When away on vacation should I leave my car plugged in?

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kellymc62

Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2013
Messages
5
Location
Ventura, CA
Hi, I am going to Costa Rica this summer for a whole month. Should I leave my Leaf plugged in that whole time? Will it be ok if it just sits in my garage for a whole month? Kelly
 
There's a thread on this in here somewhere. The general consensus is it's better to leave it not plugged in. I have left mine for a similar amount of time, unplugged, and it lost no more than one bar of charge over that time. I think I left it at about 60%.
 
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Leaf is dead after vacation...
Another Dead Leaf after Vacation Plugged In - Detailed Info
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The third reference discusses a method that can be used to leave it plugged in, but the general consensus in the first two is that the simple and safe solution is to not leave it plugged in, and only partly charged.

The basic problem is that the 12v battery doesn't get maintained properly while the car is plugged in. The 12v battery can go dead in as little as a week in those circumstances, and without a 12v battery you can't start the car. It may seem illogical, but if the car is not plugged in the drain on the 12v battery will be lower, and the car will recharge the 12v battery once a week. The drain from the main battery will be so low that the car can sit for months and lose only a bar or two.

Phil (Ingineer) has pointed out that it is best if lead-acid batteries are kept fully charged rather than refilled weekly, so for longest life you might want to disconnect the 12v battery and put it on a trickle charge. That has its own problems, though, because you lose some settings when the 12v battery is disconnected. Personally I wouldn't bother for a one-month vacation. Just charge to about six bars before you go and leave it unplugged. Plug it back in the night you get home.

Ray
 
Leave the traction (main) battery at 50%.

Do not plug it in. Climate control timers off.

12 volt battery on a "tender" or "trickle charger".

Do not disconnect 12 volt from the car (there's no reason to if it's on a tender).

Enjoy your trip.
 
Harbor Freight is running a special on their battery tender, $5.99 with coupon. I must have bought 7 or 8 of these by now, and have given them to friends as gifts. They will only FLOAT CHARGE the battery, so they can be left on indefinitely without overcharging the battery. Most chargers require you to remove them after they have fully charged.
 
Resurrecting this old thread to ask a question. This is based on page EV-5 of the 2014 manual, section entitled LI-ION BATTERY WARMER. The caution box states:

The Li-ion battery warmer does not operate if the available Li-ion battery charge is less than approximately 30% and the charger is not connected to the vehicle. To help prevent the Li=ion battery from freezing, do not leave the vehicle in an environment if the temperature may go below 1 degree F (-17 degrees Celsius) unless the vehicle is connected to a charger.

So.... if we go on holiday for three weeks in January, and we live in Canada where temperatures can very well drop below -20 C for well over a week, probably even inside our attached garage, but we are not supposed to leave the vehicle plugged in because the 12V will not charge and will die, and as we have a 2014 if we leave it plugged in it will presumably charge to 100% then stay there for the duration of the trip which is NOT what we want. But if we DON'T leave it plugged in the battery heater will work and wear out the Li-ion battery which will discharge it completely and we won't be there to recharge it. Harumph.

Better to leave it plugged in, kill the 12V and protect the Li-ion from the extreme cold (for a few days at least), and get her jump started or towed to Nissan when we get back, OR leave it unplugged, let the battery discharge to whatever point the battery warmer stops charging, and leave the Li-ion battery discharged? Both options seem like they would be bad for the battery. Is my only option to leave the car charged and unplugged in a rented spot in a heated parking garage for the month??? Or am I missing something?
 
prius2leaf said:
Resurrecting this old thread to ask a question. This is based on page EV-5 of the 2014 manual, section entitled LI-ION BATTERY WARMER. The caution box states:

The Li-ion battery warmer does not operate if the available Li-ion battery charge is less than approximately 30% and the charger is not connected to the vehicle. To help prevent the Li=ion battery from freezing, do not leave the vehicle in an environment if the temperature may go below 1 degree F (-17 degrees Celsius) unless the vehicle is connected to a charger.

So.... if we go on holiday for three weeks in January, and we live in Canada where temperatures can very well drop below -20 C for well over a week, probably even inside our attached garage, but we are not supposed to leave the vehicle plugged in because the 12V will not charge and will die, and as we have a 2014 if we leave it plugged in it will presumably charge to 100% then stay there for the duration of the trip which is NOT what we want. But if we DON'T leave it plugged in the battery heater will work and wear out the Li-ion battery which will discharge it completely and we won't be there to recharge it. Harumph.

Better to leave it plugged in, kill the 12V and protect the Li-ion from the extreme cold (for a few days at least), and get her jump started or towed to Nissan when we get back, OR leave it unplugged, let the battery discharge to whatever point the battery warmer stops charging, and leave the Li-ion battery discharged? Both options seem like they would be bad for the battery. Is my only option to leave the car charged and unplugged in a rented spot in a heated parking garage for the month??? Or am I missing something?
Click to expand...


Another alternative is leave it low on charge and set the timer to charge 10 minutes twice a week.
Or similar to reach less than 100% before your return. To increase charge times use the L1 cord.
 
You can leave it plugged in if you switch off all timers. Those timers are the reason of problem with 12V battery.
But if you switch off battery timer you can't charge only till 80% (except car is already charged and charging is finished), so it will charge to 100% without timer and sit on that charge until your return :/

But if it is extremely cold outside (0F or less) then sitting at 100% charge isn't a problem, because it isn't really 100% but already 80% or less due to low temperature. Also you can even remotely drain some power from the battery by turning on climate control if needed.
 
prius2leaf said:
Resurrecting this old thread to ask a question. This is based on page EV-5 of the 2014 manual, section entitled LI-ION BATTERY WARMER. The caution box states:

The Li-ion battery warmer does not operate if the available Li-ion battery charge is less than approximately 30% and the charger is not connected to the vehicle. To help prevent the Li=ion battery from freezing, do not leave the vehicle in an environment if the temperature may go below 1 degree F (-17 degrees Celsius) unless the vehicle is connected to a charger.

So.... if we go on holiday for three weeks in January, and we live in Canada where temperatures can very well drop below -20 C for well over a week, probably even inside our attached garage, but we are not supposed to leave the vehicle plugged in because the 12V will not charge and will die, and as we have a 2014 if we leave it plugged in it will presumably charge to 100% then stay there for the duration of the trip which is NOT what we want. But if we DON'T leave it plugged in the battery heater will work and wear out the Li-ion battery which will discharge it completely and we won't be there to recharge it. Harumph.

Better to leave it plugged in, kill the 12V and protect the Li-ion from the extreme cold (for a few days at least), and get her jump started or towed to Nissan when we get back, OR leave it unplugged, let the battery discharge to whatever point the battery warmer stops charging, and leave the Li-ion battery discharged? Both options seem like they would be bad for the battery. Is my only option to leave the car charged and unplugged in a rented spot in a heated parking garage for the month??? Or am I missing something?
Click to expand...
batteryproblemmnl


Interesting conundrum. I wouldn't worry about leaving the car unplugged in the cold, just be sure to thaw it out before trying to use it when you return. Jens from Norway has done something similar on trips to his cabin in the mountains. If you really wanted to plug it in, use a trickle charge cord instead of a regular charging station. This should be enough to warm the battery. Someone has successfully pursued this tactic, and has programmed the timer to charge the car from a wall outlet for 15 minutes each day. This should be enough to keep the 12V battery happy, but will add only insignificant charge to the traction battery. Additionally, the battery warmer should be able to operate. I would verify this assumption before jumping right into it though.
 

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