Leaf not charging for second time

[garygid]

Please find out wh at NTB (Nissan Technical Bulletin) describes
this Onboard Charger Software Update, and a designation for
this update.

If one is charging in "public" places, or have any possibility of
charging at any GE EVSE, it would seem to me that my LEAF
should get this firmware update, before the OBD blows out.

Thanks for your help here!

 

[jms]

It just happened to me. This is my second OBC. What a PITA. I hope I'm not in the 67 day category.

 

[electricblueleaf]

I'm reading this thread with great interest since I recently have been experiencing the same problems. 2011 Leaf purchased in December 2012 from an owner with a Clipper Creek charger which had no problems. I purchased the same model Clipper Creek 40A EV charger J1772 and had zero problems until last week when the red protection light came on the charger which indicated that there was no charge.

Towed it off to the Nissan dealer who promptly was able to charge it up on their own charger. Brought it back home and it failed again on my charger. Plugged in the 110V wall socket and charged no problem (albeit slowly). The company who installed my charger brought out two new Clipper Creek chargers which both failed. Took it to a Chargepoint station and it failed to charge there as well. Took it to my friends GE Wattstation where it failed as well. Drove it to Nissan on Sunday morning and again it charged no problem on their charger. Spoke to the service rep today and this seems like a brand new issue to him. OBC failing? Software issues?..."don't see any recall notes from Nissan.." Back to the dealer tomorrow for an in depth service call with the Leaf technicians.

I wonder how long it's going to take me to convince them that it's the car and not the all the chargers.

 

[davewill]

I wonder how long it's going to take me to convince them that it's the car and not the all the chargers.

You've likely blown the "diode" in the on-board charger. This is a diode that allows the EVSE to tell that it is connected to a car rather than the plug sitting in a puddle of water. Neither Nissan's AV EVSE nor the 120v EVSE bother doing the check for the diode, depending on their built-in GFCIs to trip instead. This has happened to several forum members. Check this thread: L2 not charging, L1 ok

 

[bowthom]

Hello,
Yowsers 67 days! Our OBC took 30 days to get diagnosed and approved but I figured that was because it was the first one to fail. I would have been measurably upset with them. Whoever "them" happen to be.

Don

 

[electricblueleaf]

Davewill....thank you so much for tip on the fried diode.....went to my local dealer, spoke with the mechanic, he was dubious about the possibility since he had never seen it, checked it out, found out it failed, and ordered a new OBC.

The problem is that mechanics are not looking for this. The problem has been talked about on this board since late 2011 so it should not be a surprise to either Nissan or the mechanics, yet unbelieveably it still is. Obviously the mechanics IMO have been misdiagnosing the problem and getting the cars back on the road any way they can given the cost of a new OBC. They would have never found this problem if i had not walked in armed with all theinformation from these threads.

Another funny thing is that the person bringing the new OBC to the dealership will also be the guy who will install it as well the guy who takes the failed OBC back to Nissan where they can supposedly disect it. The said it could take a couple of days to get the part. I joked with them to consider taking the part off a new 2012 or 2013 Leaf...again another idea that they never considered if the part doesn't show up as scheduled.

Not surprised that this board knows FAR more than the people who actually built the car.

 

[davewill]

Davewill....thank you so much for tip on the fried diode.....went to my local dealer, spoke with the mechanic, he was dubious about the possibility since he had never seen it, checked it out, found out it failed, and ordered a new OBC.

The problem is that mechanics are not looking for this. The problem has been talked about on this board since late 2011 so it should not be a surprise to either Nissan or the mechanics, yet unbelieveably it still is. Obviously the mechanics IMO have been misdiagnosing the problem and getting the cars back on the road any way they can given the cost of a new OBC. They would have never found this problem if i had not walked in armed with all the information from these threads. ...

I'm really glad they were able to verify it so easily. There haven't actually been all that many of these reported on the forum. The reason this one is tricky is because the AV EVSE, and the portable L1 don't do the diode check, so they work when at the dealer. Most of the failures have been the "GE Wattstation" problem which is easier to diagnose because it causes a hard failure.

In fact, I have to think there are some folks out there with blown diodes that don't know it because they never use a different EVSE. They may not find out until the warranty is over and they happen to finally try a public charging station. Anyway, the mechanic doesn't really care about the cost of the repair, Nissan covers all of that...in fact the dealership makes money from doing warranty work.

 

[garygid]

A "blown" (opened) diode will not allow any charging.

However, a shorted (failed) diode will still allow charging
by those EVSEs that do not do the "diode check".

It is a bit strange to require replacing the whole internal
charger instead of replacing (and upgrading) the single
penny-cost part (the diode).

If this happens after the warranty is over, there will be
some seriously unhappy owners.

Maybe Ingineer can show a picture of the charger
circuit board, indicate the diode, and suggest a much
better replacement part?

 

[electricblueleaf]

The OBC was replaced because the mechanic found error code P3177 ECU activation error. He performed a diagnosis and inspection found internal failure with onboard charger open circuit in both directions from charge point terminals. Advised by Nissan to replace OBC and reprogram lithium battery controller (LBC).

Old charger part number: 296A0-3NA6A
New charger part number:296A0-3NA7A

When I asked if they actually solved anything or just gave me a new OBC, they clearly said they solved something although no one seemed to know what they solved. If it happens to me again, then we know they still have no clue what causes the diode to fail in the first place. The dealer billed Nissan $2000 for the entire replacement.

 

[jms]

I've had 2 OBC's replaced and now I am getting an intermittent EV charging system error indicator (forgive me if I have the wrong name it's the yellow car with the exclamation point) and I took it to the dealer and they pulled code P3177, now I am getting no error on the car but an error reported at the charging station using L2 but L1 works and after several hours of L1 I can switch over to L2.
This is driving me crazy because it happened 2 nights in a row!

 

[91040]

For anyone out of warranty with this problem:

A diode inserted into the pilot line solves this and maintains the J1772 protocol. A lot cheaper and less wasteful than replacing the charger.

 

[yujungchang]

I have the OBC software update done 2 years back and yesterday the OBC failed while using the Nissan charger. I do 50% charging at work with GE Wattstation though. That means the OBC software update did not address the issue completely. The local dealer called back this afternoon and said a new OBC is on its way.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=9359&start=10#p446663

Does anyone has detail instruction of the size of the diode and how to modify the control signal?