L1 charger does't work.

[cwerdna]

Mine fried today. Plenty of smoke. Judging from the smell, I'd guess MOVs. You know that distinctive smell.

Surely you've heard of http://catb.org/jargon/html/M/magic-smoke.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, right?

 

[EVDRIVER]

Mine fried today. Plenty of smoke. Judging from the smell, I'd guess MOVs. You know that distinctive smell.

The ready light does not work. Tried in five outlets in two buildings.

Anyway, took it to the dealer and they are confused about what to do with it. I'm still waiting for a call back.

How did you accomplish this? Your unit is highly unlikely to have such an issue unless you attempted to plug it into 240V. Something makes me think that's what happened since what you described would not happen on a 120v outlet.

 

[cwerdna]

Mine fried today. Plenty of smoke. Judging from the smell, I'd guess MOVs. You know that distinctive smell.

The ready light does not work. Tried in five outlets in two buildings.

How did you accomplish this? Your unit is highly unlikely to have such an issue unless you attempted to plug it into 240V. Something makes me think that's what happened since what you described would not happen on a 120v outlet.

On this note, at the Bay Leaf meeting over the weekend, one of the senior Nissan folks brought up that they've seen some L1 EVSEs come back where it seems that people have tried applying 220+ volts to them (probably through adapters), frying them.

Don't do it unless yours has been modified by Ingineer. And once it is modified by him, don't take it back to Nissan if anything goes wrong.

 

[Ingineer]

If the Dealer/Nissan doesn't replace it, we can repair and/or upgrade it. Repairs are usually free with the upgrade, and because we use high-quality components with a much wider tolerance for voltage surges, the units are more reliable once upgraded.

-Phil

 

[highcountryrider]

I can verify that. There is magic smoke in almost all electronic components. Once
you let it out, they no longer function.

Mine fried today. Plenty of smoke. Judging from the smell, I'd guess MOVs. You know that distinctive smell.

Surely you've heard of http://catb.org/jargon/html/M/magic-smoke.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, right?

 

[Mark510]

How did you accomplish this?

Good question. I wondered the same. Then I decided to investigate -- results below...

First, an update on getting a new charger. Apparently it takes the dealership about 24 hours to determine what sort of warranty to use. Then they tell you it falls under the parts warranty -- not the car warranty. Then they order one. It takes three days to arrive. Then you pick it up at the dealership. I think they got me an answer faster than normal, because I'm doing a mini Occupy Nissan (well, actually charging my car).

Now, my theory on how I accomplished this: WARNING: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME

1. Have a big wind storm that causes the PG&E neutral line to your house to open.
2. Don't notice it at first because the cable TV coax shield acts as an auxiliary neutral.
3. Then the cable TV directional coupler fries because it is not designed as a service feeder neutral conductor.
4. Then when the cable TV people are out to repair the blown directional coupler, they disconnect the coax, hence, the auxiliary neutral/ground path.
5. Then try to flow the neutral/ground current through a 50 year old house ground connection back to the utility pole ground. Do this after a very dry weather period. <-- high ground impedance.

Then (as pieces of electrical equipment fry one by one due to the voltage imbalance) each pole voltage will fluctuate wildly in voltage.

In this case, so far, I took out my large TV, oven controller, UPS, computer that was on said UPS, a couple power strips with over-voltage protection, and the car charger.

Ole Murphy is alive and well!

 

[DaveEV]

Sounds like your home insurance or the utility company should be covering your losses, not Nissan...

 

[planet4ever]

And, just to clarify, we are talking about the 120v EVSE, not the charger, right? (The charger is permanently installed inside that hump behind the back seat of the car. If it got fried you'd really have an expensive problem. But that's why we have EVSEs instead of plugging directly from the wall into the charger as a few people here advocate.)

Ray

 

[davewill]

And, just to clarify, we are talking about the 120v EVSE, not the charger, right? (The charger is permanently installed inside that hump behind the back seat of the car. If it got fried you'd really have an expensive problem. But that's why we have EVSEs instead of plugging directly from the wall into the charger as a few people here advocate.)

Ray

Yeah, I'd actually be thanking my lucky stars that this catastrophe only got my EVSE...and I'd be ashamed of tricking Nissan into replacing it when it obviously wasn't their fault at all.

 

[Phoenix]

How did you accomplish this?

Good question. I wondered the same. Then I decided to investigate -- results below...

Now, my theory on how I accomplished this: WARNING: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME

1. Have a big wind storm that causes the PG&E neutral line to your house to open.


Then (as pieces of electrical equipment fry one by one due to the voltage imbalance) each pole voltage will fluctuate wildly in voltage.

In this case, so far, I took out my large TV, oven controller, UPS, computer that was on said UPS, a couple power strips with over-voltage protection, and the car charger.

Ole Murphy is alive and well!

Well, you are the second example of a fried EVSE. Same thing happened with ours when tree snapped the PG&E neutral line when we were not home. Drove up to house and plugged in as usual. Fortunately, only EVSE was fried. LEAF was on timer and was NOT charging. EVSE Upgrade was able to repair the unit and upgraded it to 240v while they were at it. Oh yeah, a lot of other things in house also got fried. Be careful--be very careful!

 

[Ingineer]

Yes, this is *not* a Nissan warranty issue, nor would it be for our warranty. If they do it consider yourself lucky, and know that you are effectively committing fraud by "abusing" the EVSE and not admitting to it. Normally this is covered by a Homeowners insurance policy, but you could also make a claim with your utility.

It's not a "defect" when it breaks because you sent high voltage into it.

FYI, our upgraded unit would have survived this incident. =)

-Phil

 

[dhanson865]

How did you accomplish this?

Good question. I wondered the same. Then I decided to investigate -- results below...

Now, my theory on how I accomplished this: WARNING: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME

1. Have a big wind storm that causes the PG&E neutral line to your house to open.


Then (as pieces of electrical equipment fry one by one due to the voltage imbalance) each pole voltage will fluctuate wildly in voltage.

In this case, so far, I took out my large TV, oven controller, UPS, computer that was on said UPS, a couple power strips with over-voltage protection, and the car charger.

Ole Murphy is alive and well!

Well, you are the second example of a fried EVSE. Same thing happened with ours when tree snapped the PG&E neutral line when we were not home. Drove up to house and plugged in as usual. Fortunately, only EVSE was fried. LEAF was on timer and was NOT charging. EVSE Upgrade was able to repair the unit and upgraded it to 240v while they were at it. Oh yeah, a lot of other things in house also got fried. Be careful--be very careful!

I guess that's why they make you put multiple grounding rods in for houses that have Solar PV panels. Gotta have redundancy when you have that much juice in the wires.

I had no idea why until I read this thread.

 

[mitch672]

I guess that's why they make you put multiple grounding rods in for houses that have Solar PV panels. Gotta have redundancy when you have that much juice in the wires.

I had no idea why until I read this thread.

In theory, the ground and neutral are supposed to be tied together at the main distribution panel, so if your neutral from the utility is disconnected, you MIGHT not fry your entire house, but you will be only using your ground rods and/or cold water ground for both neutral and ground, and it depends on how good those grounds are..

my guess is the 2 people who had issues, did not have good grounds on their panels, or they where very corroded/poor... amazing that the shield of a coax was acting as a neutral, talk about dangerous.

so when you have your neutral fixed, have an electrician check your grounds as well, my guess it you will need new ground rods driven, or new clamps installed...