CHAdeMO Make/Model Review — Using with a Tesla

[wycolo]

Sideways Images - If you reduce the size of images to about 400kb max, and of course rotate the image properly before making the reduction and the save, then very likely the EXIF data will be corrected as well. Then it will appear correctly in a browser. Also load much faster on the MS 17in screen browser.
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[RiverBrick]

Regarding the "Rainproof" spec on the [slim Nissan-branded CHAdeMO station] label: The muffin exhaust fans are pointing up at an angle, no cover or anything. I would be surprised if they were spec'd to be exposed to rain, but I might be wrong. I don't know if there is anything other than heat sinks underneath, but it doesn't look very rainproof to me:

...

You're definitely not wrong. The Nissan dealer in South Burlington, VT has resorted to slipping a garbage bag over the unit when it's not in use as protection from precipitation. I'm surprised they haven't offered hood for the back by now.

The ~$16,000 purchase price for the unit is great, but I'd only recommend it for places where there will be protection from extreme temperature and precipitation. This is assuming that the motivated buyer will regularly maintain the station. Nissan Corporation paid for the installation of these at a couple of hundred dealerships in the USA. Some of the recipients are pro-LEAF/VE and take care of their CHAdeMO stations. Others don't maintain them at all.

 

[Rheazombi]

You're definitely not wrong. The Nissan dealer in South Burlington, VT has resorted to slipping a garbage bag over the unit when it's not in use as protection from precipitation. I'm surprised they haven't offered hood for the back by now.

The ~$16,000 purchase price for the unit is great, but I'd only recommend it for places where there will be protection from extreme temperature and precipitation. This is assuming that the motivated buyer will regularly maintain the station. Nissan Corporation paid for the installation of these at a couple of hundred dealerships in the USA. Some of the recipients are pro-LEAF/VE and take care of their CHAdeMO stations. Others don't maintain them at all.

but this can't be true! everything I've ever heard about dealers is that they LOVE EVs and would be MUCH better suited to selling them than Tesla!!!1111

Or at least that's what their lobbyists tell me.

 

[earcandy]

Hello all! I just wanted to contribute to the CHAdeMO thread with my early results.
Last week I tried out a Nissan station (Pinnacle Nissan) in Scottsdale. It worked like a charm, but only gave about 14kW. I didn't post because unfortunately I didn't get the charger specs, other than the fact it was an ABB. But I was happy to see it work flawlessly.

Today, I thought I would try and see how a Blink unit works, and see if I could get a little more juice like others have reported. I pulled up and there was already a Leaf charging. I know that the Blink units will wait for the first car to charge before starting the second, but I tried to get things activated, and it only resulted in a communications error. So I'm not sure if it had something to do with the first car still charging, or the fact that it's one of the many Blink units not functioning properly.
Anyway, the Leaf owner left, and I managed to plug into the left port, and success! I should also add that I used the on-screen feature (on the Blink unit) to charge to 100%, as the default is 80%.
I had arrived with 16% SOC (40 miles). It was charging successfully and fluctuating between 39-44kW. I went in the nearby mall, and eventually got a notification that charging had been interrupted at 74% (186 miles).. So I went back to the car, and the Blink screen was just back to the normal welcome screen, with no report of any error.
I also noted that the charge lasted exactly 60 minutes before getting interrupted.
So I went home, and called Blink to ask if there is a 60 minute limit. The CSR said no there isn't, but there is a limit to charge the car to 80% if you start with less than 50%, and 100% if you start with more than 50%. This is good information, but doesn't add up to my experience of stopping at 74%. He didn't have much to add other than it was close enough to 80.
So in summary, I charged for 60 minutes, and gained 146 miles. (45 kWh used) (at the Blink fee of $6.99 in AZ)
Attached are some pictures. (Paradise Valley Mall in Phoenix)

 

[davewill]

... So I went home, and called Blink to ask if there is a 60 minute limit. The CSR said no there isn't, but there is a limit to charge the car to 80% if you start with less than 50%, and 100% if you start with more than 50%. This is good information, but doesn't add up to my experience of stopping at 74%. He didn't have much to add other than it was close enough to 80. ...

That "only 80% if starting below 50%" logic is how the early LEAFs (and maybe current ones) are programmed. As far as I know it isn't built into the Blink chargers, but Blink has always been odd when it comes to setting and reporting the charge percentage. At least on my 2011 LEAF, the charger NEVER reported what the car thought it had. It wouldn't surprise me if they DID program that limit into it and the charger got the SOC percentage wrong by that amount.

 

[ChrisPDX]

The other weekend I was trying an OpConnect ABB unit in Tillamook, OR. On my MS60, it maxed at 26kW. However it also stopped with an error after 1 hour. I tried restarting 3 times (even disconnecting the adapter on both ends and reconnecting). Each time it started for a few minutes and then errored out again. I E-mailed OpConnect to see if they had a 60 minute limit as well, but no response so far. At least it was a free charge and I had enough to drive back home, so I can't complain too much!

 

[cwerdna]

Re: whether the Nissan Quick Charger - CHAdeMO DC Fast Charging for Electric Vehicles are weatherproof, they supposedly are per the tech specs doc (http://nissanqc.com/pdf/techspecs.pdf). They're always mounted outside here in Nor Cal.

As for the clogged filters, if they aren't cleaned, those Nissan Quick Charger - CHAdeMO DC Fast Charging for Electric Vehicles will DEFINITELY report temperature errors even when not very hot out (e.g. below 80 F) after little or no charging of a Leaf. This renders them useless.

Until Leafers actually heard of a filter cleaning guide (that a persistent Leaf driver was able to get), we had no idea why so many of these DC FCs were throwing temperature errors when it wasn't even hot out.

Guide at My Nissan Leaf Forum View topic - 50% Success. What's So Tough About Charging on the Road?.

CHAdeMO adapter wait frustration - Page 50 was a case of one of these guys getting smoked in Japan.

 

[hiroshiy]

I'm the "smoke guy" Beware of Nissan. In Japan Nissan's are limited by Model S's firmware to 25kW, I was told by Tesla SC.

 

[islandbayy]

I'm the "smoke guy" Beware of Nissan. In Japan Nissan's are limited by Model S's firmware to 25kW, I was told by Tesla SC.

I was FINALLY able to complete a charge on a Nissan unit tonight. As I have thermally tripped the unit about a dozen times now (The unit administrator was on hand to reset for me), Tonight, at 0*F, I finally was able to charge. 20 Minutes of charge, then shut off charge for 10 minutes to let it cool, then another 20 minute charge session.
Rinse and repeat. Took 5 cool down sessions to get from 10% to 80% charge. When I shut down for the 5th cool down session, I could smell a STRONG oder of "Magic Smoke" coming from the cooling fan vent......... Mind you, once again, this was at 0*f outside. The filter was cleaned the other day once I alerted them to the fact the unit had one.

 

[cwerdna]

^^^
LOL re: magic smoke. See magic smoke, for those who don't get the reference.

That's a real bummer. It seems obvious that Nissan Quick Charger - CHAdeMO DC Fast Charging for Electric Vehicles were not designed for such long full power charging sessions.

 

[islandbayy]

^^^
LOL re: magic smoke. See magic smoke, for those who don't get the reference.

That's a real bummer. It seems obvious that Nissan Quick Charger - CHAdeMO DC Fast Charging for Electric Vehicles were not designed for such long full power charging sessions.

I aim to please :biggrin: And test the boundries of Electric Vehicles and Components. I just can't believe I didn't get to SEE the "Magic Smoke"! The unit was VERY hot each time right before I hit the stop button and let er cool.
The last charging segment of the series, I let go without the cool down, but apparently, the charge taper kicked in early enough. It was able to sustain a 22-26kW charge rate without overheating, and brought me up to a 97% SOC before the kids finally were begging to go home...... Begging to Go Home to Go To Bed.... (I have good kids hehe)

 

[JackA]

Nissan ChargePoint Unit

We successfully added 230 miles Rated Range on Car Pros Burien Nissan's L3. It was about 45 degrees while we charged. The unit did not seem to have any problems while charging.

 

[Cottonwood]

We successfully added 230 miles Rated Range on Car Pros Burien Nissan's L3. It was about 45 degrees while we charged. The unit did not seem to have any problems while charging.

How long did that take, and how many Amps did you get?

 

[Matias]

Is this ABC Lahdesjärvi | None, None | Electric Car Charging Station | PlugShare (DBT chademo +ccs) compatible with Tesla adapter?

It is apparently this model Quick Charger DUAL DC / The Universal Quick Charger

 

[bwa]

Would a can of compressed air help? In my experience I've found that most electronics on the fritz react positively to a good of compressed air. That, or some lovingly applied "percussive maintenance".

I'd be tempted only to used compressed air with a vacuum, otherwise I risk blowing the dust further in. In fact, a vacuum with brush seems like a better combination.

That entails buying a good small portable battery operated wet vac and putting it in a sealed container in your car.

 

[JackA]

How long did that take, and how many Amps did you get?

I took an image when we first started charging: it shows 357 V 115A. The car is calculating 136 RM/hour of charge at that point. We were waiting for an airport pickup at Sea-Tac so did not keep track of the time, just waited for the call that our friend had landed.

 

[Cottonwood]

We successfully added 230 miles Rated Range on Car Pros Burien Nissan's L3. It was about 45 degrees while we charged. The unit did not seem to have any problems while charging.

How long did that take, and how many Amps did you get?

I took an image when we first started charging: it shows 357 V 115A. The car is calculating 136 RM/hour of charge at that point. We were waiting for an airport pickup at Sea-Tac so did not keep track of the time, just waited for the call that our friend had landed.

That's great! 41 kW and almost a full charge without problems on a Nissan CHAdeMO!

 

[cwerdna]

I'd be tempted only to used compressed air with a vacuum, otherwise I risk blowing the dust further in.

I agree. I wouldn't want to screw w/a public DC FC by blowing and I'm hesitant about vacuuming too.

I posted a pointer to the cleaning guide for Nissan Quick Charger - CHAdeMO DC Fast Charging for Electric Vehicles at My Nissan Leaf Forum View topic - 50% Success. What's So Tough About Charging on the Road? .

 

[Cosmacelf]

Just had a flawless charging session at an eVGo ABB CHAdeMO/CCS combo station last night at Del Norte Plaza in Escondido. I had my sister with me so I didn't document everything like I usually do, but I was getting around 42 kW power at 108 amps. Again, it was a bit tricky figuring out the exact sequence of steps to start everything (the other CHAdeMO station I charged at was a Nissan unit and, of course, if worked differently), but I did figure it out.

Last night was the night I had to drive from Palm Springs area to San Diego and back with no charging time in between. According to evtripplanner I could barely have made it with a full charge, but the last bit getting back to Palm Springs is up 6,000 feet before dropping down into the valley, so I was very happy to have the extra 50 miles or so of buffer that the 20 minutes of charging gave me (as it happened, the lowest my charge screen showed was 49 rated miles of charge left), and I grabbed a quick dinner at Arby's while charging, so no time lost.

Thank you Tesla!

 

[tcampos]

Hello all! I just wanted to contribute to the CHAdeMO thread with my early results.
Last week I tried out a Nissan station (Pinnacle Nissan) in Scottsdale. It worked like a charm, but only gave about 14kW. I didn't post because unfortunately I didn't get the charger specs, other than the fact it was an ABB. But I was happy to see it work flawlessly.

Today, I thought I would try and see how a Blink unit works, and see if I could get a little more juice like others have reported. I pulled up and there was already a Leaf charging. I know that the Blink units will wait for the first car to charge before starting the second, but I tried to get things activated, and it only resulted in a communications error. So I'm not sure if it had something to do with the first car still charging, or the fact that it's one of the many Blink units not functioning properly.
Anyway, the Leaf owner left, and I managed to plug into the left port, and success! I should also add that I used the on-screen feature (on the Blink unit) to charge to 100%, as the default is 80%.
I had arrived with 16% SOC (40 miles). It was charging successfully and fluctuating between 39-44kW. I went in the nearby mall, and eventually got a notification that charging had been interrupted at 74% (186 miles).. So I went back to the car, and the Blink screen was just back to the normal welcome screen, with no report of any error.
I also noted that the charge lasted exactly 60 minutes before getting interrupted.
So I went home, and called Blink to ask if there is a 60 minute limit. The CSR said no there isn't, but there is a limit to charge the car to 80% if you start with less than 50%, and 100% if you start with more than 50%. This is good information, but doesn't add up to my experience of stopping at 74%. He didn't have much to add other than it was close enough to 80.
So in summary, I charged for 60 minutes, and gained 146 miles. (45 kWh used) (at the Blink fee of $6.99 in AZ)
Attached are some pictures. (Paradise Valley Mall in Phoenix)
View attachment 73906View attachment 73907View attachment 73908View attachment 73909View attachment 73910View attachment 73911

We we have a Blink Level-3 charger at my work. It also stops charging after exactly 60 minutes. Regardless of start or stop charge level. I think the person you spoke with doesn't know what they are talking about.

I have asked our facilities team at work if the 60 minute limit is configurable and they are exploring that with Blink.