Rapid Discharge While Parked - 80% to Zero in 3 Days!

[reeler]

I left my car charged to just about 80% for a three week trip. 2-3 days after leaving I checked Carwings to find the battery was completely empty. I am sure I parked it properly and removed the key with the headlights off. Luckily, I was able to get someone at the office to plug it in.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29067561@N08/7629432746/

I don't know if Carwings had an error or the battery truly discharged on its own since I was not in town to actually try starting the car. The car is fully charged to 80% right now according to Carwings. Has this happened to anyone else?

 

[Randy]

Usually this type of behavior occurs when the car is left in the "Ready" mode...Any chance that might have been the case?

 

[reeler]

Anything is possible, but I don't think so.

 

[mkjayakumar]

Even if it is in the Ready mode, would it consume close to 16 kWh of power in just 3 days ?

 

[adric22]

I left my car on in the parking lot at work for 9 hours one day. the HVAC system was off, fortunately. But I seem to recall it lost 2 bars during that time from the battery gauge. It happened because sometimes I can accidentally hit the power button twice and the car will turn off and right back on.

 

[reeler]

I definitely took the keys with me. If I left it in Ready mode, it would be the first time.

 

[ztanos]

Will the car stay in ready mode without the keys? Seems redundant if it does.

 

[reeler]

The car was locked and the keys were with me. I cannot imagine why you would keep the car Ready in those circumstances for hours and hours until the traction battery was fully drained.

 

[camasleaf]

Will the car stay in ready mode without the keys?

I drove the car 25 miles without keys. I dropped my wife to a show (she had the key) and then I went to charge. Luckly I noticed the warning light and realize I do not have the keys before I was going to shut down the car. I end up driving 25 miles back home, get the keys, charge for an hour to have enough to crawl to a QC. QC charger saved the day.

 

[Herm]

Even if it is in the Ready mode, would it consume close to 16 kWh of power in just 3 days ?

For sure, its a constant 250w drain I believe.. its a design flaw of the Leaf, it should shut down after a couple of hours on and not moving. The climate control might even be on.

 

[reeler]

The car has weight sensors in the front seats for the airbags. So the car knows no one is sitting up front, the doors are locked, nothing more than being in Ready has been done to it, and it will run the battery into the ground.

The 12V battery must not have been drained because it responded to Carwings.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

hypothsis; a fully charged LEAF left on will drain its battery in about 2 days.

i left my LEAF on with nothing else running and it uses about 6-7 GID an hour (done intentionally twice for 90 minutes and 60 minutes. granted a small sample extrapolated to what is probably a relatively large margin of error) . 281 GID would last about 46 hours. guessing the car had some sort of mechanism that slows the charge dissipation down as SOC gets critical?

i am guessing that you did allow Carwings to update or is this scenario 5 days old?

 

[reeler]

Scenario is 5 days old. Couldn't bother to post earlier due to travel and feeble Internet connection.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

what information did you get from the person who plugged it in for you? was the SOC as low as Carwings reported? did you see Carwings reporting a charging condition with an increasing SOC? is the vehicle still plugged in? if so, it should be unplugged ASAP

 

[reeler]

Someone in the office plugged it in and only said that blue lights on the dash started flashing. She had no idea what to observe, but gave me that much information. She did not have the keys for the car, I just left the charge door open for her.

I checked Carwings a day later and it was fully charged to 80% and no longer charging. I was travelling and could not check Carwings while it was being charged.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Someone in the office plugged it in and only said that blue lights on the dash started flashing. She had no idea what to observe, but gave me that much information. I checked Carwings a day later and it was fully charged to 80% and no longer charging. I was travelling and could not check Carwings while it was being charged.

ooh, ok. i would get it unplugged ASAP and continue to monitor it. can you monitor Carwings in your location? if not, i would allow someone to access your account and either tell them what to look for or have them send you screenshots by email. if you keep your car plugged in more than 4-5 days, you will kill your 12 volt battery

 

[reeler]

Okay. I can monitor Carwings and will have someone turn off the charger.

I pretty regularly leave my car parked at the airport hooked to the charger for longer than 5 days. I would venture to say dozens of times.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Okay. I can monitor Carwings and will have someone turn off the charger.

I pretty regularly leave my car parked at the airport hooked to the charger for longer than 5 days. I would venture to say dozens of times.

you can do that if you set up short charging sessions every other day or so.

when the LEAF is plugged in, its in a state of "high readiness" where it is constantly listening for Carwings commands. this is a drain on the 12 volt battery which is small to begin with and worse; lead acid which does not do deep discharges (and by "deep" i dont mean very) well

by a quirk in the programming, the LEAF will not boost charge the 12 volt battery while plugged in. if you leave it unplugged the LEAF will charge 12 volt battery from the traction battery every few days.

as far as charging to 80%. your best bet was to set a timer to charge an hour a day or an hour every other day. this would have taken a week/2 weeks to get you to 80% plus the 12 volt battery would have been boosted at the same time

 

[TomT]

Yep, shortly after I first got my car, I accidentally left it in ready mode at work and it went from 9 to 5 bars in the course of a 12 hour day...

Even if it is in the Ready mode, would it consume close to 16 kWh of power in just 3 days ?

 

[mkjayakumar]

WTH?

If I plug it in the 12V battery will lose power and the jumper process is much
more complex.

If I don't then the traction battery might deplete.