Flashlight on the pistol grip of the charger EVSE

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Uccello

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 5, 2011
Messages
53
Location
San Diego
Hi All- over the weekend I bought a small cheap LED flashlight at Lowe's for $5 and gaffer taped it to the pistol of the charger. I just got tired of fumbling around in the dark garage for the inlet on the car. I'd post a pic but...er...I don't know how to add attachments for all to see.

-u
 
Good idea! Also makes you wish is was a part of the plug standard.

I think there are stickies about posting pictures. Basically - you have to have them posted to the web somewhere and have a URL for the image (e.g. imageshack.us) and the use the
 
How much would it have cost Nissan to include a small LED light inside the charging door like the one in the glove compartment? Small item & cost for large benefit. :(
 
mwalsh said:
Gonewild said:
I plan to turn on the LIGHT in the garage. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Me too. Round these parts you don't want to be skulking around in the dark holding something that sorta looks like it could be a gun! :lol:
No, seriously officer, that's unwarranted excessive force. The loss of the pilot signal had already caused the EVSE to shut off ... so my "gun" wasn't loaded. :x

(Sorry ... could not resist.)
 
Adding an LED light or two, turned ON by a micro-switch when the E-Hatch is fully open, would be relatively easy to do.

Even easier would be an inexpensive, stick-on, battery-powered, tap-on, tap-off LED light, perhaps stuck to the under-side of the E-Hatch lid.

Such lights, for use in closets or other dark areas, are common at many stores, even occasionally found at the "99¢ Store".

Then, with the light on your car instead of the nozzle in your garage, you are better prepared for e-fueling in the dark anywhere.
 
Yes, originally I was going to use the closet LED in the car because what I really think Nissan should do is light the inlet port with a timed LED when the charging hatch is opened. But I couldn't find one small enough and I wanted it foolproof for anyone else using it. I.e. you'd have to know it is there to use it unless you rigged some automatic switch. By attaching the mini light to the pistol grip, you just turn it on when you pick it up to plug it in and it seems more natural to use now.

Our garage is pretty typical, the light that turns on automatically is located on the garage door opener located near the center of the space. Therefore the charging hatch when opened creates a natural shadow for any light not coming directly in front of the vehicle. Add this to the fact that all of charging hatch components are black plastic except for the little orange hatch door and it is pretty tough to plug in without fumbling around a bit.

I'm not sure why a light was not in the SAE J1772 specification did not include a light since more than a few of the locations for the chargers will be in lowly lit mall garages like the ones going in at the Mission Valley mall.

-u

"Your milage may vary, but mine is 100% solar powered..."
 
The Ford Focus J-1772 inlet has circular LEDs around it, in four segments... I think it lightrs up for a target, then once connected shows the SOC... we don't know excatly, because no one has one, but you can clearly see the blue LED semicircles in the pictures.
 
mitch672 said:
The Ford Focus J-1772 inlet has circular LEDs around it, in four segments... I think it lightrs up for a target, then once connected shows the SOC... we don't know excatly, because no one has one, but you can clearly see the blue LED semicircles in the pictures.
The led functions the same way the 3 lights in front of leaf do.
 
Uccello said:
I'm not sure why a light was not in the SAE J1772 specification did not include a light since more than a few of the locations for the chargers will be in lowly lit mall garages like the ones going in at the Mission Valley mall.

I have a tiny single LED flashlight on my key ring. As long as I have my car key with me, I'll always have a flashlight.
 
It was the function that a pistol grip can attach a flashlight, in which it was really comfortable to the gun. It was the action that it is nice to have a combination of gun and flashlight. It is for more benefits and widely use.
 
I also put a small LED flasklight on the handle area. This does come in very handy. Seems BLINK should have one built in that comes on when you press the trigger.
 
I just sent my LEAF dealer an email about this! My charger is in my driveway (under a carport) and at night I am always fumbling around lining it up. A little LED in the charging compartment that turns on when it is open is a no-brainer, and would have to be cheap to implement.

Lots of little things like this have been left out of the first production vehicles--hopefully in 10 years when I'm ready for my next EV they will have improved ;)

Ken
 
Someone on this forum bought the Sylvania Linear Motion LED with magnet:

Sylvania-Linear-Motion-Sensor-LED-Light-Bulb-in-White.jpg


It uses a battery and has a motion/ight sensor. It also has a magnet on the back that can attach to the inside of the charging hatch. That way when you pop the charging hatch at night, it'll light everything up. Then when you approach it later that evening in the dark, it will light up again.

Granted it is not as cool as an illuminated ring, but I'll still be ordering one when my Leaf arrives.
 
How about this solution?

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=3078" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

pic
 
Nissan Japan offers A Charging Port Light for 18,900 YEN. See the translated site at: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://ev.nissan.co.jp/LEAFTOHOME/&ei=ZHJ0TrnhBuLHsQLBj5SMBQ&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDIQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dtranslate%2Bhttp://ev.nissan.co.jp/LEAFTOHOME/%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26tbo%3Dd%26prmd%3Divns" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You may need to copy and paste the link. There are lots of Leaf options if you live in Japan. I noticed even the UK offers more options than the US.
 
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