GE WattStation Problem Thread (Was: Dead on Day 2 of use.)

[davewill]

My concern is this: If the AeroVironment evse and the 110 evse provided by Nissan do not do the diode check, then how would you know that yours had failed? It is possible that the diode has a high rate of failure but since AeroVironment and Nissan are ignoring that part of J1772 standard it goes undetected?

Quite possible, although since almost all of the public EVSEs I'm aware of DO the diode check, I'd think most owners would find out sooner or later. Also, the recent failures tied to the Wattstation have also failed to charge on the AV and the supplied L1 units.

[jms]

I know they asked for the model number and serial number of my level 2 evse. So I guess they are tracking these failures. I don't know how many failures we are actually dealing with. When I search the forum here I see a few but only about half were using or had used the wattstation. So I don't want to blame GE if it isn't their fault but I don't want them to skate if it is.

Also I don't know how many drivers are using public charging stations. In Western PA I know of 3 that are not Nissan dealerships. That's for all of southwestern PA.

[javan]

Well, day 1 of my newly installed GE WattStation is going well. Wiring and installation took a couple of hours for the electricians. Charging is going on now and seems to be progressing rapidly. More to follow.

[yeswaydude]

Well, based on all of the posts I read I cancelled my order with Lowe's for the GE WattStation and shipped my Nissan-supplied unit off to evseupgrade today.

I got the newly-upgraded unit back and the electrician installed the new L6-20 receptacle yesterday. I checked the iPhone app, and it said it would take 13 hours to charge on trickle and only 5 hours on normal. I plugged it in, checked the app again about 4 1/2 hours later, and it was done!

Totally awesome!

Now I just need to get Lowe's to refund my money!

[lonndoggie]

So today this shows up on plugincars.com:

Dealer warns that using a GE Wattstation can damage your LEAF

Hrm.

Stone Brewery in Escondido has a commercial GE Wattstation. Haven't used it--yet. Wondering if I should.

[DaveinOlyWA]

So today this shows up on plugincars.com:

Dealer warns that using a GE Wattstation can damage your LEAF

Hrm.

Stone Brewery in Escondido has a commercial GE Wattstation. Haven't used it--yet. Wondering if I should.

i might wait for an update

[Rauv]

I have the GE Wattstation EVSE. 35 charges to date and no issues. fingers crossed.

[DaveEV]

Stone Brewery in Escondido has a commercial GE Wattstation. Haven't used it--yet. Wondering if I should.

The commercial unit appears to be completely different than the residential units. The Stone EVSE does hum very loudly when used, though. I know that many have used it without issue so far - I've only used it briefly as I didn't need the charge at the time.

[lonndoggie]

Stone Brewery in Escondido has a commercial GE Wattstation. Haven't used it--yet. Wondering if I should.

The commercial unit appears to be completely different than the residential units. The Stone EVSE does hum very loudly when used, though. I know that many have used it without issue so far - I've only used it briefly as I didn't need the charge at the time.

Thanks for that input. I tweeted them the question, they said they haven't received any complaints (and Koch drives a Volt, which doesn't seem to exhibit any problems).

[av8r]

Chalk up another Leaf/Wattstation victim. On the second charging of my Leaf on the very first day I had it, the circuit breaker tripped when I plugged in the GE Wattstation J1772 'ray-gun' plug into the vehicle. I removed the plug and reset the breaker, but the Wattstation would not come back on. I tried the EVSE unit supplied by Nissan and it would not charge the vehicle. When I checked the vehicle, there was a yellow warning light that said to take the vehicle to the Nissan dealer for service. I drove the car to the dealership and they wound up replacing the charging unit in the vehicle (took over 2 weeks to get the car back.) I had my electrician look at the GE Wattstation and he found two 40 amp fuses blown in the GE unit. After that, the GE unit came back on and acted normally. On advice of the Nissan National Post Sales group, I have not tried to use the GE Wattstation again, but only have been using the Nissan supplied 120V EVSE unit to charge the car. And, just this weekend, I saw an article in the New York Times, indicating that there is a "discussion" going on between Nissan and GE about the use of the GE Wattstation. Here is that link: http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07 ... san-leafs/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;