Maximize Battery Life/Health for New EVers

[surfingslovak]

Drees, I have a dumb phone, my wife has an I-phone. However, I did see the thread talking about the LeafDD. Will it be useful to purchase one of those? Will it help us to prolong the battery life to know the details, or is it just another gadget for the technocrats to know more useless data?

I wouldn't describe it as 'useless', but it's a fair question. It really depends on your needs and whether you own or lease.

 

[DaveEV]

That's odd. I charge to 100% about once a week (and recently much less), yet always have a cell-pair voltage difference around 20 mv at full charge.

Not sure what you're calling odd? Once a week 100% charging is enough to keep the balance within 20mV as you've noted. But the '13 LEAFs appear to balance even better. Would love to see more data on this.

However, I noted recently that a full charge showed only 92% SOC. The next week it went up to 93%. I assume that a SOC less than 95% after a full charge means the pack is slightly unbalanced... or is there another explanation for that?

Hard to say what the underlying formula that the car uses to calculate SOC is. Did you get any screenshots from LEAF Spy after that 100% charge?

Drees, I have a dumb phone, my wife has an I-phone. However, I did see the thread talking about the LeafDD. Will it be useful to purchase one of those? Will it help us to prolong the battery life to know the details, or is it just another gadget for the technocrats to know more useless data?

Most people who buy one of these gadgets (either cheap Android phone + OBDII BT + LEAF Spy or LeafDD or similar) are looking for more accuracy and data than what the car supplies to help extend range and learn more about how the battery is doing. For most people, especially if you have a '13 LEAF with the SOC% indicator, it's not really necessary.