Dysfunctional “Charge Timer only at home” setting

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LeafyBubba

Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2019
Messages
12
I use the two charge timers with my 2019 Nissan Leaf SV Plus. They are set up so that the charge is complete at a certain time each morning. In conjunction with the timers, I have turned on the “Charge Timer only at Home” feature.

Last week, I arrived at a distant location (Straudsburg, PA) only to discover that the CHAdeMO charger there was not working, so I went to the nearby Level-2 J1772 chargers. I connected the car and walked off for a meal only to receive a text from the vendor that my car was finished charging. I returned immediately and discovered that the car had abruptly stopped charging. I tried using the adjacent J1772: it started charging and then stopped after a few minutes. After much consternation and experimentation at other chargers I thought to push the timer cancel button, and the car charged correctly. I have been able to reproduce this problem at 5 different Level-2 chargers in 3 states.

Has anyone else experienced this problem? I did not suspect that it was a timer problem because the car begins charging as soon as I connect it to the EVSE. It does not show the “I’m going to wait for the timer” indication on the charging indicator lights. I contacted Nissan and they suggested that I take it to a dealer, which I suspect will be a waste of time.

Any ideas appreciated. For now, I simply know to press the timer cancel button.
 
I've set up my 2018SV's timers is exactly the same as you described, including the "only at home" feature. I've only plugged into maybe a dozen public L2/L1 charging stations, but charging started immediately at each of them without needing to push the timer override button. I agree that your car's refusal to charge away from home is worrying, and hope someone can shed light on what's going on.
 
Yeah. The odd thing is that it does start charging immediately, but it stops abruptly a minute or two later. It happened again this morning away from home, and I used the Nissan App on my cell phone to push the timer cancel button remotely. Very weird.

Thanks for writing.
 
Have you registered your home location through the Navigation System?
I know it sounds like a silly thing to miss, but that "Chg Timer only at Home" feature only works if your home is registered. Otherwise, you are charging using the schedule of the Timers, unless you turn them off.
 
henrydehoja said:
Have you registered your home location through the Navigation System?
I know it sounds like a silly thing to miss, but that "Chg Timer only at Home" feature only works if your home is registered. Otherwise, you are charging using the schedule of the Timers, unless you turn them off.

Hahaha! Yes, of course I registered my home location through the Navigation System!

Otherwise this discussion would be silly, no?
 
Interesting discussion--I had charging stop several times when charging my 2019 SL+ at my workshop (208 volts nominal. about 212-214 actual) last weekend. I tried the Nissan portable EVSE and confirmed that it will not work with a properly-wired 14-50 receptacle on nominal 208-volt system. I then plugged in my Clipper Creek (CC) unit and charging started normally. I went out to get something from the car a few minutes later and then received text and email notifications that charging had stopped. Charging must have stopped while I was getting things out of the car because I did not hear the contactor in the CC EVSE drop out. I unplugged the J1772 connector, waited a few seconds, and plugged it back in. Charging started normally and continued for an hour or so without incident. I unlocked the car and then opened the doors and hatch to put things away while it was still charging. Charging stopped again when I unlocked the car, opened the doors, or opened the hatch (not sure exactly when charging stopped). Charge timers are set for off-peak utility hours and active only at home (home location is properly programmed in the navigation system). I have been unable to cause charging to stop by unlocking/locking car and opening/closing doors and hatch at home. Since charging at my workshop was during off-peak hours and I was not at home, the charge timers should not have caused issues.

I will do some more testing this weekend, but would like to hear of any other charging issues related to the Plus models.
 
GerryAZ said:
Interesting discussion--I had charging stop several times when charging my 2019 SL+ at my workshop (208 volts nominal. about 212-214 actual) last weekend. I tried the Nissan portable EVSE and confirmed that it will not work with a properly-wired 14-50 receptacle on nominal 208-volt system. I then plugged in my Clipper Creek (CC) unit and charging started normally. I went out to get something from the car a few minutes later and then received text and email notifications that charging had stopped. Charging must have stopped while I was getting things out of the car because I did not hear the contactor in the CC EVSE drop out. I unplugged the J1772 connector, waited a few seconds, and plugged it back in. Charging started normally and continued for an hour or so without incident. I unlocked the car and then opened the doors and hatch to put things away while it was still charging. Charging stopped again when I unlocked the car, opened the doors, or opened the hatch (not sure exactly when charging stopped). Charge timers are set for off-peak utility hours and active only at home (home location is properly programmed in the navigation system). I have been unable to cause charging to stop by unlocking/locking car and opening/closing doors and hatch at home. Since charging at my workshop was during off-peak hours and I was not at home, the charge timers should not have caused issues.

I will do some more testing this weekend, but would like to hear of any other charging issues related to the Plus models.

Thanks for writing; I have a question. Is your workshop at your home or away? If the workshop is away from your home, then it sounds EXACTLY like the behavior I'm observing. I have now been able to reproduce it on four different level 2 chargers in three states, so I don't think it is an EVSE issue.
 
Thanks for writing; I have a question. Is your workshop at your home or away? If the workshop is away from your home, then it sounds EXACTLY like the behavior I'm observing. I have now been able to reproduce it on four different level 2 chargers in three states, so I don't think it is an EVSE issue.
 
My workshop is about 5 miles from home. I never had charging issues with either the 2011 or 2015 at the workshop or at home. I was concerned that the 2019 would not charge reliably from the 208-volt source, but it seems to charge without disruption using the Clipper Creek EVSE as long as I don't lock/unlock/open/close the doors or hatch.
 
GerryAZ said:
My workshop is about 5 miles from home. I never had charging issues with either the 2011 or 2015 at the workshop or at home. I was concerned that the 2019 would not charge reliably from the 208-volt source, but it seems to charge without disruption using the Clipper Creek EVSE as long as I don't lock/unlock/open/close the doors or hatch.

Interesting, as those are all 12 volt powered. Have you checked your accessory battery voltage lately?
 
LeftieBiker said:
GerryAZ said:
My workshop is about 5 miles from home. I never had charging issues with either the 2011 or 2015 at the workshop or at home. I was concerned that the 2019 would not charge reliably from the 208-volt source, but it seems to charge without disruption using the Clipper Creek EVSE as long as I don't lock/unlock/open/close the doors or hatch.

Interesting, as those are all 12 volt powered. Have you checked your accessory battery voltage lately?

I have not personally checked the 12-volt battery because the car was manufactured only 2 months ago and the DC-DC converter should be float charging it at a suitable voltage while the car is charging. Also, I would expect similar failures at home if the issues were related to a weak 12-volt battery.
 
True enough, and I forgot that you had a new Leaf. It just seemed odd that using a 12 volt accessory would disrupt charging at marginal charging voltage. I guess it's the DC-DC converter causing a slight additional voltage drop that sets it off...
 
I doubt that it is related to charging voltage. I suspect a glitch in charging timer software or possibly the WiFi connection that the SL+ allows is somehow causing charging to stop. I paired the navigation system to the router in my workshop so it could search for map updates and now it automatically connects whenever I park there.
 
Gerry --

Please try using the timer override button at your shop. That's what works for me, despite the fact that I have "charge timer only at home" turned on.

Paul
 
Paul,

I plan to turn off wifi in the navigation system and turn off all charge timers before I try charging again at my shop. If it charges without incident and allows me to open/close/lock/unlock doors without interrupting the charge, I will turn the charge timers back on and test charging; I will then turn wifi back on and test. Hopefully, this will show what is causing charging to stop.
 
Time for some more testing:

The car is charging at my workshop. I turned off WiFi before attempting to charge to make sure there was no impact from that connection. Time is within allowable charge timer window for charging at home so charge timers should have no impact even if it not set for HOME only. Doors were closed and locked. I initiated charge by plugging in EVSE cable and charge started normally. I went out to do some testing after about 15 minutes. Unlocking doors had no impact on charging; opening right front door had no impact; charging stopped when I closed the door.

I then turned all charge timers OFF in the settings menus on the dashboard in front of the steering wheel. I turned off car, exited driver door, closed door, and locked car before initiating another charge session. I let the car charge for a few minutes before testing again. I then unlocked car, opened front passenger door, closed door, and locked car without charge being interrupted. I tried several times, opening all doors and hatch before closing and locking. I waited a few minutes and tried again. I have been unable to cause charging to stop since disabling the charge timers.

Therefore, it appears there are problems with the charge timer or navigation system software (or problems with communication between modules).
 
Gerry --

Thanks for posting this.

It seems like your experience is similar to mine; I sidestep the problem by pushing the "Immediate Charge" button rather than by shutting the timers off.

Is there some way to make Nissan aware of this problem, or are we merely trees falling in the forest with no one to hear?

Paul
 
Paul,

Have you verified that the timer(s) work as expected at home? Have you tried turning off the "home only" setting to see what happens?

I have a couple more things I want to test before I raise the issue, but I fully intend to call the Nissan EV Customer Service line.

Gerry
 
Gerry --

Yes the timers work as expected at home, regardless of the "home only" setting.

I only experience bad behavior away when away from home.

Please let me know Nissan's reaction. They told me to take it to a dealer for diagnosis, which I feel would be a waste of time, no?

Paul
 
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