Burning smell while charging.

I noticed for the first time in 16 months that a smell of burning electronics coming from the cabin only while charging at 240V. Unconfirmed at 110V.

This happened first at a ChargePoint station, then at a Nisan Dealership an hour later. I drove home after being told I'd have to leave it a day and a half until Monday morning when service reopens.

Now at home I decided to try it on my 240V Leviton and the same smell, it took about a half hour to show up. It's not coming from the engine compartment, but the cabin only.

I'm taking it down to the Dealership tomorrow (Sunday) or Monday to leave it there for inspection.

Devin

2011 Leaf
Spring 2012 update
21900 miles
65-85 range normal

Stink Bugs

I've had that happen after multiple charging events in one day. I think you'll find it's just the pack and/or the electronics getting hot. Nothing to worry about under those circumstances, as far as I'm concerned.

Now if it's happening all the time...then that's another story,

Makes sense: The charging unit is right behind the rear passenger seats and smell from it will definitely fill the cabin. http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8400. I suspect yours has gone bad and will have to be replaced.

I don't fully a agree with mwalsh: any burning or "hot electronic" smell should be reported to Nissan and looked into. To my knowledge all the electronic components which generate heat in the LEAF are water cooled. I they get hot to the point of making a smell, something is going very wrong.

It will be interesting to know what the dealer finds out. Let us know.

ericsf said:

I don't fully a agree with mwalsh: any burning or "hot electronic" smell should be reported to Nissan and looked into. To my knowledge all the electronic components which generate heat in the LEAF are water cooled. I they get hot to the point of making a smell, something is going very wrong.

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Neither do I, especially when he never detected an "burning smell" previously. Something's definitely doing something it shouldn't; I just hope it doesn't take them forever to figure out what it is.

This is after 3, possibly 4 charging events in the same day. I'll lay odds it's just from stuff getting hot, maybe the battery pack, and they don't find anything wrong at the dealership. But, of course, get it checked out for peace of mind.

ericsf said:

Makes sense: The charging unit is right behind the rear passenger seats and smell from it will definitely fill the cabin. http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8400. I suspect yours has gone bad and will have to be replaced.

I don't fully a agree with mwalsh: any burning or "hot electronic" smell should be reported to Nissan and looked into. To my knowledge all the electronic components which generate heat in the LEAF are water cooled. I they get hot to the point of making a smell, something is going very wrong.

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It's very hard to diagnose a smell over the internet. That being said, I've never smelled anything like "magic smoke" inside the cabin from charging, and I'm fairly sensitive to that smell. The only time I caught a whiff of anything like this was the first time I took the LEAF up to max speed, but it was very faint and I chalked it up to baking off some volatiles. It never returned.

had it happen to me once or twice. I checked the car for hot spots, could find none. I could smell it inside the car, but not outside but assumed open air would blow it away if it was something small.

i had a lot of concern over it, but it happened a few weeks ago and hasnt happened since and mine happened during a DC quick charge. i "knew" i was not overheating anything. dont remember for sure now but would have been 5 or 6 TBs

now, i have used Quick charge frequently over the past few weeks including 3 times in one day a few times which did bring me to 6 TBs for first time in a while but no other issues.

i also tried plugging in at home with enclosed garage which should allow me to smell anything if it was there and got nothing...

I had a burning smell about 2 months ago. It smelled like something was releasing the magic smoke- that unmistakable smell. I pulled over and immediately got out of the car to investigate, thinking my car was going up in flames. There was no fire and the smell never came back. I never had a problem after that. I have no idea to this day what it was.

mwalsh said:

This is after 3, possibly 4 charging events in the same day. I'll lay odds it's just from stuff getting hot, maybe the battery pack, and they don't find anything wrong at the dealership. But, of course, get it checked out for peace of mind.

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It was after the second charging event, 13 hours apart, full charge by 3am, 4pm plug-in at ChargePoint. At 4:30 went back to car to change my baby and noticed it. Max temp for Pleasant Hill CA for Saturday the 27th, the day I noticed it, was 79 degrees. ChargePoint is in a 6 story garage on the ground floor, temp around 70 degrees.

I've charged it closer than 13 hours apart in the past, even several hours apart, and never noticed the smell before.

I garage my Leaf in my attached garage in my 16 year old home. No evidence of bugs or spiders in or around my Leaf.

As of 7pm Sunday 28th of October it is at Antioch Nissan awaiting warranty check on the charger.

Devin Serpa

LOL! :lol: Well I'm used to British cars, with Lucas electrics, so escaping smoke doesn't faze me as much as the next guy.

As a matter of fact, I keep a supply of replacement smoke in the garage for such eventualities:

mwalsh said:

As a matter of fact, I keep a supply of replacement smoke in the garage for such eventualities:

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Truly Awesome! =)

-Phil

And then there is the very old joke of,

"Why do the British drink warm beer?"

"Lucas refrigerators..."

mwalsh said:

LOL! :lol: Well I'm used to British cars, with Lucas electrics, so escaping smoke doesn't faze me as much as the next guy.

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mwalsh said:

LOL! :lol: Well I'm used to British cars, with Lucas electrics, so escaping smoke doesn't faze me as much as the next guy.

As a matter of fact, I keep a supply of replacement smoke in the garage for such eventualities:

Click to expand...

Very nice. I'll trade you a jar of "raw gas smell for 1950-1968 Volkswagen Beetle", or a "hot clutch" air freshener

And the most often missing part from a british car...

A round tuit.
Everyone seems to be waiting for one of these. They have been in serious backorder for years.

http://kalecoauto.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6&products_id=7" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Since the pack is sealed you will never smell it. This smell can come from heat and any factory coatings used to prevent rust during shipment. I have heard this observation with new LEAFs before and it goes away. If your car is on fire then it seems to linger for a bit.

EVDRIVER said:

Since the pack is sealed you will never smell it. This smell can come from heat and any factory coatings used to prevent rust during shipment. I have heard this observation with new LEAFs before and it goes away. If your car is on fire then it seems to linger for a bit.

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I agree; if your car is on fire, the smell will definitely linger! :lol:

I'm not worried of it immediately catching fire, it's the damage that it could be causing while charging that I'm worried about. The smell could be the AC/DC converter, but likely it's the charge controller or battery as the smell is only in the cabin.

Anyways I'm picking up my Leaf from the dealership in a half hour, they couldn't replicate the problem.

I notice an odd smell in my LEAF once and a while. To me it smells a bit like melting plastic.
At first I was quite concerned, but 18 months / 16K miles later I have learned to ignore it.

I would say I notice it about once a month.

It doesn't seem related to outside temp. I have noticed it when the car is in the shade, cool outside, not being driven. There may be some correlation to recent charging, but I haven't noticed a direct pattern.

mwalsh said:

LOL! :lol: Well I'm used to British cars, with Lucas electrics, so escaping smoke doesn't faze me as much as the next guy.

As a matter of fact, I keep a supply of replacement smoke in the garage for such eventualities:

Click to expand...

Hilarious! For those who don't fully get the "magic smoke" reference, see http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/M/magic-smoke.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

A friend of mine in college long ago used to refer to "magic smoke". I didn't get it until I read the print version of the above.