LEAF plugged in but not charging... what is climate control power source: battery or grid?

[Dooglas]

Thanks Leftie and arnis. While I would still like to see a graph that compares SV/SL and S battery draw for heating at several outside temperatures (and at a fixed set of conditions and settings), you have gone a long way toward answering my questions about the benefits of the hybrid heating system. I appreciate your time and patience.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

ok the heat pump basically does not run at all when it senses incoming air near freezing. Per Nissan Tech Manual, pump shuts off when incoming air goes below 1ºC and turns back on at 4ºC. The PTC is mounted on intake before pump, so it can preheat the air enough to allow heat pump to run so the real question is at what temperature is the PTC ineffective at enabling the heat pump?

 

[LeftieBiker]

Once the PTC is warming the incoming air for it, the heat pump is just wasting energy by running, as best I can tell. Still, there is apparently a span of a few degrees in which the HP might be extracting extra heat from the incoming air... Thanks for posting that, Dave. As for what happens at what temp, the numbers I posted earlier are pretty accurate and reflect the experiences of multiple drivers.

 

[arnis]

ok the heat pump basically does not run at all when it senses incoming air near freezing. Per Nissan Tech Manual, pump shuts off when incoming air goes below 1ºC and turns back on at 4ºC. The PTC is mounted on intake before pump, so it can preheat the air enough to allow heat pump to run so the real question is at what temperature is the PTC ineffective at enabling the heat pump?

Completely incorrect.
1C limit is for chilling cycle. And PTC is after everything.


https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipOJ9iyXQFB0LCOXanFLhuVfHPS8opyjpHWkdAHB
This picture is taken at -4C. Just to prove what I just said.

Blue is compressor, violet is PTC.

 

[Latincanuck]

I bought a used 2015 Leaf 3 weeks ago and because of the Canadian winter I'm trying to find a good way of heating the car every morning (before leaving home) without wasting my battery charge. Last night I left the charger plugged in and the battery was charged by 3 am.
This morning at 7 am I turned on the climate control for 15 min before leaving home, hoping the energy will come from the power grid. I was surprised when i get in the car and found the CC sucked 8% of the battery and never used the power grid.
What did I do wrong?? I thought the car will sense the battery charge was dropping with the CC on and charging will restart automatically.

 

[LeftieBiker]

Your best bet is to preheat for 3-5 minutes, not 15.

 

[arnis]

I bought a used 2015 Leaf 3 weeks ago and because of the Canadian winter I'm trying to find a good way of heating the car every morning (before leaving home) without wasting my battery charge. Last night I left the charger plugged in and the battery was charged by 3 am.
This morning at 7 am I turned on the climate control for 15 min before leaving home, hoping the energy will come from the power grid. I was surprised when i get in the car and found the CC sucked 8% of the battery and never used the power grid.
What did I do wrong?? I thought the car will sense the battery charge was dropping with the CC on and charging will restart automatically.

Do you charge to 80% or 100%?
If 80%, then start charging like 30 minutes before departure and preheating 15 minutes before departure.
If 100%, then it's likely hard to prevent battery drainage. Though start charging and start preheating.

It's important to have at least the most powerful grid connection. 110V is definitely not enough. Forget it.
16A 230V connection is minimum (maximum rating for standard charger).

Depending on how cold it is, heater might draw more than grid can provide. During that time,
as less can be taken from the grid, some will be taken from the battery. Soon after, if "start charging" command
has also been given, battery should recharge again. But from 95% to 100% it takes a LOT of time, like an hour.

Also try to set lower preheating temperature. This should slow down preheating process and might help with battery drainage
problem if grid/onboard charger can't give enough. Even though Nissan does limit heater to 3000W, I've noticed that charger
can't hold battery at maximum voltage when heater is drawing power. And some juice "leaks" from battery to heater.

 

[davidsylvestre]

I bought a used 2015 Leaf 3 weeks ago and because of the Canadian winter I'm trying to find a good way of heating the car every morning (before leaving home) without wasting my battery charge. Last night I left the charger plugged in and the battery was charged by 3 am.
This morning at 7 am I turned on the climate control for 15 min before leaving home, hoping the energy will come from the power grid. I was surprised when i get in the car and found the CC sucked 8% of the battery and never used the power grid.
What did I do wrong?? I thought the car will sense the battery charge was dropping with the CC on and charging will restart automatically.

Did you start CC remotely or from inside the car? In the latter case, you should manually restart charging (by pressing the timer override button) before turning on CC. Then it should pull energy from the grid while heating.