Charging in the Heat - Questions, Tips, Suggestions

I have a charging question for hot days (100F). Say you need to charge for 1-2 hours on L2 for where you need to go in the evening.

Would it be better to charge in the morning while the temp is lower (70F) but have the car sitting all day fully charged or wait till later in the day closer to using the car to charge but its hot outside (100F)?

This might be splitting hairs but I’m curious if there is an answer.

What are some tips on charging in the heat? Does anybody have certain methods?

Best to finish charging right before you drive it.

DNAinaGoodWay said:

Best to finish charging right before you drive it.

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Yes, but with this note: Leaving the battery fully charded for a few hours will have less negative impact on the battery than higher temps. Fully charging with the higher temp causes the battery to get even hotter, therefore more permanent damage. Watch the battery temps in both situations and then you can decide. JMHO

The short answer is: "don't charge in the heat" (that would be 90+ degrees F battery temp).
If I'm reading the OP correctly, they need the range but aren't driving the car until evening? If it were me, I would take another car on those hot days/evenings. Even if you were driving it all day (to work) and needed a booster at night, I would still take another car on those hot days.
My 2 cents.

If you don't need 100% charge to get where you need to go in the evening, charge to 80% - or whatever in that range you can approximate by disconnecting the cable early - in the morning. I use L-1 only, but I still avoid charging when it's above 85F. The battery temp will rise to six bars *just from ambient temps* when it nears 90F.

Humble opinion from someone who drives and charges in the heat all the time: L2 charging does not add much heat so it is better to charge just before you need to use it. Exception would be if you have time of use power rates. With time of use power rates, I recommend charging off peak to save money since the difference in battery degradation will be minimal. You have a 2015 so the battery should tolerate the heat better than older models.

Gerry

Anyone have any more tips for this current heat?

It's been in the 100's lately and my garage is detached/sealed except for the actual garage door and gets really hot. Towards the evening I try to leave it cracked open at the bottom (I wish I could leave it all the way open but I'm not able to watch and people have stole things in the area) to cool off but it still doesn't get cooler than 79-80 by the morning so I've been leaving the Leaf out at night to cool off.

On the weekends, I can pull the Leaf into the garage in the morning and it seems to stay cooler for a little longer during the day.

Is this idea crazy? (I think it might) Leave the AC blowing full blast with the windows down in the garage to cool off the garage? I think the draw wouldn't be too much to heat the battery but might be a wash or 1 degree per hour type situation and probably not worth it.

Last 2-3 days have been brutally hot (118-120 degree). The only change I made was that I charged at a lower amp. I went down to 16A-20A instead of usual 100% capacity. Not sure if leaf would limit the intake A if the battery is too hot. I did notice something interesting on Tesla ....... I drove for about 30 miles and then plugged it in. The car showed being charged at 30A instead of 40A.

The leaf has been plugged in to be ready at 5 AM (TOU plan). It started at 1 AM and was done sometime before 5 AM. I believe it charged at full capacity.

inphoenix said:

Last 2-3 days have been brutally hot (118-120 degree). The only change I made was that I charged at a lower amp. I went down to 16A-20A instead of usual 100% capacity. Not sure if leaf would limit the intake A if the battery is too hot. I did notice something interesting on Tesla ....... I drove for about 30 miles and then plugged it in. The car showed being charged at 30A instead of 40A.

The leaf has been plugged in to be ready at 5 AM (TOU plan). It started at 1 AM and was done sometime before 5 AM. I believe it charged at full capacity.

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You haven't mentioned how many temp bars are showing. It only gets hot occasionally here, but here is what I do:

* Let the car cool all night (outside) and charge before Noon.

* Charge only when no more than six temp bars are showing. Mine pretty much stays at 6 bars in heat waves, but I assume that in the AM it's a "low six" and in the evening a "high six." If seven bars is unavoidable, limit charging to add as little more heat as possible. I don't know if 3-6 hours of L-2 charging will add a bar, but L-1 charging in the morning doesn't.

LeafMuranoDriver said:

Is this idea crazy? (I think it might) Leave the AC blowing full blast with the windows down in the garage to cool off the garage? I think the draw wouldn't be too much to heat the battery but might be a wash or 1 degree per hour type situation and probably not worth it.

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Yes. AC is a heat pump - it moves heat out of the car and into the outside air. In this case, that outside air would be your garage. The net effect would be heating your garage, not cooling it. You need a way to get the hot air out of the garage.

Have you considered a window-unit A/C? Maybe mounted in the wall of the garage?

LeftieBiker said:

You haven't mentioned how many temp bars are showing. It only gets hot occasionally here, but here is what I do:

* Let the car cool all night (outside) and charge before Noon.

* Charge only when no more than six temp bars are showing. Mine pretty much stays at 6 bars in heat waves, but I assume that in the AM it's a "low six" and in the evening a "high six." If seven bars is unavoidable, limit charging to add as little more heat as possible. I don't know if 3-6 hours of L-2 charging will add a bar, but L-1 charging in the morning doesn't.

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Mainly at 6 bars but hitting 7 towards the end of the day and back to 6 the next day since I'm doing the same as you... Leaving the car out at night. I haven't had to charge with 7 TB's but I might in the near future.

GetOffYourGas said:

Yes. AC is a heat pump - it moves heat out of the car and into the outside air. In this case, that outside air would be your garage. The net effect would be heating your garage, not cooling it. You need a way to get the hot air out of the garage.

Have you considered a window-unit A/C? Maybe mounted in the wall of the garage?

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Unfortunately it's a detached garage that is sealed in the back and has other garages on both sides. The only way in and out is the actual garage door. No way to vent hot air out without leaving the garage door partially opened.


I have an unlimited drive through car wash plan. I've thought about driving it through at least once per day when it's really hot. (I usually wash it 1-2 times/week anyways). It definitely cools the car down but not sure how much the battery actually gets cooled.

LeafMuranoDriver said:

I have an unlimited drive through car wash plan. I've thought about driving it through at least once per day when it's really hot. (I usually wash it 1-2 times/week anyways). It definitely cools the car down but not sure how much the battery actually gets cooled.

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Think would be be fairly easy to figure out.

Just look at the temp sensor values for a given day and time along with outside air temp forecast.

On another day w/hopefully similar weather, go thru the car wash and see what the temps look like after the wash.

I fortunately can park my car in underground parking at work at a not nearby at all building. It’s a bit of a walk but at least it means my car woun’t be exposed to outside air temps of 90+ F. I think yesterday when outside air temps passed 90 F, IIRC, my battery was still only in the mid-70s. thanks to the underground parking. I had L1 charged for many hours there until full.

The parking garage near my current building is a multi-level above ground structure, so air temps can get high.

LeftieBiker said:

Unfortunately it's a detached garage that is sealed in the back and has other garages on both sides. The only way in and out is the actual garage door. No way to vent hot air out without leaving the garage door partially opened.

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Possibly one of the Portable Air-conditioning systems which stand alone in a room with only a hose going to the outside. The round hose could be connected to a very narrow slot adapter that would leave a minimal gap in the garage door. It could be placed against a wall.

On Amazon they start around $200. https://www.amazon.com/SPT-000BTU-Single-Hose-Portable/dp/B006YG683C/

LeftieBiker said:

inphoenix said:

Last 2-3 days have been brutally hot (118-120 degree). The only change I made was that I charged at a lower amp. I went down to 16A-20A instead of usual 100% capacity. Not sure if leaf would limit the intake A if the battery is too hot. I did notice something interesting on Tesla ....... I drove for about 30 miles and then plugged it in. The car showed being charged at 30A instead of 40A.

The leaf has been plugged in to be ready at 5 AM (TOU plan). It started at 1 AM and was done sometime before 5 AM. I believe it charged at full capacity.

Click to expand...

You haven't mentioned how many temp bars are showing. It only gets hot occasionally here, but here is what I do:

* Let the car cool all night (outside) and charge before Noon.

* Charge only when no more than six temp bars are showing. Mine pretty much stays at 6 bars in heat waves, but I assume that in the AM it's a "low six" and in the evening a "high six." If seven bars is unavoidable, limit charging to add as little more heat as possible. I don't know if 3-6 hours of L-2 charging will add a bar, but L-1 charging in the morning doesn't.

Click to expand...

I have ended the day at 9 temperature bars each of the past 3 days without using DCQC. I don't want to reset my charging timers (set for off-peak charging only) so I park in the driveway to let it cool a bit and go out at midnight or 1:00 AM to plug in. Temperature is down to 7 or 8 bars when I am ready to leave in the morning after L2 charging. The photo was taken in the driveway this evening. I am sorry about the focus--old iPad does not focus on the dashboard display very well.

Gerry

Darryl said:

LeafMuranoDriver said:

Unfortunately it's a detached garage that is sealed in the back and has other garages on both sides. The only way in and out is the actual garage door. No way to vent hot air out without leaving the garage door partially opened.

Click to expand...

Possibly one of the Portable Air-conditioning systems which stand alone in a room with only a hose going to the outside. The round hose could be connected to a very narrow slot adapter that would leave a minimal gap in the garage door. It could be placed against a wall.

On Amazon they start around $200. https://www.amazon.com/SPT-000BTU-Single-Hose-Portable/dp/B006YG683C/

Click to expand...

I was going to say this, but Darryl beat me to it. Also, if you are able to cut a small hole in the front wall next to the door, you'd only need about 6" of wall. You could get a dryer vent cover to run the hose through. It would keep the outside neat and clean. Something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Aluminum-Wall-Vent-Damper-inch/dp/B009AX6POS/ref=sr_1_2?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1466620768&sr=1-2&keywords=dryer+vent+cover

GerryAZ said:

I have ended the day at 9 temperature bars each of the past 3 days without using DCQC. I don't want to reset my charging timers (set for off-peak charging only) so I park in the driveway to let it cool a bit and go out at midnight or 1:00 AM to plug in. Temperature is down to 7 or 8 bars when I am ready to leave in the morning after L2 charging. The photo was taken in the driveway this evening. I am sorry about the focus--old iPad does not focus on the dashboard display very well.

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That's nuts! I realize it was hotter earlier in the day, but we've had some 105+ degree days here (luckily not a lot) and I have never seen > 7TB. I know you've been a Leafer for a long time: do you drive it hard during the day (I see you were pretty low)?

GetOffYourGas said:

Darryl said:

LeafMuranoDriver said:

Unfortunately it's a detached garage that is sealed in the back and has other garages on both sides. The only way in and out is the actual garage door. No way to vent hot air out without leaving the garage door partially opened.

Click to expand...

Possibly one of the Portable Air-conditioning systems which stand alone in a room with only a hose going to the outside. The round hose could be connected to a very narrow slot adapter that would leave a minimal gap in the garage door. It could be placed against a wall.

On Amazon they start around $200. https://www.amazon.com/SPT-000BTU-Single-Hose-Portable/dp/B006YG683C/

Click to expand...

I was going to say this, but Darryl beat me to it. Also, if you are able to cut a small hole in the front wall next to the door, you'd only need about 6" of wall. You could get a dryer vent cover to run the hose through. It would keep the outside neat and clean. Something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Aluminum-Wall-Vent-Damper-inch/dp/B009AX6POS/ref=sr_1_2?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1466620768&sr=1-2&keywords=dryer+vent+cover

Click to expand...

Thank you both for the suggestions but unfortunately I cannot make any modifications to the garage. (Renter and HOA issues.)

Stanton said:

GerryAZ said:

I have ended the day at 9 temperature bars each of the past 3 days without using DCQC. I don't want to reset my charging timers (set for off-peak charging only) so I park in the driveway to let it cool a bit and go out at midnight or 1:00 AM to plug in. Temperature is down to 7 or 8 bars when I am ready to leave in the morning after L2 charging. The photo was taken in the driveway this evening. I am sorry about the focus--old iPad does not focus on the dashboard display very well.

Click to expand...

That's nuts! I realize it was hotter earlier in the day, but we've had some 105+ degree days here (luckily not a lot) and I have never seen > 7TB. I know you've been a Leafer for a long time: do you drive it hard during the day (I see you were pretty low)?

Click to expand...

7 or 8 bars maximum is typical, but this heat wave is extreme. Keep in mind the bars are not linear. There is not as many degrees difference between higher bars as between lower bars so the difference between 8 bars and 9 bars is only a few degrees of battery temperature. Today was a little cooler (only 109 or 110 F) so my battery is only up to 8 bars this evening.

Gerry