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Primer 01 · ~8 minFree

EVSE levels and how tickets present

AC L2 vs DCFC vs depot stack — what the first five minutes of a ticket should tell you.

Beginners hear “Level 2” and “DC fast.” Field tickets do not start with marketing names—they start with what failed, one gun or whole site, and who owns the box.

What you are looking at

AC Level 2 wallboxes and pedestals (J1772 / NACS AC) deliver grid AC to the vehicle onboard charger. Tickets cluster around GFCI/RCD, PP/CP, Wi‑Fi/OCPP soft-offline, breaker sizing, and RFID/app auth. You rarely open a “power module bank.” You do open glands, PE bonds, and installer max-current settings.

DC fast chargers (DCFC) convert AC to DC in a cabinet and push current through CCS/NACS (and sometimes CHAdeMO). Tickets include isolation (CableCheck), ground fault, cooling, contactors, handshake, and soft-offline. Always ask: one connector vs whole cabinet (or satellite vs power unit on pooled architectures).

Site stack is not “the charger” but kills sessions the same way: payment PEDs, cellular modems, contactors, liquid-cooling loops, LMS/power cabinets, switchgear, and depot BESS/CMS. A StatusNotification Faulted can be any of these wearing an EVSE mask.

First five minutes on any ticket

  1. Photograph HMI/app string, connector number, nameplate, and peer gun status.
  2. Classify scope: one stall, one cabinet, or the whole pad.
  3. Note weather / recent work: cable swap, wash-down, firmware, SIM, panel work.
  4. Pull OCPP StatusNotification for the window (errorCode, info/vendorErrorCode).
  5. Decide owner branch: EVSE tech vs electrician vs network vs payment vs BESS/fire.

If you skip classification, you will RMA a module for a feeder trip.

How levels change the branch

ClueLean toward
GFCI trip after rain on a wallboxAC path, seals, PE — not DCFC ISO board
CableCheck isolation on one CCS gunCable/moisture — CCS guide
All stalls dark, breaker mid-tripSite power — site power guide
FreeVend works, cards failPayment — metering & payment
Heartbeat dead, HMI aliveNetwork — OCPP Faulted map

Depot vs public retail

Public retail cares about payment, uptime SLAs, and dual-standard guns. Depots add schedules, VIN allowlists, LMS caps, and sometimes BESS inhibits. Same OCPP verbs; different first questions (“was overnight schedule blocking?” vs “PED host down?”).

Field action

Open a free sample that matches the layer you named—protocol OCPP/CCS samples in the database, or an OEM brand hub such as ChargePoint. If the ticket is “I don’t know OCPP yet,” continue with Reading StatusNotification.

What “available” hides

A green LED does not mean the money path, the cooling loop, or the LMS permit are healthy. Public sites often show Available while Authorize fails. Depots show Preparing while a schedule blocks overnight. Always ask what failed for the driver versus what the LED claims.

Ticket language that saves truck rolls

Write the first sentence as: platform (AC L2 / DCFC / site stack), one-gun vs pad-wide, last good session, and recent work. Example: “Express Plus gun 2 ISO after cable swap yesterday; gun 1 Available.” That sentence routes better than “charger broken.”

When beginners should call an electrician first

If the whole pad is dark, a breaker is mid-trip, or multiple OEMs failed together, do not start inside a module. Photograph the gear, measure only within your authorization, and open the site power branch. The fastest “EVSE” win is often a torque check on a lug you never planned to touch.

Building intuition across OEMs

OEM HMIs invent English. OCPP errorCodes rhyme. Learn the protocol layer once (StatusNotification primer), then learn each brand’s quirks on the hub pages. That is how Arcbound Field is organized on purpose.

Field checklist (print or screenshot)

  • Photos: HMI, connector ID, peer gun, nameplate
  • Scope: one / cabinet / pad
  • OCPP snippet saved
  • Owner branch named
  • Free sample or guide opened before parts order

Worked example: wet Monday on a dual-gun DCFC

Ops: “Gun 2 Faulted, Gun 1 fine.” Photos show isolation after overnight rain. Scope is one gun. Branch is CCS CableCheck / moisture—not modem, not payment. Open CCS-H03, dry and known-good cable, then decide. That is the entire point of level-aware triage: you wasted zero minutes in the PED tray.

Worked example: workplace AC L2 “offline”

App red, local button charge works. Level is AC L2; failure is cloud/Wi‑Fi. Branch network/auth—not GFCI. Different tools, different OEM menus, same classification habit.

Glossary (ticket words)

  • Gun / connector / dispenser — user-facing path
  • Cabinet / power unit — conversion and often OCPP endpoint
  • Soft-offline — CSMS unreachable while local may look ready
  • Hard Faulted — protective or latched fault needing cause
  • LMS / DLM — load management that can legally command 0 A