Failed to charge - interesting human error

Last night our LEAF failed to charge, even though it was plugged in or at least the LEAF thought it was. We have a Clipper Creek EVSE. The LEAF is set to begin charging at 12:00am and stop at 80% or 5:00am. This morning I was looking at the vehicle status from the owners web page and noticed it said 50% state of charge and it also showed the LEAF was plugged in. So I knew it hadn't actually charged because it was at 50% last night. I checked the J1772 handle and noticed it was connected but wasn't positively locked in. After dozens of attempts, I was able to recreate what had happened. There is a point on the connector where the car thinks it's plugged in but the EVSE doesn't. However, if the handle is firmly locked (you can't pull it out without pushing the release) then the EVSE also always believes it's plugged in.

I've had two failures to charge. First was caused by plugging in and not verifying connection; it's important to see the charging lights doing their thing. (Flashing in sequence if timer is set, or showing which third of the battery is charging, if you're doing immediate charge).

Second was caused by hitting the Stop button on my AV EVSE after I had turned the timer in the car off in order to measure current draw of the EVSE. In order to correct this situation, I pulled plug and reinserted; that reset everything.

Incidentally, I got the same numbers that others have reported; 15.2 Amps with Amp clamp; 3.7 kW from TED. AeroVironment EVSE.

This morning set a new record; I got THREE charging ended emails. Didn't have time to look at TED data. I have 80% charging end timer set and cabin heater timer set.

-Karl

kolmstead said:

I've had two failures to charge. First was caused by plugging in and not verifying connection; it's important to see the charging lights doing their thing. (Flashing in sequence if timer is set, or showing which third of the battery is charging, if you're doing immediate charge).

Click to expand...

However, for the situation I'm describing, I actually saw the light flashing in sequence indicating it's in timer mode. The LEAF actually thinks it's plugged in. But it won't charge because the EVSE doesn't think it's plugged in and so it won't energize the circuit. So I would suggest you connect the J1772 handle, pull the J1772 handle back (without depressing the release trigger) to check for a positive lock, and then check the lights.

ENIAC said:

kolmstead said:

I've had two failures to charge. First was caused by plugging in and not verifying connection; it's important to see the charging lights doing their thing. (Flashing in sequence if timer is set, or showing which third of the battery is charging, if you're doing immediate charge).

Click to expand...

However, for the situation I'm describing, I actually saw the light flashing in sequence indicating it's in timer mode. The LEAF actually thinks it's plugged in. But it won't charge because the EVSE doesn't think it's plugged in and so it won't energize the circuit. So I would suggest you connect the J1772 handle, pull the J1772 handle back (without depressing the release trigger) to check for a positive lock, and then check the lights.

Click to expand...

My wife had the same happen on our second day of owning the Leaf, I showed her how to double check the connection and we have not had it since

I have also had two "charging failures" for my delay timing process on my Volt. It would appear that I am not consistently getting the handle placed in the chargeport, though it seemed OK.

The suggestion to insert the handle, feel the lock, and then try to pull it out without pressing on the release button seems like a MOST thoughtful approach to preventing this problem.

With the Volt, missing a charge cycle is not a total disaster, but when our LEAF arrives in the next couple of weeks, this could be much more serious, to put it mildly.

THANKS for the suggestion !

After "pulling to verify positive lock" also push it back in. That's my suggestion anyways. It may NOT make a difference, but then again, it's to make it more likely to prevent an issue.

My suspicion is: the recessed signal pins (proximity and pilot signal) in the receptacle on the car (applies to both Volt and LEAF) are causing this "issue". The proximity pin is -- in layman's terms -- more "sensitive" and "feels" the connection, while the pilot signal does not. Once the load on the pilot signal switches, the "barely connected" signal is not sufficient (higher resistance than J1772 spec) to tell the EVSE to begin charge.

When I plug in my Clipper Creek, I hear a solid "thunk" from the unit (relay?) and the CC's charging light comes on briefly. If I'm not doing an immediate charge, the charging light then goes out. When the LEAF's timer kicks in, the CC's charging light comes back on for the duration of the charging cycle.

Okay I just spent a half hour looking into this and I think I figured it out. First, if you slowly push the J1772 connector on you'll a slight relay sound. It's not the loud sound you hear when you lock it in normally. It's very faint. Once you hear that sound, check your owners web page (refresh it) and it will show "plugged in" but it's actually not.

But that's not the issue I saw. I saw the lights flashing and the heard the relay sound and yet it didn't charge. Here's what I believe happened. When I connected the J1772, my palm must have been over the trigger because I wasn't holding it as a pistol. It's simpler to connect it that way because it's straight in. However, doing that didn't allow the latch on the handle to snap down behind the LEAF's receptacle, for a positive lock. Rather, the latch stayed on top of the receptacle. There's an angle on the back of the latch and that enabled the handle to back out slightly at some point during the night. Maybe the trigger spring tension did it or perhaps vibrations from the relay. Regardless, the process of trying to pull it back out (without pushing the trigger) will ensure it is positively locked.

kolmstead said:

This morning set a new record; I got THREE charging ended emails.

Click to expand...

I got two from last night. One at 11:05pm and another at 12:13am. I'd trade either for a Charging Started email. :lol:

I have had only one failure to charge...but that was simply due to the fact that on Saturdays and Sundays, I had a TIMER 2 time set.....and when I woke up Saturday morning wondering why TIMER 1 hadn't gone off, I realized that TIMER 2 was set to a noon start time.

I have since gone back and set TIMER 1 to end at 5:00am 7 days a week to avoid that happening again.

For folks with programmable EVSEs (Blink), would you be better off using the EVSE timer features instead of the Leaf's?

GroundLoop said:

For folks with programmable EVSEs (Blink), would you be better off using the EVSE timer features instead of the Leaf's?

Click to expand...

I've been debating this myself, however I'm leaning toward letting the LEAF control all charge timing since it can be controlled over CARWINGS. The Blink may have remote capability too, but I like the one-stop-shopping CARWINGS provides.

GroundLoop said:

For folks with programmable EVSEs (Blink), would you be better off using the EVSE timer features instead of the Leaf's?

Click to expand...

I thinking of turning off the LEAF timer and using the Blink EVSE (once I get it). That way you don't have to remember to hit the override when using a public charger. I wish the timer were a little "smarter". It should use the GPS to know I'm home and the timer is only set to my home location. If I'm home and want to charge out side of the timer setting, then override should enable that. However, if I'm not home then charging should happen without the override. And that includes if some idiot unplugs and then plugs the car in again, it should simply continue to charge.

GroundLoop said:

For folks with programmable EVSEs (Blink), would you be better off using the EVSE timer features instead of the Leaf's?

Click to expand...

If you plan to charge to 80% instead of 100% as far as I know you can only use the Leaf's built in timers to accomplish this.

ENIAC said:

kolmstead said:

I've had two failures to charge. First was caused by plugging in and not verifying connection; it's important to see the charging lights doing their thing. (Flashing in sequence if timer is set, or showing which third of the battery is charging, if you're doing immediate charge).

Click to expand...

However, for the situation I'm describing, I actually saw the light flashing in sequence indicating it's in timer mode. The LEAF actually thinks it's plugged in. But it won't charge because the EVSE doesn't think it's plugged in and so it won't energize the circuit. So I would suggest you connect the J1772 handle, pull the J1772 handle back (without depressing the release trigger) to check for a positive lock, and then check the lights.

Click to expand...

I had the same thing happen. 1-2-3- light sequence. Did not charge and would not charge on manual. I had to disconnect and reconnect the the J1772.

Now I wait for a loud click that my EVSE makes. That seems to indicate that all is well.

I see this thread has been inactive for awhile, so maybe people are not having this problem. I came out this morning to discover that the car did not charge. My suspicion is that I set Timer 2 for weekends, so the other posts were helpful. But there was a yellow warning light on, so if it was not set to charge why would there be a warning light? I left the car at home and set it for immediate charge-- so I'll see if that worked. I still have my other car, but this could be annoying once I sell it. S

We just brought the car home and are ready for our first charge. The blink says ready to Charente the car. We plug it in and no lights come on on the car dash and the blink says "not charging". Any help?

Try power cycling the blink. If that does not work try charging with the EVSE that was included with the Leaf. If that works try charging with the Blink again. If the Blink still does not charge call Blink support.

Hello,
Press the "timer" button on the dash to eliminate that as a possibility. If the center light on top of the dash illuminates then a timer is set in the Leaf. Then go to the blink and press "settings" on the screen then select charging timer. Make sure it is set to "charge immediately when plugged in." Press "save" If it still does not work, call Blink.

Don

OK, thanks , it's successfully charging now