First time charging: blinking lights on included EVSE?

My Nissan Leaf Forum

Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

fhammond

Active member
Joined
May 17, 2013
Messages
25
Location
Oakland, CA
Hi all,

I just arrived home with my Leaf (woohoo!) and plugged it into the trickle charger than came with the car. It seems like it's working - the green light came on when I first plugged in the EVSE - but when I plugged the car in, the green light starting flashing and the middle orange starting flashing a little quicker.

Is that normal?

Thanks,
Fergus
 
No, this is not normal at least for the 2011s and 12s. For us, a flashing green indicates a ground fault in the circuit being used. Check your owners manual under the "Charging" section.

2013 Manual Page CH37.

Green flashing only
When the ground cable is disconnected
Check the grounding of the outlet being used. If the grounding is normal, contact a NISSAN certified LEAF
dealer.

Green flashing/Orange in any state/Red flashing
When the temperature of the electrical plug is too hot, or the EVSE is unable to detect the temperature of the
electrical plug, check that the electrical plug is connected correctly. If it is connected normally, stop use im-
mediately and contact a NISSAN certified LEAF dealer.
 
Can you try an outlet on a different house circuit, that is, controlled by a different breaker?
Just trying to narrow down the problem.
 
Thanks to everyone who replied. I found another outlet in my garage that worked fine. Next step? Call the electrician to start the L2 process!

Regards,
Fergus
 
fhammond said:
Thanks to everyone who replied. I found another outlet in my garage that worked fine. Next step? Call the electrician to start the L2 process!

It would be interesting to see if you can reproduce this on the other receptacle to see if it was an issue with that particular receptacle or just a blip with the EVSE.
 
QueenBee said:
It would be interesting to see if you can reproduce this on the other receptacle to see if it was an issue with that particular receptacle or just a blip with the EVSE.

It was reproducible on the original receptacle.
 
fhammond said:
QueenBee said:
It would be interesting to see if you can reproduce this on the other receptacle to see if it was an issue with that particular receptacle or just a blip with the EVSE.

It was reproducible on the original receptacle.

While you have an electrician out there it would be worth having them take a look at the receptacle, both to ensure it's properly wired/safe, and also as a data point as to what condition caused this error.
 
QueenBee said:
While you have an electrician out there it would be worth having them take a look at the receptacle, both to ensure it's properly wired/safe, and also as a data point as to what condition caused this error.

That's a good suggestion. Thanks! Now I just have to find a good electrician. Not proving so easy...
 
fhammond said:
QueenBee said:
While you have an electrician out there it would be worth having them take a look at the receptacle, both to ensure it's properly wired/safe, and also as a data point as to what condition caused this error.

That's a good suggestion. Thanks! Now I just have to find a good electrician. Not proving so easy...

If you update your location by clicking User Control Panel in the upper right and then Profile on the right maybe someone is local to you and can recommend one. Good luck! My only advice is to have the EVSE part of it all figured out (What one you want, where it goes, how it mounts, etc) so that the electrician can look at the job as more of just adding a 240 volt circuit and not about installing an EVSE.
 
fhammond said:
QueenBee said:
While you have an electrician out there it would be worth having them take a look at the receptacle, both to ensure it's properly wired/safe, and also as a data point as to what condition caused this error.

That's a good suggestion. Thanks! Now I just have to find a good electrician. Not proving so easy...

Where are you located?
 
QueenBee said:
If you update your location by clicking User Control Panel in the upper right and then Profile on the right maybe someone is local to you and can recommend one. Good luck! My only advice is to have the EVSE part of it all figured out (What one you want, where it goes, how it mounts, etc) so that the electrician can look at the job as more of just adding a 240 volt circuit and not about installing an EVSE.


Good advice! Thanks.
 
Boomer23 said:
Where are you located?

I'm in Oakland. I've seen some full-service options (Bosch's http://www.pluginnow.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; site and solarcity.com, for example) but it's not clear to me what's needed beyond:

1. Checking with PG&E to make sure their infrastructure in my neighborhood can handle the load, then asking them to switch me to a different rate plan.
2. Getting an electrician to install a 240v 30 amp circuit.
3. Buying and installing an EVSE myself.

Thoughts?
 
fhammond said:
Boomer23 said:
Where are you located?

I'm in Oakland. I've seen some full-service options (Bosch's http://www.pluginnow.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; site and solarcity.com, for example) but it's not clear to me what's needed beyond:

1. Checking with PG&E to make sure their infrastructure in my neighborhood can handle the load, then asking them to switch me to a different rate plan.
2. Getting an electrician to install a 240v 30 amp circuit.
3. Buying and installing an EVSE myself.

Thoughts?

I suspect this approach will save some significant money compared to having one of the full service providers do it as the electrician does not have to deal with sourcing the EVSE, supporting the EVSE, etc. They just do what they are good at and you can handle the EVSE side.

One thing to make sure is that you have the EVSE picked out first so that you can have the electrician install the receptacle that will go with the plug on your EVSE.
 
QueenBee said:
I suspect this approach will save some significant money compared to having one of the full service providers do it as the electrician does not have to deal with sourcing the EVSE, supporting the EVSE, etc. They just do what they are good at and you can handle the EVSE side.

One thing to make sure is that you have the EVSE picked out first so that you can have the electrician install the receptacle that will go with the plug on your EVSE.

Is there a good thread here already on choosing an EVSE? My gut feeling is that any recent model from a brand I recognize is probably going to be fine but advice is always appreciated.
 
fhammond said:
Is there a good thread here already on choosing an EVSE? My gut feeling is that any recent model from a brand I recognize is probably going to be fine but advice is always appreciated.

Nothing that I can think of which condenses everything into *the* source but lots of discussions about the various brands, types, etc. definitely take a look at the EVSEUpgrade.com option as its very solid and cost effective.
 
QueenBee said:
Nothing that I can think of which condenses everything into *the* source but lots of discussions about the various brands, types, etc. definitely take a look at the EVSEUpgrade.com option as its very solid and cost effective.

I think I've ruled that out because I'm leasing the car. I've found some good threads though and it seems like there are several good options.
 
fhammond: I think you mean
2. Getting an electrician to install a 240v 40 amp circuit.
as it takes a 40 amp circuit to support the commonly available 30a level 2 EVSEs.
 
Ah, that's very good to know!

More generally, is there a list of things that I need to tell an electrician I need installed? I want them to do the circuit and I'll do the installation of the EVSE myself.
 
fhammond said:
QueenBee said:
Nothing that I can think of which condenses everything into *the* source but lots of discussions about the various brands, types, etc. definitely take a look at the EVSEUpgrade.com option as its very solid and cost effective.

I think I've ruled that out because I'm leasing the car. I've found some good threads though and it seems like there are several good options.

I wouldn't rule it out soley because of that reason. You can always sell it or trade it straight across with another owner or as a last resort some of just given it back with their lease.

Basically the electrician needs to know two things, what kind of receptacle and what amp 240 volt circuit. This information will come from whichever EVSE you end up purchasing. (Obviously also where the receptacle goes, again dependent on which EVSE you use. )
 
QueenBee said:
fhammond said:
Basically the electrician needs to know two things, what kind of receptacle and what amp 240 volt circuit. This information will come from whichever EVSE you end up purchasing. (Obviously also where the receptacle goes, again dependent on which EVSE you use. )

Great!

The other two things I'm wondering about are city permits and tax rebates. I'm assuming the city cares about the circuit the electrician installs and not the EVSE, and for the tax, I assume I just need the receipt from the purchase of the EVSE (and perhaps the electrician's work). Any thoughts? I realize this varies city-to-city.
 
Back
Top