Greetings everyone, I had ordered my Bosch Portable charge at least 2 weeks before Bosch finally release them, at first they only had the option to purchase the unit up-front but weren't taking any orders yet, luckily for me; 2 weeks before the product was released they introduced and option for financing the entire unit including installation.
I had to go thru the process of applying, being approved and then the order was placed. I financed the entire project including them recommending their electrician because it is warrantied for the 3 years; if I had my electrician install it they will not warranty the unit if they believe the problem could be due to improper installation (we all know they will blame it on that). The entire cost with an 18' cord was under $1600. Everything was shipped to the electrician.
On the day of installation July 18th 2013, the electrician showed up with the wrong wall plug (he was going to make it a permanent unit) I had to tell him that this was a portable unit, he had to go back to his office and get the right outlet and case). I asked the electrician if he had installed this unit before and this model was his first one. (Make sure that the installer knows the type of unit you are purchasing).
Installation was smooth and everything worked well......Until about 2 weeks ago.......all of a sudden the charger plug in nozzle will not release from the Leaf. (And I was running late for work that day) I tried all tricks I could think of, even turning the brakers on the electrical panel off. At first I pressed and hold the "Charge off Button" (see picture), that didn't worked, and then I started the vehicle and deleted the timer settings to charge vehicle at certain hours, that didn't helped.
then I pressed the charge off button again for at least 1 minute until I heard a faint sound of something releasing, then I tried removing the charger from the vehicle and finally it released, ever since that day I’ve been having the same issue, sometimes it releases after pressing the charge off button a couple of tries and combination of turning off the brakers. That weekend (Saturday) I was not able to release at all, I read the manual and followed their instructions for releasing etc.. and also changed the charging timers (I had my timers set to (1) to start charging after 9:00pm until 11:50pm ( I have a special meter that charges me .06 cents between 9:00pm and 7:00am) and (2) from 12:00 am to 6:50am), I removed setting # 1 and was only charging between 12:00am to 6:50am (plenty of time). It took me about 2 hours before I was able to remove the plug.
For the past 3 days I was (from my phone) enabling the car to start charging after 9:30pm) the next morning the vehicle only charged up to 65% (I usually end up with about 30% charge by the end of the day). During this week (mon-fri) the charge plug released within 5 minutes of playing with the button and turning vehicle on/off. Friday night I started charging again from my phone after 10:00pm. On Saturday morning around 8:00am I checked the phone to see how much it had charged it was up to 65%.
I (thru the phone) started charging the vehicle, around 1:00pm I checked the phone and it showed fully charged (whatever fully means) 96%. When I went outside to remove the charger plug, it would not come out no matter what I pressed or turned off. This time I disabled all timers, read the instructions on the manual (again) and the car still won’t release the plug. Again it took about 1+ to finally remove the plug.
Today September (Sunday) 22nd 2013 I had a time to Google this issue and found a post in this forum of another driver having the exact issue but from the charger that comes with the vehicle (trickle charger) and for him it turned out that the problem was the charging plug from the unit
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=13229&start=20
So I tested my charger, since I had disabled all timers and the car had 75% charge I plugged the charger and charged the vehicle until full. (Note: that if you connect the charger and remove it a few minutes later it comes right out with no problems) when I went to remove the plug …AGAIN same issue, I went straight to the panel and pressed the Charge Off Button, this time it made a louder noise , flashed the lights (blue lights) and I was able to remove the plug a little pressure but it came out.
Not sure if the issue is the charger’s plug or the car just locks it and won’t release automatically once it finished charging, I’m calling Bosch and Nissan tomorrow and I will update this forum with whatever I find.