JuiceBox 40 - Beep Codes. Percussive maintenance is free.

[rhfritz]

Our EV charger, the JuiceBox, out-of-nowhere suddenly started emitting a 3-LED 5-beep code. The Enel X service department was useless even when mine was under warranty. I searched and found a video (21) Juicebox repair of burnt relay. Here's how to repair it - YouTube detailing how this guy replaced a burned-out relay from pulling too many amps through his. But one of the video comments stated the beep code actually indicated a stuck relay, and he was told by support to get a mallet and hit the right side of the box. Percussive maintenance is free. So I gave it 3 whacks and plugged it back in. It’s fixed. But I still bought the part on eBay in case the fix is temporary. It has certainly been colder in the garage, but I wonder if cold temps affect the relay. ?

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[Homestead]

Good move , you got the replacement part ready to go.
Your story reminds me of a time I was leaving work and my friends wife was picking him up and she was driving their international travelall. When she tried to start it nothing so she immediately jumped out and laid on the ground and smacked the starter motor with a hammer, jumped back in and it started right up. She had the tool and knew where to hit it.

 

[AliRafiee]

People don’t hit things enough these days when they stop working. Back in the 70-80s that was the first go to fix. You have no idea how many times I fixed our 21” state of the art color TV by smacking it.

 

[rhfritz]

Generally speaking, whacking a modern device with no moving parts should have no positive effect. In the old, old days, you could fix hard drive "stiction" with tapping. That won't work with an SSD. Looking inside the JuiceBox 40, aside from some wire-lugs which should theoretically not move once tightened, there's only a motherboard and a daughterboard whose only component with internal moving parts is that relay. I survived the 80's, but I guess I've worked in computers too long to have initially considered percussive maintenance.

 

[Rory]

Reminds me of this story:

A giant ship’s engine failed. The ship’s owners tried one ‘professional’ after another but none of them could figure out how to fix the broken engine.

Then they brought in a man who had been fixing ships since he was young.
He carried a large bag of tools with him and when he arrived immediately went to work. He inspected the engine very carefully, top to bottom.

Two of the ship’s owners were there watching this man, hoping he would know what to do. After looking things over, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something. Instantly, the engine lurched into life. He carefully put his hammer away and the engine was fixed!!!

A week later, the owners received an invoice from the old man for $10,000.

What?! the owners exclaimed. “He hardly did anything..!!!”.

So they wrote to the man; “Please send us an itemised invoice.”

The man sent an invoice that read:

Tapping with a hammer………………….. $2.00

Knowing where to tap…………………….. $9,998.00

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