Car won't charge on some slowchargers, diode?

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Dala

Dala

Well-known member
Leaf Supporting Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2018
Messages
465
Location
Finland
So I have a -10 Leaf with a charging issue, might be the common diode problem?

Car won't charge on OEM Nissan 8A 240V charger. When you plug it it, no lights come on.
Car succesfully charges on Chinese 16A 240V charger. But sometimes it you have to plug it in twice.
With the chinese charger, if you press down the button on the handle the charging doesn't stop!!!

Between Control and GND it was 4.25V
Resistance of 2M Ohm in one direction between Proximity and GND, no continuity the other way.

Classic diode?
 
If the OBC is working with the chinese EVVSE but not the Nissan unit, then i would suspect the nissan unit is at fault.

One person found a bad diode in an OBC--that does not mean there is a "classic" failure mode with the OBC. i have seen dozens of Nichicon OBC unit failures that were not due to a bad diode.

Also, a bad diode won't heal itself. If it has blown, then no EVSSE will work. Your resistance measurement seems to indicate that a diode is inline, try using the diode check function on your meter to measure the voltage drop.

Unlike most all other EVs, with the Leaaf pressing the J17772 button does not cause the contactors to open. The current will be commanded to zero, but upon release it will ramp back up. Pulling the handle out will cause the relays to open.

Let me know if you end up opening the OBC and need schematics.
 
The diode used in the pilot circuit of the onboard charger for 2011 and 2012 Leafs, did fail on multiple vehicles. This forum has a number of threads covering that.

Those diodes that failed in a closed state will charge with an EVSE that does not do the diode check. In the USA, neither the original portable Nissan EVSE (120V chargers) did the check nor did the Nissan branded AV Level 2 EVSEs.

nlspace said:
One person found a bad diode in an OBC--that does not mean there is a "classic" failure mode with the OBC. i have seen dozens of Nichicon OBC unit failures that were not due to a bad diode.

Also, a bad diode won't heal itself. If it has blown, then no EVSSE will work. Your resistance measurement seems to indicate that a diode is inline, try using the diode check function on your meter to measure the voltage drop.
Click to expand...
 
One person found a bad diode in an OBC--that does not mean there is a "classic" failure mode with the OBC. i have seen dozens of Nichicon OBC unit failures that were not due to a bad diode.
Click to expand...


As noted above, there have been a number of diode failures in early Leafs. You may want to edit your post.
 
When there is a post that lists all the OBC failures and the causes, including the "classic" diode failure, then i will edit my post. Until then there is no data on this forum to show any trend for OBC diodes. Lots and lots of posts, but very little worth reading.

See the following OBC failure data for example:
http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=4079
 
We do need compilation posts like that, but we just don't have them, and this site's search engine is poor. We'd welcome one on OBC failures, on cooling pump failures, PTC failures... I used to try harder to combine topics to achieve something somewhat similar, but it's like whacking moles. I'd say that it's better to vaguely refer to examples of existing, known problems than to deny that they are known issues, that's all.
 
nlspace said:
If the OBC is working with the chinese EVVSE but not the Nissan unit, then i would suspect the nissan unit is at fault.

One person found a bad diode in an OBC--that does not mean there is a "classic" failure mode with the OBC. i have seen dozens of Nichicon OBC unit failures that were not due to a bad diode.

Also, a bad diode won't heal itself. If it has blown, then no EVSSE will work. Your resistance measurement seems to indicate that a diode is inline, try using the diode check function on your meter to measure the voltage drop.

Unlike most all other EVs, with the Leaaf pressing the J17772 button does not cause the contactors to open. The current will be commanded to zero, but upon release it will ramp back up. Pulling the handle out will cause the relays to open.

Let me know if you end up opening the OBC and need schematics.
Click to expand...

The OEM Nissan unit was verified working with another Leaf. So there is clearly something wrong with the car.

On my 2015, pressing the J1772 handle will cause the charge lights to go out and a click. On this 2010 car, nothing.

I will continue investigating
 
This YouTube video explains the expected, asymmetrical resistance values between the pilot and ground pins:

https://youtu.be/5R4dGg8nIUs?t=183

If the resistance is about the same in both directions, then the diode is very likely at fault.
 

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