Got a demo Leaf from Thursday till Saturday, but had bad day

[Roadburner440]

Interesting photo Dave. :lol: That is not where the water got in to though. On the Volt the plug is in a box that mounts to the fender.. Water got in the box (not through the plug, but somewhere else), and seeped down into the water harness. It then freezes and breaks the wires/shielding. So the car side ground then became open not allowing it to charge. So the water did not come from the EVSE plug, or the cars plug. There is some kind of defect in the actual box/harness that is in the fender that allows water to get in to the unit somehow. My Volt Advisor told me GM has been aware of the problem, and has been actively working on a fix for a month or 2 now. The battery issue took priority however, but in the future they will be rolling out a campaign to fix the water intrusion issue.

So nope. Not coming in through the plug. I just spray it out with the cleaner to protect against corrosion, and displace water. I recommend you guys do it too. Although then again it is my aircraft maintainer side coming out. Everytime you remove/reinstall any connector you must properly treat it with corrosion preventative before reconnecting. If I would have known water was getting in elsewhere I would have probably sealed it using a rubberized sealant. I am not sure where it is getting in though, and they really didn't go in to great detail on it. For me it seems like a simple fix with sealant. Either wet sealing the assembly together, or something to that effect.

 

[Ingineer]

Good luck! Just to be clear, the range chart has nothing to do with the GoM. I actually have my GoM covered.

http://i565.photobucket.com/albums/ss92/TonyWilliams/98167e27.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Awesome Tony! Is that a FSM?! =)

-Phil

 

[Ingineer]

By the way Thanks RoadBurner for the awesome report. I too agree with the others' assessment that you'd be fine charging to 100% daily, especially if you use the timers and start out for work right after the charge is done. If you don't have any TOU electrical rates to consider, you can adjust the timers such that your charge completes just in time for the preheat, then drive out with both a warm car and a warm pack!

Also, once you become a 2 plug-in family, you might consider just keeping your one SPX L2 EVSE and upgrading the Leaf's portable unit to Level II, so on those rare occasions you need to charge both the Volt and the Leaf at 240v, you'd have the capability. It would also act as a backup for your SPX, as they are not known to be the most reliable units out there. The upgraded unit will have about a 25' reach to the car.

Is your SPX hard-wired or is there an outlet? You can likely add an additional outlet for minimal cost, maybe even in parallel with the SPX's feed.

-Phil

 

[TonyWilliams]

Good luck! Just to be clear, the range chart has nothing to do with the GoM. I actually have my GoM covered.

http://i565.photobucket.com/albums/ss92/TonyWilliams/98167e27.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Awesome Tony! Is that a FSM?! =)

-Phil

I can see the family resemblance... maybe his deity cousin ?

 

[Roadburner440]

Phil don't worry. The day my Leaf arrives you are getting my cord to upgrade it to L2 with the Volt mod as well. Is well worth the $300 for all of that. Our SPX charger is hard wired. What I am going to do is put a dryer outlet on the front of the house for the Leaf, but I just need to figure out what plug it is you use on the cord for the L2. I had to go to Lowe's yesterday to get some stuff to fix a pipe and I was looking at outlets, but have no clue which one other than a 3 prong. We already have a trip planned to Williamsburg with it when it gets here to go to Busch Gardens, and charging it at an RV park while we are there. So whenever my car gets here going to be expedited shipping it to you, and hopefully it gets back quick. :lol: It is able to charge using my SPX charger both L1 and L2 so we will be fine till the Panasonic unit comes back.

I am going to make a new post detailing my day and a half. It was certaintly interesting, but right now we have done all the paperwork at the dealer. They ran our credit and put us in Tier 0 (with a 0.0175 money factor, not a 0.0204 like has been reported here)... In fact their money factors seem lower than normal. As they had theirs on top, but the regular NMAC on the bottom. I tried getting the sheet from them to scan and put up here, but they took it back. He just said those were the rates they off, and I certaintly am not going to complain. Like I said I will be creating another post later detailing the Leaf's adventures with us, and the dealership.

 

[Ingineer]

Not worried! Just trying to save you some hassle and $.

There is no need for the "volt mod", as GM has long since fixed the firmware issue in the Volt that was causing this. Now a bone-stock Nissan EVSE even works perfectly with the Volt. In fact, Our upgraded revision 2 unit actually charges the Volt (or the Leaf) slightly faster than the stock wall-mount Voltec/SPX unit as well as being safer and more reliable. It's a win-win!

All you need is a 20 amp circuit terminated with an L6-20 receptacle with a weatherproof cover, one of those bulbous kind that allows the cable to be plugged in and still protected. Several of our customers have installed a large plastic NEMA box over their outlet that's big enough to contain the whole EVSE box, and then it can be locked to prevent theft, AND keeps the EVSE out of the sun/rain/snow. All you have to do is cut a small U-shaped slot in the bottom of the housing so the door can be locked with the J1772 cord still in place.

-Phil