Dead 12V Battery Overnight??

[Electryic]

I also haven't had the phantom drain since I put a new battery in, and I am beginning to think that also might be something with the low voltage on the battery that something kicks in, maybe the car sees the 12v battery low and tries to turn on the traction battery to charge and at that point it kills the 12v battery instantly? I don't know, but a new battery fixed mine right up.

My issue is that I am a ride share driver, so I am spending alot of time waiting in the car w/ the AC and sometimes just the fan. Even though I am keeping it in Ready to drive mode, so *supposedly* it is not putting any strain on the 12V (i.e. the 12V warning light is not on since I'm not in "On" mode), I am starting to think that even in Ready to drive mode, the "other systems" still only draws on the 12V. If I have the Fan on only letting in outside air, then it only shows "othersystems" with a power draw. Only when you put on the AC does the Climate Control and thereby, I think, the main power kicks in, which also probably keeps the 12V maintained once its engaged.

I am wondering does anyone know exactly how reliable the 12V warning light is? Even though its not on in Ready to Drive mode, I am getting the impression that maybe it should be on letting you know that you are drawing on its power if you are only using low voltage accessories and the main battery is not engaged.

 

[Electryic]

Like the others Ive been using a battery maintainer. It usually takes about 3-4 hours to charge it to full but I've had two days where right after charging it to full, I put away the maintainer and the next morning the battery was dead again.

Has anyone found out what is causing or what is potentially causing this? I skimmed over the 10+ pages in the thread and I see that other people are having the same problem but didn't see any posts where someone says what they think might be causing it.

Sounds like you have a bad 12 volt battery. If the car is still under warranty to it to the dealer.

Yep.

I ran into this w/my used Leaf (built 5/2013, 1st in service date was late 6/2013):
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=440106#p440106
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=440192#p440192
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=440419#p440419

Thank you! Checking these out now.

 

[BrockWI]

I am wondering does anyone know exactly how reliable the 12V warning light is? Even though its not on in Ready to Drive mode, I am getting the impression that maybe it should be on letting you know that you are drawing on its power if you are only using low voltage accessories and the main battery is not engaged.

I know it is just a voltage set point that kicks it in, I can't remember what it is, but I did check that before I swapped my battery. I had the same thing happen, while driving the car down the road the 12v battery light would come on for a while, which makes no since because in charging in float mode the car can put out 100 amps at 12v, that light should never be on with the car on.

What I can tell you is since swapping to a new 12v battery, we have never seen the low 12v light again.

 

[colinbel]

I got a "T/M system malfunction" message when attempting to start my 2013 Leaf after a 5-week absence. Phoned the dealer and he said that it was probably the 12 volt battery and to just plug in the 120V charging cable that came with the car (and uses the same port as a level 2 charger) overnight and I should be fine.

I did this at 3 pm Saturday and successfully locked the car with the button on the driver door handle. Checked occasionally, by 9:30pm I was getting different messages (including one that it couldn't recognize a key) and could not lock the car after unlocking it. At 6:30am Sunday I revisited the car and it was completely dead. No display whatsoever.

Now I plan to have it towed to the dealer on Monday. It's in a garage with the drive (front) wheels furthest from the garage door.

How does the tow truck company get it onto their flatbed truck?
Is it safe for them to attach a charger to the 12V battery?
How do I know what "gear" it is in?
How can I put it in neutral?
Any other suggestions?

Thanks

 

[LeftieBiker]

Even if it was charging the whole time it was plugged in to the L-1 EVSE (charging cable), that isn't a good way to charge the 12 volt battery. That battery will need to be charged to move the car. A portable 12 volt jumpstarter" may revive it enough to get the car running, or at least into neutral.

 

[FalconFour]

Nope nope nope... don't worry, charging on L1 - as long as the car is actually charging (no errors; dash lights flashing properly; actually saying "charge" on the EVSE for an hour or so)... will also charge your 12V battery far more than enough to actually run the car.

If the L1 doesn't actually charge the car, then the 12V is too weak to start the charger and engage the HV relay -- a very likely case. In that case, you'll want to charge the 12v battery with an external charger (or a jump pack, and I very highly recommend this one), then try and start it again.

If it still doesn't start after charging/jumping the 12v battery, then what's most likely the case is that the darn car tripped some errors when trying to start earlier, and now those errors have locked-out the car in a way that even DTC-clearing can't restart it. That happened to me. All DTCs cleared, the car goes to "Ready", but gives "Motor power limited" - limited to such an extent that the car will sit still in "D" and can only be pushed. :lol: Zero power is pretty limited!

Only way to reset that is to disconnect the 12v battery (just the "-" terminal is enough), wait 20 (!) seconds, then reattach it.

Give that a go, it'll probably work.

 

[RegGuheert]

Any other suggestions?

NO WAY would I tow my LEAF to the dealer for a dead 12V battery! Put it on a high-quality trickle charger until it is full. If the car still won't start, remove one of the terminals as FalconFour suggests.

The dealers have been looking for a revenue stream from Nissan LEAFs. It seems the 12V batteries are just the ticket!