Is Carwings glitchy for you?

[DaveEV]

Got my normal "Charging stopped" text this morning, but CarWings steadfastly refused any subsequent attempts at updates or climate control.

Being in IT myself it's hard to imagine a problem like this being unresolved for so long. But from my recollections of the LEAF reservation process, IT is definitely not Nissan's strong suit. :roll:

I forgot to plug in last night and of course, Carwings was down last night so I didn't get my usual text-message / email to remind me.

Luckily I can make it 2 days as long as I don't make any significant detours.

I did top off for 5 minutes before I left once I realized my mistake (ruh-roh - charge port open but not plugged in) and did get the usual charging stopped emails, but have not been able to update the status through the Android app or over the web.

 

[ksnogas2112]

<bangs head on desk>
<bangs head on desk>
<bangs head on desk>
<bangs head on desk>
<bangs head on desk>

Last night, installed free openwings app on Galaxy Nexus 7 rooted android device.

This morning, woke up and asked for update on Galaxy s3 rooted android cell on the standard Nissan CW app. Update "completed" but showed only 2 bars of charge and car not charging. It was at 3 bars when I parked it, plugged in, and set the Schneider delay to 6 hours and override 80% to 100%.

Figured might be the crummy app on the phone, tried 2nd Gen iPod with the Nissan App. Same results and the time stamp on the update was correct.

Tried the new OpenWings install on tablet and same result. Ran downstairs and car was happily charging away and was 1 hour away from 100%. Naturally the timer on the CC via Nissan CW app failed.

Going to try the set the CC time in the car tonight. I don't like that because I leave within a 10 minute window but tomorrow may be snow and I don't want to be messing with a cold car.

Stupid, fripping, worthless.....2q$^@#!GWEQR^&@#!$^!GARE#$^@#$^!^@#$!@#$ server.

Still love the car but starting to be seriously frustrated at Nissan.

And I'm also in IT and find their design, support, and implementation to be unforgivable.

I've had DNS admins fail to set the secondary and tertiary DNS server right. I've had Oracle dba's delete the Oracle bin directory on a production database ...twice (didn't get fired). I've had server admins delete the /bin directory in RedHat. I've had end users want to know why the scanner couldn't read the white barcodes that were "printed" on the white paper. I've had MS SQL admins ask what the error "Your transaction log is full" meant.

But I have never seen the crap like we're seeing on this.

 

[Deleted member 3147]

Got my normal "Charging stopped" text this morning, but CarWings steadfastly refused any subsequent attempts at updates or climate control.

I haven't received a "charging stopped" text since last week; I've never seen it this bad.

I've been receiving all of my "charging stopped" texts but haven't been able to do anything from my end.

 

[mwalsh]

To their credit, I heard back from two of the three Nissan executives I emailed almost immediately (at least in terms of time as it exists when one is trying to reach a senior executive with a large company) - they are on it.

 

[mirko]

@NissanLEAF just posted this on twitter.

We’re working to address the connectivity issue with CARWINGS & your LEAF. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this causes you.

https://twitter.com/NissanLEAF/status/281497673863950336" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[DaveEV]

To their credit, I heard back from two of the three Nissan executives I emailed almost immediately (at least in terms of time as it exists when one is trying to reach a senior executive with a large company) - they are on it.

Do they realize that some basic improvements to Carwings would really improve the LEAF experience?

The only feature I really find useful currently is the "not plugged in near a charger" text/email - and even that could be significantly improved with a few configurable parameters, for example:

1. Don't warn me between these hours when near a specific charger (eg 8am-8pm).
2. Don't warn me if SOC above limit when near a specific charger (eg 70%)

I get a lot of false alarms especially on weekends that are annoying that could be solved with those features.

 

[FalconFour]

I was thinking of researching the CARWINGS protocol and writing a web app myself that automatically retries requests if they exceed a certain time-to-activate. That way you can just hit it, and it'll automatically retry if it fails so you can get back to life.

Strange, though - now the LEAF app gives me an error that "there is a problem connecting to the server". Website still works. Nissan is TOTALLY working on the WRONG side of the problem if they're screwing with the app interface... >.<

 

[surfingslovak]

Matt, you might want to get in touch with Tom Saxton, who happens to be working on an Open Vehicle Monitoring System, which originated with Tesla Roadster. There was an older thread on CarWings protocol hacking as well. Might want to put it into the Wiki if it's not there already.

Click to open

 

[mwalsh]

I got a call from Nissan...they're rebooting everything Carwings related and are going to get back to me when things once again look stable.

 

[JimSouCal]

I avoid monthly payments, so will not likely renew if the service costs more than $25-30 per year.... So...

Are there workarounds for some carwing features? I have been often unable to get charging started in the AM for a top off to 100%--but most of the time the car is close and a manual override is easy.

More on point, can I walk out and manually start climate control on EVSE power?

 

[mig]

I got a call from Nissan...they're rebooting everything Carwings related and are going to get back to me when things once again look stable.

Why didn't we think of that?

"Have you tried turning it off and on again?"

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-it-crowd" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Nubo]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e-B-zvmNDU[/youtube]

 

[madhaus]

This has gone from mildly irritating to completely unacceptable.

The Nissan app for android is clunky to begin with. But it is truly annoying when it doesn't even work. How can a simple system be performing so poorly for so long? Swamped by customers? Probably not. Are they transferring US users to US-based servers in conjunction with MY13 production? Or maybe just good old-fashioned incompetence?

I have completely given up on the Android app after reading from others that the penultimate upgrade broke again with Android 4.1. So I've not upgraded it because it was still kinda sorta working and all the Galaxy Nexus users were reporting that it wouldn't connect at all. They've since updated it again last week and I was still ignoring it until I got some good reports.

Now the whole service falls down around it. And here I had finally started using the climate timer because of our unusually cold mornings the last couple of days, 33 this morning in Silicon Valley.

mwalsh, thanks for shaking them up with your contacts.

 

[FalconFour]

Why didn't we think of that?

Probably because rebooting won't fix it... :lol: I wonder if Nissan is actually paying attention to anything I've said so far... it sounds like they might've caught on to something I said and a game of "Telephone" has gotten passed down to the people that can manage the stuff, but the specifics are all lost...

As for the Android app, that's what I use, and it's no different in any respect from the iPhone app and the Nissan website. Exactly 100% precisely the same, and I'm on Android 4.0.4 (CyanogenMod 9) with the app's latest version. Login problems earlier, but those seem to have been only temporary. Since all of Carwings uses a unified database between the iOS/Android/web methods of use, there's nothing that can really be any different between the Android version and anything else...

 

[Amary]

I did end up starting the car and running the cc manually for a half-hour. But it absolutely did not get as warm in the car as it would have done with the remote cc (have no clue why).

When you turn on CC remotely or via a Timer, it always heats/cools to a factory-set 77F (w/ no dehumidify). When you turn it on manually, it uses whatever temperature you have set, which is likely lower.

 

[mwalsh]

Why didn't we think of that?

"Have you tried turning it off and on again?"

Congrats! On a f**king awful day overall, you've managed to make me chuckle. Don't forget to say that in a thick Irish accent. :lol:

BTW, if you want to see Richard Ayode in something other than the 'IT Crowd', he can be seen in the recent DVD release of the Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, and Jonah Hill film, 'The Watch'.

And if you want to see the 'IT Crowd', there are four seasons available via Netflix streaming.

 

[klasdude]

I just tried to update mine and it would not update. Still seems to be a problem.

 

[FalconFour]

Odd new message. "Leaf detected a problem and was unable to start climate control. Try again." - or something similar. The car detected a problem? Unlikely, but mmm'kay... at least it responded! :lol:

edit: Strange. It also threw in a "error communicating with Leaf" message as usual the second time I tried it, then the third time gave me a "Leaf detected a problem" message again. So it was like this time, it DID communicate with the car, but the car told it "No" for some reason. It was charged to 100% (and still indicated "Charging" with 0 minutes remaining "trickle/normal", long after it finished charging), which I don't usually let it do since I hate losing regen on the accelerator pedal. Went out there and sat in the car for a few minutes letting it warm up off the battery, and it worked fine...

 

[mlafreniere2]

FYI Nissan, still not working here in Tacoma, WA.

 

[lbarbaria]

Well today is Thursday. I have tried to turn on the climate control remotely for a week now. Again no luck. An error message about the server. I think I read that the number of EV users has doubled from 2011 to 2012. Gosh. Clearly Nissan does not think this user community warrants the resources necessary to make the server or application work. Connectivity problems don't take weeks to resolve if the company or IT department think they are important