Charge Completion?

[Plugg]

I have a 2013 Nissan Leaf SV w/o QC with 55,000 miles, 11 bars. Per Leafspy the car has a SOH of 81.28%, a HX of 74.73%, and 2,300 L1/L2 charging sessions.

For the past several months, when I charge to 100%, I do not get a notification from the app that the charging session is complete. I've tested extensively and no matter how long I leave it plugged in, neither does a notification come nor does the on dash screen show 0:00 as the time left to a 100% charge. The dash does show the battery at 100%.

I am not experiencing any other issues with the vehicle and this is merely an observation that I don't know if I should or should not be concerned about. No matter how long I leave the car plugged in (without timers of course), the on dash screen shows 0:40 as the time remaining to reach 100% charge.

Do any of you wizards have any thoughts, suggestions, or recommendations? I do believe that the final phase of charging involves a balancing of the cells. This would be the only reason I would have for any concern. After my most recent charging session to 100%, Leafspy shows all blue lines on the "shunts" screen except for 4 which are red.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

 

[nlspace]

How low do you typically take the pack down before charging?

What was the cell voltage level when it was up at 100%? What was the min/max delta voltage reading when @ 100%?

What is condition of the 12V aux battery--age, OCV, voltage under load, etc

It sounds to me like there is a "calibration" issue in which the VCM/LBC is expecting the voltage to rise higher, but yet the cells are full and won't accept anymore charge. It may be that the pack needs to be discharged to a low level (e.g. down to 1 bar blinking) and then charged up to full to "re-calibrate" the capacity value stored in memory.

Balancing is a very very slow process due to the insanely low balancing current.

 

[Plugg]

Many thanks for the reply nlspace. As to your questions;
-During the recent winer months I've been typically discharging to 35-40% and charging back up to 75-80% with an occasional 100% if it's really cold and I have to travel more than 40 miles RT.

-My 12v battery is brand new (Nov 2019) after the original battery was doa after returning from a week out of town.

-Which screens in Leafspy will have the answers to your questions "What was the cell voltage level when it was up at 100%? What was the min/max delta voltage reading when @ 100%?"

Thanks again!

 

[powersurge]

So it sound like the only thing that is wrong is that the app is not notifying you that the car isn't fully charged?

Sounds like a problem I could live with...

Not a car problems but an app problem...

 

[GerryAZ]

Do the three blue charging indicator lights on top of the dash (visible through windshield) stay on until you unplug the car? If so, then the car is still charging. If not, then the car stopped charging (probably because one or more cell pairs reached maximum voltage). The cell pair voltage graph screen in Leaf Spy may help to determine what is happening. Please post screen shots with battery low (before charging) and as soon after charging appears to stop (battery near full charge) as possible.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Cells balance all the time. Have you tried restarting the charge session? The charge end event is voltage controlled so will stop when first cells hit the target voltage. As the cells balance, the voltage could drop low enough to trigger the charge to restart. This is normal and can happens as much as 3 times over a few hours.

This is offered as FYI as it sounds like we are talking about a range of a mile or so if that. I wouldn't really care TBH. I am not a proponent of 100% charging anyway so my views will be prejudiced.

 

[Plugg]

Thanks for the input - great to have a group of people much smarter than me to turn to for the various mysteries that have come up with this great little car!

powersurge: My original post was a bit long winded and you may have missed a key detail. The lack of notification when full charge has been reached was the "flag" that led me to check the dash screen which shows 0:40 as the time remaining to reach 100% charge even though it's been many hours (on L2) beyond what it should take to reach 100%.

GerryAZ: The three blue charging indicator lights on the dashboard are OFF when I unplug. Great suggestion about the cell pair voltage graph - I'll post shots as I'm able to get them at low charge (what % should that be) and full charge. Thanks!

Dave: For the first 5 years I rarely charged to 100% but for the last two it has become a necessity to get the driving range I require (especially in cold/wet weather). I never charge to 100% and let the car sit - I reach full charge and I hit the road... I understand your position on 100% charging (I'm a fan of your blog!) but I'm not dealing with the "full deck of cards" you enjoy with your robust Leaf Plus... I'm relieved to learn the balancing process is not limited to the end of a 100% charging session and I'll try restarting a charging session as you suggested. I certainly won't worry about the loss of a mile or so - just want to make sure something more sinister was not in play. And, yes, the proper solution is to visit Ray to get an amazing deal on a new Leaf plus as you did but with one kid starting college in the Fall and another shortly thereafter I'm aftaid my current 2013 SV will have to suffice for the time being. . Thanks!

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Thanks for the input - great to have a group of people much smarter than me to turn to for the various mysteries that have come up with this great little car!

powersurge: My original post was a bit long winded and you may have missed a key detail. The lack of notification when full charge has been reached was the "flag" that led me to check the dash screen which shows 0:40 as the time remaining to reach 100% charge even though it's been many hours (on L2) beyond what it should take to reach 100%.

GerryAZ: The three blue charging indicator lights on the dashboard are OFF when I unplug. Great suggestion about the cell pair voltage graph - I'll post shots as I'm able to get them at low charge (what % should that be) and full charge. Thanks!

Dave: For the first 5 years I rarely charged to 100% but for the last two it has become a necessity to get the driving range I require (especially in cold/wet weather). I never charge to 100% and let the car sit - I reach full charge and I hit the road... I understand your position on 100% charging (I'm a fan of your blog!) but I'm not dealing with the "full deck of cards" you enjoy with your robust Leaf Plus... I'm relieved to learn the balancing process is not limited to the end of a 100% charging session and I'll try restarting a charging session as you suggested. I certainly won't worry about the loss of a mile or so - just want to make sure something more sinister was not in play. And, yes, the proper solution is to visit Ray to get an amazing deal on a new Leaf plus as you did but with one kid starting college in the Fall and another shortly thereafter I'm aftaid my current 2013 SV will have to suffice for the time being. . Thanks!

Well, the #1 criteria is whether the car works for you within the realm of what you are willing to do to make it work.
I made 24 kwh work for me but needed a gasser backup just in case. But as the pack grew, the gasser played a smaller and smaller role until it was a financial liability. I couldn't even justify the $50 annual tab fees much less basic minimum coverage insurance.

The best thing we have going for us is an expanding public charging network and cheap electricity. Due to fees, we do have to drive at least 11,615 miles to recover that cost (based on 35 mpg) but actually we don't since gassers inherently have more costs associated with them besides gas that EVers don't have to worry about.

FYI; have a friend (another Dave!) coming from Yakima "today" to pick up his LEAF SL E Plus from Ray. Don't know details but as always, he is not going to browse; he is going to pick up the car. That is Ray's advantage; No BS sales tactic.

 

[Plugg]

Great points and I hope "the other Dave" is also enamored with the Leaf Plus. I've made some sacrifices to make my leaf work for us the last 7 years, but the day is not too far away that I too will be speaking with Ray. That is unless I either hit the lottery or a significantly more compelling EV option (functionally and financially) rolls along...

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Great points and I hope "the other Dave" is also enamored with the Leaf Plus. I've made some sacrifices to make my leaf work for us the last 7 years, but the day is not too far away that I too will be speaking with Ray. That is unless I either hit the lottery or a significantly more compelling EV option (functionally and financially) rolls along...

He was driving a 10 bar 2013 LEAF so guessing he will be pleased. :lol:

 

[salyavin]

I take it you want the notification so you can move your car at a public charger and be nice to others? A note that if you are full they can unplug you and being sure to check in on plugshare can help with that. Some chargers app also give you status on your session if it has one (some have no app at all you just plug in).

 

[GerryAZ]

Since the 3 blue lights on top of the dash turn off, the car has actually stopped charging. Double-check that you don't have a charge timer active. Also, check your notification settings in your online profile of EV Connect and make sure all of the data transmission settings in the navigation system are set correctly.

I never had this problem with the 2011 or 2015 even when the original batteries were down to 8 capacity bars.