Servicing & Troubleshooting

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• The contact person for operators is the respective charging station manufacturer. They need the diagnostic file and the additional information described in the introduction. Charging station manufacturers can contact Bender Tech Support.
• Get in touch with your support agent for guidance on your technical errors. The agent will inform you on which logging configuration to set for your case.

1. Introduction

Complex technical systems can sometimes enter unexpected and undesirable states. Some of these issues can be resolved by repeating the customer interaction or by restarting one or more parts of the system. If a problem occurs more frequently, the manufacturers of the respective system components can often provide further assistance.

The manufacturer will analyze and evaluate the configuration and state of the system, as well as its interaction with other third-party components. Diagnostic data, which shows the current or recently past operational state, can aid in this analysis.

The diagnostic file of the Charge Controller is usually the most relevant data source. In many cases, additional information is helpful to obtain a complete picture of the situation.

Relevant questions:

• What error pattern does the user or technician on-site observe? Error pattern means: What is the deviation of the actual behavior from the expected behavior?
• What is the status of the device's display elements (display messages, blinking behavior of the HMI and the Charge cCntroller)?
• Which vehicle (type, model year) was being charged when the problem occurred?
• Are there any information or diagnostic data available from other system components, such as the backend or energy manager / DLM master?
• For complex systems and load management issues: Is there documentation of the entire system, including wiring diagrams?

2. Diagnostics Files

Diagnostics files (Log Files) are computer-generated data files that record usage patterns, activities, and operations in systems, applications, servers, or network devices. They serve as the primary data source for network observability, offering insights into performance and resource optimization.

2.1. Download

2.2. Download

2.3. Download

2.3.1. Prerequisites

• You will need an empty USB stick that is formatted with the Windows FAT32 file system. Most USB sticks come pre-formatted this way
• You will need a password file on your USB stick to ensure only authorized personnel can access the controller’s USB function. Place the file in the root directory and name it “USB_PASSWORD.” It should contain the operator password in plain text. If unchanged, the password is yellow_zone.s To create the file, open Windows Notepad, enter the password, and save it as “USB_PASSWORD” without the “.txt” extension
• Login onto the Dashboard. Under SYSTEM>USB Security turn on USB Field Engineer and USB script execution

2.3.2. Setup

1. Create the FIELD_ENGINEER file

1. Preparation: Insert an empty USB stick into your computer.
2. Open Notepad: Open the Windows Notepad application.
3. Save As: Click on Save As in the empty file
4. Enter Filename: In the pop-up window, enter the filename FIELD_ENGINEER.
5. Remove File Extension: Ensure that no file extension such as .txt is added.

2. Insert the USB stick into the controller

1. Insert USB Stick: Insert the USB stick into the controller of the charging point.
2. Wait: The controller will write all log files, status, and configuration information to the USB stick. This process can take up to two minutes.
3. Completion Indicator: The process is complete when the green, red and blue LED are changing rapidly (CC612: Ready LED blinking green every 30 seconds).
4. Remove USB Stick: Remove the USB stick from the controller.

3. Locate log and configuration files on the USB stick

6. Find Folder: On the USB stick, locate a folder that starts with cp-. 7. Persistency Folder: Inside this folder, there is a folder named persistency. 8. Open Files: The files within this folder contain the configuration parameters.

4. Review configuration parameters

9. Open with text editor: Open the file with your text editor of choice 10. Parameters and Versioning: The first line of each file shows the parameter setting, and the second line contains a code that describes the versioning of the configuration parameter. 11. If you are working with a Master/Slave Setup, the file contains another zip file called connector2 that provides all the information for the Slave controller.

2.4. Diagnostics files content

The diagnostics file is a zip file that needs to be extracted. The diagnostics file then presents the following structure.

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	Filepath	Contents
	home/charge/diagnostics/	The file contains the tcpdump (information regarding the network communication) in the form of pcap-files.
	home/charge/persistency/	Contains all the settings of the Charge controller.
	home/charge/state/msg_que/	All the messages that have not been send to the backend yet.
	home/charge/state/slave_seen.inf	Provides information wether a Master/Slave connection has already been established.
	home/charge/.ash_history	Command history of the Charge Controller.
	home/charge/dlm.html	Provides the state information of the DLM-Master.
	home/charge/status.html	Provides the state information of the System but without declaring the versions of the sub controller components.
	home/charge/system.html	The versions of the different sub controller components.
	home/charge/user.logs	Excerpts from the other logs.
	log/emergency	Important log files. The file does not rotate.
	log/messages	The currently running log file.
	log/messages.0	The previously saved log files (also messages.1, messages.2, messages.3, messages.4).
	log/system_hash.log	It is created at every system startup and compared with the original hash from target_hash.log.
	log/target_hash.log	In the file, the hashes that are generated during locking with Eichrecht are stored.
	tmp/diag	The diagnostic file of the slave controller.

2.5. Adjust Diagnostics Settings

The Log Level determines the amount of information provided by the logs.

Scope	Location in Config UI	Field	Value	Contents
Operator	System > General	Log Level	LOG_LEVEL_DBG	recommended in most cases
			LOG_LEVEL_INFO	Provides less information than LOG_LEVEL_DBG

2.5.1. Log level by component

In addition to the Log Level , you can change the Log Level by component to suit your logging needs.

The diagnostics files are rotating. The higher the log level is, the faster is the rotating. The log levels also have a different reach providing more information. See the Config UI > DOCUMENTATION page for an extensive list of component names. The possible log level are:

Mode	Info
TRACE	Verbose debug information meant for programmers only
VDBG	Very detailed debug information for programmers and customers
DBG	Detailed debug information for programmers and customers
INFO	Informational, providing high level understanding of system behavior
WARN	Warning if correct behavior cannot not be ensured, but the state is recoverable
ERR	Fatal system errors, should be very rare
USER_INFO	Stripped down info based on the INFO diagnostic File
USER_WARN	Stripped down info based on the WARN diagnostic File
USER_ERR	Stripped down info based on the ERR diagnostic File

2.5.1.1. Setting the Log Level by component via OCPP

This parameter allows to set different log levels for different software components. The string consists of a comma separated list of component names and component log levels. When setting the log level by component via OCPP the string itself always stays the same.

BACKEND=TRACE,RCMB=VDBG

The command for setting the log level by component may change depending on the backend provider. For example, the string to set log level TRACE for the BACKEND component and VDBG for the RCMB component may look like so:

loglevelcomponents:BACKEND=TRACE,RCMB=VDBG

2.5.1.2. Setting the Log Level by component via the WebUI

1. Log in to the Config UI using the Operator Login Credentials
2. Under SYSTEM > General set the Log Level by component
3. At the bottom of the Config UI, click , then click to apply the changes

2.5.2. Log encryption

See here.

3. Diagnostics

Errors can be diagnosed using the LED on the HMI HMI (RFID105/110/117) as well as through the Configuration Interface of the Charge Controller:

1. Log in to the Config UI using the Operator Login Credentials.
2. Under DOCUMENTATION > Errors you'll find the list of possible Error activation messages.

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Error activation message is the message that is sent when the error occurred. Error resolution message (if any) is sent when the error is corrected.

3.1. tcpdump

tcpdump is a powerful command-line-based network diagnostic tool used to monitor and analyze network traffic. It captures data packets transmitted over a network.

Under SYSTEM > General you can select the type of network interface from which you want to capture packet data to a file. Choose Any to listen on all network interfaces.

Execute the tcdump:

1. Under SYSTEM > General Start tcpdump run click on Start
2. To Stop tcpdump run click on Stop

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• We advise you to set a specific network interface to prevent any unwanted information.
• The tcpdump is not being stopped be a fort restart.