NissanConnect EV / Telematics Hardware Update, for the post-2G world

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UPDATE! I got my telematics unit updated for my 2012 SL. I love it. I had issues at first and created a fix video showing what i did that may work to try to fix the issue. Essentially you would need to try to get an information update, just any random one.. and eventually there will be connection... The video title on youtube is "Nissan Leaf telematics not connecting FIX!" . I ended up paying 200 dollars. worth every penny to be able to turn on the air and start a charge if needed. Good luck!
 
drees, GerryAZ, I was so intent on proving you wrong I have been looking at Leaf Spy nonstop while driving but so far you're right it's never lower than 12.96, let's call that 13. I have seen it drop to 12.8 but it's only for a moment. I am going to keep monitoring, especially when it gets cold again (last week it was 15-20F and this week 55-65F, ???), I swore I saw it around 12.6 the other night when I turtled. Carwings also stopped for me that night (I was able to get it working again). So for now you're correct, though there are probably 10 threads on this forum started in the past few weeks having to do with low/bad/weak 12v batteries.

trytohelpyou, good info. That didn't work for me (I tried it many times) but good to know it did for you. I noticed last week the Information Feeds got changed and now instead of a few choices there is only one option "Information from Nissan" showing for me.
 
Wow, I've been off the board for sometime now and been back catching up and I see a lot has been happening.

I'm posting here to eat crow. I still can't believe that Nissan was willing to upgrade the old vehicles. Stanton was right and I was wrong. Some members here have argued that Nissan is a terrible company, but I have to say outside of Tesla, name me another car company that has EVER made an UPGRADE (anything non-safety and recall related) for a 6 year old car that was out of warranty. You can hardly find Navigation map updates for such cars and none of them upgrade the actual system software so the new maps hardly help. And as for the "they should have know 2G would die and not used it." Did you say that to Amazon about their first Kindles? - Cause I've got at least 2 that had 2g set-ups I paid for and I'd complain to them for an upgrade since but the screens in those things were all so cheap they were trash LONG before ATT stopped 2G so what would be the point.

Now most of us were burned by the resale value of what I like to call the first truly disposable car, but they did fix the worst of the worst early battery problems (sure, it took a lawsuit, but it does for all car companies). OTOH don't buy the first of any new and untried technology if your not willing to loose a ton of money. The first DishNetwork devices cost $600 as did the first iPhones and in 3 years they were all worthless doorstops (and the iPhone 1 won't even do that).

And I really can't believe all the complains I've read here about having to pay ~$200 to upgrade this service. Now sure, Nissan may not have been ready for this transition (but its still unclear to me how many of the problems are getting new SIMS registered with ATT versus Nissan's systems), but it seems most people writing here have spent hours at their dealers over this, some requiring multiple visits. And all you paid was $200? This was VERY cheap to end users - and certainly not something that you had to do. I bet Nissan is sorry they offered it at all now as I'm sure they have lost money on every one.

In short, count your blessings.

Did I mention I was wrong?
 
jpadc said:
"...outside of Tesla, name me another car company that has EVER made an UPGRADE (anything non-safety and recall related) for a 6 year old car that was out of warranty."
Click to expand...
I can think of one auto company that may meet your qualifications: GM. When the analog communications system used by OnStar was eliminated, OnStar no longer worked. GM offered a replacement digital-capable system for, IIRC, $149. At the time, I made that investment on my no-longer-in-warranty vehicle and it brought OnStar back to life.

One difference in the GM scenario: without the digital connectivity, OnStar would not work. OnStar is a subscription-based service and not especially cheap. So GM definitely had incentive to offer the replacement and pay for all but the $149 "co-pay" to keep subscription revenue flowing. The CARWINGS/NissanEV service remains available at no additional cost so far, so no incentive for Nissan on that front. Maybe their actions portend a paid subscription model at some point. Or maybe they didn't want to lose the actual in-the-field vehicle data sent back to them by CARWINGS/NissanEV. Or maybe pure altruism. Or likely something we'll never know.

In any case, I'm very glad it happened and my LEAF can continue with the telematics benefits I've come to rely on and enjoy.
 
Same good story in either case - if you take the GM $149 fee from few years ago and inflation adjust it to 2017, it will be approx. the $200 Nissan upgrade fee today.

I read several horror - and sometime rather long - stories, but at the end "all is well what ends well". Lesson learned is that - in technology - early adopters often pay a premium (cost, time -- or mainly inconvenience) but at the end any responsible Corporation would steady the performance of their product(s), sort its issues out and ultimately deliver the intended service.

I'm personally comfortable to claim that Nissan did just that and for a tolerable cost, that is if customers chose to do the upgrade at the first place.
 
So this is my experience with the TCU upgrade. New City Nissan in Honolulu upgraded the TCU on my 2013 SL February 14th. It took the tech 3 hours and when I picked up the car the service adviser mentioned it may take from 24 to 72 hours for it to start working and get recognized by the system. When I got to the car I signed in and got an account activated message then tested the app and it is already working. I was getting update on the ESTIMATED DRIVING RANGE page and am able to remotely start climate control. The DRIVING HISTORY page will state the “service cannot be provided”. The next day the 15th upon coming home from work the app failed to work. It was not updating. 16th phone app didn’t work But I noticed that Carwings on the car is getting updates and downloads. So the morning of the 17th I called Nissan customer support. She asked all the pertinent vehicle and account information, and checked for connection from her end. She indicated that it was timing out. She stated she’s escalating it and will give me a call as soon as there’s an update. At noon I checked the phone app, the estimated driving range are zeroes, however the driving history populated and there was data from the 14th up to the 17th. As soon as I got home, I disconnected the negative battery terminal (12V) for a minute, reconnected, entered pin and password and signed in. The phone app started working again,
 
I had mine upgraded during my inspection yesterday. It worked when I picked it up. Still working when I went to bed. I've checked multiple times this morning but I keep getting an error in the Leaf Manager app and Connect app. Will it fix itself with time or will I need to do something about it?
 
Marckubu said:
I had mine upgraded during my inspection yesterday. It worked when I picked it up. Still working when I went to bed. I've checked multiple times this morning but I keep getting an error in the Leaf Manager app and Connect app. Will it fix itself with time or will I need to do something about it?
Click to expand...
Sounds like your 12v battery got cold last night. Might be time for replacement. If you delete all Carwings info and sign in again and it starts working, it's the 12v battery being low.
 
VitaminJ said:
Marckubu said:
I had mine upgraded during my inspection yesterday. It worked when I picked it up. Still working when I went to bed. I've checked multiple times this morning but I keep getting an error in the Leaf Manager app and Connect app. Will it fix itself with time or will I need to do something about it?
Click to expand...
Sounds like your 12v battery got cold last night. Might be time for replacement. If you delete all Carwings info and sign in again and it starts working, it's the 12v battery being low.
Click to expand...

Alrigjt I'll have to try this tonight. Thanks.
 
VitaminJ said:
Marckubu said:
I had mine upgraded during my inspection yesterday. It worked when I picked it up. Still working when I went to bed. I've checked multiple times this morning but I keep getting an error in the Leaf Manager app and Connect app. Will it fix itself with time or will I need to do something about it?
Click to expand...
Sounds like your 12v battery got cold last night. Might be time for replacement. If you delete all Carwings info and sign in again and it starts working, it's the 12v battery being low.
Click to expand...

...or it may just be that Nissan's system was down. It is not "up" all the time!
I get that you had 12v problems, but you need to stop telling folks to replace their 12v battery every time NissanConnect doesn't work.
Yes: it's a good idea to keep an eye on voltages, but real 12v problems will manifest themselves in other ways (like your car won't start).
 
Stanton said:
VitaminJ said:
Marckubu said:
I had mine upgraded during my inspection yesterday. It worked when I picked it up. Still working when I went to bed. I've checked multiple times this morning but I keep getting an error in the Leaf Manager app and Connect app. Will it fix itself with time or will I need to do something about it?
Click to expand...
Sounds like your 12v battery got cold last night. Might be time for replacement. If you delete all Carwings info and sign in again and it starts working, it's the 12v battery being low.
Click to expand...

...or it may just be that Nissan's system was down. It is not "up" all the time!
I get that you had 12v problems, but you need to stop telling folks to replace their 12v battery every time NissanConnect doesn't work.
Yes: it's a good idea to keep an eye on voltages, but real 12v problems will manifest themselves in other ways (like your car won't start).
Click to expand...

I thought I remember reading back in december/early January that people were having this issue after the upgrade but I don't remember how far back it was. Just wondering if anyone was experiencing this and had a solution.
 
I'd love to hear if anyone had daily operation of their new 3G unit for more than a month straight.
I have replaced 20-30 of these units and the failure rate seems to be 100%. They usually work for 1-4 weeks and then stop working. I force the TCU activation team to force the registration on the spot when I call in the replacement unit. All of mine leave the dealership working/signed in. The problem is that after a few weeks they come back not working. I replaced the 12 v battery on one, but it then only worked for 4 days after that.

Email me if yours has worked for a month straight without the ID numbers turning to asterisks: [email protected]
I need to find a solution to this. I have already read all 60 pages of this thread :shock:
 
Stanton said:
...or it may just be that Nissan's system was down. It is not "up" all the time!
I get that you had 12v problems, but you need to stop telling folks to replace their 12v battery every time NissanConnect doesn't work.
Yes: it's a good idea to keep an eye on voltages, but real 12v problems will manifest themselves in other ways (like your car won't start).
Click to expand...
A) People say over and over that "oh Nissan's servers are down..." and then I update my Carwings and it works immediately.

B) I don't tell people to replace their battery, I tell them to do a test and then I say if the test passes then I recommend they check or replace their 12v battery.

C) How many people's Carwings have you fixed?
 
nissanleaftechSD said:
I'd love to hear if anyone had daily operation of their new 3G unit for more than a month straight./quote]

If you install these for a living, then you know the TCU is only one part in the NissanConnect signal chain. My 3G modem has been working for almost 3 months now; I don't think the "service" has ever worked every day for a month straight...and that goes for the (old) 2G modem as well as the 3G modem.
I think you're chasing a ghost.
Click to expand...
 
Not quite a "ghost." I mean 24/7 they are not working. The customers usually come in complaining about it after it has stopped working for 2 weeks straight. Being on the other side of this, I get to see all of them coming back with problems after a few weeks. All of the TCU info goes to ***** permanently.

I have purposely not upgraded my 2012 Leaf to 3G until the Nissan engineers come up with an amendment to the recall.
On the ones that the customers have called consumer affairs, they are just telling the customers to come in for us to do a parts warranty on their unit, but that only ends up being a temporary fix. The problem is that the TCU units are going into standby permanently. When I check the history data on them, they typically have been in standby for 2 weeks already.
Unfortunately we cannot tell customers to disconnect their batteries once in awhile as the permanent fix. Haha.
 
nissanleaftechSD said:
Not quite a "ghost." I mean 24/7 they are not working. The customers usually come in complaining about it after it has stopped working for 2 weeks straight. Being on the other side of this, I get to see all of them coming back with problems after a few weeks. All of the TCU info goes to ***** permanently.

I have purposely not upgraded my 2012 Leaf to 3G until the Nissan engineers come up with an amendment to the recall.
On the ones that the customers have called consumer affairs, they are just telling the customers to come in for us to do a parts warranty on their unit, but that only ends up being a temporary fix. The problem is that the TCU units are going into standby permanently. When I check the history data on them, they typically have been in standby for 2 weeks already.
Unfortunately we cannot tell customers to disconnect their batteries once in awhile as the permanent fix. Haha.
Click to expand...

Your last sentence suggests a design issue/flaw not related to 12v issues. If the TCU is "timing out", then a software fix is possible; I don't consider "reset" (cycling power) a hardware issue in this day and age.
Bottom line: if you're right about the root cause, then I hope there's an amendment/recall that would result in a permanent fix across the board.
 
nissanleaftechSD said:
The problem is that the TCU units are going into standby permanently. When I check the history data on them, they typically have been in standby for 2 weeks already.
Unfortunately we cannot tell customers to disconnect their batteries once in awhile as the permanent fix. Haha.
Click to expand...
I have found that I can reset the TCU just by going into Carwings settings and "deleting all Carwings settings," then logging in with the ID and PW again, no reset needed. That has helped a few people in this thread and on facebook that I've talked to.

Like I said mine has been working 100% except for a few times when I purposefully took my voltage down to the low 12v range in which case it stopped responding (then I reset my Carwings). I will let you know in another week when I reach 30 days. I also noticed when pinging the car, relays or contactors will click on an off, normal enough, except that they are accompanied by another .5v or so voltage drop on the 12v system, that is on my car with a healthy 12v battery. The very act of pinging the car could send the 12v voltage down below 12v on a weak battery.

Standby mode is a good way to describe it as the car can still update charging stations, navigation, etc. but the apps and websites don't work...until you reset it. I'm very curious as what you describe sounds like a total hardware failure, I guess I will see in 7-10 more days as you've decided 30 days is the magic number.

Also unrelated, Leaf Manager has been down for about 36 hours. Nissanconnect EV still works through the website and the app but Leaf Manager is down. Hopefully not long :( I used the app to start my CC just about 2 hours ago.


Edit: Actually, I take that back. My TCU was installed by the dealer on 1/16/17 so my unit has been in my car for over a month now. I was counting 22 days from when I replaced my 12v lead acid battery with a LifePO4 litium battery that has never gone below 13v. And full disclosure I have noticed sometimes on Friday nights into Saturday afternoon my car will not respond and resetting doesn't help, I attribute that to Nissan but have no proof.
 
nissanleaftechSD said:
The problem is that the TCU units are going into standby permanently. When I check the history data on them, they typically have been in standby for 2 weeks already.
Unfortunately we cannot tell customers to disconnect their batteries once in awhile as the permanent fix. Haha.
Click to expand...

Is there anything on the owner side that can be done to look at the TCU history or see if the unit is in standby mode? My unit worked a couple hours at the dealer then was never heard from again. Lost in space. :mrgreen:
 
I had my TCU updated on my 2012 LEAF on 2/10. it seemed to work until 2/13 -then stopped.
I will also note they did the P3227 update (or whatever the chargebar 'battery warranty' update is...) at the same time.

I'm also seeing the car light up the EV warning light each morning after overnight charge.

I alos have the following codes:
P312A 00C0 EV/HEV Comm Error EVC-208
P3131 00C0 EV/HEV System Shutoff Timeout EVC-220
P31C2 00C0 EV/HEV TCU EVC-273
U1000 000b TCU CAN Comm Circuit


The car does update local charging stations and will sign in etc. I just get no email notifications and have no webpage/app functionality (charge status, charge initiate, Climate control start/stop etc)

I spent 2.5 hrs at the dealer today. All I got was a cup of coffee and car wash.

I'm pretty sure my 12V battery is OK. It's less than 2yr old. -- LeafSpy pro reported it at 12.76 v at the time my car finished charging (and the BT link shut down -- but I haven't load tested it...

I will try to read the 60 pages of this thread to catch up, but I thought I'd put my info out there incase it helps provide any info to anyone else.


Erik
 

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