Emergency brake use

[TomT]

It won't make any difference in that case... The car will still move forward from the impact, the front drive wheels will turn (the parking brake is on the rear wheels), and thus the transmission will still experience a shock load...

There is also one other good reason for using the handbrake - it is when you have parked on the street, or some other public space, and some out-of-it lowlife rear-ends your car. It is NOT good for your transmission....

 

[ElectricEddy]

An added benefit of emergency brake use is the ability to turn off the DRLs when parked, saving energy from the 12V system. I find myself sitting in my Leaf on a cold day eating my lunch and wanting some heat, but without the parking brake engaged the daytime running lights turn on, so: park your Leaf, shut down, apply some amount of emerg. brake and restart (run mode). The DRLs will not turn on again until parking brake is released.

 

[GetOffYourGas]

An added benefit of emergency brake use is the ability to turn off the DRLs when parked, saving energy from the 12V system. I find myself sitting in my Leaf on a cold day eating my lunch and wanting some heat, but without the parking brake engaged the daytime running lights turn on, so: park your Leaf, shut down, apply some amount of emerg. brake and restart (run mode). The DRLs will not turn on again until parking brake is released.

Interesting, but how much energy does this actually save compared to running the heat?

 

[ElectricEddy]

An added benefit of emergency brake use is the ability to turn off the DRLs when parked, saving energy from the 12V system. I find myself sitting in my Leaf on a cold day eating my lunch and wanting some heat, but without the parking brake engaged the daytime running lights turn on, so: park your Leaf, shut down, apply some amount of emerg. brake and restart (run mode). The DRLs will not turn on again until parking brake is released.

Interesting, but how much energy does this actually save compared to running the heat?

Compared to running the heat, basically nothing. You will still need to charge the big battery to recover the energy used by running the heater .
It does however reduce the 12V draw by 65w (5.4 amps approx) ( the headlights are 65W H9 hallogen and the DRLs are run at 1/2 the max.) therefore reducing the consumption from the 12V battery (a little longer between the inevitable trickle charge 12V top ups)

 

[TimLee]

An added benefit of emergency brake use is the ability to turn off the DRLs when parked ...

Aw a fortunate Canadian with built in DRL
Unfortunately Nissan did not do the right thing and put it on all LEAFs

Anyone know if it is a simple plug in module that you can buy to add DRL to a US LEAF :?:

 

[cliff]

Anyone know if it is a simple plug in module that you can buy to add DRL to a US LEAF :?:

The way DRL's work on the 2012 LEAF is the high beams are hooked together in
series, so that each gets half voltage. This is done by an added relay in the relay
box on the right side. I suspect the control wire for the relay may be missing, so
would need to be added with the missing relay.