LEAF plugged in but not charging... what is climate control power source: battery or grid?

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tn77

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I've checked the manuals and searched the forums but I can't find an answer to this question. I'll just give bullet points for clarity:

  1. My car is plugged in (240).
  2. The car is not charging, as expected.... it's 3pm (the timer charges it from 1am to 6am)
  3. From my app, I turn on the climate control

So my question is: will the climate control use the BATTERY power or the GRID power? I'm assuming it will use the battery, because there's no magic setting that says to check for the grid just because it's plugged in. But I am not sure.
 
If the charge timer was not set or the current time was within the allowable charge window, it would definitely use grid power. I don't think the remote climate control request will override the charge timer so I think it would use battery power in the case you described, but I am not sure.

Gerry
 
The climate control always uses the battery, never the grid - it would be too complex to wire it any other way. If the car can charge it will, but the battery is being charged while it's running the CC. The grid isn't powering the CC directly.
 
tn77 said:
I've checked the manuals and searched the forums but I can't find an answer to this question. I'll just give bullet points for clarity:

  1. My car is plugged in (240).
  2. The car is not charging, as expected.... it's 3pm (the timer charges it from 1am to 6am)
  3. From my app, I turn on the climate control

So my question is: will the climate control use the BATTERY power or the GRID power? I'm assuming it will use the battery, because there's no magic setting that says to check for the grid just because it's plugged in. But I am not sure.

I leave my Leaf plugged in, especially during the summer, so that I can activate the Climate Control about 15 minutes before departure. It pulls power from the EVSE when it is connected. I have text alerts activated, so I always get a message when it starts and stops. The text message also tells me if it is using charger power or battery power. I have my charge timer set to start at 2am and end at 6pm. That way charging will start without a timer over-ride if I plug in away from home. I don't know if the timer setting will impact whether the remote climate control uses charger or battery power. The car does keep track of whether or not the EVSE is connected, and usually will attempt to use it if connected.
 
Interesting. So the last two answers seem to contradict. I guess I'll contact Nissan to (hopefully) get a firm answer.
 
A quick note: I ran a test, and my non-charging, climate-on car STOPPED having climate on when I unplugged it. So I'm thinking it's running off the grid.
 
The correct answer is BATTERY, as suggested earlier. From Nissan:

The Lithium Ion battery is used to power the vehicle. The climate control is included in this. All the charging dock does is transmit power to an on-board charger in the vehicle which distributes the electricity to the battery. All the systems are connected to the battery itself.
 
It is true that the climate control runs directly from the traction battery, but the onboard charger will draw power from the grid to charge the battery at approximately the same rate as the climate control is discharging it if there are no charge timers set. If charge timers are set and climate control is activated remotely, I suspect the onboard charger will honor the timers and draw grid power only if timers allow. I should have been more clear in my previous reply.

Gerry
 
Exactly. Leaf will activate contactors. It will start to consume from battery but if car is plugged in onboard charger will
input approximately the same amount of energy. Eventually almost no power is taken from the battery.
In some scenarios battery will be very slightly discharged. Usually less than few percents even if ran for an hour.
 
arnis said:
Exactly. Leaf will activate contactors. It will start to consume from battery but if car is plugged in onboard charger will
input approximately the same amount of energy. Eventually almost no power is taken from the battery.
In some scenarios battery will be very slightly discharged. Usually less than few percents even if ran for an hour.

Way too general a statement. L-1 supplied power ranges from 12 amps at 120 volts to 27.5 amps at 240 volts. You can lose from 1% per minute while connected to L-1, to an approximate break even with L-2 at 240 volts and 12 amps, to a big gain in charge if connected to 240 at 27 amps.
 
LeftieBiker said:
arnis said:
Exactly. Leaf will activate contactors. It will start to consume from battery but if car is plugged in onboard charger will
input approximately the same amount of energy. Eventually almost no power is taken from the battery.
In some scenarios battery will be very slightly discharged. Usually less than few percents even if ran for an hour.

Way too general a statement. L-1 supplied power ranges from 12 amps at 120 volts to 27.5 amps at 240 volts. You can lose from 1% per minute while connected to L-1, to an approximate break even with L-2 at 240 volts and 12 amps, to a big gain in charge if connected to 240 at 27 amps.
Even your statement is too general :) You really need to know the outside temperature to say whether you'll lose, break even or gain charge while preheating with a particular EVSE. In the Teens to single digits I've found preheating with a 16a 240v L2 EVSE I'll gradually lose charge, bump it up to 19a and I either break even or ever so slightly gain charge, at 27.5a I definitely gain charge and probably would do so with basically any outside temp. I believe the difference is due to once the vehicle has achieved setpoint, it will start cycling the main heater, warmer weather it will cycle more, colder weather it might not even shut off, or just briefly. Preheating with L1 is basically a joke(or at least with the OEM EVSE) but I guess it is better than nothing.
I believe the main heater can draw up to 6kw?? at least thats what the graphics show on my SL, if thats the case and the heater never shuts off, it seems the max 6.6kw EVSE could only slightly gain charge but I believe even in such temps the heater must cycle off a bit.
 
Heater can draw a lot but as preheat it never takes more than 3kW, even at DC-charger.
In extremely cold weather (you guys call that below zero F) heater will still draw
2.5-3kW for half an hour and still drops down. There is a preheat temperature selection
available on newer Leafs. As soon as cabin heats up heater consumption drops.
Due to the fact that recirculation is mainly switched on, cabin heats up faster than during
normal driving scenario (in addition less wind cooling down windows).

At 2kW charger (L1 for me) I think heater was limited to 2kW. Not sure. I will check later.
I've never got gained any charge during heating cycle if charging is not enabled.
Grid draw will fall if heater doesn't consume everything EVSE offers.
 
arnis said:
Heater can draw a lot but as preheat it never takes more than 3kW, even at DC-charger.
In extremely cold weather (you guys call that below zero F) heater will still draw
2.5-3kW for half an hour and still drops down....
If thats so then why does the climate control screen on my '12 SL show the climate control bar frequently going up to 6kw :? something doesn't make sense.....
 
New Leaf uses totally different climate brains. And electric heater is air based on new Leafs.
Old water kettle failed very often.
BTW I've never seen PTC air heater draw more than 4500W. It should be more powerful than that if I remember correctly.
 
arnis said:
New Leaf uses totally different climate brains. And electric heater is air based on new Leafs.
Old water kettle failed very often.
BTW I've never seen PTC air heater draw more than 4500W. It should be more powerful than that if I remember correctly.
Ah that makes sense, the new SL/SVs are the heat pump and probably draw much less than my energy hog water based heater, which again according to my climate control screen regularly draws 6kw and even with that doesn't heat the cabin all that well :(
 
The heatpump-equipped Leafs still use the PTC heater for preheating, because it's faster. If you could select "heatpump only" you could probably preheat with L-1 with little lost charge.
 
LeftieBiker said:
The heatpump-equipped Leafs still use the PTC heater for preheating, because it's faster. If you could select "heatpump only" you could probably preheat with L-1 with little lost charge.

This should be an option in Nissan Consult. Use heatpump for preheat. Not sure will it work if plugged in. My car was randomly coded one day. Once it ran heat pump if not plugged in.

Using heat pump actually is not an awesome idea if plugged in. Might ice up/reduce efficiency while driving. Also in recirculation things are different. Long story.
 
If we are talking about cold air temperatures, i.e. down in the teens or colder, the heat pump is ineffective and the heating system on an SL/SV with the hybrid heater is basically preheating using resistance heat (PTC).
 
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