HELP! Direct Hit with a Lighning Strike Today While Charging

[EVDRIVER]

If the tech were qualified they could have tested the charger easily without removal but dealers are not trained to do this very well. You likely have a small component fried on the charger board preventing it from charging which means a new charger, that is the most logical but not definitive. The tech working on your car is clearly not very well versed in such work so he will need to rely on Nissan to walk him through the basics which for him would mean component swaps. You may not have an error code form the charger because charging was not "stopped" because it could not start. Regardless there should be better diagnosis that a given component has failed from Consult.

 

[davewill]

I'm mildly surprised (but happy) that they're treating this as a warranty repair. If lightning hit my ICE and broke the electrical system, I have a feeling they wouldn't fix it under warranty.

 

[KillaWhat]

Update 2(b)
No word from the dealer today.
I waded through the Shop Manual (geez that thing is designed for lock step monkeys)
The gray module I assumed was the charge controller is apparently an AC Line conditioner/ filter according to section VC.

I suppose a component in there could be the culprit, but without knowing what lurks inside the module, it's hard to tell.
I would still swap it out in a heartbeat.

Regarding the warranty issue.
I'm not qualified to come to a definitive conclusion about what may or may not have caused this problem!
And I'm not about to bandy about some wild stories involving an angry vengeful god hurling bolts of high energy plasma down upon my small cute Asian vehicle.
Wild un-substantiated theories made by an obviously unstable end-user will only muddy the diagnostic process I think.
And the AV EVSE works fine, which was the only possible connection to my house.
If the AV was a melted pile of goo, then we might be on to something, but otherwise ......

Coincidence?
Yes, definitely a coincidence!
(you weren't there! you don't know!)

OK, If/when I hear anything I'll post.

 

[EricBayArea]

I'm mildly surprised (but happy) that they're treating this as a warranty repair. If lightning hit my ICE and broke the electrical system, I have a feeling they wouldn't fix it under warranty.

Being from an IT background, whenever I need repair work on something I find it best to play the unassuming, lay, end user: "It was working fine, then all of a sudden it stopped and I can't get it to start up again. I don't know what happened." Because once you start stating all the details and your theories on what is wrong and how to fix it, then things get complicated. Let them go through their normal routine (usually).

As KillaWhat said,

I'm not qualified to come to a definitive conclusion about what may or may not have caused this problem!

 

[KillaWhat]

Update 3

Stopped by the dealer for an update on the car.
Nissan downloaded all the" logged" information this morning, and the "dealer" is waiting to hear back from them again.
I called Nissan about 3:00 EST and spoke with a very competent woman who took some info from me, and gave me a case number.
I asked if I could talk with an engineer, and she said she would call me back within an hour, buy had to speak with the dealer and get some more info from them first. OK. Understandable.

And, she DID call me back within an hour. She said she could set up a conference call with an enginreer and the tech sometime tomorrow if that's what I wanted.
I said I'd pass on that for now.
I said I thought that the only place where the problem could really be at this point was inside the sealed charger assembly, and that unless she thought the dealer was up to the task of cracking it open, and doing component level repairs on it, I think we are going to wind up replacing it.

I just wanted to do it sooner than later, unless she could thing of another option.
She said they would expedite my case, and call me back with an update tomorrow.
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ok.

I told you I love my dealer.
At 5 pm est I got a call from the owner of the dealership, who I had not called because the tech was doing everything he could.

He said he had been aware of my problem from the moment the car came in, and my "suggestions" had been relayed to him.
He agreed that swapping out the charger was probably going to be the solution, and he was interested in getting it done ASAP.
He told me he was going to go ahead and order a charger, and swap it out on his own initiative, and see if that solved the problem.

I thanked him, and we hung up.

He called me back 10 minutes later, and told me that this was a "restricted" part, and as a dealer, they were not allowing him to order it without factory approval. (he was a little pissed, but trying not to show it)
Said he too would call me back tomorrow when he worked out a solution.

So I guess I'm waiting until tomorrow.

 

[GeekEV]

He called me back 10 minutes later, and told me that this was a "restricted" part, and as a dealer, they were not allowing him to order it without factory approval.

This also fits with those of us who had been trying to get the early model's "noisy charger" issue fixed. Translation? It's an expensive part they don't have many/any spares for so they have to rob the assembly line to get one...

 

[Nekota]

A restricted part like the L2 charging system suggests the battery would also fall into this restricted category. Isn't there a proposal for a law or ruling to require an open repair policy on vehicles so you can get your vehicle repaired by a third party?

 

[EVDRIVER]

There is a fuse in the OBC (on-board charger) as well as an MOV to protect from surges. Unfortunately neither is user-replacable, so you'll have to replace the OBC. (Unless you can get a competent engineer to go inside)

 

[SierraQ]

So there was no damage to the AV EVSE from the lightning strike? Damn good advertisement for AV products then.

Well it's not a high-tech piece of equipment. More like a glorified switch. All the brains are in the car charger. Still it is good to know it survived.

 

[SierraQ]

My house received a direct lightning strike today while Leaf was actively charging. :shock:

PLUGZIN was charging level II from an aeronvironment charger.

The strike blew out lots of things in the house, tripped every GFI breaker I had, and blew out some surge strips.
...

KillaWhat, other than the Leaf, can you share what did or did not survive? You mentioned losing a bunch of surge protectors notably the whole-house variety. Did the equipment on the other end survive or not? Computers? Stereos? etc.

 

[EVDRIVER]

So there was no damage to the AV EVSE from the lightning strike? Damn good advertisement for AV products then.

Well it's not a high-tech piece of equipment. More like a glorified switch. All the brains are in the car charger. Still it is good to know it survived.

Not really, it could also mean poor engineering on the car side or the EVSE did not do its job. An EVSE should protect the car so I don't see that as good engineering. One could run wires to the car with no EVSE and that does not make a well engineered product. Just open up an AV unit and see how basic it is and how it is constructed. I would prefer my EVSE had an issue over may car any day. Regardless of both points it's lightning.

 

[KillaWhat]

KillaWhat, other than the Leaf, can you share what did or did not survive? You mentioned losing a bunch of surge protectors notably the whole-house variety. Did the equipment on the other end survive or not? Computers? Stereos? etc.

5PM EST Wednesday 9/12
No word from ANYBODY today. Too Busy to look into it.
Good information about the Fuse and MOV in the charger.
If the thing were out of Warranty we'd be a' crackin that thing open today.

What DID we lose.
Well, we discover something new most every day.
I'm pretty good about grounding and surge supression, so.....

Panasonic Phone system, unit and all lines protected; no problems.
Security system, unit power isolated and all circuits protected; no problems.
All the computer equipment and Routers / Switches are protected by APC Commercial UPS units, and they are fine.

We lost the whole house protection, 7 out of 8, they were EATON units, and about 15 years old.
We lost most of our modern GFCI outlets for some reason. I used dead front units in every bathroom I remodeled, 1 for lighting, and one for outlets. Leviton
We lost a GFCI Active protection outlet, which in turn protects the lighting and other outlets in a newly remodeled powder room. Leviton also.
We lost an LED pole light (fried the LED Driver), and the Master Photo controller that tells the whole system it's light or dark.
Two power supplies for a pair of SONY HAD Low Light outdoor Cameras. Cameras seem OK, Power supply boards are black.

We discovered this morning that our Kitchenaid blender is toasted (i.e. The blue Smoke has been released).
It's a "New Fangled" deal, where the power is controlled by soft switches, rather than a nice bulletproof mechanical switch, so the power feeds electrical components directly from the wall, which in turn controls a small relay.
Opened it up, and the circuit board is black, capacitors are split open, etc.
Was plugged into a cheap surge strip, next to the toaster and can opener, both simple manual units, and both seem OK.
Ordered a new one.

My Comcast box is "Acting up". Goes off, puts an opaque box up that covers the screen, can't access some recordings, stuff like that.
It will have to go back, but I'm trying to watch all I recorded first.

That's it so far. But we keep finding new stuff every day.

Am planning a 14 panel PV system with Enphase inverters, on an outbuilding where the AV EVSE unit is located.
Would have it up by now, except Pennsylvania cant seem to "find" it's funding, and there is a waiting list that nobody expects to be of any value.
Glad It didn't have it go through this :roll:

I'll update when I have any new info.

 

[Phoenix]

So there was no damage to the AV EVSE from the lightning strike? Damn good advertisement for AV products then.

Well it's not a high-tech piece of equipment. More like a glorified switch. All the brains are in the car charger. Still it is good to know it survived.

Not really, it could also mean poor engineering on the car side or the EVSE did not do its job. An EVSE should protect the car so I don't see that as good engineering. One could run wires to the car with no EVSE and that does not make a well engineered product. Just open up an AV unit and see how basic it is and how it is constructed. I would prefer my EVSE had an issue over may car any day. Regardless of both points it's lightning.

Hadn't thought of it that way. So, I guess, the Panasonic EVSE brick which got fried in my incident was doing a superb job by protecting the car's electronics, (albeit car was not charging then).

 

[KillaWhat]

It's Fixed.
I have the GreenCharge app on my phone, which tells me in real time right on the home screen what my charge level is, and after a week sitting on 19.... 18... 17 I went to make a phone call, and spotted 58.

I called the dealer, and was told they had indeed replaced the charger, and It was outside charging.
I can go pick it up in a couple hours, and If I wanted more details, I can ask the tech at that time.

I want ALL the details (car's not going to be under warranty forever), but I'm not sure how much he will be able to tell me.
(sent me charger, I put it in, I put the old one in the box, I sent it back. It works)

I'm going to try calling Nissan back, and using my case number?, see if they are willing to tell me what they discover during the autopsy.

If I learn anything substantial, I'll post, otherwise .......

Fixed! :mrgreen:

 

[Drivesolo]

^ Awesome news! Glad it looks like everything will turn out well.

 

[JimSouCal]

So there was no damage to the AV EVSE from the lightning strike? Damn good advertisement for AV products then.

Well it's not a high-tech piece of equipment. More like a glorified switch. All the brains are in the car charger. Still it is good to know it survived.

Not really, it could also mean poor engineering on the car side or the EVSE did not do its job. An EVSE should protect the car so I don't see that as good engineering. One could run wires to the car with no EVSE and that does not make a well engineered product. Just open up an AV unit and see how basic it is and how it is constructed. I would prefer my EVSE had an issue over may car any day. Regardless of both points it's lightning.

Years ago my folks house had a direct hit by lightning (somewhat rare in Santa Monica). It hit the southwest corner of the house based on evidence and was whimsical in what was damaged--mainly a microwave in the far other end of the northwest area. Occupants unharmed, and the rest of the electrical, unharmed. I am sure the physics are explainable in some way, but there was plenty of stereo and tv stuff in the direct strike zone, but in the end, it was the microwave that blew up and put on a show... Just sayin...

 

[KillaWhat]

Last Update

I had asked Nissan Customer support to let me know what they discovered when they examined the charger.
I received a call back today, stating that they couldn't tell me, since the charger was "Proprietary" and as such, apparently a big secret.

Whaaat?

Do I own this car, or am I just a beta tester (alpha tester?)

I told her that ;
a) I owned THAT charger, and I wanted to know what happened to it, and
b) The car wasn't going to be under warranty forever, and if this happened again outside of warranty, I NEEDED to know what failed in MY CAR!

She said she would pass my concerns along.


PS: I also think I got a software update while it was in.
My GOM no longer seems to be on CRACK, and I expect it is now more accurate.
However, having no warning, it Freaked me out a bit.
I had at least reached an understanding with the old software, and now it's all different, and I have to get used to the new .... guess!? algorithm

 

[FairwoodRed]

Last Update

I had asked Nissan Customer support to let me know what they discovered when they examined the charger.
I received a call back today, stating that they couldn't tell me, since the charger was "Proprietary" and as such, apparently a big secret.

Whaaat?

Most states require that auto shops return the failed parts to the customer if they ask for it. Too many shops were saying they replaced stuff, but not doing it. Try telling Nissan that you asked for the failed parts delivered to you for inspection (just a little white one) and see if that gets you anywhere...

 

[smkettner]

Not sure you have a right to the returned parts unless you pay for them.

 

[FairwoodRed]

So I searched for Pennsylvania auto laws and found this:
http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/uploadedFiles/Consumers/bcp_book.pdf page 6

Pennsylvania Auto Regs
Pennsylvanians are protected by the Automotive Industry Trade Practices Regulations, which detail consumers’ rights when having a car repaired. The regulations provide that a repair shop must:
Obtain the consumer’s written or verbal authorization before charging for repairs.
Obtain additional authorization from the consumer before performing repairs which exceed the dollar limit set by the consumer.
Inform the consumer whether parts put on the vehicle are new, used or reconditioned.
Disclose, in advance, any charges for estimates or storage.
Complete repairs within the time specified (or within 24 hours of delivery if no time is mentioned).
Advise consumers of their rights to have replaced parts return to them.
Provide a detailed bill itemizing charges for parts and labor.

Make of that what you will...