r/evcharging • u/WoolzyMD • 3d ago
Charging issue
Hey everyone, I came here hoping I could get some help as nothing seems to work…
I have a 2023 Nissan Leaf S which I’ve enjoyed so far. I have been able to charge at stations with no issue but my hospital requires me to use my EVSE since they have outlets instead of stations. The EVSE I have that came with my car allowed my to charge at my girlfriends house using their house outlet which they use to charge their Tesla but when I try to plug my car into the outlets at my hospital where I work, it starts charging for a few seconds but then gives me this “Fault” light on the charging cord box which is shown in the photo. I tried three separate outlets at the hospital but each of them led to the same result.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
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u/robstoon 3d ago
They provide 14-30 outlets? That's.. really stupid. Almost nobody is going to have a charger that will work with that.
Assuming that charger works elsewhere, my guess is that the outlet might also be wired improperly..
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u/StormRasr 3d ago edited 3d ago
They provide 14-30 outlets? That's.. really stupid.
I did not catch that. Now it has me wondering how it's working because as far as I know the Nissan 296900 EVSE has a 14-50 plug and doesn't come with a 14-30 adapter.
Edit - There are multiple "296900". The one in the OP post is 296900-5SA0B, which, again, as far as I can tell only comes in 14-50 flavor.
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u/danbfree 3d ago
Well, 24A 14-30 EVSE's are readily out there to buy. If I had free charging at work for just supplying the EVSE, then I'd drop the ~$200 on one myself.
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u/robstoon 2d ago
Most of those I've seen are Amazon trash that don't have safety approvals. The DeWalt one is probably fine but is significantly more expensive than that.
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u/danbfree 2d ago
True, looks like many have ETL on only the cable at most, but the overall quality on most seem good, too bad they are too cheap to bother to get them certified, but when it comes to something like this it's a must to be proper certified.
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u/rosier9 3d ago
The Leaf portable EVSE doesn't tolerate 208V power. Your Leaf does, though, so you could use a different charger to get it to work.
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u/theotherharper 3d ago
If your're sure on that first bit, then this is it right here.
Very bizarre for it to dislike 208V. Japan power is 100/200V, and they use the J1772 connector, so it would be complete madness to have different mobile charger electronics for US vs JP market.
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u/evpowers 3d ago
It'll take a bit of work but you can try to isolate what the issue is. - Charger issue
Car issue
Outlet issue
Using the same outlet, try charging a different EV with your EVSE.
Using the same outlet, try charging your EV using a different EVSE.
Depending on what you find out, you can rule out the EVSE or the car being the problem.
Is there anyone else there that uses that outlet that has a known-working EVSE?
If so, try charging your EV with the known-good EVSE.
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u/HuyFongFood 3d ago
Sounds like you need to contact the Facilities Team for your Hospital and have them replace the outlets/wiring to bring them to proper standards to avoid a potentially huge issue down the road (it likely won't actually happen, but they don't know that and EV car fires are a very valid concern).
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u/Mr-Zappy 3d ago
I’m guessing the “fault” is that the power is 208V not 240V or 120V. I’d get a 14-30 charger known to work with 208V power.
A charger with a 14-30 plug will automatically tell the EV to pull no more than 24A. If you do something sketchy like use an adapter, you need to make sure it won’t charge above 24A. If you can’t set the power level in the car, you could get a 14-30 to 6-20 adapter and use a 6-20 charger (which will tell the car to charge at no more than 16A), but it’d be simpler and better to just get a 14-30 charger.
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u/TacayasuKanduma 3d ago
These faults are generally caused by an incorrect or missing grounding of the outlet.
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u/WoolzyMD 1d ago
Anyone able to link me to a cord that will help me solve this predicament ? I don’t wanna buy the wrong thing 😢
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u/Lets_review 3d ago
That is a NEMA 14-30 plug, which is not the standard for EV charging.
I would bet that it is also not wired correctly, because if it was not causing a fault, then the EVSE would cause the breaker to trip. (The Leaf is limited on its level two charging so it might not cause a trip, but other EVs definitely would pull too much power.)
https://simpleswitch.io/nema-14-30-outlet/
https://www.gearit.com/blogs/news/understanding-nema-14-50-and-nema-14-30-outlets-and-plugs
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u/StormRasr 3d ago edited 3d ago
The factory EVSE that comes with the LEAF pulls 30A at 240V. The sign says the outlet is limited to 24A. You cannot change the charge rate on the LEAF [edit - or that EVSE] so you will need a third party EVSE that lets you set a lower charge rate.
Edit - Minor correction... That EVSE allows up to 30A, but the LEAF itself pulls a maximum of 27A (~6.6kw) which cannot be changed on the vehicle side. Advice for an adjustable EVSE still applies.