Urgent Help Needed Evlink L2 charger not working -

[Valid8r]

Hey everyone, I returned from a 2 week vacation and plugged in my Leaf to my 1 month old Schneider Electric Evlink charger. As per normal procedure, the main light came on (green), I got one of the bars green and then I heard the 'thunk' as the relay kicked in and charging commenced. I came back in 5 minutes and noticed that the normal 'power' light that is green was red and that none of my blue dash lights were lit on my Leaf. I unplugged, and replugged, and nothing happened. I unplugged and then flipped the breaker to my Evlink and replugged and everything seemed to work, but then in about 1 minute, the system shut down and I got the red light. Multiple retries, same thing - starts charging for about 30 seconds and then stops.

One thing of note. While trying to research the red light, I noticed that the unit is listed as an indoor charger - mine is located on the outside of my house.

Any thoughts?

Thanks for any help advice. No support available from Schneider except M-F 9-5...

Jon

 

[GerryAZ]

It is possible that moisture in the unit and/or cable is causing the ground fault protection to drop out the contactor. Try charging with the Leaf 120-volt EVSE. If the Leaf unit charges the car, the problem is definitely with the Schneider L2 unit.

Gerry

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

not sure i would be happy with a "wet" system that took 5 minutes to decide it was too wet to charge.

disconnect the 12 volt battery. wait 2 minutes, open and close all the doors (stand on left foot at NW corner of gar...ooh jk !! ) and see what happens

 

[keydiver]

In my experience with the Schneider EVSE, the RED light means a ground fault. As GerryAZ said, you should try the factory EVSE first, and see how that goes. If the factory EVSE charges the car fine, you might turn the breaker off to the Schneider unit and try drying the internals out with a blow dryer. There are just 2 small screws on the bottom of the front panel that hold it on, if I recall. I don't know if I would trust mounting the Schneider outdoors, as the unit is not hermetically sealed, and the circuit board inside could easily malfunction from rain or high humidity, IMO.

 

[smkettner]

Return it for a Leviton... or the outdoor rated Schneider.

For today take the cover off and make sure it is dry inside.

 

[Valid8r]

Update: I found that the connector (plug) itself had moisture in it. I found that if I 'smacked' it against my hand, droplets of moisture would fly out. After numerous smacks and plugging in/out, I was able to get it to stay in the charging mode. I'm somewhat surprised because the connector is (I believe) standard for most charging stations (indoor and outdoor) - right? Given this I would think that any outdoor units (regardless of manufacturer) might experience water intrusion into the plug/connector...

I am going to try to find a way to lock my plug/connector in a plastic weather-tight box and then shield the actual charger (mounted to my house) from water/snow...

Thoughts?

Thanks for the help already.

Jon

 

[Ingineer]

No need to protect the J1772 connector on your EVSE from water, just hang it in such a way that the connector part is always pointing down. This can be accomplished with a simple hook.

This way any moisture that does accumulate can drain easily.

-Phil

 

[jcan]

I've got a similar problem with the same charger. The Trickle charger works on the car, but the Schneider lights up green then changes to the red dot.
Only difference is that mine is inside the garage and dry so that idea is out the window Leading up to this I hadn't used the Schneider charger for a week or so and trickle charged during that time. When I finally had access the L2 Schneider I plugged it in and it will go thru it's start sequence once the main contact clunks over though
the red light comes on...

If there's anyone in my area North Vancouver (Canada) that is interested in trying my charger on their car to see if it is my charger or car problem that would help out allot
Any other ideas on how to test the charger :? Thanks in advance

Jeff

 

[jcan]

Update: I just got back from Nissan, and on my way... I got the orange car with an exclamation mark on it display to the right of the green car (instrument cluster) I spoke to the Nissan service guys and they think it may have something to do with a "junction box" he went on to say this piece is pretty big and ties into allot of systems, it may be the cause.
My car is going in next week anyways to have this "junction box" replaced due to the heater not working... we'll see what happens.

 

[smkettner]

Good luck I would not like to hear it is a problem with Schneider.