmm? I didn't know if this is a result of some software update I didn't know I got, or what?

 

[Lincsat]

I'm in the UK and often get that message when using a Level 2 charger, the rate drops from 7KW to about 3.5KW. I'm due a software update soon to fix the off-peak charging problem and my dealer says he'll get this issue checked at the same time.

 

[drhardee]

It looks like the infamous KLE problem has come to visit my car. I still don't know what the acronym KLE means, (and yes, I searched) but my service rep said that "some power module which controls everything in your car was dying"...even he didn't know what to call it! But the part was over-nighted to my dealer, and I'm told it'll take 10-12 hours to replace. Then, I'm SUPPOSED to get the latest and greatest software update when they configure the new whateveritis to my car. This, I'm told, will correct both the CEL light and the "charging with reduced power" message. We shall see what we shall see.

 

[drhardee]

KLE (Komfortladeelektronik or Comfort Charging Electronics in English) is the in-car charger. There are actually two circuits of 3.7kW on-board chargers, and one of them was failing (you could still charge using the second, just slower)
Early cars had many issues with them, and were replaced under warranty.

Found my own answer! :mrgreen:

 

[jadnashuanh]

Everyone in the USA should have already had their KLE replaced unless they had the new one upon delivery. Those built up into Sept or early October 2014 had the 'old' one, and those on the boat near the end of that time had theirs replaced at the port before going to the dealers. It is certainly possible that any one of the versions could die, but the original one had an identifiable problem, and the 'new' one addressed that.

 

[drhardee]

I got my car back from BMW of Columbia yesterday, and apparently it was preparing to fail in spectacular style. The service writer said that the "EME" module was failing and needed to be replaced. Apparently, EME stands for "Electrical Machine Electronics" ~whatever that is~, and it had gone south. They opened and approved a PUMA case for the car, which I believe means they're going to spend serious warranty money.

This repair involved dropping the complete drive unit, and replacing this defective EME module. The tech re-programmed the entire car, including the EME, KLE and the parking sensor. Then he performed a 4 wheel alignment and adjusted the rear camber and toe and the front toe; apparently this is a part of this repair sequence, since so much weight was removed from and then added back to the wheels. Tech charged the battery, and sent BMW corporate the bill for $6,420.36. Quite the sum for a car with 4,453 miles on the clock, and an in-service date of March 3, 2015! I'm still thinking that leasing this vehicle for 3 years was the right thing to do.

Comments? Questions? Anyone heard of this sort of EME module failure before? The tech said that he'd only seen one other such fault...in an i8 not too long ago. Hmmm...

If anyone is interested, I can scan and email this 3 page repair order.

 

[Jeffj]

While not nearly as common as KLE failures, I've seen seen other reports of EME failures. Just posted about mine in another thread. Sadly, I'm going to beat your number, as they also replaced all the battery modules in my car (8 x $1700 retail per module). Ouch. Just shy of 8K miles.