Battery Upgrade, Pairing? - What's possible with LeafSpyPro and what's not

[coulomb]

The charging light keeps flashing and on battery is 14.5 V

Wild guess: the relevant computer thinks that the auxiliary (12V) battery is low in voltage, and wants to top it up. Or it thinks that the battery is still taking charge current, so it's not full enough yet to stop charging. So: some wiring to do with the auxiliary battery, that was disrupted during the main battery changeover, has not been properly restored, or some sensor has been damaged somewhere in the changeover.

[ Edit: What does Leafspy say is the auxiliary battery voltage and current? Do they correspond to reality? ]

My car was without BATTERY HEATER CONTROL SYSTEM. Model 2012 is with this system,

Another guess: I don't think that this is relevant.

 

[jackowskijk]

The Volage are perfectly fine. I checked on another car that charging starts when the auxiliary battery voltage drops below 11V. Mine is over 12.5. I even installed a completely new one for the test. It didn't help.
Dala suggests that there is a different CAN communication without battery heating vs. with heating.
I will try to install Can Bidge

 

[jackowskijk]

Installing Can Brigde didn't help. It turned out that the installed battery is also with heaters. I checked and compared the parameters with another leaf. I used Autel. The parameters are identical to those in another car. There are four temperature sensors in the battery. All of them show correctly about 0 degrees. I also checked the parameters of the EV Contro System. And here's the surprise. There is also a information about HV Battery temperature and it shows minus 8 degrees. Another car has zero degrees at this point. Does anyone know where this sensor is? I couldn't find it in the diagrams.

 

[Stanton]

Installing Can Brigde didn't help. It turned out that the installed battery is also with heaters. I checked and compared the parameters with another leaf. I used Autel.

I think you are focusing on the wrong thing: the battery heater shouldn't matter; I installed a 40 kWh battery pack (with heater) into my Gen1 Leaf (without heater); you just don't "connect" that heater plug. I used Dala's CAN bridge.

 

[TobyHolland]

Thanks Dala.

You have me wishing that 40 kWh packs were available

I have stock, if you're in the EU

 

[TobyHolland]

[MOD : created from this thread: Battery Pairing - Testers wanted]

I think this forum needs a sticked wiki that explains what is possible with Leafspy and what's not.

So you are looking to upgrade the battery in your LEAF? You've come to the right place for information. Take some time to familiarize with the content. Please also note that battery upgrades might not be legal in your country (Norway has strict upgrade rules for example), so it might be worthwhile to familiarize yourself with your local legislation.

Different LEAF variants?
There are three major version changes between the LEAF models.

2011-2012 ZE0 (white interior, electrical handbrake)
2013-2017 AZE0 (dark interior, foot operated handbrake)
2018- ZE1 (new exterior style with 40/62kWh batterypacks)
There's also the 24kWh e-NV200, which is technically identical to the AZE0.

The battery packs (24/30/40kWh) are all the same physical size. The 62kWh pack is taller and requires spacers, more on that later. Here are the battery weights. Please note that you might need to re-certify your vehicle for the additional weight.
24kWh = 277kg (601pounds)
30kWh = 294kg (648pounds)
40kWh = 303kg (668pounds)
62kWh = 410kg (903pounds)

Most likely you are going to upgrade an older LEAF. There are a few things to keep in mind, first one being, are you doing a swap or an upgrade?

Battery swap vs Battery upgrade
A direct swap is replacing the same size battery with an identical one for the same version of your vehicle. A battery upgrade is installing a newer generation battery. Take a look at these 4 examples to learn the differences.

A 2011 ZE0 LEAF gets its 24kWh pack replaced by another 24kWh pack from a 2012 ZE0 LEAF. This is a direct swap.

A 2011 ZE0 LEAF gets its 24kWh pack replaced by a 24kWh pack from a 2015 AZE0 LEAF. This is a battery upgrade.

A 2013 AZE0 LEAF gets its 24kWh pack replaced by another 24kWh pack from a 2015 AZE0 LEAF. This is a direct swap.

A 2015 AZE0 LEAF gets its 24kWh pack replaced by a 40kWh pack from a 2018 ZE1 LEAF. This is a battery upgrade.

Battery swap
Now that we have swap/upgrade terms explained, let's tackle the easiest one first, the direct swap. After a direct swap has been performed, the only thing preventing you from driving the vehicle is a check EV warning light along with turtle mode. The fault code P3102 will be triggered. To clear this code and remove turtle mode, simply read DTCs and perform a P3102 clear with the latest Leafspy Pro version (0.46.172 for Android)(1.7.44.15 for iOS [Requires TestFlight]). That's it, enjoy the newfound range!

Picture of pairing screen (Accessible via first reading DTCs, and then selecting to clear P3102)

Here is a how-to video:


What about battery upgrades?
The battery upgrade is the procedure more commonly performed. This requires either one or two things.

If you are upgrading your 2011-2012 ZE0 LEAF, you will require a B24 22-36pin adapter. You will also need a CAN-bridge.

If you are upgrading your 2013+ AZE0/ZE1/e-NV200 vehicle, you will only require a CAN-bridge since the battery is mechanically plug'n'play.

What is a CAN-brige?
A CAN-bridge (also known as CAN-gateway/translator) is translating the newer style battery communication into an older format the the older vehicle can understand. It is absolutely mandatory for safe operation and charging of the vehicle. There exists over 5 commercial solutions for this.
[*]Muxsan [NL]
[*]EVs Enhanced [NZ]
[*]Dala's EV Repair [FIN]
[*]Véhicules électriques Simon André [CAN]
[*]canmost [RU]
[*]+More that don't have English as primary target audience

What is a B24 adapter?
This section only applies if you have a 2011-2012 ZE0 LEAF. Nissan originally used a 22-pin connector on the battery for these vehicles, and starting from 2013+ they switched to using a 36-pin connector. The amount of pins are the same, it is only the physical connector that changed. If you are upgrading your ZE0 to the newer style, you have a few options on how to get the 36-pin plug.

#1 The cheapest option: Is to take it from the same salvage car that you took the battery from. You can cut a short section of the harness and splice it in with your old car. Example wiring diagram available here: Nissan-Leaf-Battery-to-OBD2/Documentation at master · dalathegreat/Nissan-Leaf-Battery-to-OBD2
#2 The easiest option: Is to order a premade 22-36-connector from a company (Muxsan, EVs Enhanced for example)
#3 The DIY option: Is to order the Yazaki connector and re-pin your harness. Yazaki part number 7287-1065-30 for the 36-connector and the pins are 7116441708 . Purchase link for all (Aliexpress: https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/1005004180391674.html )

Special notes about the 2011-2012 ZE0 LEAF
The software on the oldest LEAF model is not that compatible with battery upgrades in general. As a whole it works, but there will be some annoyances related to instrumentation that requires more effort if you want it to perform 100% like factory. Now I'm speaking for my own (Dala's) experience, and the battery charge bars (the 12 one on the dashboard), will not really decrement like they should, and sometimes get incorrectly scaled when charge ends. It is possible to solve this with a VCM reflash, or by adding another CAN-bridge for the cluster. Depending on who you get the translation hardware from, they might have improved the situation with additional solutions for the ZE0. You can also ignore these cosmetic issues!

Special notes about 62kWh pack
If you are upgrading to the 62kWh pack from the 2019 e+ LEAF, you will require some additional hardware. The 62kWh pack is taller and has a slightly different mounting flange, so you will need spacers in order to bolt it down. This is not legal in some countries, since you are lowering ground clearance slightly (40mm). Other than spacers, the rear springs need to be changed out to either the e+ rear springs, or custom made springs can also be sourced via Muxsan. The splash shield undertray also needs to be changed to the e+ version. Part numbers listed below

The part numbers are:
55020-5SJ1B for ePlus rear springs, 2 needed.
748N3-5SN0A Splash shield 3
748N2-5SN0A Splash shield 2
74811-5SN0A Splash shield 1
740D1-5SN0A Rear mount LH side (you can also weld and extend the current one)
740D0-5SN0A Rear mount RH side (you can also weld and extend the current one)
40mm adapter rails (fab own or go with premade)

Special notes about the e-NV200
The e-NV200 van can only be upgraded from 24kWh to 40kWh, using a battery pack from another e-NV200. This is because the batteries have another physical shape compared to the LEAF, along with active cooling. So this rules out 30kWh and 62kWh upgrades. When upgrading a 24kWh e-NV200 to 40kWh, Leafspy can be used to pair in the replacement pack. Afterwards, an optional but highly recommended CAN-bridge can be fitted to fix instrumentation and quickcharge issues. For instance the Dala variant is open source software: GitHub - dalathegreat/Nissan-env200-Battery-Upgrade: Software for upgrading a 24kWh env200 to 40kWh with a Muxsan CAN-bridge

Special notes about factory warranty replacements
Nissan itself is offering warranty replacements(and out of pocket) for LEAFs. Here is what is possible via Nissan dealerships
2011-2012 24kWh LEAFs can get 24kWh new replacement packs (new packs with old type connector and BMS)
2013-2016 24kWh LEAFs can get 24kWh new replacement packs
2016-2017 30kWh LEAFs can get 40kWh packs when getting a warranty pack!
2018- No data yet

Example videos?
Below are some example videos, feel free to suggest

Thankyou @Dala for bringing all of this together in one place

 

[TobyHolland]

Thank you Dala! VCM is paired to the Body Control Module. Got it. I am assuming only the dealer can pair these. Are there any other components that need pairing? Why do I ask?

We drive very little (8,000 miles a year across three vehicles), and we will be retiring sometime in this decade, so I am seriously looking at keeping two or three of theses cars going for a while if it is not too hard. Save money for something else, keep some Leafs out of the scrap yard, leave a new EV on the lot for a driver with more range needs, and avoid the carbon debt of building a new car for us. The last is pretty important to us. The batteries will be an issue eventually, but I am guessing there will be some workarounds to that in the next five or ten years. The only unknown is whether I can keep up with EV component failure. You have just helped a lot. Thanks.

Edit, just looked on Ebay and the first listing is for a matched BCM, VCM and two keys. That makes sense now. Of course, which version is the VCM--w QC or w/o QC? I may start working on a part number catalog for the ZE0 2013 forward.

Indepent Mechanics with Nissan Consult III can do the relevant VCM/BCM/Key Pairing for you, too, it doesn't have to be at a Nissan Dealer

 

[Oggioffshore]

Tnx for this thread

Have a 2012 Leaf with 24 kWh, and 7 bars left. 210k km. ZEO

Have a 30Kwh battery from 2017. Reg papers says its a ZEO.

So guess I need the can bridge, ordered a few from Ali, and will try flash it. So install it in the car referring to video instructions.
If order from Dalas, is it pre programmed?
Will use the B plug from the donor car, and splice the wires.
If order from Ali, I need to order 1 or to connectors? Male and female?

So it's my understanding that all this will make the car work.?

Other things to take into consideration?
If anyone from Norway in here, has done this job, feel free to contact me.

 

[Bombastinator2]

What if I’ve got a 2019 sv and I want to turn it into an sv+? I still need spacers, springs, and a new splash shield under tray. Is that all?

 

[Jumpei]

Hello.
Please tell me about CAN bridge.
I executed ROM flash of 2-port CAN-bridge by referring to Dala's page.
To confirm, when I compared the srec file and Device Memory using ST-LINK Utility, they did not match in some places.
Is this normal? That is the red part of the image below.
I would like to check if the flash was successful before installing it on a real car.
I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. Dala.

 

[MozzoAU]

This is Dallas video about installing his Cambridge. It's acting as battery translator for when you swap to a bigger battery.


This is a bit about battery swap upgrades.



This is Dallas video about how the battery pairing works.

 

[chadconway]

Thank you Dala! VCM is paired to the Body Control Module. Got it. I am assuming only the dealer can pair these. Are there any other components that need pairing? Why do I ask?

We drive very little (8,000 miles a year across three vehicles), and we will be retiring sometime in this decade, so I am seriously looking at keeping two or three of theses cars going for a while if it is not too hard. Save money for something else, keep some Leafs out of the scrap yard, leave a new EV on the lot for a driver with more range needs, and avoid the carbon debt of building a new car for us. The last is pretty important to us. The batteries will be an issue eventually, but I am guessing there will be some workarounds to that in the next five or ten years. The only unknown is whether I can keep up with EV component failure. You have just helped a lot. Thanks.

Edit, just looked on Ebay and the first listing is for a matched BCM, VCM and two keys. That makes sense now. Of course, which version is the VCM--w QC or w/o QC? I may start working on a part number catalog for the ZE0 2013 forward.

Hi @MikeinPA,
Did you end up figuring this out? Can you swap BCM & VCM to into a 2011 ZE0 Leaf & have it work properly? I'm also considering swapping the AC charger so that it can do more than 3.3kW. Thanks!

 

[MozzoAU]

Afaik the 2011-12 leaf has its charger in the back and it's limited to 3.3kwh. Only the later models with the charger in the stack in the engine bay can be upgraded by swapping to a 6.6kwh charger.

 

[MikeinPA]

Can you swap BCM & VCM to into a 2011 ZE0 ?

From a 2013 or newer? No idea. Lot's of circuits to investigate before trying.

 

[mux]

Hi @MikeinPA,
Did you end up figuring this out? Can you swap BCM & VCM to into a 2011 ZE0 Leaf & have it work properly? I'm also considering swapping the AC charger so that it can do more than 3.3kW. Thanks!

No, this is not possible without quite a lot of additional electronics. The gen1 VCM 'does more' than the gen2+ VCM, there are some physical activation lines that have been transformed into CAN messages on gen2+ and there's quite a bit that changed to the CAN bridging aspect of the VCM.

If you want to do more than 3.3kW on a gen1, it's honestly just easier to tuck in a Thunderstruck J.1772 controller and add your own separate 3.3kW charger (e.g. a TC charger) that listens to that.