DEAD LEAF

[Stanton]

There is no question that we get more CNC / inverter failures the day after a thunderstorm.

I treat my Leaf with the same advice I tell my CNC customers. Unplug the machine / car during the thunderstorms.

+1 I do the same thing (if plugged in at all). Guess hindsight is 20/20.

 

[ERG4ALL]

We have 34 Sharp panels with Enphase micro-inverters and an AeroVironment L2 EVSE. We've had no problem with them. We did have one electrical storm that knocked out the power briefly. The AV system basically shut down as if the battery were charged even when it wasn't. I reinitiated the charging cycle and everything was okay. Like others here, I do recommend unplugging during electrical storms.

Our AV unit is not connected directly to the same panel as our PV system. It is located on a sub-panel about 60 feet from the main panel. We did find it necessary to use PlugLink LAN transmission devices over the house wiring to get the PV status from its Envoy Communications Gateway to our internet connected modem.

Don't know if that helps any, but we're very satisfied with our AV unit, perhaps you got something fried in the unit. I was wondering how well your system is grounded. When our PV system was put in, they drove an 8' copper clad stake into the ground for a second grounding of the system and house wiring (via the main buss panel).

 

[shacksleaf]

We have 34 Sharp panels with Enphase micro-inverters and an AeroVironment L2 EVSE. We've had no problem with them. We did have one electrical storm that knocked out the power briefly. The AV system basically shut down as if the battery were charged even when it wasn't. I reinitiated the charging cycle and everything was okay. Like others here, I do recommend unplugging during electrical storms.

Our AV unit is not connected directly to the same panel as our PV system. It is located on a sub-panel about 60 feet from the main panel. We did find it necessary to use PlugLink LAN transmission devices over the house wiring to get the PV status from its Envoy Communications Gateway to our internet connected modem.

Don't know if that helps any, but we're very satisfied with our AV unit, perhaps you got something fried in the unit. I was wondering how well your system is grounded. When our PV system was put in, they drove an 8' copper clad stake into the ground for a second grounding of the system and house wiring (via the main buss panel).

thanks for the info - PV config is 16 Sunpower308 panels and SPR-500m inverter. At this point I am waiting for the power utility to replace my meter and for the installer to turn-up the system. The main cutoff between the inverter and the power panel is OFF (and has been through this problem with the LEAF), so, unless they screwed something up with the L2- EVSE wiring during their PV installation - I doubt it is PV related - but who knows. Still waiting to hear back from Nissan as to what they found this time -

 

[tcherniaev]

I just had the same issue with my Leaf today. It was fully charged, I did not use it for a day, then got into it to drive to the grocery store and and shows 0 miles range and 0 bars. No electrical storm, it's been sunny for weeks. Plugged into EVSE, and it would not charge. Tried Nissan portable unit with the same result. Put in into 'N' and rolled it onto the street for the town truck to come get it. It's 4th of July today, so I am going to call the dealer tomorrow to see what they will do to fix the car.

 

[smkettner]

I just had the same issue with my Leaf today. It was fully charged, I did not use it for a day, then got into it to drive to the grocery store and and shows 0 miles range and 0 bars. No electrical storm, it's been sunny for weeks. Plugged into EVSE, and it would not charge. Tried Nissan portable unit with the same result. Put in into 'N' and rolled it onto the street for the town truck to come get it. It's 4th of July today, so I am going to call the dealer tomorrow to see what they will do to fix the car.

Does the 12v battery have 12.5+ volts? Or is it dead too?

 

[HighDesertDriver]

Does the 12v battery have 12.5+ volts? Or is it dead too?

This was my thought, also. A 12V battery with a bad cell can go from "full" to "dead" in less than a minute as that single cell self-discharges. Without the needed 12V power source, the dash may illuminate but not receive data from the BMS, hence the zeros. See if recharging the 12V battery from an off-vehicle charger restores function. Check each cell of the battery for clarity; the electrolyte of bad cells will usually look muddy.

With respect to something in the vehicle truly allowing the traction battery to discharge to zero, all that power would have had to have gone somewhere. A missing 20+ kWh worth of power in a short time would leave clues in the form of smoke and puddles of melted LEAF on the garage floor.

 

[smkettner]

"did not use it for a day" implied to me it could have been inadvertantly left on or accessory mode.
I am thinking charge the 12v and see if it wakes up.

 

[shacksleaf]

Does the 12v battery have 12.5+ volts? Or is it dead too?

This was my thought, also. A 12V battery with a bad cell can go from "full" to "dead" in less than a minute as that single cell self-discharges. Without the needed 12V power source, the dash may illuminate but not receive data from the BMS, hence the zeros. See if recharging the 12V battery from an off-vehicle charger restores function. Check each cell of the battery for clarity; the electrolyte of bad cells will usually look muddy.

With respect to something in the vehicle truly allowing the traction battery to discharge to zero, all that power would have had to have gone somewhere. A missing 20+ kWh worth of power in a short time would leave clues in the form of smoke and puddles of melted LEAF on the garage floor.

It appears in my case (and the jury is still out) that the traction battery was, in fact, still charged and for some yet undetermined reason the software was not recognizing it as charged - thus the false indicators and software shutdown

 

[planet4ever]

I just had the same issue with my Leaf today. It was fully charged, I did not use it for a day, then got into it to drive to the grocery store and and shows 0 miles range and 0 bars.

I'm curious as to what you mean by "0 miles range". Do you mean literally that the big number on the right side of the dash is zero? Or is it three dashes? Is it flashing? Is the turtle lit up? Is the low battery light on? How about the master warning (yellow triangle with "!")? Are there any other red or yellow warning lights? Does the display in the middle of the dash say anything about low battery?

Ray

 

[LEAFer]

I just had the same issue with my Leaf today. It was fully charged, I did not use it for a day, then got into it to drive to the grocery store and and shows 0 miles range and 0 bars.

I'm curious as to what you mean by "0 miles range". Do you mean literally that the big number on the right side of the dash is zero? Or is it three dashes? Is it flashing? Is the turtle lit up? Is the low battery light on? How about the master warning (yellow triangle with "!")? Are there any other red or yellow warning lights? Does the display in the middle of the dash say anything about low battery?

Ray

+1

A photo would be worth ... let's say ... hmmm ... I would guesstimate ... round about ... 1,000 words

 

[shacksleaf]

I just had the same issue with my Leaf today. It was fully charged, I did not use it for a day, then got into it to drive to the grocery store and and shows 0 miles range and 0 bars.

I'm curious as to what you mean by "0 miles range". Do you mean literally that the big number on the right side of the dash is zero? Or is it three dashes? Is it flashing? Is the turtle lit up? Is the low battery light on? How about the master warning (yellow triangle with "!")? Are there any other red or yellow warning lights? Does the display in the middle of the dash say anything about low battery?

Ray

+1

A photo would be worth ... let's say ... hmmm ... I would guesstimate ... round about ... 1,000 words

Ray - if you will send me an email with your email address I will be happy to forward you a photo I took of the display when mine first went out - my email is [email protected]

 

[LEAFer]

Ray - if you will send me an email with your email address I will be happy to forward you a photo I took of the display when mine first went out - my email is -----------------

Try a free image hosting site, like imageshack.us. Upload it there, then paste a link to it here for all to see. ( And I would edit that post and remove the publicly visible email. Use PM (Private Message) instead ... )

 

[planet4ever]

shacksleaf did send me two photos. It's pretty clear to me that his problem is a dead 12v battery, and that is triggering the other symptoms.

Ray

 

[davewill]

shacksleaf did send me two photos. It's pretty clear to me that his problem is a dead 12v battery, and that is triggering the other symptoms.

Ray

I can see why you think so, with the battery fault light on, although I find it odd. I would have thought that if the 12v was charged enough to run the dash, it would have sufficed to start the car. Perhaps that icon refers to the traction battery?

 

[Nekota]

shacksleaf did send me two photos. It's pretty clear to me that his problem is a dead 12v battery, and that is triggering the other symptoms.

Ray

I can see why you think so, with the battery fault light on, although I find it odd. I would have thought that if the 12v was charged enough to run the dash, it would have sufficed to start the car. Perhaps that icon refers to the traction battery?

I noticed my 12V battery icon is on when I'm in ACC mode - that is when you power on without brake pedal and power on a 2nd time. Anyone else see the battery icon in this mode? If so, maybe the LEAF is in ACC mode instead of a battery failure?

 

[tcherniaev]

Hi all, I thought an update may be appropriate about now... Just to clarify, I am the guy in Utah who had the same issue with the dead Leaf. First off, sorry, I did not take any photos, but everything looked the same as the other photos posted. Second, when the dealer tested the car, both 12V and main batteries were fully charged, so that's not an issue. They re-set the car and battery status went from 0 to 100%. Below is the running summary:
- Had the car towed to the dealer on July 4th in the morning
- They did a bunch of testing and software updating on July 5th; even thought the car was running, they asked to keep it overnight per Nissan's request
- Today (July 6th) they told me that after several calls to Nissan engineers they are still not comfortable with returning the car to me, so they finally gave me a loaner car to use over the weekend (I asked for another Leaf, but none were available so I am driving an Altima)

Overall, dealer has been nice to work with, but the whole issue is frustrating. This is the fist time in my life I had to get my car towed (excluding 3 car accidents).

 

[shacksleaf]

Hi all, I thought an update may be appropriate about now... Just to clarify, I am the guy in Utah who had the same issue with the dead Leaf. First off, sorry, I did not take any photos, but everything looked the same as the other photos posted. Second, when the dealer tested the car, both 12V and main batteries were fully charged, so that's not an issue. They re-set the car and battery status went from 0 to 100%. Below is the running summary:
- Had the car towed to the dealer on July 4th in the morning
- They did a bunch of testing and software updating on July 5th; even thought the car was running, they asked to keep it overnight per Nissan's request
- Today (July 6th) they told me that after several calls to Nissan engineers they are still not comfortable with returning the car to me, so they finally gave me a loaner car to use over the weekend (I asked for another Leaf, but none were available so I am driving an Altima)

Overall, dealer has been nice to work with, but the whole issue is frustrating. This is the fist time in my life I had to get my car towed (excluding 3 car accidents).

From Shacksleaf;
Update on mine - picked it up yesterday afternoon - it happened that while I was in the dealership a really bad electrical storm came through so I had plenty of time to discuss it with the service manager -

I enquired about the 12v battery being the culprit - he said that is one of the first things they checked both times - and in both cases mine checked out perfectly. I did learn that they have over 60 cars under service and are becoming one of the largest LEAF dealers on the East Coast -

Final analysis - car itself checks out fine - I am now going down the Aeroenvironment path - anyone had any dealings with them. Some issues that I need to have checked out: Power panel has been rearranged by the Solar installers and their breakers repositioned - issue? ( Solar system itself is still waiting to be commissoned by power company - so it is not producing and not actually connected at this point) During both times the car went belly up, it was charging while my wife was running the washer/dryer - issue?

When I get to my office and scanner I will shoot Ray the codes from the report that my service manager provided and ask him to post them

As I keep telling my wife - it's all in the interest of science ! She just rolls her eyes....

 

[RegGuheert]

Some issues that I need to have checked out: Power panel has been rearranged by the Solar installers and their breakers repositioned - issue?

It's possible this is the source of your problem. It's pretty easy to forget to tighten a wire back down while moving things around. If they didn't tighten down one of the hot wires to your EVSE properly, that would possibly cause an intermittent problem. I would ask them to check all the connections next time they are in there to make sure they are tight.

( Solar system itself is still waiting to be commissoned by power company - so it is not producing and not actually connected at this point)

It may not be producing now, but I'm willing to bet that they tested the system after they rewired your panel. It's possible they made a mistake and damaged something, but I doubt it. One other possibility is that the solar system created an over voltage condition in your house. My system occasionally creates a slight overvoltage condition in my main breaker panel, as discussed in the following thread (we went a little bit off-topic): Our LEAF disrupts our PV System while charging

During both times the car went belly up, it was charging while my wife was running the washer/dryer - issue?

Possibly you could get an undervoltage condition with your car drawing 3800W and your dryer drawing 4800W and perhaps your air-conditioner running, etc.

If you have a voltmeter, you might want measure the voltage at an unloaded circuit near your breaker panel under different conditions to see if undervoltage or overvoltage conditions might sometimes occur. (For reference, in North America, the proper voltage range is 115V to 125V for a "120V" outlet and 230V to 250V for a "240V" outlet.)

I don't know how the AV EVSE or the charger in the LEAF respond to over- or undervoltage conditions. It is possible that the LEAF will throw a fault code and shut down in these cases. I have never seen that happen with my LEAF, but perhaps in your case it detects an undervoltage and gives up. It might be worth investigating for the sake of science!

 

[shacksleaf]

Some issues that I need to have checked out: Power panel has been rearranged by the Solar installers and their breakers repositioned - issue?

It's possible this is the source of your problem. It's pretty easy to forget to tighten a wire back down while moving things around. If they didn't tighten down one of the hot wires to your EVSE properly, that would possibly cause an intermittent problem. I would ask them to check all the connections next time they are in there to make sure they are tight.

( Solar system itself is still waiting to be commissoned by power company - so it is not producing and not actually connected at this point)

It may not be producing now, but I'm willing to bet that they tested the system after they rewired your panel. It's possible they made a mistake and damaged something, but I doubt it. One other possibility is that the solar system created an over voltage condition in your house. My system occasionally creates a slight overvoltage condition in my main breaker panel, as discussed in the following thread (we went a little bit off-topic): Our LEAF disrupts our PV System while charging

During both times the car went belly up, it was charging while my wife was running the washer/dryer - issue?

Possibly you could get an undervoltage condition with your car drawing 3800W and your dryer drawing 4800W and perhaps your air-conditioner running, etc.

If you have a voltmeter, you might want measure the voltage at an unloaded circuit near your breaker panel under different conditions to see if undervoltage or overvoltage conditions might sometimes occur. (For reference, in North America, the proper voltage range is 115V to 125V for a "120V" outlet and 230V to 250V for a "240V" outlet.)

I don't know how the AV EVSE or the charger in the LEAF respond to over- or undervoltage conditions. It is possible that the LEAF will throw a fault code and shut down in these cases. I have never seen that happen with my LEAF, but perhaps in your case it detects an undervoltage and gives up. It might be worth investigating for the sake of science!

Reg - all good thoughts - the last one - the under voltage issue is where I seem to be headed - thanks for the input - Shack

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

if its your EVSE, plug it in WITHOUT it. does it resolve anything? the dealer should have an EVSE, did plugging into theirs resolve anything?

i am guessing not. look elsewhere. its simply a bad electronic module you have there