You can get a battery maintainer that will automatically keep the 12 volt battery fully charged when it's plugged in. Some of us run a hardwired pigtail into the charge port compartment, so that we can plug in the maintainer when we charge the car. The easiest way, if maybe less effective, is to use the windshield wiper trick whenever you drive the car. Just trigger the wipers once or twice during a drive, and don't hesitate to wash the windshield when it needs it.
Why did our 2019 leaf die (completely) overnight?
- Thread starter handee
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Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:
Just to clarify, the wipers don't need to be actively ON the whole time? It sounds like your saying the wipers don't have to be switched on to charge, just turn on once in a while, which is new to me, my original question was if putting the wipers on INTERMITTENT would initiate the full charge mode, I had no idea you only had to use the wiper motor every once in a while to keep the full charge mode on....LeftieBiker said:
jjeff said:
That is correct - the wipers only need be triggered to cycle once. The voltage stays at 14 volts for about a minute after that. Still, a minute isn't long, so several 'blips' of the wipers during a trip might be best.
A few comments regarding several posts:
1. Plugging the car in will not charge the 12V battery and the traction battery if the 12V battery is so low that it does not activate the main DC power contactor.
2. 12V batteries can fail without warning. I once started my Jeep at the airport after it had been parked for several days (everything seemed normal). I stopped at an ATM on the way home after driving at least 15 miles on the freeway and turned it off. The battery was completely dead when I tried to start it after withdrawing cash. Fortunately, I had jumper cables and someone else using the ATM was nice enough to help me. I drove home without stopping again and started carrying booster batteries in each vehicle after that episode.
3. You can jump start the LEAF from another 12V battery to get the main DC contactor to close so the car goes into READY mode which allows driving and also charges the 12V battery from the traction battery. You can also connect a booster battery to provide 12V power and then plug the car in to charge the traction battery. The 12V battery will then be charged while the traction battery is charging.
4. I have had good service from Optima yellow top (deep cycle AGM) batteries in my two previous LEAFs and will install one in my 2019 as soon as there is any indication of weakness with the OEM battery. The 12V OEM batteries in my 2011 and 2015 both failed after about 2-1/2 years use.
5. As someone else noted, driving more miles per day does result in more charging of the 12V battery because it is charged while driving and while the traction battery is charging. Higher mileage use results in more driving time per day and longer or more frequent traction battery charging so the 12V battery gets significantly more charging time. This might be why I have never needed to connect an external 12V charger to any of my LEAFs.
6. I believe you can access the mechanical hood release mechanism from underneath the front of the car by removing the plastic splash shield. You will need jack stands, ramps, or a hoist to raise the car enough to get underneath it.
1. Plugging the car in will not charge the 12V battery and the traction battery if the 12V battery is so low that it does not activate the main DC power contactor.
2. 12V batteries can fail without warning. I once started my Jeep at the airport after it had been parked for several days (everything seemed normal). I stopped at an ATM on the way home after driving at least 15 miles on the freeway and turned it off. The battery was completely dead when I tried to start it after withdrawing cash. Fortunately, I had jumper cables and someone else using the ATM was nice enough to help me. I drove home without stopping again and started carrying booster batteries in each vehicle after that episode.
3. You can jump start the LEAF from another 12V battery to get the main DC contactor to close so the car goes into READY mode which allows driving and also charges the 12V battery from the traction battery. You can also connect a booster battery to provide 12V power and then plug the car in to charge the traction battery. The 12V battery will then be charged while the traction battery is charging.
4. I have had good service from Optima yellow top (deep cycle AGM) batteries in my two previous LEAFs and will install one in my 2019 as soon as there is any indication of weakness with the OEM battery. The 12V OEM batteries in my 2011 and 2015 both failed after about 2-1/2 years use.
5. As someone else noted, driving more miles per day does result in more charging of the 12V battery because it is charged while driving and while the traction battery is charging. Higher mileage use results in more driving time per day and longer or more frequent traction battery charging so the 12V battery gets significantly more charging time. This might be why I have never needed to connect an external 12V charger to any of my LEAFs.
6. I believe you can access the mechanical hood release mechanism from underneath the front of the car by removing the plastic splash shield. You will need jack stands, ramps, or a hoist to raise the car enough to get underneath it.
Thanks for the nice rundown and consolidating most of what has been said in this 3-page thread into one post, I'd like to add a few comments to a couple of your points:GerryAZ said:
Point 1-good to know, so one really needs a 12v external battery charger, the built-in charger and EVSE is not capable of charging a Leaf with a very weak 12v battery, in this case the 12v battery needs to be charged with your external 12v battery charger at least until the point where the car will accept power from your J1772 cable.
Point 2-This is why I purchased a while back and always carry in my Leaf a smaller portable 12v Lithium battery jump starter, they also come in AGM style but as lithium batteries hold their charge much longer than AGM which seems to go flat after not too long, I didn't want to risk it being dead if I really needed it, so I went with lithium.
Point 3-And I realize this may only affect a very small percentage of the people with a dead/weak battery but if the 12v battery is so low the car won't power up, and you discover you cannot open your hood, I think you could really be screwed. Luckily in my brother's case, the battery had enough charge to turn the car ON, just not enough pull in the HV contactors to start the HV to 12v charger. Because it had enough power to partially turn the car on, it also turned on the cigarette lighter socket which allowed me to hook up a cigarette lighter to cigarette lighter jump starter cable I had, which after a few minutes gave the Leaf 12v battery just enough power to pull in the contactor and start the HV to 12v charger and I could unplug my jump starter cable. I was happy to be able to use my little jump-starting cable, purchased it many years ago and in this case anyway, it probably paid for itself.
Point 4- And while a 12v lithium battery is probably the best in moderate climates it does have issues in areas like mine where it can get to -20F. Lithiums just aren't meant for the extreme cold without an external heater like our Leafs have on their traction battery and a heater just isn't practical for the 12v battery. No for people in areas that get very cold(sub-zero) I still believe Pb batteries are the best with the AGM type being best for our Leafs.
Point 6-I didn't try accessing the hood release from under the car, I might have to try that on my brother's Leaf, I just know I saw NO way of accessing the release from the top, including through the charging port area. I think first I'll try pulling harder on the cable with a needle nose pliers and then try going through underneath the car.
Going off Leftie's point in his previous post. So if I understand you correctly, turning on the WW motor only for just one cycle seems enough to initiate the higher 14v charging for a 1 minute or so period after, so in my brother's case where he wanted to charge the weak 12v battery as fast as possible, it sounds like one way to do that without taking extra power to run the WW motor constantly it to put it on a long intermittent setting. This would keep the 14v charging active and yet not waste 12v power running the WW motor constantly, does that sound correct?
DaveinOlyWA
Well-known member
jjeff said:
When its not raining, I have intermittent on the lowest setting to force a charge. In most cases, a daily boost of 5-10 mins is all the battery will take. This was winter time which means (in my case) wiper time is higher than normal due to the weather.
On tests, the days I did charge, sometimes the boost only lasted a few minutes. All the charges were 80-90 mins and terminated just as I was leaving for work so the timing could have been part of that.
DaveinOlyWA
Well-known member
https://daveinolywa.blogspot.com/2021/04/charge-your-leaf-every-day.html
That should work, yes. I don't like running the wipers repeatedly on a dry windshield, but it should work.
Great, note in my brother's case I lifted the wipers off the windshield while it was sitting. Looked a little dorky but I also didn't want the wipers to be going back in forth on a dry windshield.LeftieBiker said:
Maybe I should tell my brother to leave his wipers on all the time but on the least frequent intermittent setting as DaveinOlyWA suggested, well at least until we can get his hood open and replace his old regular lead-acid battery with an AGM style. Although I'm not sure how much longer he's going to hold on to his Leaf, even though he loves it and the range meets his needs, he recently moved into a city apartment and no longer has access to overnight charging. All his charging will need to be at a free local QC station, not so convenient. Unfortunately, I bet a lot of city dwellers are in the same boat, he loved his basically maintenance-free Leaf.
The other way to accomplish a constant charging current is to remove the current sensor from the battery Negative terminal. This can cook a battery in Hot weather, but seems to cause no issues otherwise.
DaveinOlyWA
Well-known member
jjeff said:
Yeah, not having home charging is the #1 reason people bail from EVs. I know a couple who got a LEAF and used the Tumwater EVCS for nearly all their charging then upgraded to a Tesla and did the same but then the station had a hiccup including a two week down time a few years ago so they switch to a Subaru hybrid??
GerryAZ said:
[edit]
If you have long thin arms then you might get to it from below.
On a 2012, If the charge door will open, then remove the 4 screws holding the EVSE port and pull it out to the side. The hood latch bracket can be seen thru the opening and it has an inverted "T" slot that you can insert a screwdriver or thin metal rod to slide the release lever.
Interesting, I take it your talking about the J1772 port and not the QC port? Does one also need to remove the plastic liner under the charge door? If so it seemed to me something might need to break to remove it without first opening the hood and removing the larger plastic cover over the latching area as it wraps over the charge door plastic piece.nlspace said:
I just looked, for sure one has to remove the plastic cover under the charge port door to get at those 4 bolts(J1772 I'd imagine). Unfortunately, when I tried removing that cover without opening my '13 I was not able to, well unless I pulled on it very hard and possibly risk breaking it. Of course on my brother's car we don't have much to lose so we may be forced to try that.jjeff said:
My car is a 2012 with manual release cables, so yours may be different.
The four hex-head-bolts on the J1772 EVSE port are exposed here, if you can open the charge port door then i don't see how the cover comes into play.
If for some reason it doesn't come out, then i see there is a drain hole under the port. Maybe a long thin screwdriver could go thru the drain to the hood release flange.
Or drill a 1/2" hole in the plastic between the two ports to see and access the latch. Can always get a plastic plug from home depot to trim it out.
[edit]
i see that the later gen cars have a plastic cover with no exposed bolts; One approach common to both is to go thru the cut out opening for the latch of the charge port door.
The four hex-head-bolts on the J1772 EVSE port are exposed here, if you can open the charge port door then i don't see how the cover comes into play.
If for some reason it doesn't come out, then i see there is a drain hole under the port. Maybe a long thin screwdriver could go thru the drain to the hood release flange.
Or drill a 1/2" hole in the plastic between the two ports to see and access the latch. Can always get a plastic plug from home depot to trim it out.
[edit]
i see that the later gen cars have a plastic cover with no exposed bolts; One approach common to both is to go thru the cut out opening for the latch of the charge port door.
Thanks for that photo, yes on my '13 the plastic does cover all 4 of those bolts. I just looked at my '12 and it's like yours, unfortunately in this case my brother's is a '13.
Experimenting with my '13 because my brother wasn't here I did totally remove the plastic under the charge port cover by first removing the top cover under the hood(something we wouldn't have access to on my brothers) but even with it totally removed I was not able to gain access to the hood release(going through the charge port area). I did not try removing the J1772 jack but it sounds like if I would have, I should have access to the release? I tried sliding a thin long screwdriver through where I could get but it took such force to release the hood latch I couldn't do it, the screwdriver would just bend.
I'm not going to take my '13 apart again as it took a while but when my brother gets here I'll first try really pulling on his cable with a needle-nose pliers. If that doesn't do it I'll try getting the plastic cover under the charge door off by really pulling it hard, in hopes of gaining access to the 4 bolts that hold the J1772 jack down and if that works pull it out in hopes of getting a good shot at the hood release. Not sure when my brother will bring it to me but I'll report back my findings. I guess I could also try cutting away the plastic to gain access to the bolts, either way things could break or look messy after but anything would better than trashing his hood to get it open.
Experimenting with my '13 because my brother wasn't here I did totally remove the plastic under the charge port cover by first removing the top cover under the hood(something we wouldn't have access to on my brothers) but even with it totally removed I was not able to gain access to the hood release(going through the charge port area). I did not try removing the J1772 jack but it sounds like if I would have, I should have access to the release? I tried sliding a thin long screwdriver through where I could get but it took such force to release the hood latch I couldn't do it, the screwdriver would just bend.
I'm not going to take my '13 apart again as it took a while but when my brother gets here I'll first try really pulling on his cable with a needle-nose pliers. If that doesn't do it I'll try getting the plastic cover under the charge door off by really pulling it hard, in hopes of gaining access to the 4 bolts that hold the J1772 jack down and if that works pull it out in hopes of getting a good shot at the hood release. Not sure when my brother will bring it to me but I'll report back my findings. I guess I could also try cutting away the plastic to gain access to the bolts, either way things could break or look messy after but anything would better than trashing his hood to get it open.
i doubt you could use any tool to pry the latch open without bending or breaking something. They are designed to not open in an accident.
There is a release arm that locks the latch in place, and it must be pulled by the cable, or slid away from the latch thru the T-slot. It doesn't take much force to slide it away and it sure wouldn't bend a screwdriver. a long bamboo skewer stick would even work.
If you have another car then open the hood and get a flashlight to inspect how the latch and the release arm are configured and how they work, also find the T-slot. i could see it clearly from the front.
There is a release arm that locks the latch in place, and it must be pulled by the cable, or slid away from the latch thru the T-slot. It doesn't take much force to slide it away and it sure wouldn't bend a screwdriver. a long bamboo skewer stick would even work.
If you have another car then open the hood and get a flashlight to inspect how the latch and the release arm are configured and how they work, also find the T-slot. i could see it clearly from the front.
DaveinOlyWA
Well-known member
jjeff said:
not really understanding how pulling on the cable with pliers isn't working. Its all mechanical? If you have enough people, try pulling on the cable, using something to push on the latch while holding the hood down?
To me it sounds like the cable is broken but guessing that is one of the first things you checked?
When I looked at my '13 I could see near the end of the cable was a stay, like on a bike brake cable to hold the outer jacket and at the very end of the center cable was a lead or metal looking piece I'd imagine was crimped on the end of the cable, My guess is the crimp failed and when pulling the cable it doesn't really pull anything on the latch under the hood. If that's the case then the only way to get the latch to release would be to somehow gain access to the latch release area and manually move it with something like a screwdriver but again when I tried this on my Leaf it took a LOT of pressure to move that latch, I couldn't do it from the side, perpendicular to the latch, my skinny screwdriver shank bent and there was no room to fit a fatter/stronger screwdriver. I had to do it mostly straight on or parallel to the way the latch moves, something that seems all but impossible to do without first having the hood open, which of course is closed, hence the need to open the latch.
i'm gonna give up on the full frontal approach, too many obstacles.
If you have long thin arms, then it might be possible to come in from below the motor compartment to reach the release arm of the latch with a short flat blade screwdriver. Just to test this from the back i was able to easily move the release lever with little force to cause the latch to open, but i wasn't on ramps or coming up from below. Knowing where it is and how it operates will help. Be careful working underneath, use jack stands or ramps, etc.
i used a little mirror to see in to the back side of the latch plate and saw the black plastic ferrule on the end of the release cable--what a sorry POS that is. i have had those fail on my Ford van such that the doors could not be opened. i replaced the broken ferrules with some aluminum such as this, maybe they make them for nissan also.
It will be a knuckle buster, but i think you can get it from the backside/below. Good Luck.
If you have long thin arms, then it might be possible to come in from below the motor compartment to reach the release arm of the latch with a short flat blade screwdriver. Just to test this from the back i was able to easily move the release lever with little force to cause the latch to open, but i wasn't on ramps or coming up from below. Knowing where it is and how it operates will help. Be careful working underneath, use jack stands or ramps, etc.
i used a little mirror to see in to the back side of the latch plate and saw the black plastic ferrule on the end of the release cable--what a sorry POS that is. i have had those fail on my Ford van such that the doors could not be opened. i replaced the broken ferrules with some aluminum such as this, maybe they make them for nissan also.
It will be a knuckle buster, but i think you can get it from the backside/below. Good Luck.
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