Charging fails

[dndrich]

BoltPals:

I have an AeroVironment 30 amp EVSE that I had installed with a dedicated 40 amp line in 2013 for my Nissan Leaf. Works perfectly with the Leaf before I traded in the Leaf. Now with my Bolt on occasion it errors out, and does not charge. Last night I plugged in the Bolt and got the green light on the dash. I have it scheduled for departure charging. Got an email at 5 AM about the charge failing. Went out this morning, and the EVSE showed the red fail light. The car runs fine although it did not charge, but interestingly, the infotainment center forgot my custom screen setting, and defaulted back to the original screens. Thoughts here? I think my EVSE is fine, or should be fine.

 

[SeanNelson]

I've seen other threads on charger flakiness that suggested grounding problems might cause charging interruptions when other household circuits such as water heaters kicked in.

 

[DucRider]

What Model/trim is your LEAF?
The base S came with 3.3 kW charging and draws <15 amps. The EVSE will "advertise" 30 A available and the Bolt will draw that amount. It could be a problem with your EVSE wiring that has always been there but only shows up now with the higher load drawn by the Bolt.

 

[dndrich]

My Leaf had the 6.6 kWh charging, so shouldn't be a problem. The circuit is a dedicated 40 amp line. Hmm. I hate to change out EVSE only to have the same problem.

 

[dan2112]

If you have access to another L2 EVSE you can try to see if the issue is with the car or the charger.

 

[dndrich]

That is what I may have to try.

 

[DucRider]

If you have access to another L2 EVSE you can try to see if the issue is with the car or the charger.

The "charger" is part of the car - the EVSE supplies the AC (120 or 240 V) .

I know it's fighting a losing battle :roll:
EVSE and charger have become synonymous

 

[dndrich]

The problem has been intermittent. I have only had the car since Friday. Got home tonight, and decided to do the full charge now to see if it works. Charging now without a hitch. I think it is the initiation that is the problem. Once past that, all seems well. Could be grounding somehow?

 

[dan2112]

If you have access to another L2 EVSE you can try to see if the issue is with the car or the charger.

The "charger" is part of the car - the EVSE supplies the AC (120 or 240 V) .

I know it's fighting a losing battle :roll:
EVSE and charger have become synonymous

You are correct - I'll try to be more careful next time

 

[SpaceMan]

BoltPals:

I have an AeroVironment 30 amp EVSE that I had installed with a dedicated 40 amp line in 2013 for my Nissan Leaf. Works perfectly with the Leaf before I traded in the Leaf. Now with my Bolt on occasion it errors out, and does not charge. Last night I plugged in the Bolt and got the green light on the dash. I have it scheduled for departure charging. Got an email at 5 AM about the charge failing. Went out this morning, and the EVSE showed the red fail light. The car runs fine although it did not charge, but interestingly, the infotainment center forgot my custom screen setting, and defaulted back to the original screens. Thoughts here? I think my EVSE is fine, or should be fine.

I know it has been a few weeks since you posted, but thought I would throw this out there: I have the same L2 charger/setup and this has happened to me twice in the past month of ownership; I have also had the issue with the infotainment system twice, but these were not at the same time as the charger issues. Like you, my previous car (fiat 500e) ran flawlessly on this charger for years only to have this happen twice in such a short span. The first issue for me was during a storm so I thought it may have been an electrical bump that tripped an internal breaker. The second was not as obvious, but we were again having power outages in the area. Nothing else in my home was affected, but since we have had a serious lack of weather for years I have not yet shifted the blame solely on the AeroVironment charger. If a third strike happens, I will probably call the company and see if there is any resolution besides flipping the breaker.

As for the infotainment resets; it hasn't happened since the first week of ownership - maybe a firmware update happening soon after taking possession?

Best of luck...

 

[dndrich]

I have not had any issues with the EVSE since the first week. I always take a look to make sure it is up properly before leaving the car. So far so good.

 

[LeftieBiker]

There was an issue with the older GE Wattstation and the Leaf, where if the power went out while the car was charging, it got bricked. GE and Nissan pointed fingers at each other, but a Nissan firmware update seems to have fixed it. Maybe the Bolt has a similar, less serious problem when the power is interrupted.

 

[SpaceMan]

An update on this:

It happened again the day after I wrote the last post. I think I jinxed myself (see if it happens again tonight...).

To clarify for everyone - this happened in the middle of the night every time; that means it started charging then at some point hit the error and stopped. The only way to recover the unit was to flip the breaker.

So, as promised, I called AeroVironment. It was kinda hard to get someone on the phone (try calling after 9 PST), but once I did the guy helped me through some steps and gave me his personal number in case I needed to call back and not re-explain the situation. Here is what he said:
1) The error state can be caused by a brief drop/loss in power. This could be especially common in rainy, windy times of the year. Once you get it in the error state, you should reset the unit by flipping the breaker off for 15-20 minutes. Repeat any time your unit hits the red light.
2) The red light flashes a sequence code, so if you get in this predicament, count how many times it flashes in each cycle before it pauses as this is the error code they will need.

I reset it and have not had the issue again since, but it also quit raining here. I also had flipped the breaker on my own before seeing the flashing code, but will surely take note next time.