Leaf Spy and Leaf Spy Pro

[essaunders]

The next release of Leaf Spy (all versions) will dramatically reduce Bluetooth traffic when the Leaf is off and not charging (no more of that rapid clicking relay sound under the hood).

Not sure if that really had a big impact on the 12v battery but it can't hurt and getting rid of the rapid clicking sound is a side benefit.

thanks. when I forget to kill the app I'll often go into my garage to hear the muted but frantic clicking.

 

[TimLee]

Here is the original thread about the clicking relay: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=12857.
In it, Ingineer explains that the clicking won't hurt anything, and will not wear out or break the relay.
No worries,
TT

Thanks, Very helpful. I read MNL very regularly, but it is easy to miss something important and VERY hard to find via searching.
I still don 't like the chattering relay. But I Inginger is probably right that the the relay will probably survive longer than I will!!

 

[czhp01]

Just purchased SpyPro for my 2013 Nissan leaf, and noticed 2.5 month old leaf has 4 QC / 79 L1/L2 charging sessions in total according to the report. QC number looks correct, but L1/L2 number are somewhat off to me. I normally charge every 2-3 days, and only have 2065 miles. I did most 20/80% charging most of time until recent 2-3 weeks mostly doing 100%. I don't do top off, and is avoiding charging fatigue, so is surprised by roughly 25 mile charge / day average from the reading. I don't even plug in the charging cable if I am not charging. Is L1/L2 reading implemented correctly or it is just counting calendar days?

Thanks,
Michael

 

[ttweed]

Just purchased SpyPro for my 2013 Nissan leaf, and noticed 2.5 month old leaf has 4 QC / 79 L1/L2 charging sessions in total according to the report. QC number looks correct, but L1/L2 number are somewhat off to me. I normally charge every 2-3 days, and only have 2065 miles. I did most 20/80% charging most of time until recent 2-3 weeks mostly doing 100%. I don't do top off, and is avoiding charging fatigue, so is surprised by roughly 25 mile charge / day average from the reading. I don't even plug in the charging cable if I am not charging. Is L1/L2 reading implemented correctly or it is just counting calendar days?

Do you use a timer when charging? I have noticed my LS app reports nearly twice the number of L1/L2 events I have done, but I think it is because I use a timer for nearly every charge session, so when I plug it in at night, the car starts to charge, but then tells the EVSE it is not ready yet because of the timer, and it immediately shuts off then waits for the timer to trigger the actual full charging event. Both the time the car initially sees the connection to the EVSE and shuts it down and the later timed charge session initiation are seen and counted as a "charging event" by the car (and thus reported to the app), even though the first was only a second or less long.

TT

 

[kubel]

Could I just ask if there is any battery drain from leaving your Bluetooth adapter permanently plugged in?

I've had my OBDII-to-Bluetooth plugged in with the car unplugged from the EVSE for a whole week in below-freezing temperatures, and the car started right up when I got back.

 

[Turbo3]

Just purchased SpyPro for my 2013 Nissan leaf, and noticed 2.5 month old leaf has 4 QC / 79 L1/L2 charging sessions in total according to the report. QC number looks correct, but L1/L2 number are somewhat off to me. I normally charge every 2-3 days, and only have 2065 miles. I did most 20/80% charging most of time until recent 2-3 weeks mostly doing 100%. I don't do top off, and is avoiding charging fatigue, so is surprised by roughly 25 mile charge / day average from the reading. I don't even plug in the charging cable if I am not charging. Is L1/L2 reading implemented correctly or it is just counting calendar days?

Do you use a timer when charging? I have noticed my LS app reports nearly twice the number of L1/L2 events I have done, but I think it is because I use a timer for nearly every charge session, so when I plug it in at night, the car starts to charge, but then tells the EVSE it is not ready yet because of the timer, and it immediately shuts off then waits for the timer to trigger the actual full charging event. Both the time the car initially sees the connection to the EVSE and shuts it down and the later timed charge session initiation are seen and counted as a "charging event" by the car (and thus reported to the app), even though the first was only a second or less long.

TT

This is correct. The Leaf counts each insertion of the charge cord and if you use the timer you get one more count when the charge starts. So if you plug your Leaf in each time you park in your garage and in one day you go out three times you will get three counts plus any timer charge you do at night.

Don't know why Nissan does this. Perhaps they want to know wear on L1/L2 charge socket so are tracking insertions. But then you get one more count when it charges.

 

[TimeHorse]

This is correct. The Leaf counts each insertion of the charge cord and if you use the timer you get one more count when the charge starts. So if you plug your Leaf in each time you park in your garage and in one day you go out three times you will get three counts plus any timer charge you do at night.

Don't know why Nissan does this. Perhaps they want to know wear on L1/L2 charge socket so are tracking insertions. But then you get one more count when it charges.

You know, one of my rants with the LEAF is the false-positive text message warning you that you forgot to plug in. I'd rather have it miscount the plugins than me plug in, go inside, get a text message that I've not plugged in, which I may have done, and then realize it's just another false positive message. What then happens is you ignore the message because you get it every day and then you do forget and you're buggered when you get up in the morning. End up being hours late for work because you need to find a public charger and sit there for 4 hours because you don't like charging on-peak TOU. Fortunately, there is a CHAdeMO ($30/mo, home electricity for 1,500 mi is less than $25 so more than double for the CHAdeMO insurance) near my home so that ameliorates some, but you'd think if they know the car is plugged in, why text me telling me it's not just because it's not drawing power at this time? I used the blink timer instead of the LEAF timer for a while so this is why it would happen. It wouldn't send me false-positive if I used the LEAF timer on my always-on Clipper Creek. It was that I was pluggin into a dead J1772 because the Blink wasn't on so "not pluggin in" message.

Yeah, I know that spiel is a bit off-topic but it'd been quite a bugaboo of mine because, as you can see, when I do forget, it's a nightmare!

 

[JPWhite]

You know, one of my rants with the LEAF is the false-positive text message warning you that you forgot to plug in.

Something wrong with your setup. I only get those messages when the car is parked near my home charger and isn't plugged in. Most of the time it is, so very few false positives.

 

[TimeHorse]

You know, one of my rants with the LEAF is the false-positive text message warning you that you forgot to plug in.

Something wrong with your setup. I only get those messages when the car is parked near my home charger and isn't plugged in. Most of the time it is, so very few false positives.

It was my 2012, my 2013 may be quieter as I've not noticed but it's been in the shop for a fortnight so I can't check.

 

[JPWhite]

You know, one of my rants with the LEAF is the false-positive text message warning you that you forgot to plug in.

Something wrong with your setup. I only get those messages when the car is parked near my home charger and isn't plugged in. Most of the time it is, so very few false positives.

It was my 2012, my 2013 may be quieter as I've not noticed but it's been in the shop for a fortnight so I can't check.

Saw on your signature you have a 20,000 mile/yr lease. How much more expensive are the higher mileage leases?

 

[davewill]

You know, one of my rants with the LEAF is the false-positive text message warning you that you forgot to plug in.

Something wrong with your setup. I only get those messages when the car is parked near my home charger and isn't plugged in. Most of the time it is, so very few false positives.

I get the same thing. If I use the Blink's timer, the car doesn't think it's plugged in for purposes of the reminder. I had to stop using it, although I really wanted to.

 

[Turbo3]

The Leaf knows its plugged in based on the Pilot signal coming from the EVSE but it also thinks it can start charging anytime it sees the Pilot. But for Blink (or any EVSE) to control charging it must withhold the Pilot to keep the Leaf from charging.

Definitely a software bug if Nissan does not have a setting somewhere on the Leaf to disable the plug-in reminder when at home.

 

[davewill]

The Leaf knows its plugged in based on the Pilot signal coming from the EVSE but it also thinks it can start charging anytime it sees the Pilot. But for Blink (or any EVSE) to control charging it must withhold the Pilot to keep the Leaf from charging.

Definitely a software bug if Nissan does not have a setting somewhere on the Leaf to disable the plug-in reminder when at home.

Oh, it does have a setting to turn it off, both globally and station by station, but home is the only place I really want it. True the EVSE turns off the pilot when the timer is inactive, but it should leave +12v on it in this situation. Also, the proximity circuit would be active. The car should know it's plugged in but on "hold". But this discussion hardly belongs here. Sorry.

 

[TimeHorse]

Saw on your signature you have a 20,000 mile/yr lease. How much more expensive are the higher mileage leases?

I also apologize for this OT but the Nissan Standard lease is $0.10 per mile if paid up front, $0.15 per mile for any overage on the back end. So to go from 12,000 to 20,000 mi I paid $800 per year, or $1,600 up front in my lease.

 

[z0ner]

If you live in the iWorld like me, justifying $100-200 for Leaf Spy and its requirements may not be your bag.

However, since I'm starting another 3-year lease with a new Leaf I really want to monitor the battery health.

In order to get my feet wet, I've been looking for a cheap Android platform, and yesterday I couldn't pass up the obvious: http://slickdeals.net/f/6771428-target-kyocera-hydro-3g-boost-mobile-no-contract-phone-for-9-99" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Target is out of these phones, but several are taking the ad and marching over to Radio Shack. If you're interested, you should probably do that today.

That brings my total cost to:

$9.99 - Boost Mobile Kyocera Hydro
$11.63 - Vgate ELM327 Bluetooth Scan Tool OBD2
$14.99 - Leaf Spy Pro
--------
$36.61

Yes, I'm a cheap bastard - but this will give me the ability without a lot of investment.

 

[Pipcecil]

cheaper option:

Have an android phone as your main cell phone

No need to buy another phone to run leaf spy.

I am on my third android (nexus) phone - had a HTC Nexus One, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and now an LG Nexus 5.

 

[z0ner]

cheaper option:

Uh... OK. :roll:

Confirmed that my setup works perfectly. The display is nice, crisp, and easily legible. This app is fantastic and handily worth the $15.

My only VERY minor complaint (and I haven't read the rest of the thread) is that although the DTE calculates to reserve, I wish it would calculate to turtle. I know you can set a SOC percentage. Is the reason turtle isn't an option because it varies for each Leaf? Is everyone simply running it to turtle and then setting the reserve accordingly?

 

[JPWhite]

cheaper option:

Uh... OK. :roll:

Confirmed that my setup works perfectly. The display is nice, crisp, and easily legible. This app is fantastic and handily worth the $15.

My only VERY minor complaint (and I haven't read the rest of the thread) is that although the DTE calculates to reserve, I wish it would calculate to turtle. I know you can set a SOC percentage. Is the reason turtle isn't an option because it varies for each Leaf? Is everyone simply running it to turtle and then setting the reserve accordingly?

My interpretation is that 'reserve' is when Turtle should light up. The other two options are for LBW and VLBW.

 

[z0ner]

My interpretation is that 'reserve' is when Turtle should light up. The other two options are for LBW and VLBW.

Thanks, I think I inferred that. However, I'm assuming there is no broad spectrum calc for turtle. Does it have to be calibrated per Leaf?

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

cheaper option:

Uh... OK. :roll:

Confirmed that my setup works perfectly. The display is nice, crisp, and easily legible. This app is fantastic and handily worth the $15.

My only VERY minor complaint (and I haven't read the rest of the thread) is that although the DTE calculates to reserve, I wish it would calculate to turtle. I know you can set a SOC percentage. Is the reason turtle isn't an option because it varies for each Leaf? Is everyone simply running it to turtle and then setting the reserve accordingly?

change your reserve to match turtle which is roughly 1.2% I am sure you will find a setting that will soothe you