For heaven sakes when will that 4th bar drop

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vin944

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 1, 2011
Messages
109
Hello all,
I have a slight dilemma here. If this 4th bar does not drop by Aug 23rd I'm SOL on a new battery.

I have a 2011 Leaf currently with 47,000 mi on it. My bars have dissappeared like this:

20,000 1st bar gone.
30,000 2nd bar gone.
40,000 3rd bar gone.
47,000 still waiting for the 4th bar to say bye-bye...................

Is there anyway I can tell when that 4th bar will drop? Maybe some gadget can be connected to the car and see the state of that final bar.
If it's close to dropping, I'll drive the car in circles if I have to.
I live in the Folsom area near Sacramento. Any recommendations?

Thanks.
 
vin944 said:
Maybe some gadget can be connected to the car and see the state of that final bar.
If it's close to dropping, I'll drive the car in circles if I have to.
I live in the Folsom area near Sacramento. Any recommendations?

Thanks.

Have you heard of Leaf spy? have a iOS or android device? You can get a OBD dongle and connect to the car and read off the battery SOH etc with it. Use the other posts about where that level will be, for losing that 4th bar, as I don't recall where but it's out there in a post.
 
Yes prior to posting I did a search on "4th bar". It was overwhelming as to be expected so I posted because I don't have the background to understand the jargon. I am looking for maybe someone in the area that can hook up to this car and tell me, "You're almost there just a few more miles and the gids will fall", or something to that effect. I am prepared to drive this car in circles for the next 3 months if it will lead to a new battery. Otherwise let the chips fall where they may. When they took away my regen, I can't even do a 30 mi round trip to Carmichael w/o range anxiety. At full charge it reads 53 mi. And that's very wrong, I do not get 53mi/charge. Anyway thanks for reading, maybe someone out there might have this meter.
 
Given your history of losing the bars per mileage you should be very close and with summer temps you have a good chance of dropping it in the next couple of months. You won't know for sure how close you are without reading your battery stats with LeafSpy though. However ultimately it doesn't matter, as you will either make the warranty or not. Just keep driving it as hard and as fast as you can, use every opportunity to leave it fully charged in the sun, QC often if that's an option for the next several months and see what happens.
 
Valdemar said:
Given your history of losing the bars per mileage you should be very close and with summer temps you have a good chance of dropping it in the next couple of months. You won't know for sure how close you are without reading your battery stats with LeafSpy though. However ultimately it doesn't matter, as you will either make the warranty or not. Just keep driving it as hard and as fast as you can, use every opportunity to leave it fully charged in the sun, QC often if that's an option for the next several months and see what happens.

Got it, Thank You.
 
vin944 said:
Valdemar said:
Given your history of losing the bars per mileage you should be very close and with summer temps you have a good chance of dropping it in the next couple of months. You won't know for sure how close you are without reading your battery stats with LeafSpy though. However ultimately it doesn't matter, as you will either make the warranty or not. Just keep driving it as hard and as fast as you can, use every opportunity to leave it fully charged in the sun, QC often if that's an option for the next several months and see what happens.

Got it, Thank You.

And, yes, putting additional miles won't hurt either, so yes, drive in circles, but fast :)
 
vin944 said:
Hello all,
I have a slight dilemma here. If this 4th bar does not drop by Aug 23rd I'm SOL on a new battery.

I have a 2011 Leaf currently with 47,000 mi on it. My bars have dissappeared like this:

20,000 1st bar gone.
30,000 2nd bar gone.
40,000 3rd bar gone.
47,000 still waiting for the 4th bar to say bye-bye...................

Is there anyway I can tell when that 4th bar will drop? Maybe some gadget can be connected to the car and see the state of that final bar.
If it's close to dropping, I'll drive the car in circles if I have to.
I live in the Folsom area near Sacramento. Any recommendations?

Thanks.
For about $12 you could purchase a OBDII adapter(assuming you don't have a iPhone but do have a android phone) and download the free Leafspy lite app and you could read your cars SOH. Of course living where you do I'd bet you'd have other Leaf drivers not too far away who might not mind uplugging their OBDII, plugging it in your car and giving you the reading, it's up to you.
Personally with a '11 or '12 Leaf I wouldn't want to be without either Leafspy or some other dedicated battery health reader. If not for the battery health then for the very handy SOC% display that personally I wouldn't want to live without.
This is the OBDII I have and it works very well with a Samsung Galaxy smart phone:
http://www.amazon.com/Panlong-Bluetooth-Diagnostic-Scanner-Android/dp/B00PJPHEBO?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage
 
jjeff said:
vin944 said:
Hello all,
I have a slight dilemma here. If this 4th bar does not drop by Aug 23rd I'm SOL on a new battery.

I have a 2011 Leaf currently with 47,000 mi on it. My bars have dissappeared like this:

20,000 1st bar gone.
30,000 2nd bar gone.
40,000 3rd bar gone.
47,000 still waiting for the 4th bar to say bye-bye...................

Is there anyway I can tell when that 4th bar will drop? Maybe some gadget can be connected to the car and see the state of that final bar.
If it's close to dropping, I'll drive the car in circles if I have to.
I live in the Folsom area near Sacramento. Any recommendations?

Thanks.
For about $12 you could purchase a OBDII adapter(assuming you don't have a iPhone but do have a android phone) and download the free Leafspy lite app and you could read your cars SOH. Of course living where you do I'd bet you'd have other Leaf drivers not too far away who might not mind uplugging their OBDII, plugging it in your car and giving you the reading, it's up to you.
Personally with a '11 or '12 Leaf I wouldn't want to be without either Leafspy or some other dedicated battery health reader. If not for the battery health then for the very handy SOC% display that personally I wouldn't want to live without.
This is the OBDII I have and it works very well with a Samsung Galaxy smart phone:
http://www.amazon.com/Panlong-Bluetooth-Diagnostic-Scanner-Android/dp/B00PJPHEBO?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage
Thanks for the info. I do have an android and have no problem spending the $$ for the device. If I order it and get the numbers, can you interpret them and give me an estimate when you think the 4th bar will go? I have 3 months to make this happen but I will probably run myself ragged to get to 50k mi but I'm willing to do it if the numbers indicate I have a shot at getting there. Thanks.
 
I'm not an expert on this, but from what I've read here, the loss of the 4th bar isn't as linear as you hope. It can take a long time even at the expected point in LeafSpy readings, and the BMS also stops updating in cold weather (at least that shouldn't be an issue for you). My point is that you should do whatever you can, but manage your expectations, or you will be very frustrated.
 
c1987 said:
It drops just after you get past 60,000 miles. At least in my case...
Most likely me too. Right now there is less than 66% (8 out of 12 bars) capacity in that pack. I see 2 charge bars disappear together when I'm driving and I never saw that before the update that took away the regen. I brought the car back to Nissan and told them the update disabled my regen and all I hear is that the update only dealt with the charger. And this is from the Folsom Nissan dealer and 1800 No Gas EV. Both places told me the same thing.

Conclusion: Nissan lies and now that skulduggery leaves the door open for hiding bar drop delays in their firmware. The update changed the way the bars drop. I've been driving the car for 5 yrs, I can tell.

I'll try to get to 50k before Aug and I'll mash that pedal these next 3 k miles. Thanks for all your inputs.
 
vin944 said:
Yes prior to posting I did a search on "4th bar". It was overwhelming as to be expected so I posted because I don't have the background to understand the jargon. I am looking for maybe someone in the area that can hook up to this car and tell me, "You're almost there just a few more miles and the gids will fall", or something to that effect. I am prepared to drive this car in circles for the next 3 months if it will lead to a new battery. Otherwise let the chips fall where they may. When they took away my regen, I can't even do a 30 mi round trip to Carmichael w/o range anxiety. At full charge it reads 53 mi. And that's very wrong, I do not get 53mi/charge. Anyway thanks for reading, maybe someone out there might have this meter.

if you do, make sure its VERY fast circles with climate controls on high. to hasten your packs demise, you need to pass time (hard to adjust...) and charge more. charging more is easy. simply drive as inefficiently as you can. If you have to stop and charge every 40 miles, you might not get anywhere fast but you will cut the time to 4 bar departure time.
 
so what I found that worked to drop the bar....

1 keep the pack at full charge all the time if possible.
2 make the car ready to drive, with the car in the driveway set heater to 90 open windows ...take keys go in the house. before bed turn off car plug in and charge to full.
3 Find a trip that you can make on fast chargers 3 fast charges in a row pack temp over 100f . Think like Fresno? A young driver with a new girlfriend works real well for this part.
4 cycle the pack to very low battery. it is when the it looks for in and out flow of the battery.
5 don't watch leaf spy too close you will go nutty...my amp hour went up before they went down and dropped the bar.

good luck
 
charge in the daytime at the hottest time of day, charge on 120V or 240V, avoid quickchargers when you get down to the end of the warranty period (Chademo quickcharging does heat the pack but it also temporarily boosts the stats on the pack) but feel free to chademo all you want in May and June and the first half of July.

I'd avoid chademo for the last month of the warranty period if you haven't dropped before then.

Also find out the in service date of the car. Manufacturing date isn't the date used by warranty. Don't take Nissan's word for it if they say you are over the date. If you can prove the in service date they'll change their answer to match the documented date.
 
dhanson865 said:
charge in the daytime at the hottest time of day, charge on 120V or 240V, avoid quickchargers when you get down to the end of the warranty period (Chademo quickcharging does heat the pack but it also temporarily boosts the stats on the pack) but feel free to chademo all you want in May and June and the first half of July.

I'd avoid chademo for the last month of the warranty period if you haven't dropped before then.

Also find out the in service date of the car. Manufacturing date isn't the date used by warranty. Don't take Nissan's word for it if they say you are over the date. If you can prove the in service date they'll change their answer to match the documented date.

Thanks for all your input. I do have a question about this in service date. I bought the car Aug 23rd so wouldn't my warranty run out on Aug 23rd. I will take heed of all the recommendations. I hope they haven't sneaked a timer in the firmware. I will keep this thread posted on my situation. Thanks again!
 
vin944 said:
dhanson865 said:
charge in the daytime at the hottest time of day, charge on 120V or 240V, avoid quickchargers when you get down to the end of the warranty period (Chademo quickcharging does heat the pack but it also temporarily boosts the stats on the pack) but feel free to chademo all you want in May and June and the first half of July.

I'd avoid chademo for the last month of the warranty period if you haven't dropped before then.

Also find out the in service date of the car. Manufacturing date isn't the date used by warranty. Don't take Nissan's word for it if they say you are over the date. If you can prove the in service date they'll change their answer to match the documented date.

Thanks for all your input. I do have a question about this in service date. I bought the car Aug 23rd so wouldn't my warranty run out on Aug 23rd. I will take heed of all the recommendations. I hope they haven't sneaked a timer in the firmware. I will keep this thread posted on my situation. Thanks again!

Assuming they know the date of delivery or you can prove it they'll go with Aug 23rd.

Just don't push it. If you lose the bar on the 15th go right away, don't wait.
 
I would call Nissan and file a complaint. confirm in service and miles at time of sale. it helps if you are close on time for the battery.
 
speedski97 said:
so what I found that worked to drop the bar....

1 keep the pack at full charge all the time if possible.
2 make the car ready to drive, with the car in the driveway set heater to 90 open windows ...take keys go in the house. before bed turn off car plug in and charge to full.
3 Find a trip that you can make on fast chargers 3 fast charges in a row pack temp over 100f . Think like Fresno? A young driver with a new girlfriend works real well for this part.
4 cycle the pack to very low battery. it is when the it looks for in and out flow of the battery.
5 don't watch leaf spy too close you will go nutty...my amp hour went up before they went down and dropped the bar.

good luck

Agreed with everything he said, except few minor things

1) and park under high heat, under the sun, on the asphalt, etc ...
2) Park inside garage in winter and it will become an extremely expensive 3KW heater. That helps to prevent cold air entering the upstairs living space. If the car failed its original function, this will become the only useful feature of the Leaf ! Maybe I should park it in my living room :D
3) fast charge only from very low battery(beyond ---) to 4~5 bars. up a steep hill(1000' raised within one mile) full throttle(let regen do its work when you reach speed limit), 3-time is all you need to heat it over 128+F (from 60+F outside). Watch out for turtle mode if you get that high, the top double power circles will change to single ring. After 3 single rings, expect the turtle mode soon, so be safe.
4} Try not to drop all the way down and cut to 12V battery. You'll need jump start cable to initialize the charger.
5) That should probably be called "warranty anxiety" and there's no cure for that until you get a new battery :? For the people suffered from the battery degradation, range anxiety kicks in after 3 years and then this warranty anxiety kicks in after 4 years unfortunately.

Nissan really should only sell the Leaf in Northern states and not lie to us in their marketing talk or at least have some cooling remedy options for hot state ... This is purely a design defect! Too naive to trust Nissan, really regret to baby the battery for first couple years and good luck to all of us! :oops:

Ran into OP and this is the snapshot of his car. He seems still have long way to go, giving his time constraint

5ITEruLbTwrLWgmws0pUCcT-UXSabfNTkrh6DWHYIzTZTBESG9a7vHqSA_K96koF4BHSPc7E8lpBTMqptteXPb3RP5GF-emdDG_UOrYvmlc0-4084Gida_M7_uNASVQSRLyhEAbgcA0Y7BISFCkGlskmtnQLo4M1HVGz3tbgr6P2W5mEwUNVAtfGTP0Sfz1Fer7HFdwVPZFeK60mdGf7yzVd6c4XoHx_gbOuMhgFBvzTxqRQkcSBahIzd2RbCzp97wkJwXQQLOv6XoKF203JjtHFdzoK36ctdNZo88bNXO2yQt04Gh7lduNLjRezDHIXTItpa2cJzvzaPH50PxVR42CeuwtsCMfmkTywehH0GKjHRh0OYY29fJNiMpIakA07f8dTl9ZTWOc58Q8aHtCjXSHMNSSvt_IAtscEq-XB4oG-Xv8bEDZ-OYdWprtz0iqg6QmcGrlWs4QdbCq05zixGXXyNaGO0zYLQEKeVSkzz1GqopcbK4YbxGe1o3FjcRt3r16GDbOymm6qR3ApHfAiZqcZB3H0x26YKymokBtZby0xhvzKhah2OUREW3VGjv2V6oBsxGOjblGRVLt70IddtKkN_1G1HS8
 
yujungchang said:
speedski97 said:
so what I found that worked to drop the bar....

1 keep the pack at full charge all the time if possible.
2 make the car ready to drive, with the car in the driveway set heater to 90 open windows ...take keys go in the house. before bed turn off car plug in and charge to full.
3 Find a trip that you can make on fast chargers 3 fast charges in a row pack temp over 100f . Think like Fresno? A young driver with a new girlfriend works real well for this part.
4 cycle the pack to very low battery. it is when the it looks for in and out flow of the battery.
5 don't watch leaf spy too close you will go nutty...my amp hour went up before they went down and dropped the bar.

good luck

Agreed with everything he said, except few minor things

1) and park under high heat, under the sun, on the asphalt, etc ...
2) Park inside garage in winter and it will become an extremely expensive 3KW heater. That helps to prevent cold air entering the upstairs living space. If the car failed its original function, this will become the only useful feature of the Leaf ! Maybe I should park it in my living room :D
3) fast charge only from very low battery(beyond ---) to 4~5 bars. up a steep hill(1000' raised within one mile) full throttle(let regen do its work when you reach speed limit), 3-time is all you need to heat it over 128+F (from 60+F outside). Watch out for turtle mode if you get that high, the top double power circles will change to single ring. After 3 single rings, expect the turtle mode soon, so be safe.
4} Try not to drop all the way down and cut to 12V battery. You'll need jump start cable to initialize the charger.
5) That should probably be called "warranty anxiety" and there's no cure for that until you get a new battery :? For the people suffered from the battery degradation, range anxiety kicks in after 3 years and then this warranty anxiety kicks in after 4 years unfortunately.

Nissan really should only sell the Leaf in Northern states and not lie to us in their marketing talk or at least have some cooling remedy options for hot state ... This is purely a design defect! Too naive to trust Nissan, really regret to baby the battery for first couple years and good luck to all of us! :oops:

Ran into OP and this is the snapshot of his car. He seems still have long way to go, giving his time constraint

5ITEruLbTwrLWgmws0pUCcT-UXSabfNTkrh6DWHYIzTZTBESG9a7vHqSA_K96koF4BHSPc7E8lpBTMqptteXPb3RP5GF-emdDG_UOrYvmlc0-4084Gida_M7_uNASVQSRLyhEAbgcA0Y7BISFCkGlskmtnQLo4M1HVGz3tbgr6P2W5mEwUNVAtfGTP0Sfz1Fer7HFdwVPZFeK60mdGf7yzVd6c4XoHx_gbOuMhgFBvzTxqRQkcSBahIzd2RbCzp97wkJwXQQLOv6XoKF203JjtHFdzoK36ctdNZo88bNXO2yQt04Gh7lduNLjRezDHIXTItpa2cJzvzaPH50PxVR42CeuwtsCMfmkTywehH0GKjHRh0OYY29fJNiMpIakA07f8dTl9ZTWOc58Q8aHtCjXSHMNSSvt_IAtscEq-XB4oG-Xv8bEDZ-OYdWprtz0iqg6QmcGrlWs4QdbCq05zixGXXyNaGO0zYLQEKeVSkzz1GqopcbK4YbxGe1o3FjcRt3r16GDbOymm6qR3ApHfAiZqcZB3H0x26YKymokBtZby0xhvzKhah2OUREW3VGjv2V6oBsxGOjblGRVLt70IddtKkN_1G1HS8
What a coincidence to run into you at the BelAir. Anyway I am going to try and use some of these advices to see what may happen in the next month or so. I have the EZ Charge card ready to go and I will begin the quick charging/discharging cycles on Monday. Also I will order the Leaf Spy and get it going to keep you posted. I will keep this post updated with screenshots etc. Thanks for your help.

PS. Seems like there are about 8 dongles for this Leaf Spy. Is there a common one that is a favorite? Thanks.
 
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