Leviton Charger appears to have stopped working

I got a couple of charge failure emails from Entune this afternoon after I plugged my car into charge. I went out to check the car and the charger and found no charging lights lit on the car, and the charger with no lights showing either. I reset the emergency shutoff switch next to the charger with no effect. I went to my breaker box next and reset the breaker that goes to the charger. Still no effect.

I took my car down the the Toyota dealer that's close to my house and plugged the car. Charged just fine.

So, it must be the charger. Any suggestions to troubleshoot?

The charger is right about a year old. I got the car on 11/11/2012 and the charger was installed a couple of days later. Anyone remember the warranty period?

Thanks,
-Chris

I see on the Leviton EVSE brochure that they have 3-year limited warranties.

Joyride said:

I got a couple of charge failure emails from Entune this afternoon after I plugged my car into charge. I went out to check the car and the charger and found no charging lights lit on the car, and the charger with no lights showing either. I reset the emergency shutoff switch next to the charger with no effect. I went to my breaker box next and reset the breaker that goes to the charger. Still no effect.

I took my car down the the Toyota dealer that's close to my house and plugged the car. Charged just fine.

So, it must be the charger. Any suggestions to troubleshoot?

The charger is right about a year old. I got the car on 11/11/2012 and the charger was installed a couple of days later. Anyone remember the warranty period?

Thanks,
-Chris

Click to expand...

Call them and they will help you. They are available on the weekends too. I called on a Sunday morning and had a new unit installed by the afternoon. They have great customer service. I just wish I could say they have great chargers. I ended up sending mine back to amazon for a refund and getting a clippercreek.

Scott1258 said:

I just wish I could say they have great chargers. I ended up sending mine back to amazon for a refund and getting a clippercreek.

Click to expand...

Yep, there's a reason that I always recommend the Clipper Creek.

Just a thought, but have you check your J1772 connector for a "stuck" trigger switch?

Joyride said:

I got a couple of charge failure emails from Entune this afternoon after I plugged my car into charge. I went out to check the car and the charger and found no charging lights lit on the car, and the charger with no lights showing either. I reset the emergency shutoff switch next to the charger with no effect. I went to my breaker box next and reset the breaker that goes to the charger. Still no effect.

I took my car down the the Toyota dealer that's close to my house and plugged the car. Charged just fine.

So, it must be the charger. Any suggestions to troubleshoot?

The charger is right about a year old. I got the car on 11/11/2012 and the charger was installed a couple of days later. Anyone remember the warranty period?

Thanks,
-Chris

Click to expand...

When I first purchased my RAV, I had the Leviton installed in the garage. About two weeks later, the Leviton just died. No lights, reset the breaker, nothing. I called Leviton and found out that their service group is located in San Diego. I live in a suburb of Los Angeles. I called on a Monday evening about 5 PM, and their service rep drove to my house with a new unit by noon the next day. The Leviton unit had some issues and a couple of wires touched inside and burned the unit when they inspected it.

They installed a new unit that they brought with them and a few minutes later, they were on their way. Great service and it's been working ever since.

While searching today for new troubleshooting tips for my Leviton charger, I came across this thread, and realized two things: 1) I'm troubleshooting the same charger again, and 2) I never responded to let folks know the resolution of the original problem.

I've since sold my Rav4 and purchased a Plug-In Prius (also a 2012), and have found over the last couple of days that the Leviton charger isn't charging the car any longer. Green "happy" light is lit on the charger, fault light is not lit, and the charging light doesn't come on when plugged into the car. In fact, nothing happens when I plug into the car. I'm thinking that a connector in the charge handle or inside the charger has come loose, but am surprised that the "fault" light hasn't lit as a result. Any ideas?

As for the previous issue, the installer did poor electrical work and there was a short in the line before the charger and kill switch. Interestingly, the breaker wasn't thrown on the electrical panel (as one would hope/expect). The unit was repaired under warranty at no cost to me, other than irritation.

Thanks,
-Chris

I got my Leviton at the time I purchased my RAV4 in 2012. They had a deal, for $1500 they would install the charger. It quit working about a year ago. Leviton did repair it under warranty, but I had to wait for them to send me an empty box, ship my unit to them (at their cost), wait for it to be repaired and then reinstall it when it was returned. As a result, I didn't have an installed charger for over a week. Luckily I had one of Glenn's chargers available as a backup. It would have been nicer if they could have shipped me a reconditioned unit to replace mine, and then have me ship mine back to them in the box that held the new unit.

I have had a Leviton since 2012 working fine. Past 2.5 years it is at work charging two to four cars every weekday 10 hours a day outside in all weather conditions.

My 3.5 year old Leviton EVB40 quit working last week while charging my RAV. I went down to the garage to find it completely dead. No lights at all, but the 6-50 socket had power. I called them and the guy who answered the phone guessed it was an internal fuse. I boxed it up and UPS'd it to Chula Vista for $20. They received it on Friday afternoon, fixed it and had it shipped out again by Monday evening. Since my unit was a first generation unit from 2013, they replaced the circuit board with the current version which does not have a fuse. Communication was great and they never asked how old the unit was and there was no charge for repair or return shipping. I happened to keep the original box, so that part was easy.

It is very possible they are making them cheaper these days. My $1000 16A L2 EVSE worked fine until I sold it to replace it with an upgraded series of OpenEVSE units.
It was very basic but it worked fine with my 2012 Leaf.

GlennD said:

It is very possible they are making them cheaper these days. My $1000 16A L2 EVSE worked fine until I sold it to replace it with an upgraded series of OpenEVSE units.
It was very basic but it worked fine with my 2012 Leaf.

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Of course, even Leviton is cost reducing their product. I think the list price of my EVB40 unit (the one recommended by Toyota for the RAV4 EV) was $999 in 2012. I bought mine in April 2013 for $900 and you can buy them now for under $700, including the installation kit which was extra cost.

About 3 weeks ago, our 2 year, 7 month old Leviton EVB40-PST 40 amp charger suddenly would not charge our Rav4 EV. When I plugged the charger into the vehicle, it would cycle on with a couple of loud clicks, charge for about 45 seconds, click loudly a couple more times, and then shut down. It wasn't at all clear to me if the problem was with our Rav4 or the charger.

Since the plug-in cable that came with the vehicle still charged the vehicle and it would charge at a near-by commercial charger, I figured that it had to be the Leviton charger and contacted their customer service. The agent I spoke with was wonderful and immediately sent a postage-paid label to return the "still under warranty" unit for evaluation. I just heard back today that the unit proved to be defective and Leviton will be sending a new EVR40-B25 charger as a replacement (the EVB40-PST is no longer being made).

This is all good, as it means that nothing is wrong with our Rav4 and we will end up with a brand new upgraded model charger (and hopefully a three-year warranty on the new charger). The only hassle is that the new unit is hardwire only, whereas we already had the handy plug for the EVE40. Has anyone done a modification and "plugged in" the new model Leviton or is hardwire absolutely the only option? I ask because I love the way that my fellow Rav4 EVer's tend to be "rule breakers" or at least tend to think "out of the box."

You can install a plug on any device designed for hard wiring. Just be sure to use a proper strain relief to secure the plug to the housing, and the correct wire size and plug for your situation.

One thing about doing this: its probably not "code" to do that. Now, i'm an EE and i often do things that aren't code, especially when I think the code is being dumb on a point, but your fire insurance company may not agree.

So were I you, I'd think about getting your new charger wired in (or doing it yourself). Its not that hard to do (especially since you already have a box where the plug currently is mounted that is probably pretty close to where you want your charger.

-jcp-

The one thing I noted about the new Leviton 40 amp charging station is that it's made in China. The original one was made in USA.
Please let us know if the new one has a solid metal box under the plastic like the old one did.