SoCal Branch LEAF-Gathering Year 2 - #24c: 25 Aug 2012

[Boomer23]

Hi All,

I'm a new leaf owner and new to this forum. I ran into someone from this group at OC Nissan while I was on the lot working on my purchase deal so I thought I'd drop by. Originally, my goal was to order my new 2012 Leaf off the website. I had gone through a few steps when the dealership called to "discuss" pricing. They ended up selling me one off the lot, so instead of completing the step by step process including the charging station installation I just took it home and have not yet secured a home charging station. I'd love to go to the gathering Saturday to ask around and see what other folks in the area have done, but I'm swamped that day.

I don't know if this is proper etiquette in the forum, but if anyone has some helpful advise, I'd love to hear it. Driving from Corona to Newport everyday for work on a trickle charge has been nerve-wracking to say the least.

Thanks!

Hi Kat. The simplest, cheapest and fastest way to go would be to send your trickle charge EVSE cable to http://www.evseupgrade.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; in Berkeley and get it upgraded to Level 2, either 16 amps or 12 amps (the 16 amp upgrade will charge your LEAF faster, of course). It will plug into a 220/240 volt outlet that you may have in your garage, for an electric dryer for instance. If you don't have such an outlet available, you'll need to have an electrician install one for you. You'll also need an adapter from evseupgrade to allow your modified EVSE to plug into the dryer outlet. Since you will be without your existing trickle charge cable, evseupgrade has an option to send you one on an exchange basis, I believe, for a small extra fee.

If you want to go directly to a permanently mounted 220 volt EVSE in your garage, you can get one at Lowes or Home Depot. Look for electric vehicle charging equipment at either store. You can check out the threads here on the forum under EVSE near the bottom of the main page. I have the Aerovironment Level 2 EVSE from Nissan's partner. They sell those direct from their company and they are good, simple and reliable. Some of the other choices are just as good, though, and you may be able to get one easier and faster.

Here is a page from Plug In America that lists most of the available EVSE options.

http://www.pluginamerica.org/accessories" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress. We'd love to meet you at one of our meetings soon.

 

[garygid]

Gathering this coming Saturday (24 March).
All EV-interested folks welcome.

Breakfast Buffet at HTB on 17th in Santa Ana, roughly 8 to 11,
but you can drop in for just a short time if you wish.
(see 1st post for details)

 

[garygid]

Next Gathering: 1 day 8 hours 38 minutes at HTB in Santa Ana.

For April's meetings, 7 April in Cerritos and 21 April in Santa Ana?

But, the 7th is Easter Weekend, and people with "real" lives may be busy.

So, we could do the 14th and 28h, but the 14th is near the end of Spring Break fo many.

Opinions, please?

 

[Kataphn]

I vote for 14th and 28th. Would hope to make it on 14th. Hi to all. Miss seeing you.

 

[tbleakne]

I will be there tomorrow, the 24th.

If needed, you could L2 at Tustin Nissan (a bit
South on 1-5) and I could shuttle you to HTB.

Or L2 at Main Place Mall a bit north and I can meet you there and shuttle you. That's a free Clipper Creek unit.

I am planning an extended drive home to pick up something from a friend near Corona, so I also could use some charge. Some Clipper Creeks have dual cables for two charges at once. Do you know whether Main Place Mall has this ? Recargo says J1772 + inductive paddle, so that would suggest no ? I know the Clipper Creek upgrades typically leave one legacy connection. 91040 probably needs the charge more than I. Otherwise I was planning to get some charge at Walmart in Corona. Or I could meet up with Gary at Tustin Nissan.

 

[Boomer23]

Tom, Main Place has only one J1772 on the Clipper Creek.

91040 is still deciding whether he needs a charge in the morning or not. I could provide ferry service from/back to Main Place or Tustin Nissan if needed. Let's stay in touch when 91040 decides what he needs.

 

[91040]

My schedule just changed so that I have nothing in the afternoon. Charging is now not an issue. I will come directly to HTB and can also pick up tbleakne at Main Place if desired.

See y'all tomorrow.

Kat- Hope to see you in April!

 

[garygid]

After weighing all the votes carefully (like in US presidential elections), we will do Cerritos on 14 April, and Santa Ana on the 28th.

 

[tbleakne]

My schedule just changed so that I have nothing in the afternoon. Charging is now not an issue. I will come directly to HTB and can also pick up tbleakne at Main Place if desired.

See y'all tomorrow.

Kat- Hope to see you in April!

Yes, having you pick me up at Main Place would work great. At what time should I be ready there ? I have never charged there, so I may need to search a little for the Clipper Creek. You have my cell phone number, don't you ?

 

[garygid]

I should be at Hometown Buffet (on 17th St in Santa Ana) in just a little under 12 hours.

See you there!

 

[baronvonshush]

My wife and I are planning to come tomorrow. Looking forward to meeting other LEAF owners and maybe finding out what wisdom you all may have to impart to new owners like us.

The timing is fortuitous this weekend since we were already planning to be in Buena Park tomorrow afternoon, so Santa Ana isn't much farther down. We'll definitely plan to stop in Cypress on the way to BP and get our first quick charge, too.

Actually this weekend is going to be a fun one with the LEAF. Since leaving work earlier today with 100% charge, we'll have a little over 180 miles of driving over the course of the weekend (add another 20 if you count my drive back to work on Monday). I've already planned it out so we should be able to do the whole thing on public charging, never plugging in at home. It started out as a "I wonder if..." in my mind, and now I'm pretty confident. That's pretty cool, and exciting for our second full weekend with the car!

 

[Boomer23]

Looking forward to meeting you, Mike.

 

[Boomer23]

My schedule just changed so that I have nothing in the afternoon. Charging is now not an issue. I will come directly to HTB and can also pick up tbleakne at Main Place if desired.

See y'all tomorrow.

Kat- Hope to see you in April!

Yes, having you pick me up at Main Place would work great. At what time should I be ready there ? I have never charged there, so I may need to search a little for the Clipper Creek. You have my cell phone number, don't you ?

Tom and Allen, at Main Place, you need to go around to the side of the mall next to the freeway and go past the first parking structures using the road right up next to the mall entrance. Very close to the mall bldg you'll see marked spaces with the Clipper and the claw evses.


Use your map apps for help if you need it.

 

[garygid]

There were 7 or 8 LEAFs (all colors except Black) and 10 or 11 people.
We had a good, fun time, with many varied topics of conversation.

Show-n-Tell by Jeremy:
1. An Arduino Ono, with an added CAN-Shield and LCD display (both from SparkFun).
2. A drawing of a "new" style QC (Chademo) charging plug: it has a second handle added, and the external lever is replaced with an internal solenoid.

At the next meeting (14 April, in Cerritos), we hope to see "Kat".

 

[91040]

There was also a post-meeting when aeolus arrived just after the main party had left. Three of us hung around for another hour or so and argued about QC network and installation issues.

 

[KKat]

Thank you Boomer!

I'm ordering one off of the Home Depot website. Hopefully I'll have it installed soon, although it hasn't been too bad running around without the L2 charge at home. (thankfully) I should be able to make it to the next meet up in Cerritos. Looking forward to meeting everyone.

Thanks again Boomer!

Hi All,

I'm a new leaf owner and new to this forum. I ran into someone from this group at OC Nissan while I was on the lot working on my purchase deal so I thought I'd drop by. Originally, my goal was to order my new 2012 Leaf off the website. I had gone through a few steps when the dealership called to "discuss" pricing. They ended up selling me one off the lot, so instead of completing the step by step process including the charging station installation I just took it home and have not yet secured a home charging station. I'd love to go to the gathering Saturday to ask around and see what other folks in the area have done, but I'm swamped that day.

I don't know if this is proper etiquette in the forum, but if anyone has some helpful advise, I'd love to hear it. Driving from Corona to Newport everyday for work on a trickle charge has been nerve-wracking to say the least.

Thanks!

Hi Kat. The simplest, cheapest and fastest way to go would be to send your trickle charge EVSE cable to http://www.evseupgrade.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; in Berkeley and get it upgraded to Level 2, either 16 amps or 12 amps (the 16 amp upgrade will charge your LEAF faster, of course). It will plug into a 220/240 volt outlet that you may have in your garage, for an electric dryer for instance. If you don't have such an outlet available, you'll need to have an electrician install one for you. You'll also need an adapter from evseupgrade to allow your modified EVSE to plug into the dryer outlet. Since you will be without your existing trickle charge cable, evseupgrade has an option to send you one on an exchange basis, I believe, for a small extra fee.

If you want to go directly to a permanently mounted 220 volt EVSE in your garage, you can get one at Lowes or Home Depot. Look for electric vehicle charging equipment at either store. You can check out the threads here on the forum under EVSE near the bottom of the main page. I have the Aerovironment Level 2 EVSE from Nissan's partner. They sell those direct from their company and they are good, simple and reliable. Some of the other choices are just as good, though, and you may be able to get one easier and faster.

Here is a page from Plug In America that lists most of the available EVSE options.

http://www.pluginamerica.org/accessories" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress. We'd love to meet you at one of our meetings soon.

 

[Boomer23]

Thank you Boomer!

I'm ordering one off of the Home Depot website. Hopefully I'll have it installed soon, although it hasn't been too bad running around without the L2 charge at home. (thankfully) I should be able to make it to the next meet up in Cerritos. Looking forward to meeting everyone.

Thanks again Boomer!

Cool and congrats! We'll look forward to seeing you soon.

 

[garygid]

Next Gathering: 14 April at the HTB in Cerritos.

 

[gascant]

Next Gathering: 14 April at the HTB in Cerritos.

Any planned beyond that? Just came into a little spare change and thinking I could come down to visit a friend and attend a SoCal Branch gathering. But the 14th is a regular meeting day for us Northerners. And then there's a full week of Earth Day events. Maybe the 28th or May 5th?

 

[Boomer23]

Hi gascant. We do have a meeting planned in Santa Ana on April 28. We'd love to see you.