All, For what it is worth, the early versions of Duosida (now Dostar) Type 1 (J1772) plugs have L, N & E connector ‘pins’ which have a small ‘collar’ around the open end, 1/4” or so down from the open end sitting in a groove which retains the collar. The pins themselves are slit along their length into 4 equal segments and this allows some degree of adjustment of the inner pin hole diameter as it slides on to the mating male pin in the socket. The theory is that the collar, made of spring steel, keeps the female pin segments in contact with the male pin and stops the female segments from bending too much in use and getting damaged.
Unfortunately, early versions used monkey metal for the collars and these tend to rust over time. This then binds them to the pin segments and prevents movement thus making it difficult for the female and male portions of the connector to engage. Sometimes a small amount of penetrating fluid applied to the collars will loosen them up but often a new plug (or at least pin) is needed. If the socket seal is binding (obvious when the plug engages happily initially but then gets hard to push in for the last 25% or so) the best lubricant to use is silicon spray as it does not adversely affect the (usually silicon rubber-based) seal in the socket. Incidentally, spare parts for Duosida/Dostar plugs and sockets can be found at www.evbitz.uk <http://www.evbitz.uk/> (based in Scotland). Regards, Martin Winlow. On 4/15/20 11:12 AM, Willie wrote: > > > On 4/15/20 6:32 AM, paul dove via EV wrote: >> I can attest to this problem. My I-MiEV charger I bought is really >> tight and actually more difficult to unplug than plug in. The one that >> came with the car is fine but it was 120v 8 amps. BTW, my 2014 imievs came with 120vac EVSEs that switch between 8 and 12 amps. > > Glad to hear that!? I have two imievs and both are tight on most of my > EVSEs.? To the point that they don't get contact if a newbie doesn't > know to listen for the fan which comes on with successful contact.? It > hasn't bothered me enough that I have tried lubrication.? Have you? I wrote the above, I tried lubricating. Used some WD40 type stuff. It allowed the nozzle to slip in easily. The first time. After a few days, it refused to go in no matter how much force I applied. It seems the lubricant had caused swelling in a plastic seal in the EVSE nozzle. I ended up fishing the seal out (and discarding) with a sharp hook type tool. Now, insertion is easy. It could be that a slightly swollen seal was the source of the problem. So, if you wish to try lubrication, I suggest trying something more viscus than common spray lubricant. Grease, petroleum jelly or somesuch. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20200425/c457c84a/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub ARCHIVE: http://www.evdl.org/archive/index.html INFO: http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
