Schneider EVSE

[smkettner]

Never an issue in 18 months with my Gen 1 Schneider

[Ingineer]

Does anyone ever have trouble with their Schneiver EVLink (first generation) not connecting to their Leaf? About once a week, when I connect our Leaf to our EVLink at home, it starts to connect like usual... flashes the green light on the EVSE & blue lights on the dash a couple times... but the EVLink never activates the connection (no relay closure), and the Leaf never beeps. They both stop flashing and just sit there like nothing ever happened. If I then just tap the trigger on the J1772 connector once (briefly interrupting the pilot signal -- effectively unplugging and replugging it), it suddenly completes the connection and goes on like nothing was wrong. Does this happen to anyone else? I've never had it happen on any other EVSE, but that sample size is considerably lower. The couple other Leaf owners I know with an EVLink say it doesn't happen to them. So... EVLink issue, or car issue? It's done this the entire time I've owned them.

Are you 100% sure the charge handle is fully latched? You should see the release button pop fully up when it latches. If for any reason the switch doesn't close properly, the car will not acknowledge the pilot properly and charging will fail to start. This is the most commonly seen charging fault, by far.

-Phil

[iluvmacs]

Does anyone ever have trouble with their Schneiver EVLink (first generation) not connecting to their Leaf? About once a week, when I connect our Leaf to our EVLink at home, it starts to connect like usual... flashes the green light on the EVSE & blue lights on the dash a couple times... but the EVLink never activates the connection (no relay closure), and the Leaf never beeps. They both stop flashing and just sit there like nothing ever happened. If I then just tap the trigger on the J1772 connector once (briefly interrupting the pilot signal -- effectively unplugging and replugging it), it suddenly completes the connection and goes on like nothing was wrong. Does this happen to anyone else? I've never had it happen on any other EVSE, but that sample size is considerably lower. The couple other Leaf owners I know with an EVLink say it doesn't happen to them. So... EVLink issue, or car issue? It's done this the entire time I've owned them.

Are you 100% sure the charge handle is fully latched? You should see the release button pop fully up when it latches. If for any reason the switch doesn't close properly, the car will not acknowledge the pilot properly and charging will fail to start. This is the most commonly seen charging fault, by far.

-Phil

That had been what I first suspected. As far as I can tell, it is engaging. If it's in that "limbo" state, I can't pull it out, and the button does appear to be all the way popped up. When I "resqueeze" it to make it work, I can feel the switch click open and closed. I suppose it's still possible the microswitch is faulty...?

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this is that under normal connection procedure, there is a few second delay between plug-in and relay closure. Under the failed attempts, it goes through the few seconds of delay just before "giving up", and then when I "resqueeze", it connects *immediately*. It's like there's a state machine timing issue.

Why does the Schneider unit have this few second delay during connection, and no other EVSE I've used does this? Or is that the whole problem here? I have a second EVLink at our vacation home... it has the same delay. I don't think I've seen it fail to connect, but I've also only used it like 10-15 times, so I don't have a big sample size.

[Ingineer]

Some EVSE's have a delay, and it is permitted according to the standard. It should present no problem.

There is a user here called "WarrenSE" who works for Schneider. Maybe he can help?

-Phil

[WarrenSE]

I was just made aware that the updated units are now back in retail.

These units should be in stock and listed as version (or generation) 2.5.

EVlink Home Depot

Feel free to contact us with any questions at 877-283-7647 or EVLinkCSR@Schneider-Electric.com. As before, I will try to keep any new information updated and I will continue to answer any questions or messages.

[LTLFTcomposite]

Warren, if you are in a position to feed back suggestions, here is something I would find handy and others might as well as more people are starting to get a second EV: An EVSE with two cords. The unit would still be fed with a 40A breaker, but have a switch to select whether both cords present a 16A pilot signal, or one of the cords provides a 30A pilot signal and the other is dead.

[WarrenSE]

Warren, if you are in a position to feed back suggestions, here is something I would find handy and others might as well as more people are starting to get a second EV: An EVSE with two cords. The unit would still be fed with a 40A breaker, but have a switch to select whether both cords present a 16A pilot signal, or one of the cords provides a 30A pilot signal and the other is dead.

Thanks LTLFTcomposite, I can send this over to the EVlink team.

Would your desire be for an indoor residential unit? Is that the reason for being fed off a single 40A breaker?

Currently, EVlink does have an outdoor pedestal unit that has dual connections. It doesn't do the "smart" current switching, however. Each connection can output 30A. I believe it is aimed more at the commercial space. I charge on one of these dual outdoor units here at work (along with another LEAF driver).

[LTLFTcomposite]

Warren, if you are in a position to feed back suggestions, here is something I would find handy and others might as well as more people are starting to get a second EV: An EVSE with two cords. The unit would still be fed with a 40A breaker, but have a switch to select whether both cords present a 16A pilot signal, or one of the cords provides a 30A pilot signal and the other is dead.

Thanks LTLFTcomposite, I can send this over to the EVlink team.

Would your desire be for an indoor residential unit? Is that the reason for being fed off a single 40A breaker?

Currently, EVlink does have an outdoor pedestal unit that has dual connections. It doesn't do the "smart" current switching, however. Each connection can output 30A. I believe it is aimed more at the commercial space. I charge on one of these dual outdoor units here at work (along with another LEAF driver).

Yes, I was thinking residential. I could be wrong but I see more indications of two EV families, two leafs, leaf+volt, leaf+tesla, etc. If you think about it, people who are inclined to get an EV will be more inclined to get a second EV as well. My thought is that it is common for houses to have 200A service, but having more than 40A dedicated to EV charging would violate the load panel calculation. We are in exactly that boat at my house. We could just have two 20A EVSEs, and that would be the most common mode of operation, but it would be nice to have the flexibility to apply the full 40A to a single vehicle at times.

It would be a niche product, but I can see it growing over time. It might be possible to implement it with two EVlink units on the same 40A circuit interconnected by low voltage signalling with some accessory switch box.

[smkettner]

Excellent idea. For home use a 24 amp might also sell well as it could use an existing 30a dryer circuit. Split 12a 240v between two vehicles as needed.
For networked commercial units I could see derating them so you could feed say 8 on a 100a circuit. All derated to 10a if needed depending on use.
Might sell more product if the install was not as intensive.

[Ingineer]

I see this as a great idea as well. Make it programmable so that it can be set to 16, 24, and maybe even 40 amps total as it's top end, then the EVSE could "split the difference" between the 2 EV's if both were charging. If only one, then it receives full power. (Those ampacities correspond to use on 20, 30 and 50A circuits)

We have customers now with 2 LEAFs, and our upgrade is now programmable, so we have 2 EV's sharing one dryer circuit, and the EVSE's are programmed for 12A each. It would be greatly enhanced if the EVSE's could "talk" to each other.

-Phil