What happens in the first seconds of a DC charge
Plug in, wait, nothing happens. Here is the conversation your car and the charger are having.
Before any energy flows, the car and charger agree on who they are and what is safe. With CCS this happens over a signal on the control pilot wire, then a data link over the same wire using power-line communication.
- The charger detects the plug and both sides wake up.
- They pair over the cable and start a digital session (DIN SPEC 70121 or ISO 15118).
- Authorisation: an app, an RFID card, a bank card, or Plug & Charge.
- Cable and isolation check: the charger tests the circuit at high voltage before connecting.
- Pre-charge, then the charger ramps up to the current the car asks for.
Most "it just would not start" stories fail in one of these steps. Posting the exact error and the point where it stopped makes a fix far more likely.
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