Charging gone bad, Nissan wants to replace the charger assembly

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tn77 said:
I've contacted a few. No response.

Also, Nissan is dragging its feet on refunding me for the VCM replacement ($960~)

I'd try walking into a shop, with pictures and printouts to help explain what you're asking for. This might help reassure them that you're asking for a simple splice to a 12V circuit and not asking them to deal with high-voltage EV components. Tell them the dealer wants to charge you $2800 for a diode. That might help to get their "fight The Man" dander up and help you out.

Here's another page that gives more info on the role of the diode: https://hackaday.io/project/9051-j1772-ev-simulator
 
Nubo said:
...

Tell them the dealer wants to charge you $2800 for a diode. That might help to get their "fight The Man" dander up and help you out....

I don't think I would do that. If you get a dishonest mechanic, which to be fair is most of them unless you know them, then they may offer you a $2000 diode fix because really what's your other option?
 
2k1Toaster said:
Nubo said:
...

Tell them the dealer wants to charge you $2800 for a diode. That might help to get their "fight The Man" dander up and help you out....

I don't think I would do that. If you get a dishonest mechanic, which to be fair is most of them unless you know them, then they may offer you a $2000 diode fix because really what's your other option?

Nah, we were talking about audio shops here. There's no love lost between them and dealerships. They might be worried about liability though.
 
I'm not an electronics whiz... can someone explain to me exactly why this fix works? We all presume that the diode is bad. But why is the fix to INSERT a diode in this spot?

I'd like to learn a bit about this, thanks.
 
The diode needs to a be part of the circuit for charging to work correctly with an EVSE that checks for it. Putting it in that spot gets it in the circuit and is much easier than disassembling the charger to replace the existing failed diode.

Nissan won't discuss the diode, because they don't do board level repairs. Most of the repairs in this country are now component swaps, not component repairs. Many of today's 'technicians' don't even know what a soldering iron is, or how to use it.
 
Thank you for a very excellent reply.

I agree that we are a throw-away society, and my guess all along has been that Nissan techs (all the way up to corporate) don't know much about their own cars. They just say "replace the whole thing". Absurd.
 
Tn77,

I would gladly install a diode for you if you were Phoenix. I suggest you look for a car repair shop that specializes in electrical system repairs for conventional cars. Print out the instructions and photos to show them and explain there is no high voltage involved with that control circuit.
 
tn77 said:
I agree that we are a throw-away society, and my guess all along has been that Nissan techs (all the way up to corporate) don't know much about their own cars.
Keep in mind that in most parts of the US, state franchise laws are in place that prevent automakers from owning dealerships. So, in those cases, the techs work for the dealer, not Nissan, the company.

If you're curious, Google for tesla franchise laws, as it relates to their ongoing battles.
 
I don't want to get too far off topic here, but yes I understand how dealerships work. But my dealerships have close to ZERO experience servicing the Leaf, and they always have to call corporate. All of them want to throw away the entire charger instead of making the diode fix.

Once I sell this Leaf (for my second Model 3), I will never use dealerships again. They are horrible
 
tn77,
Can you please tell us what city you're located in? There are several forum members who could help you with this modification, but we don't know where you're located....Thanks....
 
Sorry. I'm using dealerships near Hagerstown and Frederick MD. (I'll update my profile.)
 
tn77 said:
I'm not an electronics whiz... can someone explain to me exactly why this fix works? We all presume that the diode is bad. But why is the fix to INSERT a diode in this spot?

I'd like to learn a bit about this, thanks.
Darell explained this in his thread, but IIRC ...

a diode is often used as a one way valve for electricity, in the same way that valves exist for water that only let it flow in one direction. The presumption here is that the diode failed in the open position so that when the EVSE checks for the diode it finds current flow in the prohibited direction. Insertion of a new diode anywhere along the path of that circuit renews the one way valve.

Incidentally, this is why diodes have orientation ;-)
 
SageBrush said:
tn77 said:
(This was already answered in this thread and I thanked him.)
TMI, eh ?

Just duplicate information. But hey, it's much more useful to have two CORRECT answers than ZERO correct answers from Nissan.
 
tn77 said:
SageBrush said:
tn77 said:
(This was already answered in this thread and I thanked him.)
TMI, eh ?

Just duplicate information. But hey, it's much more useful to have two CORRECT answers than ZERO correct answers from Nissan.
IF you had read my post and understood it, you would grasp why the old diode can stay in place and why an unusual fail whereby the old diode is in the off position cannot be repaired with a new diode nearby.

But hey, don't read the above either. It is for others with a bit more curiosity.
 
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