2011 Nissan Leaf with a newly replaced battery

I am hoping someone might be able to help. I own a 2011 Nissan Leaf, I replaced the battery thru Nissan 3 weeks ago, out of pocket. I was not told anything about not using my original 120v wall charger (came with my Leaf). Last night my car did not charge, today I went to investigate why, and found that my charger got so hot, it melted from the inside out. It was stuck to my concrete floor. The outlet is fine, so it was a charger issue.
Is the 2011 120v not compatible with the new Lizard battery?
Has this happened to anyone else?
Any feedback is helpful. Thanks

I think I just read about your adventures today on Google!
No, there is no reason your EVSE shouldn't work with the new battery. Obviously your charger (EVSE) had an internal problem. I would try to find a public charger that you know works and give that a try. I think you're going to be needing a new EVSE, or the dealership didn't connect something correctly. Either way, that EVSE is toast!

The first call you should make is to the dealership that did the work. Something is not right....

Joynkadin25 said:

I am hoping someone might be able to help. I own a 2011 Nissan Leaf, I replaced the battery thru Nissan 3 weeks ago, out of pocket. I was not told anything about not using my original 120v wall charger (came with my Leaf). Last night my car did not charge, today I went to investigate why, and found that my charger got so hot, it melted from the inside out. It was stuck to my concrete floor. The outlet is fine, so it was a charger issue.
Is the 2011 120v not compatible with the new Lizard battery?
Has this happened to anyone else?
Any feedback is helpful. Thanks

Click to expand...

Pls Clarify,
1) Are you the original owner? Or did you purchase recently?
2) Your location
3) Temprature when you were charging
4) How many times have you charged with the 120 V portable EVSE since you had the battery replaced?
5) were you using an extension cord
6) was the 120 V portable EVSE with you at home when the car battery (main traction battery, not 12V battery?) was being replaced

I'd be equally concerned about the EVSE and the installation work on the new pack. Something is/was very wrong with one or even both. Have you tried L-2 charging? If you do, watch the car for errors or odd behavior.

I was wondering if this story was about him: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1111264_new-life-for-old-nissan-leaf-electric-car-battery-replacement-and-what-it-took

My car was charging at home with the 120v plugged directly into the wall. It seems to charge fine at the chargers I have used around town. But I did think it was charging well at home to. I live in CA and it was a little warmer yesterday high 80'. The plug and outlet are fine, it's the charging box that literally burned from the inside out. I contacted Nissan today and was told it must have been caused by my home electrical/wire. I informed them that the plug and outlet are unharmed and a breaker never tripped. I am planning on taking my car to a 3rd party machinc tomorrow to see if the battery was installed correctly.

Thanks for updating... I find your tale a bit un-nerving... My 2011 EVSE block was upgraded to do both 120 and 240; I sent it back to EVSE upgrade for evaluation as it was running warm, and it was returned, with new programming...not sure what was done to it... The cable on the pistol side also broke, which they repaired as a separate incident... While I'm not abusing the cable, it has developed an odd spiral nature, that they told me was due to improper coiling, but that said, I no longer coil it, but rather use very big loops the size of the trunk since the last repair... Odd, as extension cords and audio cables in my care, from over the years, are all fine...

Think the sum point is who is looking to have a fire...? Not any of us as far as I can tell... Please keep us posted... Meanwhile I will be making sure the block is not too warm to the touch...

One possibility is simple co-incidence: the EVSE went bad yesterday.

I'm more inclined to think that the EVSE had been defective for a while but the old battery 'protected' it by pulling a lower power. The new battery exposed the defect.

Joynkadin25 said:

I am planning on taking my car to a 3rd party machinc tomorrow to see if the battery was installed correctly.

Click to expand...

As if the mechanic will have a clue.

I would connect the car to an EVSE that shows power and Amp draw.

SageBrush said:

One possibility is simple co-incidence: the EVSE went bad yesterday.

I'm more inclined to think that the EVSE had been defective for a while but the old battery 'protected' it by pulling a lower power. The new battery exposed the defect.

Click to expand...

Point 1, I thought that as well. Correlation without causation... Fair enough.

Point 2, Not as likely. The amperage would be the same during the bulk of the charge for either batteries... Yes? More duration but same amperage... But yes, might be a factor.

Things do wear out but an elegant failure, nicer, as opposed to a literal melt down... In any case, I'd think Nissan legal would want to get to the bottom of it fairly promptly.

JimSouCal said:

Point 2, Not as likely. The amperage would be the same during the bulk of the charge for either batteries... Yes? More duration but same amperage...

Click to expand...

I didn't think so, but I am not positive. Perhaps @GerryAZ can chime in.

Unless something happened with the onboard charger or the pilot signal from the EVSE, a deteriorated battery will draw as much current as a new battery (just for a shorter time if charging from dead). Also, charging time after driving a given distance will be the same for a new battery or deteriorated battery because the energy consumed by driving is the same in both cases. If the pilot signal from the EVSE is functioning correctly and the onboard charger is respecting that signal, the car should only draw 12 amperes from the unmodified Nissan EVSE at approximately 120 volts.

There was one report of an onboard charger failure on a 2011 or 2012 that caused it to draw more current, but still charge when connected to 120 volts. In that case, the input voltage sensing circuit failed so the charger thought it was connected to 208 or 240 volts and it would pull about 30 amperes from the 120-volt circuit to match the full load power input (and DC output) of the charger at 208 or 240 volts. In that case, the car would also not charge from 208 or 240 volts because the charger thought the voltage was too high.

The onboard charger and its wiring should not have been disturbed during the battery replacement so I suspect the EVSE failure after battery replacement was just coincidence. Based upon the description of the failure, I suspect a loose connection on the input or output cable inside the EVSE housing.

I think that was about the most informative answer anyone could hope for, and I agree with JimSouCal that Nissan (and the dealership that did the work) would hopefully want to find out exactly what went wrong here to avoid any PR fallout. I think blaming the owner's wiring is the wrong way to go here!
If the OP indeed paid the full price for a replacement traction battery, it would look good if they comped him a new OEM EVSE instead of trying to charge him full retail. If not, send a note to EVSE Upgrade. I'm sure they have a few around that they would part with for much less. Even the upgraded ones without a core are much less than than dealer wholesale.