New 2012 SL isn't sustaining a level 1 charge...?

[DaveHanson]

This is very odd. Roadside support cannot give tech support, they say, and customer satisfaction is closed until Monday. I'm hoping (and suspecting) that the extremely helpful membership of this board might offer more efficient assistance than the helpline anyway.

Have had no problems charging our 2012 SL before yesterday. At around 10:10am, wife drove leave home and reports around 50m charge remaining from the successful trickle-charge the previous night. Then around 10pm, departing company informed me that the inside lights and GPS/dash of our leaf were all on. (Wife was in a hurry to get in the house, and isn't sure if she pressed the button to disengage the car or not.) dash and the Leaf Android app report 6 miles range left and "low battery", the first such indication we've had on vehicle since purchasing it.

I move the car into the garage, plug it in, and am surprised to see that the L1 110v charger still indicates only "ready" (green blinking light), not "charging". I unplug and replug a few times, wait a few minutes, and finally the L1 charger starts working. I figure that after charging all night, it will restore around half its range, and we'll be good for daily driving today.


ETA: I could try to drive to the Blink DCQC 3 miles away and see if it takes a charge there, if that seems a good bet...?

Wake up to check the leaf, and the android app reports 17 miles of range, and "unplugged!" Huh? Go down to the garage, and find:

-car still plugged in with no sign of interruption
-blue "charging" LED light still blinking
-green LED on the charger transformer blinking "ready", i.e. not delivering a charge.

At this point I unplug and replug the car from both connectors to reassure myself that everything is securely attached. At this point, charging *does* engage, but only for a minute or so...then "ready" flashes again!

It could be that it somehow thinks it's done at 17 miles charge--although that doesn't explain why it was so slow to start charging last night.

What say you, leaf afficianados? TIA for any help you can offer!

 

[Randy]

Do you have a LEAF charging timer programmed? If so, you might have to press the timer bypass button to start charging, depending on the time of day...

 

[DaveHanson]

Thanks Randy! Nope, no charging timer programmed...haven't figured out how we want to do that yet.

 

[garygid]

With EVSE not connected to the car, turn the car on, as if to drive it,
and see the READY on the dash.

With the garage door open, move the car a few feet, then back
into the parking spot. Before turning the car off, use the energy screen
to verify that the heater is off. Verify that both the charging timers are
off, and the climate control timer is off. Verify that the lights and other
Electrical Accessories are off. Leave the car On for 10 minutes, giving
the car time to charge the 12v battery. Finally, turn the car OFF.

Unplug the EVSE from the wall, and then, with the EVSE plugged into
the wall, verify that its Ready / Power light is on. Then, plug the EVSE
into the car, and verify that the car's blue charging lights come on,
probably just the right-side (passenger side) light flashing.

Watch for 5 or 10 minutes, for the charging to continue properly.

If this does not work, the 12v battery could be defective,
the car might need to be "reset" (rebooted) by carefully disconnecting
the Ground side of the connection to the battery (not the connection
directly to the lead post on the battery itself) for about 5 minutes,
then reconnecting the Ground. CAREFULLY

If it charges for a minute then quits, it could be a GFI in your house
wiring, but then the EVSE's Power light would be off, not flashing.

Carefully observe, and report your findings.

 

[DaveHanson]

Thanks so much for the knowledgeable and timely post, Gary!

I just went down again to go through the suggestions you described, only to discover that the status has switched back to "charging" (yea!). A quick carwings update, and sure enough it now shows 26 miles range, indicating it had to have been trickle-charging for the bulk of the time since my last post (is there a way to check precisely when it started and stopped charging)?

I think you hit on it with your lead acid battery observations. I did not realize that things like the internal lights, dash, etc. might be powered partly by that 12v battery as opposed to the main battery, even though the bulk of the main battery had also been depleted.

If that's so, it's entirely logical that the 12v battery, along with the main battery, would be severely drained by the 12 hour stint where the car apparently wasn't shut off.


What remains unexplained for me is why the car would charge for a time last night, only to quit after an hour? Makes me wonder if it will quit again after another random amount of time...

Is there a way to get email updates when the car begins or concludes charging? Apologies if I overlooked this...that would make monitoring the car's progress easier...

Other ideas welcome!

 

[DaveHanson]

OK, sometime between 10 and 10:15 am PST, the car reverted to "unplugged" again, even though it is still plugged in. Bizzare.

I think I will drive it to the quickcharge, see if it takes that, and then drive it back.

 

[GerryAZ]

You can set up CarWings to send charging stopped and charging complete emails, but I do not remember the details of how to set it up. I have not found a way to get an email when charging starts.

Regarding your charging stopping issue, is there any chance that the 120-volt supply at the receptacle is dropping really low for some reason (loose connection or other loads anywhere on the circuit, perhaps)? The Leaf's onboard charger will charge down to 100 volts or lower, but I think it will drop out when it gets really low and may not restart without being unplugged.

Gerry

 

[jamesanne]

Sounds like you have a poor ground in your garage outlet. Try another outlet. This thread may help... http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=4038" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[KJD]

With EVSE not connected to the car, turn the car on, as if to drive it,
and see the READY on the dash.

With the garage door open, move the car a few feet, then back
into the parking spot. Before turning the car off, use the energy screen
to verify that the heater is off. Verify that both the charging timers are
off, and the climate control timer is off. Verify that the lights and other
Electrical Accessories are off. Leave the car On for 10 minutes, giving
the car time to charge the 12v battery. Finally, turn the car OFF.

This is very good advise. If the 12 volt battery is low on charge that could be your main problem.

 

[SeattleBlue]

GFI plug? Tripped?

 

[keydiver]

Wake up to check the leaf, and the android app reports 17 miles of range, and "unplugged!" Huh?

Did the number of battery charge bars increase at all? That's what really counts. The Guess-o-meter will be all screwed up by the fact your wife left the car turned on for hours, so just ignore it.

 

[DaveHanson]

I apologize for neglecting this thread for so long!

Bottom line is that it appears the 12v battery was badly drained because the power button wasn't actually shut off. After some driving and another recharge, everything went 100% back to normal, and we've had no problems since.

Thanks very much to everyone kind enough to reply...I really appreciate it! If I an follow up with more useful data, I will certainly try to do so.