Exterior Charge Port Quick Release

After getting frustrated with having to go into the car to open the charge port flap, I decided to a quick modification. After staring at it for half an hour and trying out a few brackets and cable options, I ended up simply putting a very long tie wrap/zip tie from where the cable attaches to the release lever, through the hole in the black bracket on the left of the mechanism then dropped down to the bottom of the vent grill. I looped the tail of it in a circle around the vent grille and crimped it closed so I can get my finger through it. Voila, works perfectly and it cannot be seen from the front.

You have to pop open the quick release fasteners on the plastic cover in the charge port to reveal the release mechanism.

Interesting! Pics?

+1

Pics needed please

+2

Pics please. I can picture what you did, but I don't have my leaf yet to try this on. If hopefully I'll have it soon, then I can post pictures.

I was thinking of doing something similar but you did it first.
Yes, pictures would be nice...

nice! even better would a release button on the key fob!!
g

+3 on the pics. I looked at my Leaf and figured you must have removed one or two covers before you can get to anything like you described. So some details on what you had to remove (if anything) would also be nice.

+4 pics

OK, I've managed to do something similar to what the OP explained. I don't have pics either, but I can see why it's hard to take pics because it's such tight quarter in that area. I can try to explain it the best I can.

First, you gotta remove the 2 plastic covers. The one up front under the hood on top of where the hood latch is, and the one under the charging port door. It's easy to remove these. Just use a small flat screwdriver to gently pop up the inside part of the black plastic fastener, then gently pry up the round part around it and it should come right up. There should be 8 for the front cover, and 4 for the charging port cover.

You can remove the front plastic cover completely, but the charging port cover stays on but now is loose enough for you to lift and look inside and stick your hands inside to do work. You'll see the cable that releases the charging port door coming in from the left. If you look inside from behind (now that the front plastic cover is out of the way), you can trace and see this cable coming in from the right side over to the left, then curves back to the right into the charging port release mechanism.

Once you've identified this cable, you can see the release bracket that it pulls to the left to release. If you look just to the left of the cable, in the charging port area, you'll also see a black bracket nearby with a hole in it. We'll be using this hole as the leverage point to pull the release mechanism with our own home-made string. I don't have any long zip tie like the OP does, so I just use a black shoe string and it works pretty well. Black just makes it blend in better when it comes out of the black grill at the bottom, that's all. Other color may pop out and look obvious to others.

The idea is to use one end of the shoe string to tie a loop around the release bracket, then fish the shoe string through the hole of the nearby black bracket to the left and use this hole as leverage. Then loop the rest of the shoe string down behind the big front square metal chassis (or crash bar?) and out into the grill area at the bottom where you can pull on it to release the door.

As for the approach: first I hold one end of the shoe string with my left hand and put my left arm around the back down into the open area behind the charging port area. Then I thread the shoe string up through the hole of the black bracket and out toward the right. Now I loop the tip of the shoe string around the release bracket (where the normal cable pulls it) and tie a secure knot. Then I feed the other end of the shoe string (using my left arm wrapped over and behind) through the top opening of the front grill. Then I just tie another knot at this end of the shoe string to the grill. And voila, you can now yank on it and it'll release the door. Once you verify it to work, simply put the 2 plastic covers back and you're done.

leafabusa said:

After getting frustrated with having to go into the car to open the charge port flap, I decided to a quick modification.

Click to expand...

What a wonderful idea. Thanks for sharing!

As I was replacing the car horn I went ahead and added the quick release also. So here are some pics to share:

For those who haven't done it before, removing the plastic retainers are really easy:

Pry the center tab up, then remove the entire retainer

First remove the top cover: (8 retainers total, there are two on the back)


Then take the retainers out of the charge port plastic cover: (4 total)


The cover doesn't come off completely, but just lifting it will provide enough space to work in. Here's what it'll look like:


You'll see the wire that attach to the lock mechanism. What I did was to strap a tie wrap at the end, and attach a rope to the tie wrap.


I then ran the rope to the left and have a zip tie in the middle to keep the string in place:


Zoomed out, you can see the string falling down on the left side:


String the rope down and have it come out on the bottom grill:



I end up having the rope come out the more narrow opening then tied a big knot to keep the rope from falling in. Also painted the rope black with a Sharpie.

I put a Velcro strip there to keep the string from moving around.

Gone are the tedious trips back and forth just to get a charge, especially when the FOB isn't at hand. One day I'll put a servo there and have it remote controlled.

thanks everyone, I will have to do this mod soon.

Did this today. Found that wire tie(s) work much better than rope. The slick plastic makes them slide over the various brackets better.

Thanks for posting this tip! The most practical mode evar!!

I would like to do this mod as soon as my Leaf arrives!

But I can not see any picture of the procedure, is the server where they are hosted down?

Thanks for sharing!

Jm

juanmax said:

I would like to do this mod as soon as my Leaf arrives!

But I can not see any picture of the procedure, is the server where they are hosted down?

Thanks for sharing!

Jm

Click to expand...

It looks like the images are working, here's a link to the exact post: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=102878#p102878

The only time I wish I had this is when I get out to charge and forget to pop the lid, which is seldom. However, I think it is definitely a neat idea unless you are one of the few who have a charge port guard/lock from Japan or the UK

This is all well and good, but when is someone going to put in a small servo that can be controlled by one of the HomeLink mirror buttons :idea:

DarkStar said:

It looks like the images are working, here's a link to the exact post: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=102878#p102878

Click to expand...

Thanks! Looks like in my new work place, they filter some websites

Through my smartphone works.


Jm