question about leaving headlights on all the time

[Epi117]

heading into day 8 of owning my 2013 Leaf, so far loving the car, hating the nav system but just finished setting it up to receive Google feeds for maps, so that should help.

239 miles so far on day 8 with 5 miles per kWh, having a ton of fun, with maximizing millage, so my question is, i always leave my lights on, does that use allot of energy?

and i want to thanks everyone who has been generous with advice for my questions, almost purchased a GE watt station, but thanks to advice here i did not! AeroVironment Plug-In Residential EV Charger should be here this week, electrician was $250.

 

[TimLee]

If you have an SV or SL with the LED headlights, they take very little power.
I've been driving a 2011 LEAF for 22 months, 12,000 miles, and I always drive with the lights on.
LEAF does not have daytime running lights in the US.
I think the safety data is pretty clear that daytime running lights is safer.
So I run the LED headlights all the time, with very little range impact.

 

[ebill3]

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=5381&p=125134

 

[Den]

So I run the LED headlights all the time, with very little range impact.

Lights a getting power from 12V acid battery, so it shouldn't impact range at all.

And yes, there are 4 LEDs in headlights, 12W each. So 48W in total.

 

[planet4ever]

Lights a[re] getting power from 12V acid battery, so it shouldn't impact range at all.

That always sounds so silly to me when someone says that. I mean, come on, where do you think the 12v battery gets its energy? In the LEAF, all of it comes from the traction battery, and the DC/DC converter which transfers power from the traction battery to the 12v battery is powered up whenever the car is running. Not only that, the DC/DC converter generates enough heat that it is water cooled, so it is pulling significantly more energy out of the traction battery than it is feeding to the 12v battery.

Now, I will admit that the DC/DC converter also runs while charging the car, so hopefully the 12v battery gets topped off then. But in addition to the lights there are a lot of power draws against the 12v battery while you are driving, so I think the chances are good that some extra power will be transferred on the road.

I will agree that the lights shouldn't impact range substantially, at least if you have and are using the LED lights.

Ray

 

[LEAFfan]

I just leave the light switch on Auto and also have the Fogs on. The sensor is very sensitive as they come on about one hour before suset. I really don't think that you will notice any reduction even when using them all the time.