Stuck / Trapped Cable

Created by Park and Recharge Recharge Support Team, Modified on Tue, 30 May, 2023 at 3:17 PM by Park and Recharge Recharge Support Team

Sometimes the pin of the locking mechanism gets stuck either through resistance or fouling on the gun slot edge. If the charge point has not released your gun at the end of a charge cycle, giving the gun a wiggle can help release the locking pin.

If you are trying to start a charge cycle, a charge point will not allow a charge to begin until the lock has engaged. If your gun is not fully inserted in the socket or if the locking slot in your gun is damaged then the locking pin may fail and the charge point will not allow your charge cycle to start.

If your cable is stuck in both the car and the charger, releasing the cable from the car first will normally make the charger locking pin release. Most EV's have a cable release mechanism, on the keys or in the car. We suggested pressing the unlock connector button on your keys if it has one or pressing the unlock car button on your keys twice if it doesn't have a connector specific button.

If you experience either of these issues you can contact us and ask us to send a command to the charge point to attempt a release or remote start a session.. It will help us if you can tell us which charge point you are at and which socket you are plugged into.

More info:

Most charge points which have type 2 sockets (the 7 pin socket with 5 big pins and 2 little pins) have a locking mechanism that locks a gun in whilst charging takes place. This lock connects into a slot in the top of the gun so that the gun cannot be withdrawn whilst delivering power or removed by anyone other than the owner.

On rapid and V2G charge points, typically the charger will have a tethered ChaDeMo or CCS connector.

With the ChaDeMo guns we can also send a release command to the charge point, you will be able to see if the ChaDeMo gun thinks it is still locked in as it has a red light on it. If the light is illuminated, then the gun is locked to the car. You can sometimes trick the ChaDeMo connector into releasing by plugging a Type 2 gun into the socket on your car if present.