2019 Leaf charging issues -- Ready light blinking on new outlet that was working for months

Hi all,

I couldn't find anything on the particular issue I'm having right now. A few months ago, my landlord had an outdoor outlet installed for me to use for charging, which is great. Unfortunately the cheapest place to install it was in the back of the house, so he bought me a 100' extension cord to connect it to my car out front. It's a high quality extension cord that is supposed to work well for EV charging like this, as a trickle charge L1.

The new setup was working fine for a couple of months, but two days ago it stopped working. Now when I plug in, the ready light blinks which apparently means that the ground on the outlet isn't working, which doesn't make sense to me because it's a new outlet. When I plug the EVSE into other outlets around the house it has the same problem, which also seems odd to me.

Is there some way to "reset" the ground? Or is it possible the EVSE was damaged by the setup? Please help me! I'm completely out of my element here.

Are you using the same extension cord when you try other outlets? If so, try another extension cord. It is not likely that the EVSE is damaged.

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I'm guessing that your EVSE is the Nissan portable unit (L1/L2) that came with your car? That would explain the green ready light blinking when it can't find a proper ground.

Have you tried plugging the EVSE directly -- without an extension cord -- to different outlets in your house?
If your EVSE shows (green light blinks) that all of the house outlets have no proper ground, then try plugging the EVSE in outlets at a local business, public location (e.g., library, town hall, etc) or a friend's home, to see how it behaves.

Has your landlord had electrical work done to the house recently? Something recent work may be causing the issue.

Also, you can always get a cheap plug-in circuit/outlet tester to check your outlets. If the tester indicates that you have an Open Ground on the tested outlets, then your residence may have an electrical issue that the landlord should get checked out.

100' might be too long cord for this. Test for continuity or try a different cord.

I melted a 100 footer powering my rv air conditioner last summer.

Extension cords wear out so it might need to be replaced. Do you know what gauge that 100 foot extension cord is? I would test the the EVSE and extension cord at a different location first like Henry wrote.

henrydehoja said:

Also, you can always get a cheap plug-in circuit/outlet tester to check your outlets.

Click to expand...

Yes. They're very cheap, very easy to find, and a good tool to have in general. As I recall, before they became commonly available commercially, either Popular Science, Popular Electronics, or Elementary Electronics published instructions for making your own.

Be that as it may, they will detect all the common wiring faults: open ground, open neutral, hot and neutral reversed, and the particularly nasty hot and ground reversed, and there's a sticker right on the tester, telling you what the various combinations of lights mean (hint: you want to see two greens and a dark).

And of course, if the wall socket tests good, try testing it through the extension cord.

You can also use a simple test light to test for things like ground and reversed polarity. Carefully place one prong in the little Hot slot and one in the ground hole. You should get a light that way, establishing both ground present and correct polarity. If no light, try the big Neutral slot and ground. If that gives a light, then the polarity is reversed. No light for either slot, do the Hot slot and the outlet cover mounting screw (or its threaded hole if the screw is painted heavily). If you get a light that way, the box is grounded but the ground wire to the outlet isn't connected. A flickering light means a weak ground.

The weak link in extension cords is usually the plug or socket, particularly in cases where the user is plugging/unplugging with use. And it obviously does not help that people have a rotten habit of wiggling connections when they disconnect.