Your EV charger is not working: what to check

A home charger has very few states: it has power or it does not, the car is asking for current or it is not, and something has tripped or it has not. Work through those in order and most faults identify themselves in ten minutes.

1. Start with the car, not the charger

• Is a schedule running? If the car is set to start at midnight, plugging in at 6 pm does nothing. This is the most common false alarm there is.
• Is the charge limit already reached? At an 80% limit and 80% state of charge, the car will not draw.
• Is the car actually awake? Some cars need a door opened or a wake command after a long sleep.
• Does it charge elsewhere? If a public charger works and yours does not, the fault is at the house.

2. The connector and the port

Unplug and plug in again, firmly, until the latch clicks. Look into both the connector and the car's inlet with a flashlight for debris, road salt, a bent pin or corrosion. If you are using an adapter, remove it and try without it, or try a different adapter -- adapters are a common point of failure. Adapters.

3. Power at the charger

1. 1.Look at the status light. Every unit here shows power, charging and fault states. The manual says which pattern means what.
2. 2.Check the breaker in the panel. A two-pole breaker can trip with the handle sitting between on and off -- switch it fully off, then on.
3. 3.Check any GFCI device in the chain, including a GFCI receptacle if your charger plugs into one.
4. 4.If the breaker trips again, stop. A breaker that trips twice is doing its job about a real fault.

4. Nuisance tripping, and why it happens

NEC 625.54 requires ground-fault protection for EV charging equipment, and most listed chargers have that protection built in -- which satisfies the requirement without a GFCI breaker. When a charger with built-in protection is also fed from a GFCI breaker, both devices watch the same leakage current independently, and the result is tripping that has no single cause to find.

That is a conversation for your electrician, and it is a common one on plug-in installations. GFCI nuisance tripping covers how to work through it without removing protection.

5. Heat, cold and derating

Chargers reduce their current when they get hot, and some stop. A unit in direct afternoon sun on a south-facing wall in summer is a different machine from the same unit in the shade. Check the published operating range -- several units here are rated to 104 F or 122 F -- and check whether the charge slowed rather than stopped. Hot weather and cold weather cover both ends.

6. The app, which is not the charger

If the app cannot see the charger but the car is charging, you have a Wi-Fi problem, not a charging problem. Most home units sit at the edge of the house on 2.4 GHz, where signal is weakest. The charge itself never depends on the network.

When to stop and call someone

A melted or discolored NEMA 14-50 plug face deserves its own mention: it is usually a receptacle problem rather than a charger problem, and a cheap receptacle on a continuous 40 A load is a known failure. The 14-50 outlet covers why the quality of that part matters.

Charging slowly is a different fault

If the car charges but takes longer than it used to, nothing is broken in the sense this page has covered so far. Work through the ceilings in order, because the lowest one wins: the amperage your charger is set to, the current your car's onboard charger accepts, whatever the charger has derated itself to in heat or cold, and whether a load-managed setup is sharing the circuit with the rest of the house.

A cold battery is the other common answer in winter, and it is the car protecting itself rather than a fault. Cold-weather charging covers what to expect, and how many amps you need covers matching charger to car.

What to have ready before you call

Whoever you end up calling -- the maker, an electrician or the dealer -- the first five minutes are the same questions. Having the answers written down shortens the visit and sometimes avoids it.

1. 1.The model and serial number of the charger, and when it was installed.
2. 2.The fault pattern: which lights, what sequence, and whether it happens every time or intermittently.
3. 3.What changed. New car, new firmware, new adapter, an electrician's recent visit, a storm.
4. 4.The circuit details: breaker size, hardwired or plug-in, and whether the breaker is a GFCI type.
5. 5.Whether it fails on another car, or your car fails on another charger. That single test usually settles which end is at fault.