Re-plugging some one else's Leaf to L2

[Stunt822]

I found myself in interesting situation - two L2 chargers, one is iced, and Leaf using second charger. I can park by second charger, but cord from ICEd charger can only reach other Leaf, not mine. I was looow on charge, and had to do this... I activated other charger, and plugged it into other person's Leaf, so I can use charger closer to my car.

Turns out other person has timer set, and his car won't charge after i did this re-plug....

I felt bad, luckly owner showed up shortly.
THe only mitigation to this seems to be - leave your phone number on the dash, on the Courtesy Protocol card for example - this helps plug sharing, which is kind of what I had.

What do you think, owners?

 

[davewill]

... I was looow on charge, and had to do this... What do you think, owners?

I think you're rationalizing your bad decision. Your "need" doesn't justify what you did. You were simply lucky that you didn't do any real harm. I've said it before...unplugging someone else's car without permission is a bad idea. You could have really ruined this guy's day. Sure, IF he had had such a card with a number, you could have asked him, but he didn't.

 

[adric22]

I found myself in interesting situation - two L2 chargers, one is iced, and Leaf using second charger. I can park by second charger, but cord from ICEd charger can only reach other Leaf, not mine. I was looow on charge, and had to do this... I activated other charger, and plugged it into other person's Leaf, so I can use charger closer to my car.

Turns out other person has timer set, and his car won't charge after i did this re-plug....

Wow... I would have absolutely not seen any problem with what you did.... But then again, I never use the charge timers and so that would have never occurred to me. It is a good thing you mentioned it, could spare me from making a similar mistake in the future. Of course, around here in Texas there just aren't enough EV's to ever worry about having to unplug somebody else. If anything we just have to worry about the spots getting ICE'd.

 

[planet4ever]

THe only mitigation to this seems to be - leave your phone number on the dash, on the Courtesy Protocol card for example - this helps plug sharing, which is kind of what I had.

That's one mitigation. Another is never ever use the override button when you are charging away from home. I was burned one time when I did that, and will never do it again. It takes a few seconds longer, but go into the timer menu in the central console and turn off the timer.

In your shoes I probably would have done the same thing, and left an apology note which also explained the safe solution. I also keep two protocol cards in my car, and would have left one for the other driver.

Ray

 

[thankyouOB]

THe only mitigation to this seems to be - leave your phone number on the dash, on the Courtesy Protocol card for example - this helps plug sharing, which is kind of what I had.

That's one mitigation. Another is never ever use the override button when you are charging away from home. I was burned one time when I did that, and will never do it again. It takes a few seconds longer, but go into the timer menu in the central console and turn off the timer.


Ray

smart man.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

hard to say if what you did was a good thing or a bad thing. since the other guy came out quickly (obviously alerted to the situation) and he was able to reset his timer, in the end its "no harm, no foul" in my book but i am not a "follow the rules, no matter what" kind of guy. life simply does not work out that neatly.

but, i would not have unplugged him unless he had 3 blinking lights no matter what. you did not say how much of a charge he had and to me, that is what is important. it does not matter what your situation is; he was first, period.

but at the same time, if its a situation where he will be almost done charging, then, i would have unplugged him too.

 

[GPowers]

What did the guy do or say to you ?

 

[smkettner]

If a car is actively charging I would not touch it without express permission.
The issue of the iced spot is what should have been addressed.
Otherwise you need to wait until a spot becomes open.
JMHO

 

[LakeLeaf]

Instead of having to leave your number - it would be nice if CarWings had some type of PIN that you could send a PM too for such situations. That would help ease someone's reluctance to post their phone number in their car window.

 

[TangoKilo]

If you have set your timer on a public charger then you are an inconsiderate hog. If you have a Volt and you are plugged in for an hour or more and my LEAF is empty, then I'll unplug your car and put a note under your windshield wiper. It's very unfortunate that we have to deal with this all due to a woefully inadequate charging infrastructure... :ugeek:

 

[smkettner]

Depends on how you set the timer. If you set it for 100% charge during your expected stay I believe the car would start charging immediately and would then continue if interrupted.

 

[TangoKilo]

I have yet to use my timer. It's pretty much useless in my 9,100 miles of driving my LEAF to date.

 

[planet4ever]

People seem to have changed the subject here. I would certainly not unplug - and leave unplugged - any car, be it LEAF, Volt, Plug-in Prius, or whatever, unless there was something on the windshield allowing me to. What Stunt822 was asking about was something very different. He was simply trading connectors to increase overall utilization of the charging facilities. This would not inconvenience the other driver, assuming there was no timer interference, and there really should not be any if the other driver was thinking about the potential problems.

However, as I am writing this I realize there is another likely implication. If this is a charge station for which I need to swipe a card or call in for activation, I will have confused the accounting. I will be getting part of the other driver's electrons, and that driver will be getting a mix from two accounts. This would certainly be a bad idea when we get to the point (as I know we will) that we are paying by the kWh. Even without that, the other driver might be the sort who maintains careful records of wall input. (I'm not that sort, because I have no way to measure the amount I am putting in at home.)

I may have to back off from my first reaction.

Ray

 

[JPWhite]

People seem to have changed the subject here. I would certainly not unplug - and leave unplugged - any car, be it LEAF, Volt, Plug-in Prius, or whatever, unless there was something on the windshield allowing me to
Ray

In the interests of sharing the infrastructure there is a responsibility for all drivers. The other LEAF did not leave a protocol card or number where he/she could be reached. Just because the other driver failed to put something on the dash doesn't make it OK. What the OP was attempting to do was OK, notice that he felt bad when the other LEAF wouldn't restart its charge. It was never the OP's intention to commandeer the charger for his selfish reasons. A mistake was made by both parties IMHO. As we learn to share the infrastructure we will all get better at it. Let's just forgive and forget.

Now ICE drivers are a different matter. In a recent post Ralph a LEAF owner pointed out to a driver of a new Escalade that he had parked in a spot designated for electric vehicles. The response was that the Escalade had a battery as well, so he could park there. Let's be sure we understand who the enemy is here, not other LEAF drivers, we can learn to get along, it's the ICE drivers that will make life awkward for us.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

i agree in that the real issue is that this is an issue at all caused by an ICE. this should be a learning situation. timers have no place in this but this does not address the potential and likely long term storage scenario.

what if this guy was like that other guy at LAX and he will be there parked for more than a week and wants the charger to only fully charge his Leaf just before he returns? in that scenario; not having a way to manage that is another issue to address.

sure valet services is an option but me being cheap, i would never accept that as parking in airports is already costly enough

 

[mwalsh]

If this is a charge station for which I need to swipe a card or call in for activation, I will have confused the accounting. I will be getting part of the other driver's electrons, and that driver will be getting a mix from two accounts.

The Chargepoint units stop delivering charge as soon as you unplug them from the car, and you have to holster the J1772 in the unit before you can authorize it with a new RFID card and recommence charging. So that part, at least, is cut and dry.

 

[TangoKilo]

As for LAX, there should be a bunch of 120v plugs spread out all over the parking structures for long term EV parking. The L2s should be for the folks picking up grandma. I'll say this again...if you hog an EVSE while using your timer and I'm outta juice, I'll unplug you... :ugeek:

 

[davewill]

...if you hog an EVSE while using your timer and I'm outta juice, I'll unplug you... :ugeek:

Which is NOT what happened here...and you're a jerk if you unplug someone behind their back and they don't get their charge as a result.

 

[TangoKilo]

And you are a jerk for hogging the EVSE with your timer :-b

 

[davewill]

And you are a jerk for hogging the EVSE with your timer :-b

How did that timer "hog" anything? The driver had "overridden" his timer to use the public charging. It was the act of unplugging without permission that created the problem.