NissanConnect EV / Telematics Hardware Update, for the post-2G world

[lpickup]

Hello good Leaf folks,
Well I sprung for the TCU G3 upgrade today. Only took a couple of hours, so far so good. When I got back to work however I realized it would not connect to the network. Geez, really? I'll have to look into it more tomorrow.

Yeah, give it some time. I had to wait nearly 24 hours before it worked. I think when they call it in to be authorized that it gets batched up for manual activation at some future point.

 

[HornsKeith]

Had the 3G module put in yesterday along with the occupant sensor recall. Took less than 2 hours for everything, which is faster than I expected. I knew it would take a little while for the new 3G module to get activated on the network, so I didn't even try to log it in until this afternoon. The login info was autofilled, and all I had to do was get it to sign in, which it did. So we're back online, and overall it was all fairly painless.

And the new TCU ID starts with 2012-1, confirming it's a 3G unit.

Keith

 

[aqn]

My letter came yesterday. While I like the ability to turn on the AC so the car is precooled before returning to the parking lot, I don't like it to the tune of an extra $199. I'll pass.

It's December! Where do you live that you need cooling this time of year?!!!

 

[DoobeeDude]

Got the free TCU upgrade on my 2015 today. Still hasn't been able to connect, but they told me that the carrier was looking into it.

This sounded different from the normal "delay", but "Russ" at Wright Nissan in Wexford, PA is a Leaf pro, so I'm sure it will kick in by tomorrow.

 

[Deleted member 1622]

Leafers -
I'm getting my upgrade next week. Hanlees Hilltop Nissan in California (Bay Area) forced me to undergo an "inspection" before they would even order the part (so not as "in-and-out" as some of the reports here). As if a tech needs to look at a TCU from 2011 to determine it's outdated.
The Service dept. did not even know what I was talking about when I first approached them, which worries me. It also worries me (and is surprising) that this is the first upgrade they've done. Where are all the Bay Area Leaf owners clamoring for this? Must have not gotten the message yet, or just don't use the app.

For me as one of the original customer, even $199 is a slap in the face. Not the money, the principle. The principle would be: If you install a part that you know is soon going to become outdated (and I don't believe anyone in 2010 thought a 2G network was going to last much longer), then you do the right thing and bring your loyal customers up to current technology free of charge. If you consider that most of the 2011 Leaf owners like me are dealing with a car that has a 50-mile-or-less highway range (30 with the heat on) and declining each day, then the $199 is really irritating. We already accepted plenty of trade-offs when we bought the 2011 model (fast battery degradation, 3.3 kw/hour charger), and now for our trouble we're expected to give Nissan some more cash?

Nissan's commitment to the people who bought an EV when NOBODY was buying is disappointing. When I talked to the Nissan folks requesting my $199 back (turned down, of course), I made sure they knew that this $199 had solidified a decision for me: my next EV purchase (which will happen in the next two years) will definitely not be with Nissan. Tesla III, where are you?

Josh

 

[derkraut]

Barsad22 said:

"For me as one of the original customer, even $199 is a slap in the face. Not the money, the principle. The principle would be: If you install a part that you know is soon going to become outdated (and I don't believe anyone in 2010 thought a 2G network was going to last much longer), then you do the right thing and bring your loyal customers up to current technology free of charge. If you consider that most of the 2011 Leaf owners like me are dealing with a car that has a 50-mile-or-less highway range (30 with the heat on) and declining each day, then the $199 is really irritating. We already accepted plenty of trade-offs when we bought the 2011 model (fast battery degradation, 3.3 kw/hour charger), and now for our trouble we're expected to give Nissan some more cash? Nissan's commitment to the people who bought an EV when NOBODY was buying is disappointing. When I talked to the Nissan folks requesting my $199 back (turned down, of course), I made sure they knew that this $199 had solidified a decision for me: my next EV purchase (which will happen in the next two years) will definitely not be with Nissan. Tesla III, where are you?"

Well--I couldn't agree more. I will not purchase the $199 telematics up grade. Of course, I'm lucky enough to live in SAN, so don't need preheating, etc. As an early responder (June, 2011 purchase), I do love the Leaf; but would I buy it again at MSRP, knowing what I know now? No way. Nissan insults my intelligence with this ripoff.

 

[Stanton]

No one wants to pay for something they perceive as basic functionality, but let's be honest: there is NO WAY to future-proof communications technology (I should know...I've been in the business for decades). Not only that, do you realize the wireless access alone (that Nissan has been paying for years) is worth > $50/year...and that doesn't account for the application/server/database! The way I look at it, the $199 was a good faith contribution to keep the service going for another few years. Not only that, I wouldn't be surprised if the new modem chip set was 3G/LTE, which means the next service interruption could be solved by a firmware update.

 

[DaveEV]

In bulk, a cellular modem transmitting limited data in a M2M application should cost under $1/mo. If they pay more, they're doing it wrong.

Knowing mobile hardware dev costs, $199 including labor is reasonable for a low volume part. Nissan is most likely losing money here.

I just have a hard time spending $199 on a car that has so little usable range left. 80% charge is about 30 miles to LBW, 100% charge is about 40-45 miles to LBW. When new, the car had 50% more range!

 

[desiv]

The principle would be: If you install a part that you know is soon going to become outdated (and I don't believe anyone in 2010 thought a 2G network was going to last much longer)

Well, it lasted 6 years.. That's not too bad.. ;-)
For me, it comes down to the fact that I was never promised it would remain free.
I was expecting that at some time, I would have to pay monthly for the service.

That never happened..

So $200 considering how long I've had the car and will have it for another year+, I'll consider that my monthly fee.. ;-)

desiv

 

[lorenfb]

Got the free TCU upgrade on my 2015 today. Still hasn't been able to connect, but they told me that the carrier was looking into it.

This sounded different from the normal "delay", but "Russ" at Wright Nissan in Wexford, PA is a Leaf pro, so I'm sure it will kick in by tomorrow.

Same situation here, install completed two days ago and still no connection. Mine when trying to connect
to do a charging stations update, generates a fault code (B02 - hex format) on the map screen. Except for
the TCU I.D. number, all other data fields are blank when checking the TCU info screen. The dealer has less
insight than what's been presented in this thread, great huh. I've now had 4 round trips to dealer. What a total
waste of time!

 

[DoobeeDude]

Same situation here, install completed two days ago and still no connection. Mine when trying to connect
to do a charging stations update, generates a fault code (B02 - hex format) on the map screen. Except for
the TCU I.D. number, all other data fields are blank when checking the TCU info screen. The dealer has less
insight than what's been presented in this thread, great huh. I've now had 4 round trips to dealer. What a total
waste of time!

Mine never did kick in by itself. Here's what I did to make it work.

Got to the "Phone & Carwings" Settings menu.
Select "Data Communication"
Then, go to the "Select Carrier" screen.
Turn off "Automatic Setup", and select "Manual Setup"
Chose your carrier on the next screen. The only available option for me was "AT&T".

Now, when you go back to the Data Communication screen, it should indicate the carrier is "User Settings".

That was it. Once I had done this, I was able to immediately connect.

Let me know if it works, and I'll post it on Reddit and send an email to my dealer.

 

[TomT]

I find it somewhat amusing that with all this, all Nissan did was upgrade from 2G to 3G (they went from really old and obsolete, to just simply old)... You'd think they would be more forward looking, particularly since the higher-end chipsets cost literally no more these days... GM, for example, also supports LTE and 4G in their Telematics...

 

[JPWhite]

I find it somewhat amusing that with all this, all Nissan did was upgrade from 2G to 3G (they went from really old and obsolete, to just simply old)... You'd think they would be more forward looking, particularly since the higher-end chipsets cost literally no more these days... GM, for example, also supports LTE and 4G in their Telematics...

I agree the hardware cost difference is most likely minimal.

I wonder what the cost of 4G would be to Nissan vs 3G. The old network maybe really cheap.

 

[GerryAZ]

Got the free TCU upgrade on my 2015 today. Still hasn't been able to connect, but they told me that the carrier was looking into it.

This sounded different from the normal "delay", but "Russ" at Wright Nissan in Wexford, PA is a Leaf pro, so I'm sure it will kick in by tomorrow.

Same situation here, install completed two days ago and still no connection. Mine when trying to connect
to do a charging stations update, generates a fault code (B02 - hex format) on the map screen. Except for
the TCU I.D. number, all other data fields are blank when checking the TCU info screen. The dealer has less
insight than what's been presented in this thread, great huh. I've now had 4 round trips to dealer. What a total
waste of time!

Blank data fields may indicate that the information such as VIN were not copied over from the old module by the technician using Consult.

I had upgrade and air bag recall done yesterday. I called on Wednesday to ask about it after receiving the letter from Nissan. The service advisor said they would order the module and call to schedule an appointment when it came in. He called yesterday saying the parts arrived and it would take about 2 hours to complete the work. I took the car in during the afternoon and the total time was about 3 hours (included a full charge on their DCQC along with troubleshooting because charging stopped with EV warning light during a QC on my way to the dealer). I waited about 3 hours before trying to connect, followed directions on handout, and connection was successful on first attempt (technician said it might take up to 24 hours). The only downside is that the annoying yellow air bag light stays on all the time (unless an adult is sitting in the passenger seat).

Gerry

 

[DoobeeDude]

Blank data fields may indicate that the information such as VIN were not copied over from the old module by the technician using Consult.

I had the exact same blanks and error code.

Again... just putting in AT&T as the network under user settings worked to fix it.

 

[aqn]

In bulk, a cellular modem transmitting limited data in a M2M application should cost under $1/mo. If they pay more, they're doing it wrong.

Knowing mobile hardware dev costs, $199 including labor is reasonable for a low volume part. Nissan is most likely losing money here.

I just have a hard time spending $199 on a car that has so little usable range left. 80% charge is about 30 miles to LBW, 100% charge is about 40-45 miles to LBW. When new, the car had 50% more range!

I'm sorry to hear that you weren't able to avail yourself to Nissan's range guarantee. You're one of the old-timers on here. I'd be very very bitter if I am an early adopter and ended up owning a really big door stop.

No one wants to pay for something they perceive as basic functionality, but let's be honest: there is NO WAY to future-proof communications technology (I should know...I've been in the business for decades).

I do agree that it's impossible, or at the very least, really difficult, to future-proof products. We all have drawers full of yesteryear's technology: portable CD players, Motorola flip phones, Ni-Cad powered electronics, or maybe even a Sony Walkman or two, judging by the population on these forums .

 

[rdhauser]

We went in to the dealer for the upgrade to our 2011 TCU on Wednesday the 21st. Service had previously checked our numbers to verify the parts needed and ordered them. Install took about two hours. The TCU information screen was populated when I picked it up. That was about 10:30 am on the 21st. I selected the "send ID and password" from the carwings settings window, but although the information seemed to be sent to the information center, no connection was made. I continued to do that test a few times a day until about 11:00 am on Friday the 23, the data center accepted the transmission and all was well. Still takes like 30 or 40 seconds to refresh the car status from an app, but it's back to its clunky old self. We also paid the $200 "co-pay" (plus tax).

 

[lorenfb]

Blank data fields may indicate that the information such as VIN were not copied over from the old module by the technician using Consult.

Your suggestion at this point appears to be the most plausible, e.g. tried entering AT&T as the carrier with no luck.
I've encountered problems like this in working with dealer techs where they do the electrical installation correctly
but fail to use vehicle's diagnostic tool, e.g. the Nissan Consult, to properly code the ECU and interface it into the CAN
network of the vehicle. Even a simple ignored step or an input error results in mis-coding which generally
is not "flagged" to the tech.

Inadvertently, the Nissan tech left the detailed update procedure in my vehicle. One of the initial steps required
when using the Consult diagnostic tool is that a tech must "Sign into the TCU with the customer's User ID and Password".
At the drop-off time, the service advisor asked for my Carwings ID & PW. Having only used it once at the delivery
time and not having stored it in the vehicle, I thought it was my generic ID & PW typically used. That actual info
(both ID & PW) were originally provided by the Nissan system and not the owner. This necessary info should have
been indicated in the letter from Nissan about the upgrade and the need to provide it at the drop-off time.
In re-reading the letter, the Nissan dealer can also log-on to Nissan's system and obtain this info too. Without
the ID & PW, the tech can never sign-on to the AT&T network and provide the TCU's ID info for proper network system
functionality.

Since using the wrong ID & PW didn't function for the tech, the advisor said to take the vehicle and locate the
correct info and enter it later. Well, without entering that data during the coding procedure by the tech using the
Consult, most likely the procedure failed. So it's back to the dealer and hopefully watch the tech try the coding
procedure again watching step-by-step with the correct ID & PW.

 

[JPWhite]

Just saw this ad for a 2011 LEAF on Craigslist

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/cto/5931706066.html

The ad leads with a description of the telematics capabilities. Clearly the seller thinks that feature is worthy of starting an ad with. Wonder if the seller is trying to sell before 12/31

 

[TomT]

They could continue to use 3G if they like, if it is cheaper for them, but it was stupid to not build in 4G and LTE to future proof it since it costs nothing more in hardware...

I wonder what the cost of 4G would be to Nissan vs 3G. The old network maybe really cheap.