Old charger not working on new Leaf

[ev4life]

Greetings all! I recently replaced my OG 2011 Nissan leaf with a 2020 SL plus a few days ago. The charger I had installed originally back in 2012 was an SPX EL-50600 charger that worked flawlessly all these years. I believe this is the same as the Bosch EL-50600 which looks identical and has the same part number. Here is the link to the manual for the Bosch unit since the SPX unit documentation has disappeared from the Internet.
https://boschevsolutions.com/sites/default/files/578987 REV A_0.pdf
Now when I plug the charger in to my “new” 2020 Leaf, I get the usual servo clicks of acknowledgment from both the car and the charger, and everything seems to be going fine, including the flashing green light on the charger and flashing blue light on the dashboard of the leaf showing proper operation. About one to two minutes later, however, the charging unit light starts flashing red, which the manual indicates as a pilot charging error. I followed the manual instructions to clean both the EVSE plug and EV receptacle. I’ve also thrown the breaker on the 220 V circuit, unplugged and plugged back in the charger to the wall outlet, manually reset the charger via its main circuit breaker, and all have had no effect. The red light still comes on after a minute or two of charging and charging stops. The leaf acknowledges an error with the third blue light on the dash coming on and blinking.

So is my SPX charger shot, or is this some issue with an old 5.8kw charger on a new vehicle?
Am I going to run into this issue with all 24A chargers? My plug is a 6–30 R, so I can’t use a 14-50 charger.

Any help appreciated!

 

[henrydehoja]

Greetings!

Other Users with more experience with older Leafs my chime in.
But, my guess is that the issue is with the SPX charging unit (EVSE) not having the power capability to supply your (newer) 2020 Leaf, and internal checks (by SPX EVSE or Leaf) are preventing the transaction.

On the 240 V circuit:
* The SPX EVSE has an output capability of 5.76 kW.
* The 2011 Leaf has a 3.3 kW onboard charger.
* The 2020 Leaf has a 6.6 kW onboard charger.
So, basically, the SPX EVSE was able to supply adequate power (3.3 kW) to your 2011 Leaf, but lacks the power (6.6 kW) required by the 2020 Leaf.
Your Leaf or EVSE may be doing an internal check when connected to verify for any issues.

There are also old threads on this forum with owners having issues using SPX EVSEs with their older Leafs.

 

[cornbinder89]

That "shouldn't" make a difference, but it might. I have a 2015 with 6Kw charger, and have a wall unit set to 24 amps, and it charges fine.
That being said, the wall unit communicates what the current limits are on the house circuit. When connected to the old Leaf with the 3 Kw charger, there would never be an issue.
Now with a car that can draw 100% (and more) of the ability for the wall unit you have, there is a problem. The wall unit "should" tell the onboard charger to limit its draw to 24 amps. It may not or may overheat when 24 amps is pulled on the unit.
Everything "should" work, but it doesn't, so I would suspect the wall unit or house wiring. What is the circuit breaker feeding the wall unit? was it wired correctly? correct gauge for 24 amp? How long is the run from the breaker box to the wall unit?
Sounds like a 30 amp circuit, and may be a 10 ga (or even lighter if not done correctly) and the unit may be detecting a voltage drop on the line when the charger ramps up to full current.
You might need an electrician to look over your set-up. It was good enough for 1/2 the load you have now, but not at the full rated load.
If I were there, I would be looking at the voltage at the wall unit when it tries to charge, and I would look at what the current is in the 240 volt wiring when it tries to charge. I would also be looking at the cables for heat.
If your house wiring isn't up to snuff, a new wall unit will not help. so I'd start with the house wiring. It may cost a bit for someone to look it over, but it beats buying a new wall unit and then finding out you have the same problem.
Does it charge ok with the 120 volt cord, off a 120 volt outlet?

 

[cornbinder89]

Ok, I looked at the manual that you linked to. The Bosch unit has adjustable setting for the circuit it is hooked to. If the setting was too high for the 30 amp circuit but the unit was hooked to a 3 Kw charger, the draw on the unit would never exceed the 3.3Kw input the 2011 Leaf could accept. (about 14 amps)
Now you have a 6.6 Kw potential load, so you need the selector to be set to "3" for for 24 amp draw on the 30 amp branch circuit.
Page 8 shows this setting. Turn off the C/B before moving the selector switch if it is not set to "3".
The manual says the unit is factory set on "5" for 30 amp max draw, so if it wasn't changed when installed, it would be wrong now. With the old car, it would never be an issue.
Read the manual about setting, and your problem may be fixed with just a little screwdriver and a little time.

 

[ev4life]

Ok, I looked at the manual that you linked to. The Bosch unit has adjustable setting for the circuit it is hooked to. If the setting was too high for the 30 amp circuit but the unit was hooked to a 3 Kw charger, the draw on the unit would never exceed the 3.3Kw input the 2011 Leaf could accept. (about 14 amps)
Now you have a 6.6 Kw potential load, so you need the selector to be set to "3" for for 24 amp draw on the 30 amp branch circuit.
Page 8 shows this setting. Turn off the C/B before moving the selector switch if it is not set to "3".
The manual says the unit is factory set on "5" for 30 amp max draw, so if it wasn't changed when installed, it would be wrong now. With the old car, it would never be an issue.
Read the manual about setting, and your problem may be fixed with just a little screwdriver and a little time.

Absolutely brilliant, cornbinder! And it will turn out to be quite a Xmas present if this works. Thank you so much for the thorough explanations in your replies. I’ll give this a try tomorrow am and post back.

For more detail since you asked, the 240V outlet was installed via a licensed electrician in my detached garage about 40 feet from my main 200A panel. It’s on a 40amp breaker, but I do not know the wire gauge. If your dip switch solution in the SPX doesn’t work, I’ll get inside the gang box and see what the wire gauge is.
Also the car does charge fine via the 120V EVSE via the 120V wall outlet.

 

[cornbinder89]

I hope it works out for you. With electrical circuits, there is an 80% rule when looking at continuous load, so a 30 amp branch circuit should not be loaded beyond 24 amps. If the guy was in a hurry and didn't read the directions he may have thought by setting it to "30 amps" he as matching it to the rated circuit.
24 amps is 5.76Kw input, just slightly below the max the car can take anyway (6.6 input, 6 output), so it shouldn't effect charge times much.
I know with my 2015, it doesn't make much difference, but that is somewhat dependent on your needs.
If it charges on the 120 volt, it is unlikely to be a charger fault or wiring fault in the car, so has to be on the wall unit or house wiring end of things.

 

[ev4life]

You did it! Thank you so much!
Setting that adjustable amperage switch to 3 is working!

The switch was oddly set to 4, so I do not know what happened there except maybe the electrician meant to turn it to 3 and didn’t make it? Who knows!
Also that dial doesn’t click at each number, it just free spins which seems odd to me as I don’t think this is just a variable resistor or something, right?

It didn’t even occur to me to check if the SPX was adjustable, so I’m really grateful for you and this forum. It’s also a great reminder to me to ask for help early and often from smarter and more knowledgeable folks than me.
Thanks again!

 

[cornbinder89]

So it is charging and no shut down? That is great! Glad I could be of some help.
4 provides more current (32 amp input) but is really only used on a 208 volt supply for a 6.6Kw charger.
That was a cheap repair!

 

[dhyatt]

Greetings all! I recently replaced my OG 2011 Nissan leaf with a 2020 SL plus a few days ago. The charger I had installed originally back in 2012 was an SPX EL-50600 charger that worked flawlessly all these years. I believe this is the same as the Bosch EL-50600 which looks identical and has the same part number. Here is the link to the manual for the Bosch unit since the SPX unit documentation has disappeared from the Internet.
https://boschevsolutions.com/sites/default/files/578987 REV A_0.pdf
Now when I plug the charger in to my “new” 2020 Leaf, I get the usual servo clicks of acknowledgment from both the car and the charger, and everything seems to be going fine, including the flashing green light on the charger and flashing blue light on the dashboard of the leaf showing proper operation. About one to two minutes later, however, the charging unit light starts flashing red, which the manual indicates as a pilot charging error. I followed the manual instructions to clean both the EVSE plug and EV receptacle. I’ve also thrown the breaker on the 220 V circuit, unplugged and plugged back in the charger to the wall outlet, manually reset the charger via its main circuit breaker, and all have had no effect. The red light still comes on after a minute or two of charging and charging stops. The leaf acknowledges an error with the third blue light on the dash coming on and blinking.

So is my SPX charger shot, or is this some issue with an old 5.8kw charger on a new vehicle?
Am I going to run into this issue with all 24A chargers? My plug is a 6–30 R, so I can’t use a 14-50 charger.

Any help appreciated!

I have a similar problem with my old plug on my phillips charger.. I learned that if tilt up the plug handle, it clicks and it works fine.. when I say lift...I lift from the part nearest the cord