is my 12V dead already?

[BAsrican]

Got in my 2022 SV+ today. I cannot start. No lights, no electronics, no communication with EV Connect. I had to use the physical key to get inside.

I was working from home last 2 days, so I haven't driven it. It was ~70% charge on the main battery on Wednesday night though.
I heard the 12V batteries were weak, but geez, I've only had the car for 6 weeks...

Maybe my dashcam killed it?
I did plug in a bluetooth OBD2 port reader last week.

 

[Stanton]

Maybe my dashcam killed it?

Very possible. The symptoms you described are all caused by a "dead" 12v battery.
BTW, it doesn't matter what the main pack SoC is, and the car doesn't even check the 12v level until 5 days have passed.

 

[LeftieBiker]

Always make sure that accessories you install are either Off when the car is Off, or have a power switch on them, and you remember to use it.

 

[BAsrican]

Well, Roadside assistance fixed it up in about 2 minutes. Definitely was battery. Seems perfectly fine now.

So do you all remove your OBD2 dongles when parked?

I'm getting a home charger installed in a couple weeks, will plugging the car in prevent the 12 V from getting drained?

 

[LeftieBiker]

There are dongles that have built in power switches, and others that stop drawing significant power after a short time being idle. Many of us only use the dongle when we are taking a battery reading, so we remove it again after that.

Being plugged in won't necessarily protect the12 volt battery from being drained by accessories. A battery maintainer will do that, as long as the drain doesn't exceed the output from the maintainer.

 

[Stanton]

I'm getting a home charger installed in a couple weeks, will plugging the car in prevent the 12 V from getting drained?

Quite the opposite: leaving the car "plugged in" will actually drain the 12v battery (the car has to constantly monitor the EVSE). However, the 12v does get charged when the traction battery is being charged. Long story short, unplug your car when finished charging (until the next time you need to charge).

So do you all remove your OBD2 dongles when parked?

Depends what they are...and if they have "low power" modes. For example, I leave my OVMS module plugged in, but set timers to power-down the WiFi and/or cellular connections after a few days of inactivity. Most folks leave their LeafSpy dongles plugged in all the time. My recommendation would be to remove any dongles if you aren't going to drive the car for an extended period.

 

[Nubo]

So do you all remove your OBD2 dongles when parked?

I do, because I only wish to make a check every few months at most so the rest of the time the dongle isn't doing anything for me.

 

[jlv]

So do you all remove your OBD2 dongles when parked?

I had mine (ELM Bluetooth, not WiFi) constantly plugged in for about 3.5 years.


And as noted, leaving the car plugged into a charging station will not keep the 12V charged.

 

[LeftieBiker]

I know that asking Nissan to do something helpful is a lost cause, but with so many EV newbies driving Leafs, they really should have a bolded section in the manual, saying

"Please DO NOT leave your Leaf plugged in for more than a few hours after charging has ended."

 

[jlv]

You'd think that after 10 years, they'd have fixed the flaw in how the LEAF handles the 12V by now.

 

[OldManCan]

You'd think that after 10 years, they'd have fixed the flaw in how the LEAF handles the 12V by now.

Agreed. Pretty disappointing. At least they could have gone away from a lead acid battery to a newer tech that can handle the use case better. Let's see what they will do with Ariya. Curious to say the least

 

[Nubo]

Got in my 2022 SV+ today. I cannot start. No lights, no electronics, no communication with EV Connect. I had to use the physical key to get inside.

I was working from home last 2 days, so I haven't driven it. It was ~70% charge on the main battery on Wednesday night though.
I heard the 12V batteries were weak, but geez, I've only had the car for 6 weeks...

Maybe my dashcam killed it?
I did plug in a bluetooth OBD2 port reader last week.

Plug-ins can definitely drain the 12V, even if they claim to be low-energy or auto-turnoff devices it's not always true.

 

[Learjet]

Got in my 2022 SV+ today. I cannot start. No lights, no electronics, no communication with EV Connect. I had to use the physical key to get inside.

I was working from home last 2 days, so I haven't driven it. It was ~70% charge on the main battery on Wednesday night though.
I heard the 12V batteries were weak, but geez, I've only had the car for 6 weeks...

Maybe my dashcam killed it?
I did plug in a bluetooth OBD2 port reader last week.

Plug-ins can definitely drain the 12V, even if they claim to be low-energy or auto-turnoff devices it's not always true.

Ditto

 

[BAsrican]

I just bought one of those Noco Battery Boost devices in case I need to give myself a jump. Hopefully I won't need to use it, but I feel better having it now.

 

[Flyct]

Got in my 2022 SV+ today. I cannot start. No lights, no electronics, no communication with EV Connect. I had to use the physical key to get inside.

I was working from home last 2 days, so I haven't driven it. It was ~70% charge on the main battery on Wednesday night though.
I heard the 12V batteries were weak, but geez, I've only had the car for 6 weeks...

Maybe my dashcam killed it?
I did plug in a bluetooth OBD2 port reader last week.

I’ve had a Bluetooth ELM OBDII dongle plugged in for over 5 years and never killed any of my 4 Leafs batteries. I had a 2015, 2018, 2019 & 2020 Leaf.

Is your dashcam wired to an always hit 12 volt source?

 

[BAsrican]

Is your dashcam wired to an always hit 12 volt source?

Yeah, I used the wired option with fusetap to an always on circuit so that the dashcam can run in low-energy parking mode. I used one of those Viofo 3 wire hardwire kits that is supposed to shut off if the battery voltage gets too low. Maybe I have to readjust the sensitivity of the shutoff. I think there were several levels for shutoff.

 

[HerdingElectrons]

Yeah, I used the wired option with fusetap to an always on circuit so that the dashcam can run in low-energy parking mode. I used one of those Viofo 3 wire hardwire kits that is supposed to shut off if the battery voltage gets too low. Maybe I have to readjust the sensitivity of the shutoff. I think there were several levels for shutoff.

The reserve capacity of the OEM 12V battery in my experience is comically low so I would set that shut off voltage higher to preserve your battery. My 1st 12V battery had to be replaced about a year into ownership & once this 12V dies I will be one of the folks who will replace it with a Lithium equivalent because even though the cost is 2-3x or w/e the premium experience of of not randomly having a dead car is worth the cost of admission imo.

 

[OldManCan]

Is your dashcam wired to an always hit 12 volt source?

Yeah, I used the wired option with fusetap to an always on circuit so that the dashcam can run in low-energy parking mode. I used one of those Viofo 3 wire hardwire kits that is supposed to shut off if the battery voltage gets too low. Maybe I have to readjust the sensitivity of the shutoff. I think there were several levels for shutoff.

Some cameras specifically request you to wire them to a circuit which depowers once the car is switched off. These cameras have internal batteries to support parking mode recording of incidents. I got one from Nexar which operates this way and there are other makes as well I believe. Leaving it here for future readers considering dashcams to look into this option to eliminate 12V battery going flat issue related to dashcams.

 

[Stanton]

Some cameras specifically request you to wire them to a circuit which depowers once the car is switched off. These cameras have internal batteries to support parking mode recording of incidents.

^^^ THIS
Interesting that this thread has gone on for 2+ pages and returned to the original cause: the dashcam!
The only thing you should wire into the "always on" 12v line is a CAN-bridge translator/converter.