New app "GreenCharge" from the makers of PlugShare

[padamson1]

1. I don't have the GreenCharge App, but I did take a look at it & have understanding of how it was designed to work.
2. I don't work for Nissan.

Given that at most only 50 or so GreenCharge Apps could be running I am having a hard time blaming them for this outage. While not for this long a period, CarWings has gone down on its own several times since I've had my LEAF. At best I attribute this outage as pure coincidence, but at worst it shows that CarWings has a serious problem in how it processes user requests. If I so desired I could write a nasty App that basically performed a DoS (Denial of Service) attack on CarWings using their API, but given the power of a processor on a phone and the low data bandwidth of a phone connection, it should take a hell of a lot more than 50 installed programs to take down a server. BTW - While the source of the problem is determined if you have a GreenCharge App you might want to shut it down on your iPhone b/c it could be chewing up your data budget (see this: http://www.theiphonemom.com/how-to-turn-off-apps)

If (in the VERY unlikely event) GreenCharge managed to take down CarWings, we should thank GreenCharge for exposing some lousy QA on the part of Nissan, because this problem just would have happened later when more LEAF owners started using CarWings when there would have been a whole lot more LEAF owners inconvenienced by it.

EDIT: But As I stated I sincerely doubt they are the root cause of the problem.

 

[JustinC]

My point exactly... but you made it much clearer.

Looks like GreenCharge is just employing the mobile app proxy found here:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/wiki/index.php?title=Carwings_protocol

Which just authenticates with the server and then retrieves the XML data on the battery.

Since that is the same thing the Nissan app is doing, I doubt GreenCharge could have taken it down with so few users.

 

[EVNation]

I looked into doing my own app like GreenCharge once I read about the API. However, I read the terms of service for Carwings are realized any user that gives their login information to a third party or uses the website access via custom software is in violation of the terms of service and could have their Carwings access terminated.

I did not pursue the issue further because I didn't think Nissan would approve third party access.

Once I saw Green Charge, I figured they did ask and get permission. If they did, then it is likely a problem of the net effect of lots of new users with unexpected data patterns.

If they didn't get permission and work with Nissan, it is a terms of service violation and the could disallow Carwings for anyone using the app. In that case, expect the API to change and app to get pulled unless they come to terms and make a deal.

Read the terms of service cached here:
http://www.sigcrap.org/2011/02/16/290/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

EDIT: This is all still true, but Nissan just posted to Twitter that they are having an outage that could mean it is unrelated. I still would avoid buying this app till they clarify if it is approved by Nissan.

My point exactly... but you made it much clearer.

Looks like GreenCharge is just employing the mobile app proxy found here:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/wiki/index.php?title=Carwings_protocol

Which just authenticates with the server and then retrieves the XML data on the battery.

Since that is the same thing the Nissan app is doing, I doubt GreenCharge could have taken it down with so few users.

 

[garygid]

A "average" non-novice user might access Carwings only about once every 4 days.

Geeen... apparently accesses 24 x 12 x 4 times that much, 288 x 4 or a load of about 1000 owners for each app that is running.

Just 40 apps might look like a 40,000 car load, something much larger than expected at this point in time.

 

[rainnw]

Must have cost Nissan a small fortune....

 

[padamson1]

A "average" non-novice user might access Carwings only about once every 4 days.

Geeen... apparently accesses 24 x 12 x 4 times that much, 288 x 4 or a load of about 1000 owners for each app that is running.

Just 40 apps might look like a 40,000 car load, something much larger than expected at this point in time.

True. But daily load isn't nearly as important as peak load. Using your numbers the server would have a daily hit rate of 250 (10000owners/4). Adding 50 GreenCharges increases that to (50 * 24 * 12) = 14400 hits over a day. That may sound like a big difference, but it is the instantaneous load (hits per minute) that is important and for GreenCharge that will never exceed the number of applications. So even if every App queried at EXACTLY the same time the worst case is 50hits/min + plus the normal load (which will be in bursts but should be <30). So I am guessing the instantaneous load went from 30 to 80. Nearly tripling the load sounds bad but....

If I was testing this server I would make sure it could handle an instantaneous load of at least 200hits/min to protect against many different peak usage scenarios (everybody on the west coast wants to preheat their car before work or check their charge level before they leave, etc). Given most servers can handle 500 light database queries per minute with their eyes closed, this isn't too much to ask. That would be 170 GreenCharge Apps running, perfectly synchronized plus the other peak load guesstimate. I doubt that many people paid $10.

So like I said, if GreenCharge brought down the CarWings server they're either running it on a Radio Shack Commodore64 or skipped QA testing.

 

[coolfilmaker]

I doubt that many people paid $10.

I'm pretty sure a good number did. We all bought leafs after all...

 

[Nubo]

...My point is that even if the issue is related to GreenCharge, it's still a Carwings bug, because they should prevent unauthorized access if it is capable of taking down their servers, and they need to do something to get their servers working again....

They should prevent unauthorized access altogether, unless they've advertised it as an open service?

 

[amtoro]

It seems that CARWINGS is running normally now; it has been an unfortunate coincidence that this massive service failure happened when this app was released and made some of us think it was related.

Now I must ask... are they going to reduce the price to something more reasonable like $2.99? The purpose of the iOS platform is that developers can write "free and low-price applications" as Steve Jobs said many times in the WWDC's.

I doubt that the value of this app can be compared to, let's say, Keynote, which sells for $9.99 as well

(or put an iAd in it and sell it for $0.99)

I'd also like to be able to adjust the refresh frequency, possibly up to 30 min, or to every hour...

 

[KevinSharpe]

When they release the Android version I won't mind paying for it to get their functionality, and to support good work.

Have you seen LEAF Control for Android? It's free and drivers I know who've used it seem to like it;

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.applications.lawsystems.leafcontrol

 

[lpickup]

I'd also like to be able to adjust the refresh frequency, possibly up to 30 min, or to every hour...

Actually is it really necessary to auto-refresh at all? I know we're all about instant gratification, but would it be acceptable to have it just do a refresh (automatically though) when the app is started? Yes, this means the status display would not come up immediately but rather take about 10 seconds. This is actually what I'm doing with a simplified web site I've created and I'm fine with that.

Having said that, I think that CARWINGS then has a responsibility to reduce the latency of this service as well. I know when I unplug the car my "Charging stopped" text message usually arrives before I even make it to the door. Maybe there's some insurmountable bottleneck somewhere in there, but it would be nice if CARWINGS really analyzed why it takes 10 seconds to ping the car and get a response and work to streamline that (I'll at least give them the benefit of the doubt that their web server itself is performing optimally, but if not they need to look at that side as well).

 

[DurkaDurka]

<SNIP>Yes, this means the status display would not come up immediately but rather take about 10 seconds. This is actually what I'm doing with a simplified web site I've created and I'm fine with that. <SNIP>

Can you provide the code for this page? Are you using Nissan's mobile API?

 

[lpickup]

<SNIP>Yes, this means the status display would not come up immediately but rather take about 10 seconds. This is actually what I'm doing with a simplified web site I've created and I'm fine with that. <SNIP>

Can you provide the code for this page? Are you using Nissan's mobile API?

I'm basically just using this as a base: https://github.com/gboudreau/LEAF_Carwings_EasyAccess and extending from there. It's still a work in progress (and time is REALLY limited now so there's been little progress!)

 

[padamson1]

I erroneously posted this barb in the CarWings thread, I really meant it for this thread...

I just called. They said the there was a major power outage at the main center and they said it could be 2 days before Carwings is up and running again.

Ah...so the GreenCharge accusations that were flying around turned out to be unfounded after all.

Kind of makes some of us look like the modern internet media: speculating and doing guilt by association before all the facts are in.

"How 'bout those two fires where a Volt was in the garage? Coincidence or Cause & effect?"

Until more facts come out, it is human nature that your answer depends what goggles you are wearing. I know my Dad thought all us wierdo EV-heads were all doomed to a fiery death while I found it difficult to believe that a properly installed charger could actually cause a fire (which was probably driven as much by my self interest as my logical reasoning). Sometimes it pays to wait for a clearer picture before we begin pointing fingers....

 

[gbarry42]

Awful lot of effort being put forth to get the charge info or to push the heater button. Nissan released an app for the LEAF quite awhile ago. Doesn't cost anything on Android, and I imagine the same must be true on the i-phone. But I'm still bewildered that we need an app when we can just go to the web site and get the same thing. But I live in a world where people still pay for a program to grab an image off their computer screen, even though it became a Windows feature in 1991.

I'm the only misfit that needed a LEAF app--my old G1 Googlephone couldn't handle the fancy Nissan website.

 

[dyyuan]

bought the app, used it for two days so far, it said i drove for over 328 miles yesterday...

and already clocked in 158 miles today...

pretty sure i didn't drive that much even if i wanted to.

emailed support and hope to hear back soon, maybe it has something to do with the carwing outage.

 

[TonyWilliams]

bought the app, used it for two days so far, it said i drove for over 328 miles yesterday...

and already clocked in 158 miles today...

pretty sure i didn't drive that much even if i wanted to.

emailed support and hope to hear back soon, maybe it has something to do with the carwing outage.

I had the same crazy data, verbatim.

I can get crazy data from the GoM !!!

 

[JustinC]

Nissan reports that CarWings is back up, and I can confirm the website is working again. The iPhone application, however, is not.

 

[DurkaDurka]

iPhone app works fine for me.

 

[JustinC]

GreenCharge percentage is working now too. The other stats are not.