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Nissan Leaf Trickle Charger Cable

Discussion in 'Nissan/Infiniti Hybrids and EVs' started by bioman666, Aug 15, 2011.

  1. bioman666

    bioman666 Prius Virgin

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    This trickle charge cable comes with each new Leaf. Unfortunately, I left my garage door open for 2 hours and someone opened up the hatchback of my new Leaf and stole the Trickle Charger Cable (luckily, I have a Blink Level 2 charger permanently installed also in the garage.

    BUT, WARNING: Protect your trickle charge cable! You may not use it very often, but it may come in handy at times .I called the Nissan Dealer to ask how much it would cost for a replacement Level 1 Trickle Charge Cable....I expected it to run around $100 or so. I was wrong.

    It costs $625.71 + tax (Dealer gouging, in my opinion)....so, now I have to claim the theft on my auto insurance at AAA under Comprehensive (the trickle charge cable is considered part of the car). It won't increase the insurance premium, but I think that is a ridiculous price for that cable.

    Am I out of line here in terms of what I think a reasonable price should be for that cable?
     
    #1 bioman666, Aug 15, 2011
  2. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    Do you see what's directly behind the chrome release button?

    [​IMG]

    It's a hole - for inserting a padlock or combonation lock. Once installed, you can NOT remove the J1772 handle. Yes - there IS a reason for that hole . . . it's not just for artistic value.
    ;)
    Sorry to hear about your loss - but at least you'll know now for next time.
     
    #2 hill, Aug 15, 2011
  3. stevemcelroy

    stevemcelroy Active Member

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    $625 seems steep but I saw the charger that you are talking about on Friday at a Leaf event. I just had to buy a new charger for my wife's MacBook - it was about $75 from Amazon. Compared to the Apple charger, the Leaf was way more substantial - the cable was almost as thick as my pinky, the brick was close to the size of an egg carton (1 dozen eggs) and the charging port (j1772 I believe) is way bigger and more complex. So just based on the physical appearance I'd say the Leaf charger should be 3-4 times the cost of the Apple charger. Add in the fact that Apple makes and sells these by the 10's of thousands and there has to be a quantity break in there as well. So with all of that I'd say closer to $500, but $625 does seem a wee bit much.

    Since the charging port is a standard does anyone make a 3rd party charger?

    Sorry about your loss though.
     
    #3 stevemcelroy, Aug 15, 2011
  4. jbrad4

    jbrad4 Active Member

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    #4 jbrad4, Aug 15, 2011
  5. Skoorbmax

    Skoorbmax Senior Member

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    Somebody came in your open garage, opened the back, and took this? Are you sure you didn't leave it somewhere? Seems a very stupid thing to steal.
     
    #5 Skoorbmax, Aug 15, 2011
  6. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    Several L2 hard wired charge point owners have sold the 120V unit on ebay. Knowing that you can get over $600 ... it's as good a thing to steal as any other item. Conversely, people sell the L2 models and simply use the L1 charger:

    UNIVERSAL ELECTRIC CAR CHARGER NISSAN LEAF NEW! | eBay

    The L1 can, and is being converted by (PC member) pEEf up in the Cal bay area and so the L1 can actually charge then off 120V ... 208V ... and 240V 16 amps. You can't get that kind of flexibility out of your AV wall mounted AV type charger.
     
    #6 hill, Aug 15, 2011
  7. bioman666

    bioman666 Prius Virgin

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    Yes, they just grabbed some change and the pack with the cable...guess they hoped the pack had something else in it. I haven't used this Level 1 cable since the Blink Level 2 charger was installed, but kept it in the back of the car just in case.

    I also have a 2010 Prius and love both vehicles, but use the Leaf 90 percent of the time now.
     
    #7 bioman666, Aug 15, 2011
  8. Going Greener

    Going Greener Junior Member

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    Sorry to hear about that.

    Recently, we stayed at a hotel and we were worried about leaving the EVSE trickle charging through the night. The hotel was wonderful, but couldn't sleep too well. Luckily, everything was safe and sound the next morning.

    If we put a lock on it, it's only a small deterent as it's limited to the size of the hole the lock can fit through. It's better than nothing for now. But, hopefully, there'll be better options soon.

    Luckily you have the Blink at home already.

    Like you, we love our Pri and Leaf.
     
    #8 Going Greener, Aug 15, 2011
  9. TheForce

    TheForce Stop War! Lets Rave! Make Love!

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    Dont mean to go off topic but does the Leaf have an option that if someone removes your plug while charging the alarm will go off?
     
    #9 TheForce, Aug 15, 2011
  10. hybridtwins

    hybridtwins Member

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    Yes, in a manner of speaking. Nissan wrote an iPhone app that will alert you should this happen.
     
    #10 hybridtwins, Aug 15, 2011
  11. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    Not just the iphone app. Nissan's carwings will send either sms or email messages to your pc or smart phone. So you're covered no matter what smart appliance you use.
    :)
     
    #11 hill, Aug 16, 2011
  12. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

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    couple people selling theirs on MNL.com. one as low as $300 but that was last week. at that price, its probably long gone
     
    #12 DaveinOlyWA, Aug 16, 2011
  13. adric22

    adric22 Ev and Hybrid Enthusiast

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    Somehow I doubt the thief knew what he was stealing. He probably saw the nice looking bag and grabbed it, hoping it would have a laptop, camera, or something of value in it. The sad part is, after opening it up he probably thought it was useless and threw it in the trash.

    Perhaps in the future, if it becomes a big problem with theft of EVSE cables, hopefully they could serialize them (if they aren't already) and then have some kind of database for stolen cables. That way people could check serial numbers on them.
     
    #13 adric22, Aug 17, 2011
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