Won't charge more that 30k over 8hrs on a 120v at home.

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Glennerd

New member
Joined
May 27, 2019
Messages
2
Hi,

I couldn't find this specific question in the forums so I thought I would create my own post.
I've had a 2015 leaf for a year and a half bought used from California - I live in Vancouver CAN.
I commute to work mon-fri 60k total. I need to charge to 100 (or try to) almost every night - when it's not being used, its plugging in.
Recently, it will not seem to charge past 20/30k over 8hrs. The outlet / extension cord seem fine it just seems to stop charging at a certain point?? I'm just wondering if anyone has encountered this problem and has any suggestions as to what may be wrong.

Thanks,
Glennerd
 
Glennerd said:
Hi,

I couldn't find this specific question in the forums so I thought I would create my own post.
I've had a 2015 leaf for a year and a half bought used from California - I live in Vancouver CAN.
I commute to work mon-fri 60k total. I need to charge to 100 (or try to) almost every night - when it's not being used, its plugging in.
Recently, it will not seem to charge past 20/30k over 8hrs. The outlet / extension cord seem fine it just seems to stop charging at a certain point?? I'm just wondering if anyone has encountered this problem and has any suggestions as to what may be wrong.

Thanks,
Glennerd

What do you mean by "20/30k"? Anyway, you may be encountering an issue with a charging timer. Is this an S, or an SV or SL?
 
Right, as Lefty said, more details would help. Also remember that amps x volts = watts. If you're using 12 amps and 120 volts, you're only making 1.4 kW per hour so it's going to take something over 20 hours to put 30 kWh into the battery. That's a rough calculation, of course, lots of conversion and resistance factors will decrease it. But if it's stopping, the first thing to check is the car's timer, like Lefty said.
 
LeftieBiker said:
WetEV said:
LeftieBiker said:
The 2015 Leaf has only the 24kwh pack, so charging it to "30k" isn't possible.

I think OP might mean 30km?

That would be an extremely low GOM range, but at this point who knows...?

I'm guessing OP is focusing on the DTE display and thinks of charging in terms of how many kilometers of indicated range has been added. They need 60km for their commute and want at least 100km indicated when they leave in the morning.
 
Sorry, I meant it will only give us about 20km - 30km over an 8 hour period on 120v.
Its an Nissan Leaf SV.
Thank,
Glennerd
 
You are focusing on the wrong metric. How much does the percent state of charge increase over the 8 hours of charging?

For a 120V supply, the stock EVSE should pull about 12A, so the charging rate is nominally 1.4 kW, but with losses more like 1.3 kW. If the charging rate averages 1.3 kW over 8 hours, that should add about 10 kWh of energy to the battery pack. So, you should see the SOC jump by at least 50% after an overnight charge.

Do you know how to switch the dashboard view to display State of Charge (SOC)? If not, watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zxLxPdAJhg
 
Glennerd said:
Sorry, I meant it will only give us about 20km - 30km over an 8 hour period on 120v.
Its an Nissan Leaf SV.
Thank,
Glennerd

Since charging from empty can take over 20 hours on 120 volt (L-1) charging, that isn't that unusual. Set the display to show the % of charge and tell us how high that gets over 8 hours - and from what starting %. If you use all the available charge every day and run short, then you need to install an L-2 240 volt charging station.

Alozzy got in ahead of me.
 
Glennerd said:
Sorry, I meant it will only give us about 20km - 30km over an 8 hour period on 120v.
Its an Nissan Leaf SV.
Thank,
Glennerd
One possibility is that your wall outlet isn’t properly grounded. I had that problem when I first got my Leaf, and running a heavy duty extension cable to a better outlet fixed it.
 
Astros said:
Glennerd said:
Sorry, I meant it will only give us about 20km - 30km over an 8 hour period on 120v.
Its an Nissan Leaf SV.
Thank,
Glennerd
One possibility is that your wall outlet isn’t properly grounded. I had that problem when I first got my Leaf, and running a heavy duty extension cable to a better outlet fixed it.


If charging is just stopping before it finishes, then it may be a charge timer issue, or an outlet issue as noted here.
 
If I leave my duosida evse in the sun it over heats, faults out, then won't charge again until it cools off and I cycle power on the evse.
If ypir car is always charging and never getting to 100% between trips you probably need to step it up to 240v power.
 
Presuming that there has been an abrupt drop-off in range collected overnight this sounds like an overheating issue to me somewhere in the circuit. I would start with a new and beefier extension cord, and if that does not solve things then replace the outlet.

Always be sure that the plugs sit firmly in their sockets and NEVER wiggle them to disconnect -- that just destroys the connection over time.
 
All too often people try to use 89 cent receptacles to charge something like an electric vehicle.
Those are fine for plugging in a cell phone or laptop charger.
The evse needs a commercial industrial grade duplex receptacle, those cost more like $4 each.
 
Oilpan4 said:
All too often people try to use 89 cent receptacles to charge something like an electric vehicle.
Those are fine for plugging in a cell phone or laptop charger.
The evse needs a commercial industrial grade duplex receptacle, those cost more like $4 each.

As long as the plug is mostly left in, a good $2 household outlet will work fine. It's the practice of unplugging the EVSE from the house after charging that is the real issue.
 
LeftieBiker said:
Oilpan4 said:
All too often people try to use 89 cent receptacles to charge something like an electric vehicle.
Those are fine for plugging in a cell phone or laptop charger.
The evse needs a commercial industrial grade duplex receptacle, those cost more like $4 each.

As long as the plug is mostly left in, a good $2 household outlet will work fine. It's the practice of unplugging the EVSE from the house after charging that is the real issue.
Or prior outlet use that has loosened the contacts to the plug.
 
alozzy said:
You are focusing on the wrong metric. How much does the percent state of charge increase over the 8 hours of charging?

For a 120V supply, the stock EVSE should pull about 12A, so the charging rate is nominally 1.4 kW, but with losses more like 1.3 kW. If the charging rate averages 1.3 kW over 8 hours, that should add about 10 kWh of energy to the battery pack. So, you should see the SOC jump by at least 50% after an overnight charge.
More L1 losses than 0.1 kW. I think ~ 83% make it to the battery so 1.44 KW * 0.83 = 1.2 kW.
And that is based on a battery with new-like resistance.

I'll call it 1.15 kW for his car, so
1.15 kW * 8 hrs =
9.2 kWh over 8 hrs.

Unless the GOM is being fooled by a tale-end drive up a mountain the reported range increase is unlikely to represent 9.2 kWh into the battery. As I said earlier, this sounds like overheating and a truncated charging.
 
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