Charge Timer/ 80% charge question

[gotkwah]

After reading some advice on the forum i have a charge timer on my 2013 SV setup to charge to 80% every day of the week, 3:10AM Start- 3:00AM end. I use the trickle charge on a 120V outlet and most nights my car is at 80% by 2-3 AM

I want to know how I can make an "automated" way to tell my car to start charging beyond 80% 1-2hrs before i get in. I am looking for a way to accomplish this OTHER waking up and using the app or website to manually restart the charge at 5 or 6am. I dont need this every day, but only occasionally during the week, and its not for a set amount each time, some nights i might want it to start back at 4am, some nights at 6, some maybe at 7am.

Is there anyway to do this?

 

[ksnogas2112]

You should have an option to set two different timers, one for 100% and one for 80%. Just activate the 100% on the days you need it and the 80% the rest of the time.

 

[planet4ever]

I want to know how I can make an "automated" way to tell my car to start charging beyond 80% 1-2hrs before i get in. I am looking for a way to accomplish this OTHER waking up and using the app or website to manually restart the charge at 5 or 6am. I dont need this every day, but only occasionally during the week, and its not for a set amount each time, some nights i might want it to start back at 4am, some nights at 6, some maybe at 7am.

Is there anyway to do this?

Normally the answer would be to use an end-only timer, i.e. a timer with no start time set. The car is supposed to calculate back what time it should start charging, based on the battery's current charge state, so that it will end by the time you set. However ... a number of people have reported problems trying to use an end-only timer with 120v charging. They say the charging starts immediately even if that is not needed. It's possible that problem has been fixed in the 2013 cars. It would be worth a try.

Ray

 

[gotkwah]

my issue is that i dont need the extra power on a regular basis. (its not like every tuesday & thursday), its completely random, and i might decide at 11:30pm that ill need extra juice in the AM, other than going to the car and manually setting the 2nd timer to start charging at whatever time i want, is there any other choice?

there is no way to program the charge timers via the app or the site, right?
or enable/disable a charge timer via the app or site?

 

[planet4ever]

there is no way to program the charge timers via the app or the site, right?
or enable/disable a charge timer via the app or site?

Correct on all points. But it is possible to start a charge from a program/app running on your computer, smartphone, etc. And it appears that sending that "start charging" signal is pretty much equivalent to pressing the override button in the car. That includes the fact that it will override 80% if that is set as part of the timer (not if it is set by the new independent 80% option).

So, since a program/app can also query how many charge bars the battery is at, a new one could be written to do the calculation that the end-only timer does, and then use a timer to wake itself up when it should send the signal to start charging. I've never tried to write that sort of beast myself, but some people on this board have. Perhaps one of them already has this feature, or could add it easily.

I haven't kept up with this stuff, since my S model doesn't have any remote communication, but check out baronvonshush's LEAF link, and turbo2ltr had something he called leafic. There are probably others.

Ray

 

[KLS]

I'm new here, and we're still considering buying a Leaf.

Why limit the charge? Why an 80% limit?

Does the limit increase the battery's life...more discharge/recharge cycles before it dies? Or lower electrical cost per mile? Or...?

 

[ebill3]

I'm new here, and we're still considering buying a Leaf.

If it will fit your life style, do it. You will enjoy it.

Why limit the charge? Why an 80% limit?

Li cells do not like being held at full state of charge. Nissan recommends 80%, Tesla about 90%. No one, to my knowledge, ever allows charging to the full 4.2 volts per cell that is considered maximum.

Does the limit increase the battery's life...more discharge/recharge cycles before it dies?

Yes.

Or lower electrical cost per mile?

Oh, I doubt it.

Having said all that, if you need the range, charge to 100%. Try to limit the time spent at 100%. Any time I plan to travel more that about 150 miles in the Tesla, I full charge to ~265 miles right before leaving. The LEAF is used for local running around, and almost always gets charged to 80%. This winter, it will see more charges to 100% because of the inefficient heater in the 2011.

 

[KLS]

Thanks for the info. We're in Port Townsend and the Leaf would be used only for runs in the county or maybe as far as Poulsbo or Sequim...if we can make it that far and back with the heat on. Or, we may wait for the rumored budget Tesla.

 

[LeftieBiker]

Some us try to split the difference, charging to 90 or 95% when we need more than 80%, or think we might. I think a 95% charged battery is under significantly less stress than a 100% (indicated) charged one, although I still wouldn't leave it that charged for more than a couple of hours.

 

[WetEV]

there is no way to program the charge timers via the app or the site, right?
or enable/disable a charge timer via the app or site?

Correct on all points.

The Windows Phone app can set a charge timer.

http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/leaf-commander/1468732a-6e39-4691-a3aa-1cf442c7cf84" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[WetEV]

Thanks for the info. We're in Port Townsend and the Leaf would be used only for runs in the county or maybe as far as Poulsbo or Sequim...if we can make it that far and back with the heat on. Or, we may wait for the rumored budget Tesla.

Sequim would be fairly easy, charge to 100% right before you leave (and preheat if cold). Poulsbo, round trip wouldn't be realistic without some public charging. There are public charging stations at the Walmart, the Central Market, and near the marina.

 

[gotkwah]

To answer my own question in the OP. After lots of jumping between threads on this forum I found out about a third-party app for android called "Leaf Manager" and it has this exact feature built in. on the charge screen it has a "Set Charging timer" button. If i need more batt in the morning, i just set this charger to start at X hr and im done. (i know my batt charges about 4% an hr on my trickle charge so if i need 10% more ill tell it to charge 2:30 before i plan to get in the car.

The one time i tried it, it worked great. will keep you posted!

(one thing i hate about this & the nissan app/site is that they dont give you the actual battery percentage. they just show you the bar scale which fives you an ~8% range. Why not just show the damn % like the display in the car??????????)

 

[johnrhansen]

Here's what I'm going to do when I start my 60 mile round trip freeway commute. Let's say I leave at 5 am. I'm going to set my charge timer to end at 2 am. (at 80 percent charge.. I have an S with fast charger). Then I'm going to set my climate control timer to end at 5 am. Going to crank the heat way up high so I have stored heat in there. I discovered through experimentation that in my car at least, a side affect of this setting the climate control timer this way is that the battery charges past 80 percent, even though it is set to stop at 80 percent. The more work the climate control has to do the sooner the contractor closes and the more past 80 percent the battery charges. This way my battery doesn't spend much time at a high SOC and it would be a tiny bit cooler since it finished the bulk of its charging prior to 2 am and had some time to cool.

 

[ebill3]

Then I'm going to set my climate control timer to end at 5 am. Going to crank the heat way up high so I have stored heat in there.

But, you can not select a temperature when using the climate control timer. Factory default is, shucks, I forget, but 75° - 77°??

 

[johnrhansen]

Then I'm going to set my climate control timer to end at 5 am. Going to crank the heat way up high so I have stored heat in there.

But, you can not select a temperature when using the climate control timer. Factory default is, shucks, I forget, but 75° - 77°??

I didn't know that. I only tried it one time when I got the car. I did know the heat had to be on when you turned off the car or it wouldn't work. Looks like more experimentation is in order! I did notice when I had my climate control timer on that one morning that my battery was charged to 87 percent and the car was warm. It was set to 80. I'll be using it all the time when it starts getting colder. I get heat now just from the charger and the batteries from them working overnight.

 

[planet4ever]

Then I'm going to set my climate control timer to end at 5 am. Going to crank the heat way up high so I have stored heat in there.

But, you can not select a temperature when using the climate control timer. Factory default is, shucks, I forget, but 75° - 77°??

That was true for the 2011-2012, but there is a new setting in 2013 for the temperature. It applies both to timer and remote requests.

Ray

 

[Boourns]

The car is supposed to calculate back what time it should start charging, based on the battery's current charge state, so that it will end by the time you set. However ... a number of people have reported problems trying to use an end-only timer with 120v charging. They say the charging starts immediately even if that is not needed. It's possible that problem has been fixed in the 2013 cars. It would be worth a try.

I have been trickle charging the past week until my electrician can install my level 2, and this has been working fine.

That was true for the 2011-2012, but there is a new setting in 2013 for the temperature. It applies both to timer and remote requests.

Yep. It's buried in the settings somewhere, so you may have to search for a minute to find it.

 

[ebill3]

Then I'm going to set my climate control timer to end at 5 am. Going to crank the heat way up high so I have stored heat in there.

But, you can not select a temperature when using the climate control timer. Factory default is, shucks, I forget, but 75° - 77°??

That was true for the 2011-2012, but there is a new setting in 2013 for the temperature. It applies both to timer and remote requests.

Well, neat that they changed that.

I guess my copy of the 2013 manual is out of date, as on page 4-12 and 4-19 it says the temperature is set to a factory default when using the timer.

Climate Ctrl. Timer

The air conditioner starts to operate at the time of
day and day of the week specified in the settings.
This pre heats or pre cools the vehicle to a factory
preset temperature in the passenger compartment
before driving while the charger is connected
to vehicle. This helps reduce power consumption
from the Li-ion battery.

As the temperature is set to the factory default
setting, the user cannot adjust the temperature.

 

[Boourns]

I just went out to put something in my car and looked it up. Hit the Zero Emissions button next to the nav screen, from there it's just in the Settings menu, the 3d or 4th one down.

 

[planet4ever]

I guess my copy of the 2013 manual is out of date, as on page 4-12 and 4-19 it says the temperature is set to a factory default when using the timer.

So it does. The reference on 4-12 is correct, since it is referring to the S model, and that doesn't have the temperature control. On 4-19, obviously somebody didn't do a very thorough job on their update. But page 4-25 has a new section on how to set the temperature for SV and SL models.

Ray