Losing SOC *while* L1 charging

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jim0266

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 17, 2017
Messages
82
Location
Akron, Oh
Scratching my head over this one...

The nice folks at a golf course I play in a league every week allow me to L1 charge during the round. The first time I plugged the car in after my round to see if their plug was good and I watched the SOC decline a few percentage points while monitoring via Leafspy. I called it quits and drove home on my remaining SOC.

The next week I plugged in and and gained about 10-12% while I played.

Tonight when I arrived at the course I was at 33.3% SOC and while getting ready the car charged back to 37%. I unplugged the car and thought I would charge a bit more after the round. Plugging the car in after the round the SOC drop from 37% down to 34% before I unplugged it.

All the lights on the charging unit were good and the light on the dash was blinking normally.

Thanks for any insights.
 
I don't care about the percentages in Leaf Spy. They're of almost no value to me.

I have personally seen the number of gids FALL when charging at 120 volts even though the car is off and I'm not running the AC or heat. All I can guess is that the instrumentation and estimation is a bit wonky, esp. at slow charging speeds.

Of course, when I used to charge for long periods of time at 120 volts (e.g. 8+ hours straight), I have MUCH more SoC per dash display than what I started with.
 
You have LEAF Spy, then you have a power graph that displays "net" power in. That is power to the battery after ALL other accessories are accounted for.
What does the graph say? If you missed the graphs, no problem. download and look at the logs.
 
Thanks Dave for the idea. Looking at the logs I do see 1000 watts coming in via column EN while L1 charging at the course. While plugged in from 4:35 to 4:45 I went from 63 to 70 GIDS which seems awfully fast for L1. From 7:05 to 7:15 when I plugged back in I went from 70 to 72 GIDS.
 
jim0266 said:
Thanks Dave for the idea. Looking at the logs I do see 1000 watts coming in via column EN while L1 charging at the course. While plugged in from 4:35 to 4:45 I went from 63 to 70 GIDS which seems awfully fast for L1. From 7:05 to 7:15 when I plugged back in I went from 70 to 72 GIDS.

Perfect example of why daily (or VERY consistent) readings taken over (if not ALL the days owned) time is the only thing that should be referenced.

I take LEAF Spy readings every day (that car is driven) before I go anywhere. I also reset Trip A daily, Trip B monthly. With the 2018, I have a trip computer which helps but still do all the others and have done so daily since I got LEAF Spy for my 2013.
 
I have seen this happen a bunch of times charging at L1, if you leave it long enough it will start going back up :) I have no idea why sometimes it drops a few percent at the beginning of a charge, but I don't worry about it anymore. I assume it is really putting power in the battery and somehow the car is "calibrating" itself to where the battery really is.
 
LeftieBiker said:
garsh said:
FYI, you will actually lose SOC if the climate control is on during L1 charging.

That applies to heat, but not as likely to A/C unless it's boiling hot outside.

AC generally starts out at 2500+ watts. The other day when it was 101.3º, it actually took a good 10-15 mins before it dropped below 1500 watts. Had never seen that before. Normally I am under 500 watts in less than 5.
 
LeftieBiker said:
That applies to heat, but not as likely to A/C unless it's boiling hot outside.
But also, if ambient temperature is 60° F or less, the car will heat the coolant even if you aren't asking for heat.
 
BrockWI said:
I have seen this happen a bunch of times charging at L1, if you leave it long enough it will start going back up :) I have no idea why sometimes it drops a few percent at the beginning of a charge, but I don't worry about it anymore. I assume it is really putting power in the battery and somehow the car is "calibrating" itself to where the battery really is.

An update...

Arrived at my course today with 34.6% SOC. 20 minutes later I hit 38% SOC, then it started dropping and I pulled the plug. After the round I plugged back in and the SOC dropped to 33.2% SOC before it started climbing again.
 
^^^
Forget the stupid % SoC in Leaf Spy. Charge at 120 volts for longer (hours) or charge at 240 volts at >15 amps for at least 30 minutes or on CHAdeMO for at least 5 minutes. Look at the gid count (not any percentage) at the beginning vs giving it enough time.

Nissan already faced enough challenges when the Leaf didn't even have a % SoC display ('11 and '12 didn't have it, only had the stupid GOM and the 12 fuel bars).

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=155842#p155842 was an attempt at summarizing what the chief vehicle engineer tried to explain (unfortunately, he stepped away from the mic during some of it and I was in a corner, so I couldn't hear well). http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=228573#p228573 and http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=249891#p249891 might be insightful. All of this was before the Leaf got a % SoC display starting w/model year '13.

Now, you want % that Leaf Spy renders to be accurate when there are already issues w/the coarse 12 fuel bars?
 
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