How do you reset the AV EVSE?

[rnkepler]

This is probably already on the forums somewhere but I wasn't able to find it. My AV EVSE's Ready to Charge light isn't coming on after we lost power. I called AV and they told me to cut power to the unit for 6 minutes, turn it back on for 2 minutes, plug it into the car and then push the start button on the unit. I've tried that a couple times but that didn't do anything. I know if I find the right people at AV I can get them to reset it remotely but I'd like to know how to reset it myself. Anyone know?

 

[lpickup]

I doubt they'll be able to do anything remotely. It's a pretty simple unit not really hooked up to anything except power.

Cycling the power should reset it if it's in good working order. If that doesn't work I think you'll need to have it serviced. There is a test procedure that you can try (hold both buttons in until the lights all cycle through) but I don't think that will really do anything.

Interestingly enough, the Beco installers (I assume being from Raleigh they installed your unit too) told me this happened to a customer in Wilmington the day before they installed my unit, and I've heard from another area LEAF owner that when they cycled power their unit froze up as well. Makes me wonder if the AV unit is unreliable (far fetched for such a simple unit, but who knows) of if the Beco guys are somehow doing something wrong.

Frankly I'm afraid to cycle my power, but it's been done at least once by the installers themselves and once by the City of Raleigh inspector and it did come back up.

Now I did get a fault overnight on the EVSE (see http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=5313) It's a shame for the outrageous prices they charge for these fairly simple units that they aren't FAR more reliable.

 

[rnkepler]

The units used in the Progress Energy program are connected to AV and Progress Energy through the cellular network which is how they monitor the usage. They also have the ability to reset it if necessary which those same installers said they had to do at the previous installation. They had to call AV and have them reset the EVSE remotely to get it working, which I'm thinking I'll probably have to do as well.

 

[GeekEV]

That's interesting that there's different kinds of AV units. I think that's news to most of us... Could you post a picture of it?

 

[lpickup]

That's interesting that there's different kinds of AV units. I think that's news to most of us... Could you post a picture of it?

It looks no different from the outside. But apparently on the inside there is an additional circuit board with a telematics-like cellular package. I figured it was one-way communication only, but maybe they have the ability to send commands back to the EVSE unit. Of course the agreement I signed only mentioned that they would be collecting data, not controlling my charging station, so it would be a bit disconcerting if it turns out they have this ability. I'll await rnkepler's word on whether they are able to remotely "reset" the unit.

 

[Nekota]

The AV ESEV has a row of screws hidden under the outer rim of plastic. This plastic can be removed by using a stiff wire bent with a right angle of about 3/8 or 1/4 inch long. Reach in with the wire at the 6 o'clock bottom position and unseat the end of the ring which will expose the screws. Before opening the ESEV be sure to remove power from the ESEV. Take a picture and maybe we can figure out some reset techniques. The AV ESEV I have has no smarts - a power cycle resets the unit and I have had zero problems with the unit since installation in Nov 2010 and first use in May 2011 and it is used every day.

 

[TangoKilo]

I don't think you will find anything useful by opening up your AV EVSE, however, you never know... I have an AV RS model that has been perfect since I bought it six months ago. The instruction manual only mentions holding down the start charge and stop charge buttons simultaneously for a couple seconds to run through the system check. If that doesn't work then you might wanna call AV for a little help... :ugeek:

 

[lpickup]

I will probably forego opening the unit up just to have a looksee, figuring I don't want to press my luck! Maybe rnkepler will be willing to open it up.

However, I did contact the utility and ask whether I'd be able to access the electrical usage data they are collecting, and my contact there directed me back to AV as that would be something I may be able to access through their systems.

Sure enough, I do have an "AV Portal" account that got set up when I was accepted into the program. However, due to some glitches in their system and the timing of my assessment, acceptance into the program, and a temporary hiatus of the program all during this time, my portal is stuck at the "Schedule an assessment" stage (I had to have someone at AV manually schedule my install). I am wondering if others in the same or similar programs have checked their AV Portal accounts after their install and can see if there is additional information available there. That would be pretty cool.

I have contacted AV to see what they say about this. Still waiting to hear back.

 

[lpickup]

Just got off the phone with AV. Apparently I should've gotten an e-mail with a different account to log into (not the AV Portal) (I didn't though). She "re-sent" me an e-mail with login information. This one is apparently called the EVData Network and lo and behold, when I log in I do have access to some great historical data from my charging station:

So it's definitely calling home and I can get the data.

I tried to ask if this capability was available on all AV units or just to participants in programs such as the Progress Energy program I'm part of. I never really did get a clear answer. All I was able to ascertain was that (a) I definitely get that information because I'm part of the Progress Energy program; (b) not all AV charging stations have this capability; and the statement that makes sure the mystery lives on: (c) the charging stations provided with Nissan LEAFs have this capability (????) That doesn't sound right, but who knows!

She also told me I would be able to set up timers and such from the web site, so I asked her to confirm whether the communication was two-way, i.e. their system could in fact control my charging station and she said yes. However, I see absolutely no capability on the web site to set timers or anything that would require communication back to my charging station. Of course their whole web site looks like it is only about half done at this point, so who knows. For example, there is a section of the web site allowing you to map public charging stations and do route planning, etc, similar to Carwings, but there are a grand total of ZERO public charging stations listed. It also lets you set up alerts, similar to what Carwings sends, although there are a few extra alerts such as:

Charger Enabled
Charger Disabled
Charger Reboot
GFI Fault

However it doesn't really tell me where those alerts will be sent (I assume my e-mail address since that is how I logged in) and it also doesn't seem to remember the settings anyway.

Plus there are a lot of other hints of future and missing functionality. Examples: there is no place I could find to change your password. There is a way to "View" your profile (including an empty "photo") but no way to "Edit" it.

Who knows if this system will be enhanced or not, but for my use, I'm very pleased to be able to get access to this data as it will enable better walls to wheels analysis for me. Frankly I wasn't expecting that from this rather simple AV charging station unit.

 

[lpickup]

Here's a shot of the detail you get when you click on one of the charging sessions:

Notice the following:

1) There is the capability to export to Excel, PDF, Word or CSV from this screen. That's great, but pretty much pointless. I would much prefer to export the overall summary data and not this detail data.
2) It looks like the unit calls home every 15 minutes when charging is active. Note that all the times shown are PST, with no apparent way to change to my local time zone.
3) It appears that it will track Peak/Non-Peak for me, which could be very useful. However, I didn't see any way to provide time of day/day of week parameters for it to determine whether it's peak or not. However maybe the utility provides that as part of my account. I'm not currently on a TOU rate plan, so everything could be considered "Peak" or "Non-Peak". But I may alter that in the future.

BTW, I did figure out how to set up a "target" for the alerts (e-mail and/or SMS), but it still doesn't appear to remember my alert preferences.

 

[rnkepler]

Yes, they can remotely reset the monitored units and send some commands to them. They told me that you should be able to power off the unit at the breaker and turn it back on without needing a remote reset but, they have noticed that in cases of blackouts or brownouts, the units sometimes need a remote reset. The main problem that I had was the the CS staff that works the weekend don't know how or have the ability to do that, so AV is trying to train them so they can get you up and running if there's a problem over the weekend.

 

[copdoc]

This just happened to my AV EVSE. None of the posted fixes have helped, sadly.

The worst thing is not the charging at 110 which I now rely on; the worst thing is that I will have to call AV again. Last time it took me 4 tries (at 15 minutes each) to get to someone who had a clue what they were talking about. Sigh.......

 

[Ingineer]

This just happened to my AV EVSE. None of the posted fixes have helped, sadly.

The worst thing is not the charging at 110 which I now rely on; the worst thing is that I will have to call AV again. Last time it took me 4 tries (at 15 minutes each) to get to someone who had a clue what they were talking about. Sigh.......

As a backup, you could have your L1 EVSE upgraded for under $300, and they are extremely reliable. I'd say they are the most reliable EVSE on the market, period. I'm sure plenty of forum members will confirm this, as most people here have one.

-Phil