Third Light Blinking

I apologize if I am repeating something here - I searched multiple forums and didn't see this specific situation.

I own a 2012 Leaf with 86k miles and we just lost our 9th permanent bar.

We are having a charging issue. Sometimes when we plug in to charge, it starts normally and charges for 5-10 minutes and then shuts down, leaving only the 3rd light blinking. This started earlier this spring a few times, and now seems to happen over 50% of the time.

There seems to be certain chargers that have more success, but it is not a 100% "This one always works and this one never does". Unfortunately, our home charger (a Blink model from 2012) is now only charging once every 4 or 5 tries. There also seems to be a correlation to temperature - In the afternoon the sun is right on the wall the charger is connected to, and that seems to make it less likely to charge. Usually (but not always) if I wait until later that night, I can plug the car back in and it will charge.

Also, the charger itself never shows that a fault occurred. It just shows a 5 minute charge occurred last time and says "Please plug in vehicle to begin charging."

The third light blinking could mean multiple things according to the manual. Any thoughts? Thanks!

I'm not sure this is the problem but I would start here: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?t=24696

Does the 120 volt L1 EVSE charge 100% of the time or does it also have issues?

As for "certain chargers", do you have Plugshare locations of the some that do and don't work?

Remember, when charging at 100 to 240 volts over AC (L1 and L2), the charger is on-board the car in the back on an '11 or '12: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?t=3010. The external unit is an EVSE. See http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=14728&p=332668#p332668 and diagram at https://web.archive.org/web/20170708203023/http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=262630 (3rd post by planet4everr).

Do you also have trouble putting the car into READY mode (green car w/arrows)? Are you on the original 12 volt battery? Can you measure the voltage on the 12 volt battery when in this hard to charge state w/the car turned off?

Thank you for the clarification on terminology.

We have not used the L1 EVSE very much, but I do not recall a time when it has failed, other than times where certain outlets didn't play well with the EVSE itself. In other words, if the green charge light on our L1 EVSE is lit, it charges the car 100% of the time.

I do not have Plugshare locations. I can say that our home Blink L2 EVSE seems to be the worst, but then again it is the one we use the most. At the local community college where my son was plugging in he noticed that the older EVSEs seemed to be more likely to fail in this way, where the newer ones seemed to be 100%. However, the charging stations in the parking structures downtown have failed a couple of times, and they replaced their old Blink EVSE's with newer models (a different brand that are free to the public) about 2 years ago.

Yes, we are on the original 12V battery. No, we have never had a challenge getting the car into the "Ready" state.

This happened last night - It wouldn't charge and quit after less than 1 minute a couple of times in the heat of the afternoon. I waited to plug it back in until around 11 PM. When I went to bed 30 minutes later it was still charging. In the morning, the car was 100% charged, but the EVSE showed the last charge as being for just over an hour starting at 4:07 AM. So at some point the charge failed, then it restarted without me doing anything. There are no timers active on either the vehicle or the EVSE.

The first thing to check is the 12 volt battery. It may not be the culprit, but it is a prime suspect that must be eliminated. Pop the hood release, turn the car off, and after 15-30 minutes check the voltage at the 12 volt battery terminals with a multi-meter, without opening any doors. If the voltage is below 12.5 volts, fully charge it with an external charger (plugging in the car will NOT do this). If the problem is eliminated, I suggest you replace the 12 volt battery with an AGM type, fully charged before installation. The size is 51R, IIRC. If the problem persists, you have at least eliminated one possible cause.

The reason for asking for Plugshare locations and L1 EVSE is we want to see if some are ones that are known to do a diode check or have Leaf compatibility problems (e.g. some Eaton EVSEs, esp. w/old firmware) or known to NOT do a diode check (e.g. the Nissan/Panasonic L1 EVSE).

Please post the Plugshare URLs when you get a chance.