CHARGER PORT DOOR NEEDS WEATHER BARRIER

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powersurge

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 21, 2015
Messages
1,743
Location
Long Island, NY
One pet problem I have had with my Leaf is that when you are charging the car, the charge port door and connectors are open to the elements. I have experienced that when it snows or freezing rain, the electrical connectors and charge port doors get lodged with snow and ice. This makes it difficult to connect or disconnect the charger, and even to close the charging door when you are finished. If I was Nissan, I would have included a flexible rubber boot that seals the exposed charging parts from the elements while you are charging your vehicle...
 
What is this "snow" and "ice" you refer to? :D

Perhaps you should order the JDM locking charge port protector. It's expensive, and not really for snow and ice protection, but it could do the job better than nothing.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?t=7947
 
I would like some kind of interlock between the nose door and the individual ChaDeMo and J1772 covers, such that either:
1) Closing the outer door would have little "pushers" or other interlock that forced the individual covers closed.
-or-
2) That the outer door would not close until the individual charge receptical covers were closed.
-or-
3) A "door open" warning for the charge covers and nose door.
 
My LEAF charges in the open and I have this challenge sometimes. Yesterday morning, after returning home on my backcountry skis, I used the tips of my ski poles to chip away the solid ice that was keeping me from opening the charge port door. Other times, with less severe ice, I've used a bank card or something similar.
 
mwalsh said:
What is this "snow" and "ice" you refer to? :D

Perhaps you should order the JDM locking charge port protector. It's expensive, and not really for snow and ice protection, but it could do the job better than nothing.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?t=7947

I wonder if just an ordinary towel (large enough to cover the charging area with the handle inserted) would be enough to solve the issue? For something waterproof, perhaps an old rubber mat? In windy conditions it may not be enough though.
 
abasile said:
My LEAF charges in the open and I have this challenge sometimes. Yesterday morning, after returning home on my backcountry skis, I used the tips of my ski poles to chip away the solid ice that was keeping me from opening the charge port door. Other times, with less severe ice, I've used a bank card or something similar.

Cross country skiing already? Man, I'm jealous! It will be another month - maybe more at this rate - before we see enough snow to ski.

Up until this year, I have always charged my Leaf overnight in the garage. Then this summer I bought a CMax Energi for my wife. Since we have a 1-car garage, and I can charge at work, she gets to park in the garage and I get to charge during the day at work. This is new territory for me. I'll probably have to rig something up to protect the door area.
 
With raining season hitting this is a concern for me too, sometimes when I got back to the car and tilt the lid water pouring down into the charging compartment. Even something like a fabric cover that enclose the whole lid and charging plug will be good.
 
abasile said:
My LEAF charges in the open and I have this challenge sometimes. Yesterday morning, after returning home on my backcountry skis, I used the tips of my ski poles to chip away the solid ice that was keeping me from opening the charge port door. Other times, with less severe ice, I've used a bank card or something similar.
I'd just use a can of de-icer fluid (carried in the car anyway, sometimes along with a separate scraper, for the windows/mirrors etc.), like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Fram-Group-AS-242-De-Icer-Treatment/dp/B000R2Z9E8 Although my Forester has heated mirrors and base of the windshield (keeps the wipers from freezing to the glass, although I'm so used to parking them off the glass in cold weather anyway that I don't get the benefit of that), so I need to use the stuff less than formerly.
 
I am considering something like a bow-tie shaped piece of plastic (spanning from side to side across the back/uphill side of the compartment) that could be folded in quarters and velcro'd in the compartment (maybe held in the storage position by a
Spot of Velcro on the ChaDeMo lid) when not in use.

It would deflect wind, water, and ice from the sides and uphill but be fully open on the front (the better to support either kind of charging)
 
This has been hashed out by the "early adopters" for a while.
My solution was a 12Volt hair dryer.
I have come back to the car (Pennsylvania) to find the J1772 plug frozen to the car with an inch of clear ice.

There is NO way that I'm "chipping" away the ice.
The little 12 Volt hair dryer takes care of it.
Also takes care of the frozen over headlights that will NEVER thaw with the LED bulbs lit.
An inch of ice on the head lights causes them to be a bit "diffuse"

Especially good for public charging.
I have a "tuck under" place to keep the port out of direct exposure at home.
 
GRA said:
abasile said:
My LEAF charges in the open and I have this challenge sometimes. Yesterday morning, after returning home on my backcountry skis, I used the tips of my ski poles to chip away the solid ice that was keeping me from opening the charge port door. Other times, with less severe ice, I've used a bank card or something similar.
I'd just use a can of de-icer fluid (carried in the car anyway, sometimes along with a separate scraper, for the windows/mirrors etc.), like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Fram-Group-AS-242-De-Icer-Treatment/dp/B000R2Z9E8 Although my Forester has heated mirrors and base of the windshield (keeps the wipers from freezing to the glass, although I'm so used to parking them off the glass in cold weather anyway that I don't get the benefit of that), so I need to use the stuff less than formerly.

I used to keep a can of that stuff in my car when I was in college at Clarkson (in Potsdam, NY). Then one day the stuff froze solid and the can exploded in my trunk. A lot of good that "de-icer" did!
 
GetOffYourGas said:
GRA said:
abasile said:
My LEAF charges in the open and I have this challenge sometimes. Yesterday morning, after returning home on my backcountry skis, I used the tips of my ski poles to chip away the solid ice that was keeping me from opening the charge port door. Other times, with less severe ice, I've used a bank card or something similar.
I'd just use a can of de-icer fluid (carried in the car anyway, sometimes along with a separate scraper, for the windows/mirrors etc.), like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Fram-Group-AS-242-De-Icer-Treatment/dp/B000R2Z9E8 Although my Forester has heated mirrors and base of the windshield (keeps the wipers from freezing to the glass, although I'm so used to parking them off the glass in cold weather anyway that I don't get the benefit of that), so I need to use the stuff less than formerly.
I used to keep a can of that stuff in my car when I was in college at Clarkson (in Potsdam, NY). Then one day the stuff froze solid and the can exploded in my trunk. A lot of good that "de-icer" did!
That is some serious cold! I've heard stories from Clarkson alums of temperatures dipping down to 40 below, with fierce winds.

If my early 2011 LEAF were exposed to temps cold enough to freeze de-icer fluid, that'd be the least of my concerns. It has no battery heater and the Li-ion pack would likely be "bricked". Thankfully, the SoCal mountains aren't super cold; temps basically never drop as low as -20 C where the battery heater is needed. So de-icer fluid probably would work well here.
 
Here in Canada ( Quebec ) we are facing this problem. Snow and freezing rain are not unusual. But a product exist to solve this problem.

IMG_0612.JPG


IMG_0583.JPG


housse-trappe-port-de-recharge-nissan-leaf-joint.JPG


housse-port-de-recharge-6-nissan-leaf-500x500.jpg


It can be found on ebay here: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/262316598023?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

It is very effective.
 
This thing is worth 10 bucks MAX. I hate when companies try to suck money out of EV owners - EV-s are NOT rarity or collection item.
 
arnis said:
This thing is worth 10 bucks MAX. I hate when companies try to suck money out of EV owners - EV-s are NOT rarity or collection item.
I'm not arguing but things like this are such low volume I suppose they need to make many many times the cost to produce the item to make it worthwhile.
Same thing when I recently purchased a EVSE holder. It was $13 shipped from Amazon, for something I can't imagine would cost more than a couple bucks to make..... Of course Amazon sold a couple other similar holders, all the same price or more :( and I must admit the holder was a quality product.
It happens all the time, small volume, large price. If the volume was large enough more companies would get into the act, the more doing such the lower the price, free market place at work, for better or worse :)

Personally AFA the charge port cover, so far with the snow we get in my location I've been able to just lower my lid as low as I can(till it touches the charger handle) and for the most part that keeps most of the snow or rain out, of course if I was forced to plug in all night outside, it may be another story. I only plug in occasionally at work and even then only for a few hours, the rest is in a 30 degree garage.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010UAFE7I?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00
 
arnis said:
This thing is worth 10 bucks MAX. I hate when companies try to suck money out of EV owners - EV-s are NOT rarity or collection item.

This looks relatively professional.

The $10 max obviously means you have never brought a product to market. My most recent product launching in a few weeks has cost $200K USD for $0 in sales so far. A product like this I am guessing was $50K to $100K to get it to look like that.

Once you pay all the upfront costs, yes each unit can be made for $10, but you still have tons of NRE (Non-Recurring Engineering) that needs to be amortized over the other units and then profit.

400% is standard high volume markup. If it is $10 to make, it should cost $40 at WalMart in bulk to you. Low volume, higher markup.
 
Non-Ebay link for those interested in the charge door cover from Canada:
http://energierenouvelable.ca/produits/fr/housse-protectrice-pour-port-de-recharge-nissan-leaf-p900/
 
My tyvek-envelope barrier (which stops snow sliding down the hood into the charger port) is going strong after a year.

It simply spans between the underside of the long edge of the charge port door to the top edge of the port area. It is fastened with a mix of blue masking tape and tucking under the plastic.

It is not a complete solution (it does not stop snow entering from the sides) but seems to block the big "gravity flow" down the hood.
 
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