SF BayLEAFs - e-NV200 Ride & Drives and Showcase May 28
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gasmiser1
Well-known member
------------------------------------------------------DoxyLover said:
Definitely, do attend. The more the merrier :mrgreen:
garygid
Well-known member
gascant,
Looks like you are doing a great job of organizing these Gatherings, and the things-to-do at the meetings.
Cheers, Gary
Looks like you are doing a great job of organizing these Gatherings, and the things-to-do at the meetings.
Cheers, Gary
linkim
Well-known member
garygid said:gascant,
Looks like you are doing a great job of organizing these Gatherings, and the things-to-do at the meetings.
Cheers, Gary
I second Gary's comment. I think gascant has politely requested assistance with the meetings, but so far he has carried the ball.
Kim
gascant
Well-known member
The SOC meter demo is confirmed! Thanks to garygid for fast response (less than a week) to my initial inquiry. I now know that I make the typical 62 mile RT commute consuming 66% of the battery when charged to 100%. The guess-o-meter was telling me that it was more like 75%.
gasmiser1
Well-known member
---------------------gascant said:
Cool
Can't wait to see it in action at our next meeting.
garygid
Well-known member
CAUTION:
The LEAF-internal values that the SOC-Meter displays will lead you to think that you have more remaining energy/range (especially at the low end) than the LEAF actually has available.
That is the reason that Nissan made the "hidden reserve", so that you would not depend upon "miles" that are not necessarily there.
The SOC-Meter "exposes" the hidden area again, and gives you a much finer resolution, but that does not mean that USABLE energy is ACTUALLY there.
Caution, Will Robinson!
The LEAF-internal values that the SOC-Meter displays will lead you to think that you have more remaining energy/range (especially at the low end) than the LEAF actually has available.
That is the reason that Nissan made the "hidden reserve", so that you would not depend upon "miles" that are not necessarily there.
The SOC-Meter "exposes" the hidden area again, and gives you a much finer resolution, but that does not mean that USABLE energy is ACTUALLY there.
Caution, Will Robinson!
gascant
Well-known member
Indeed! However, it does give me confidence that my wife and I can make it one way to a hotel in the Napa Valley that has an AV EVSE available to guests. We'll be looking to do an overnight there as a small getaway.garygid said:CAUTION:
The LEAF-internal values that the SOC-Meter displays will lead you to think that you have more remaining energy/range (especially at the low end) than the LEAF actually has available.
That is the reason that Nissan made the "hidden reserve", so that you would not depend upon "miles" that are not necessarily there.
The SOC-Meter "exposes" the hidden area again, and gives you a much finer resolution, but that does not mean that USABLE energy is ACTUALLY there.
Caution, Will Robinson!
Today's 62 mile commute left me with just over 36% charge remaining. The guess-o-meter was saying 33% with 36 miles of range left.
Ingineer
Well-known member
*** If anyone wants to Carpool with me from the Berkeley/Emeryville area, please shoot me an email. If you don't have it, just my most recent post on the BayLEAFs listserv.
Eric from the Green Drive Expo (September 17th in Richmond) is planning on attending our meeting as well, Hopefully he will have some time to talk to us about the Expo. I will be providing EVSE's for charging at the Expo, and it looks like we will have around 20-30 Level 2 EVSE's and another 10 or so L6-20 circuits for charging if you'd like to bring your own upgraded EVSE's.
Before/After this meeting, I will be available to answer any technical questions about the LEAF, charging, or EV's in general if anyone has any.
I'll also be bringing a few upgraded EVSE's to the meeting, which I will offer to anyone to be used for charging if we can find appropriate outlets. Afterward, if anyone wants to purchase a new one outright, or a "instant upgrade" (swap), you *must* go on to the website and make your purchase with PayPal, (no PayPal account required) print and sign the waiver, and bring it and a printed copy of your PayPal receipt with you. I will not be able to hand out anything without these things!
If you have already paid, please have your release form and a printed copy of your PayPal receipt. You can print the email PayPal sent you after payment or you can login to PayPal and re-print your transaction.
The release form is available HERE.
If you want service, please meet me at my green Prius after the meeting.
If you have any questions about EVSE's, please contact us directly from the website . DO NOT post here! Thanks!
Hope to see you there!
-Phil
Eric from the Green Drive Expo (September 17th in Richmond) is planning on attending our meeting as well, Hopefully he will have some time to talk to us about the Expo. I will be providing EVSE's for charging at the Expo, and it looks like we will have around 20-30 Level 2 EVSE's and another 10 or so L6-20 circuits for charging if you'd like to bring your own upgraded EVSE's.
Before/After this meeting, I will be available to answer any technical questions about the LEAF, charging, or EV's in general if anyone has any.
I'll also be bringing a few upgraded EVSE's to the meeting, which I will offer to anyone to be used for charging if we can find appropriate outlets. Afterward, if anyone wants to purchase a new one outright, or a "instant upgrade" (swap), you *must* go on to the website and make your purchase with PayPal, (no PayPal account required) print and sign the waiver, and bring it and a printed copy of your PayPal receipt with you. I will not be able to hand out anything without these things!
If you have already paid, please have your release form and a printed copy of your PayPal receipt. You can print the email PayPal sent you after payment or you can login to PayPal and re-print your transaction.
The release form is available HERE.
If you want service, please meet me at my green Prius after the meeting.
If you have any questions about EVSE's, please contact us directly from the website . DO NOT post here! Thanks!
Hope to see you there!
-Phil
Fun meeting with lots of energetic discussions.
See http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2174929806226.2121668.1036256655&l=099a5b36fa&type=1
for photos.
Topics:
1) Costco charging stations - please suggest they upgrade to J1772-2010 chargers.
2) A homemade State of Charge meter.
3) Someone is working upgrading the internal LEAF J1772 charger from 3.3 kW to 10 kW.
4) Green Car show September 17 - charging for VIP memebers
5) Carwings can have multiple accounts.
6) Someone is working on a less than $200 box to show all the car status information.
7) Discussion of the various PGE rates (E1,E9A,E9B,E6) combined with solar. A difficult problem to analyze give the 15 different buckets the the Time Of Use (E9,E6) end up creating and the lack of data from PGE since Smartmeter only works with E1.
See http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2174929806226.2121668.1036256655&l=099a5b36fa&type=1
for photos.
Topics:
1) Costco charging stations - please suggest they upgrade to J1772-2010 chargers.
2) A homemade State of Charge meter.
3) Someone is working upgrading the internal LEAF J1772 charger from 3.3 kW to 10 kW.
4) Green Car show September 17 - charging for VIP memebers
5) Carwings can have multiple accounts.
6) Someone is working on a less than $200 box to show all the car status information.
7) Discussion of the various PGE rates (E1,E9A,E9B,E6) combined with solar. A difficult problem to analyze give the 15 different buckets the the Time Of Use (E9,E6) end up creating and the lack of data from PGE since Smartmeter only works with E1.
gascant
Well-known member
Another great turnout and very lively discussion, as above. First cut at official attendance is 53, with 14 new members. Heard that we had 37 LEAFs not counting 3 that were offsite for charging. Will post official minutes in the next 1-2 days. Thanks to everyone for helping to make it a successful meeting.
Gathering for the tailgate party in the Library parking lot--Ingineer gets lots of interest in the EVSE upgrade
Marc Geller leads a discussion on National Plug-In Day October 16th. Charging is always a hot topic at the BayLEAFs meetings.
Gathering for the tailgate party in the Library parking lot--Ingineer gets lots of interest in the EVSE upgrade
Marc Geller leads a discussion on National Plug-In Day October 16th. Charging is always a hot topic at the BayLEAFs meetings.
arnolddeleon
Well-known member
Here are some more pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arnolddeleon/sets/72157627426313796/
arnold
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arnolddeleon/sets/72157627426313796/
arnold
OrientExpress
Well-known member
This was another great meeting. Thanks again to Howard for leading. We also installed at least 3 new sets of horns at the after meeting clinic too!
gascant
Well-known member
Yes, indeed, that's definitely a great accomplishment for the clinic. And, I apologize that I forgot to mention the handout you did for the LED bulb replacements. I did give two of them out after the formal meeting, though. Will bring them to the next meeting.OrientExpress said:
gascant
Well-known member
That must have been our new member from Nissan. The highest I've seen so far is 6649 at my PD but I didn't survey the ones at today's meeting. Thanks for bringing your black LEAF and showing the innovative front license plate mounting.TEG said:
garygid said:CAUTION:
The LEAF-internal values that the SOC-Meter displays will lead you to think that you have more remaining energy/range (especially at the low end) than the LEAF actually has available.
That is the reason that Nissan made the "hidden reserve", so that you would not depend upon "miles" that are not necessarily there.
The SOC-Meter "exposes" the hidden area again, and gives you a much finer resolution, but that does not mean that USABLE energy is ACTUALLY there.
Caution, Will Robinson!
I am a new Leaf owner... trying to figure out what are the takeaways? Does this mean i have much less range, on the last two red bars, than what is presented? It sure feels like bars disappear faster on the last 1/3 of power bars. thanks so much
gascant
Well-known member
Revised attendance at Gathering #6 now up to 56--a new record. Many thanks to those who participated and made the meeting a success. Official minutes as complied by linkim with thanks: The meeting was attended by at least 38 LEAFs and their owners, with several others charging off-site at a parking garage nearby. One participant biked in and there were also a plug-in Prius, a Chevy Volt and Honda Insight. We even saw the Boardwalk Nissan Shuttle bringing folks over to the Library. As usual, a very active and vocal group was present, with many newcomers added to the mix. In addition, a Nissan representative from the Mountain View office was present, and he listened attentively to the comments from the BayLEAFs. Felix Kramer, founder of CalCars, gave an overview of the organization.
Highlights include:
Charging/Infrastructure
A new LEAF owner from Silver Spring Networks (smart grid hardware provider, Redwood City, CA) was present, and enthusiastically endorsed adding L2 charging stations for use by other LEAFers. An update on the BayLEAFs private charging network was given. So far, no one has requested the use of the private charging facilities. PM to gascant if you wish to be added (open to verified SF BayLEAFs only).
The PGE quick charger in Vacaville is reported to be available for use by corporations, but not by the general public because it is not UL certified.
BayLEAFs members were requested to write (or submit to suggestion box) to Costco to upgrade their Avcon charging docks to J1772 rather than mothballing them.
The slow rollout of L2 charging stations is a frequent topic of discussion at the meetings. Ecotality is receiving government funds but has been slow in their efforts to install their L2/L3 chargers, and it appears questionable if they have a working L3 charger ready at this time.
Ingineer announced he is working on a 10 kW prototype on-board charger that is J1772 compatible. No pricing or launch date is available.
The Japanese CHAdeMO and SAE standard for L3 charging is still a subject of much discussion. There is a perception that Ford/GM/German companies are resistant to the widespread adoption of UL-certified CHAdeMO. Instead, they are considering a single connection for L2 and L3, which is not the case in the LEAF. However, there is no SAE L3 standard available yet.
Special visit by representative from Nissan Japan
An update of the email discussions with Nissan Japan was presented by linkim. Nissan Japan expressed interest in a meeting on October 8, 2011 with the SF BayLEAFs. Since Nissan has established an office in Mountain View, linkim will work with the local Nissan representative to facilitate a meeting with representatives from Nissan Japan.
Other meetings of interest to LEAF owners
September 17, 2011 – Green Drive Expo, Richmond CA: details found at http://www.greendriveexpo.com
September 24, 2011 – EV Rally, Palo Alto High School, Palo Alto, CA
October 16, 2011 – National Plug-in Day, San Francisco, CA: hosted by Plug-in America, Sierra Club and others. Assistance with organizing the event is needed and welcomed.
Carwings demo
Arnolddeleon presented tips on using Carwings, and the two main topics were (i) adding a second driver to the existing account, and (ii) sending a destination to the car. The first involves changing the owner profile in Carwings to add the second driver to the account. The second topic requires access to the internet and Google maps, and a description is provided at MyNissanLeaf forum - http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=3370. Many members expressed hope that Nissan would "speed up" the updates.
SOC meter
Gascant described his brief experience (only a few days) with the SOC meter (http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=4548) obtained from garygid in southern California. The meter connects to the CAN bus input located on the left side of the steering column under the dash. The digital display shows the SOC from 0 – 100% (increments of 0.3%) or segments from 0 – 281, which corresponds to the %SOC range. The meter does not have memory for data storage, but an RS232 connection is available for data collection on a PC. In addition, a CAN-do program (http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=4929) is available for free download to graph the data. The meter is available as a kit or fully assembled (at a higher cost).
Ingineer is working on a LEAFSCAN product that will read many parameters, in addition to SOC. The data can be retrieved from a SD card. No announced availability date.
BayLEAFs members strongly endorsed a request that Nissan add a SOC meter to the Leaf. There was discussion around forming a working group to formalize a request to Nissan for same.
LEAF Accessories/Modifications
Several members displayed their LEAF accessories and modifications during the tailgate party and meeting aftermath, including a very innovative front license plate mount (in the charge port door, TEG), a quick disconnect trailer hitch that was fully loaded for testing (Electric4me), variety of seat covers and addition of chrome "ELECTRIC" trim.
OrientExpress led the horn upgrade installation clinic and, as above, completed three installations sequentially in about 1:15. Pretty darn good! gascant demonstrated a quick method for making 240V adapters. As usual, Ingineer drew a lot of attention for the L1 EVSE upgrade to full L2, which is selling well both in North America and Europe.
See photos by evmike at http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2174929806226.2121668.1036256655&l=099a5b36fa&type=1
Gathering #7 is scheduled for September 10th in the East Bay. We are in need of a suitable location as our default location (Newark Library) was already booked. Please send your suggestions or help to gascant, who will book a backup location in Redwood City.
Highlights include:
Charging/Infrastructure
A new LEAF owner from Silver Spring Networks (smart grid hardware provider, Redwood City, CA) was present, and enthusiastically endorsed adding L2 charging stations for use by other LEAFers. An update on the BayLEAFs private charging network was given. So far, no one has requested the use of the private charging facilities. PM to gascant if you wish to be added (open to verified SF BayLEAFs only).
The PGE quick charger in Vacaville is reported to be available for use by corporations, but not by the general public because it is not UL certified.
BayLEAFs members were requested to write (or submit to suggestion box) to Costco to upgrade their Avcon charging docks to J1772 rather than mothballing them.
The slow rollout of L2 charging stations is a frequent topic of discussion at the meetings. Ecotality is receiving government funds but has been slow in their efforts to install their L2/L3 chargers, and it appears questionable if they have a working L3 charger ready at this time.
Ingineer announced he is working on a 10 kW prototype on-board charger that is J1772 compatible. No pricing or launch date is available.
The Japanese CHAdeMO and SAE standard for L3 charging is still a subject of much discussion. There is a perception that Ford/GM/German companies are resistant to the widespread adoption of UL-certified CHAdeMO. Instead, they are considering a single connection for L2 and L3, which is not the case in the LEAF. However, there is no SAE L3 standard available yet.
Special visit by representative from Nissan Japan
An update of the email discussions with Nissan Japan was presented by linkim. Nissan Japan expressed interest in a meeting on October 8, 2011 with the SF BayLEAFs. Since Nissan has established an office in Mountain View, linkim will work with the local Nissan representative to facilitate a meeting with representatives from Nissan Japan.
Other meetings of interest to LEAF owners
September 17, 2011 – Green Drive Expo, Richmond CA: details found at http://www.greendriveexpo.com
September 24, 2011 – EV Rally, Palo Alto High School, Palo Alto, CA
October 16, 2011 – National Plug-in Day, San Francisco, CA: hosted by Plug-in America, Sierra Club and others. Assistance with organizing the event is needed and welcomed.
Carwings demo
Arnolddeleon presented tips on using Carwings, and the two main topics were (i) adding a second driver to the existing account, and (ii) sending a destination to the car. The first involves changing the owner profile in Carwings to add the second driver to the account. The second topic requires access to the internet and Google maps, and a description is provided at MyNissanLeaf forum - http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=3370. Many members expressed hope that Nissan would "speed up" the updates.
SOC meter
Gascant described his brief experience (only a few days) with the SOC meter (http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=4548) obtained from garygid in southern California. The meter connects to the CAN bus input located on the left side of the steering column under the dash. The digital display shows the SOC from 0 – 100% (increments of 0.3%) or segments from 0 – 281, which corresponds to the %SOC range. The meter does not have memory for data storage, but an RS232 connection is available for data collection on a PC. In addition, a CAN-do program (http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=4929) is available for free download to graph the data. The meter is available as a kit or fully assembled (at a higher cost).
Ingineer is working on a LEAFSCAN product that will read many parameters, in addition to SOC. The data can be retrieved from a SD card. No announced availability date.
BayLEAFs members strongly endorsed a request that Nissan add a SOC meter to the Leaf. There was discussion around forming a working group to formalize a request to Nissan for same.
LEAF Accessories/Modifications
Several members displayed their LEAF accessories and modifications during the tailgate party and meeting aftermath, including a very innovative front license plate mount (in the charge port door, TEG), a quick disconnect trailer hitch that was fully loaded for testing (Electric4me), variety of seat covers and addition of chrome "ELECTRIC" trim.
OrientExpress led the horn upgrade installation clinic and, as above, completed three installations sequentially in about 1:15. Pretty darn good! gascant demonstrated a quick method for making 240V adapters. As usual, Ingineer drew a lot of attention for the L1 EVSE upgrade to full L2, which is selling well both in North America and Europe.
See photos by evmike at http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2174929806226.2121668.1036256655&l=099a5b36fa&type=1
Gathering #7 is scheduled for September 10th in the East Bay. We are in need of a suitable location as our default location (Newark Library) was already booked. Please send your suggestions or help to gascant, who will book a backup location in Redwood City.
gascant said:
Has anyone inquired to see if we could have a full BayLeaf meeting at the Nissan office?
If they have special visitors on October 8th, perhaps the meeting could take place there?
Last weekend, bay area Volt owners were invited to the GM tech center in Palo Alto:
http://www.mychevroletvolt.com/wp-content/gallery/volt-meet-and-greet/final_invite.jpg
(I guess a few Leaf owners were there too... I missed it...)
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