SoCal Branch LEAF Gathering - Our First Year

[Boomer23]

A very nice meeting this morning. I counted about 28 adults in attendance, two young men and three infants/kiddies. And an informal count of about 13 LEAFs and one MiniE (always good to see KeiJidosha/Matt, who makes a long trek to visit with us).

Many thanks to Cerritos Nissan and John Beard for hosting us and providing breakfast, charging opportunities, convenient "cluster of LEAFs" parking and discount accessories.

At least five members got their LEAFs in the last week to 10 days and three more have VINs and an expectation of delivery within a few weeks. Great to see JPVleaf again and to congratulate tbleakne on getting his November order before the CA rebate wait list starts. We welcomed several interested Cerritos customers who had recently ordered their LEAFs and answered questions that came up from the group.

Gary, Robert and Chris showed their projects-in-progress. Gary and Robert are working on CAN bus decoding and SOC display, and Chris is moving forward on his homemade EVSE. Gary showed a speeded-up display on his laptop of a CAN record of a six hour charging session on dashboard software that Gary wrote for the PC (see picture).

Gary discusses LEAF charge bar display

Robert's CAN data display project-in-progress

Chris' home grown EVSE project-in-progress

Chris brought several digital displays for consideration for projects in progress

Gary's PC software dashboard display during a recorded charging session

Tech talk, Gary and Chris

Rapt attention

JPVleaf and tbleakne's new LEAFs sipping electrons

LEAF chat

Brian's

Mitch (1051)'s LEAF

Black is nice in contrast to the interior color

LEAFs everywhere

mwalsh's Blue

 

[gascant]

Great summary and pics! We will be focusing on LEAF mods/accessories and driving experience at SF Bay Gathering #5. Where did Mitch get the "electric" metal trim on the tailgate of his LEAF?? That's pretty cool.

 

[garygid]

Great pictures Boomer... !
And thanks for your support!!!

 

[1051]

Great summary and pics! We will be focusing on LEAF mods/accessories and driving experience at SF Bay Gathering #5. Where did Mitch get the "electric" metal trim on the tailgate of his LEAF?? That's pretty cool.

eBay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ELECTRIC-Easy-apply-Car-Emblem-/320647275166?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4aa811229e#ht_500wt_1117

 

[1051]

Great pictures and summary!

 

[Boomer23]

Great summary and pics! We will be focusing on LEAF mods/accessories and driving experience at SF Bay Gathering #5. Where did Mitch get the "electric" metal trim on the tailgate of his LEAF?? That's pretty cool.

eBay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ELECTRIC-Easy-apply-Car-Emblem-/320647275166?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4aa811229e#ht_500wt_1117

Also see this thread: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=3310&hilit=adding+electric+to+your+LEAF

 

[cdub]

Nice meeting everyone today. Hope my two little ones weren't too distracting... wished I could of stayed longer. Maybe next time!

Can someone PM me the e-mail address of Jeff? Was that his name? (the Leaf manager at Cerritos) Thanks.

Made it back to La Crescenta easily. 2 bars remaining. I think total roundtrip distance traveled 65-68 miles. Don't remember for sure.

Made it down to the meeting with only 4 bars but the 4th bar went pretty much as I got off of the ramp.

 

[Boomer23]

Nice meeting everyone today. Hope my two little ones weren't too distracting... wished I could of stayed longer. Maybe next time!

Can someone PM me the e-mail address of Jeff? Was that his name? (the Leaf manager at Cerritos) Thanks.

Made it back to La Crescenta easily. 2 bars remaining. I think total roundtrip distance traveled 65-68 miles. Don't remember for sure.

Made it down to the meeting with only 4 bars but the 4th bar went pretty much as I got off of the ramp.

Good to meet you, cdub. Your kids were amazingly patient. How old is the little one? Really, amazingly calm and quiet.

The LEAF manager at Cerritos is named John Beard. I don't have his email, but I'm sure that someone does. Or you could call the dealership.

I'm amazed at how much range you guys are getting. My drive today was 53 miles and it took 9 bars to do it. I tried ECO mode on the way there and Drive on the way home. I kept it around 65 mph and tried not to go over 3 "bubbles" of acceleration, but I still used 9 bars. What am I doing wrong?

 

[JPVLeaf]

Ditto on the kudos for Boomer's photos and summary.

Boomer = de facto SoCal Leaf Branch Photographer

 

[cdub]

Nice meeting everyone today. Hope my two little ones weren't too distracting... wished I could of stayed longer. Maybe next time!

Can someone PM me the e-mail address of Jeff? Was that his name? (the Leaf manager at Cerritos) Thanks.

Made it back to La Crescenta easily. 2 bars remaining. I think total roundtrip distance traveled 65-68 miles. Don't remember for sure.

Made it down to the meeting with only 4 bars but the 4th bar went pretty much as I got off of the ramp.

Good to meet you, cdub. Your kids were amazingly patient. How old is the little one? Really, amazingly calm and quiet.

The LEAF manager at Cerritos is named John Beard. I don't have his email, but I'm sure that someone does. Or you could call the dealership.

I'm amazed at how much range you guys are getting. My drive today was 53 miles and it took 9 bars to do it. I tried ECO mode on the way there and Drive on the way home. I kept it around 65 mph and tried not to go over 3 "bubbles" of acceleration, but I still used 9 bars. What am I doing wrong?

3 1/2 and 9 months.

Well... the trip from Glendale was mostly downhill. So I had that going for me.

 

[Kataphn]

Thanks for the summary and pics, Boomer. I was sorry to miss but at least got to "experience" it through your description and pics.

Kat

 

[Caracalover]

I'm amazed at how much range you guys are getting. My drive today was 53 miles and it took 9 bars to do it. I tried ECO mode on the way there and Drive on the way home. I kept it around 65 mph and tried not to go over 3 "bubbles" of acceleration, but I still used 9 bars. What am I doing wrong?

Keep in mind that regen slows the car and you lose kinetic energy every time it is active. By turning on the energy usage screen (From the blue menu is one touch, the other menu takes youther in two touches) you can see what you are doing wrong and perhaps correct it. I drove a test run yesterday from Altadena to the Big Tujunga wash, up the wash to the Angeles Forest Hwy, and from there up to the Angeles Crest Hwy. I went as fast as 81 on the freeway to get to Big T W, maintained a fast speed up the canyon 45+ and got to the Forest HWy with only three bars remaining, the range meter thought I could only go another 18 miles at that point, and although I had confidence, I will admit it amde me wonder. I continued driiving normal, or even fast for some, but not racing to 55+ as some might. I got home with three bars remaining, and on the downhill from the Crest I used the brake only when ICE cars blocked me. I was able to maintain 30+ all the way down, and had to use quite a bit of eco regen as well as D regen to slow myself. Total distance 47.4 miles but started with 80% charge. I did notice when I first set out it I didn't get as much regen going down the hill I live on, possibly due to the software upgrade I got Sat.
BTW - thanks to all for the help with the connector I was working on, but I couldn't make the wire fit so I am going with a lighter gauge, should go to Rosamond next week and try it then.

 

[garygid]

Perhaps we should have a little adapter-building techniques workshop
at (or just after) the next Gathering?
Any interest?

1. What to look for in a connector, and pigtail selection
2. Wire sizes, proper stripping, and fitting into contacts
3. Cable shape and size, and stripping techniques
4. Cable clamping and strain relief
5. Weather-resistance issues

 

[garygid]

Keeping the speed down, under 60 mph, is one BIG e-fuel saver.

From 100%, I did about 77 miles Saturday, mostly near 60 mph on the freeway, getting the "Low Battery" Warning (LBW) after I arrived home and later turned the car back on for testing CAN-data gathering.

On the new-Bars (Updated Firmware) LBW typically occurs somewhere near the bottom of the last visible bar, right?

On my old-Bars, it seems to occur near the top of the 3rd bar ... about 2 (or 2.5) bars different on the display between the old and new (hidden reserve) systems!

Too bad there is no way to tell or verify which "type" car you are driving!!!

Perhaps those without the new firmware should put an "Old-Bars" sticker on our dashboard?

When I get a little more experience with CAN-data interpretation, the CAN-Do software should be able to watch the SOC% (presumably unchanged between firmware versions) when the next bar is "lost", and determine if they are New-Bars or Old-Bars.

 

[1051]

Perhaps we should have a little adapter-building techniques workshop
at (or just after) the next Gathering?
Any interest?

1. What to look for in a connector, and pigtail selection
2. Wire sizes, proper stripping, and fitting into contacts
3. Cable shape and size, and stripping techniques
4. Cable clamping and strain relief
5. Weather-resistance issues

+1 Count me in, it would be nice to be able to build the adaptors that we need at one of our gatherings.

 

[Boomer23]

Perhaps we should have a little adapter-building techniques workshop
at (or just after) the next Gathering?
Any interest?

1. What to look for in a connector, and pigtail selection
2. Wire sizes, proper stripping, and fitting into contacts
3. Cable shape and size, and stripping techniques
4. Cable clamping and strain relief
5. Weather-resistance issues

+1 Count me in, it would be nice to be able to build the adaptors that we need at one of our gatherings.

Yes, me too!

 

[garygid]

OK, we will make an attempt at the June 25th Gathering.

If you bring candidate parts (that you can return if desired), it will give us more examples to discuss.

I will bring my collection of adapters, "dog-bones", etc.

Other than Phil's (Ingineer) L6-20R to 5-15P "dog-bone" and his L6-20R pigtail, I have not found another bulk-price source for either.

The molded-on L6-20R pigtails are particularly desirable, since they are the "base" of every adapter.

 

[Caracalover]

OK, we will make an attempt at the June 25th Gathering.

If you bring candidate parts (that you can return if desired), it will give us more examples to discuss.

I will bring my collection of adapters, "dog-bones", etc.

Other than Phil's (Ingineer) L6-20R to 5-15P "dog-bone" and his L6-20R pigtail, I have not found another bulk-price source for either.

The molded-on L6-20R pigtails are particularly desirable, since they are the "base" of every adapter.

Love the idea, but won't be able to make it on June 25th. Hope to join you all another time but the life thing keeps me pretty busy.

 

[JPVLeaf]

Perhaps we should have a little adapter-building techniques workshop
at (or just after) the next Gathering?
Any interest?

1. What to look for in a connector, and pigtail selection
2. Wire sizes, proper stripping, and fitting into contacts
3. Cable shape and size, and stripping techniques
4. Cable clamping and strain relief
5. Weather-resistance issues

Please count me in as well, maybe two of us.
Just not sure of the 6/25 date as of now, but will try.

 

[thew]

Relay/Rally
Ill have my LEAF tomorrow.. I am game from anything in the Santa Barbara Area.. Also have L2 EVSE if someone needs..