12 volt Battery dying while charging leaf

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jimmol

Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2017
Messages
18
Anyone ever had their 12 volt die while their leaf was charging overnight? Is it time for a new battery or is something else wrong?

2015 Leaf, Clipper Creek 30 amp L2 charger
Summary:
Yellow car appears after first start, then not again until the next day. Drive car for a week, charging at night. Then
12 volt battery drain while car is charging overnight, charging stops at 22.1kW instead of 22.6kW
Filled battery with distilled water, charged, drove for several days, 12 volt battery showed 12.6 volts or more before start and charge of 2 to 8 amps the first mile.
12 volt battery drains AGAIN while car is charging, charging stops at 22.1kW instead of 22.6kW, 6 volts remaining. Hook up portable jump box, plugged it back in and it started charging, showing 78 amps behind the 14.4 on LeafSpy. Drove the ICE to work.

After 2 hours it was driven and returned home. Sat for 3 hours and 12 volt bat is 12.16 volts.

Narrative:
The Yellow car with the ! had started showing up first trip of the day, then would be off after that. The codes the would show on spy leaf would be the P3131, U1232, the U1A00. Tried a google search on the p3131, then finally here. OK, could be TCU problem, but it was only in the morning. Drove for a week with the same thing first trip of the day - I first noticed it after charging - and would not appear till the next.

Last Friday, after charging the car all night, I unplugged the car and went to start it and nothing. Door nail mode. I suspected the battery so I grabbed the portable jump box and hooked it up. Opened the door, pressed the start and the instrument panel list up but there was no tune and it would not go into drive (just testing - I did have the hood up and the jumper box connected). I pulled out LeafSpy and read the DTCs. I noticed it was charged to 22.1 instead of the usual 22.6 kW, hmm. Hooked it back up to the level 2 charger and nothing. Unplugged the L2. Unplugged the jump box. Forgot to look at the battery charge on LeafSpy. I would share with you a picture of the codes showing but there is no way to add a picture that I can tell.

I decided to check the fluid level and found the first cell to be showing, cells 2 - 5 were just above the cell. I added distilled water and hooked up my regular charger. (Yes I now realized I should have charged and then added water (as it says on the internet) but nothing leaked out). The next morning the battery was charged and ready to go.

The car ran fine. SpyLeaf was showing a charge to my 12 volt from 8 to 4 amps for the first mile and then nothing. Every time I started it the next couple of day it did the same thing, charged and leveled off. Lowest battery ever got was 12.56 while off was.

I charged it last night and as I left for work in the ICE auto, I pulled out my LeafSpy as I passed it and it was showing 6 volts. Got out the portable jump box and hooked it up. LeafSpy also show 22.1kW. This time I was able to plug it in and the dash charging lights came on and started charging the drive battery. I unplugged the jump box and it kept on charging. The battery showed 14.47 v and 78 amps charge - which I assume in the amps to the drive battery getting it up to 22.6kW. After 2 hour my wife unplugged it and everything was fine.

Noticed it was down to 12.16 volts after sitting for 3 hours. I read from one site that if a cell of a 12 volts gets exposed to air, it can become damaged and not hold the charge as well, or something to that effect. My first cell had the top of it exposed, no liquid over it.

After 6 hours it is down to 11.76 volts.

DTCs showing are probably expected for this condition:
U1000 008 BCM CAN Comm Circuit,
B2562 - BCM Low Voltage BCS-69,
U100A 8708 CHARGER,
VE/HEV codes P3100, 3131, 3178, 3180, 317B, 317E,
P0A8D 008 Motor Control 14v Power Supply EVC-123/TMS63,
P3247 Motor Control Drive Motor Inverter TMS-91,
U1000 0008 TCU CAN COMM CIRCUIT AND ACC No Con Av-194
 
How long is the car plugged in but not charging? Leaving it that way for many hours can kill the 12 volt battery (the car keeps testing the connection while plugged in, using accessory power), but I'm not sure that this is the issue here.
 
It is plugged in when we get home in the evening and the first time it was noon before we unplugged it. The second time the same so about 16 hours.
 
It is almost undoubtedly a bad 12 V battery. The LEAF never charges it fully so it dies young. I charge mine with a trickle charger once a week to extend its life. When the 12 V battery is bad, all sorts of weird trouble codes show up. There are many posts on this forum about theses problems.
 
jimmol said:
charging stops at 22.1kW instead of 22.6kW
...
,charging stops at 22.1kW instead of 22.6kW, 6 volts remaining.
Your post is confusing. What are you talking about when you keep talking about "22.6 kW" and "22.1 kW"?

Are you talking about kWh? Where are you getting these numbers from? kW is a unit of power. kWh is a unit of energy. Leaf has a 24 kWh battery when new with about 21 to 22 kWh user accessible when new. Maybe refer to http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=520169#p520169?

Leaf doesn't have higher than a 6.6 kW on-board charger.

Also, the Clipper Creek unit you refer to isn't a "charger". It's an EVSE. Please see http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=14728&p=332668#p332668 and diagram by planet4ever at https://web.archive.org/web/20180807195449/http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=262630. The L1 and L2 AC charging over J1772, the charger is on-board the car.

I agree that it sounds like the 12 volt is toast. My 5/2013 built '13 Leaf which I bought used in July 2015 had its 12 volt bite the dust in Oct 2015 (http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=440419#p440419).
 
Where are you located? Hot climates kill batteries faster. Your description indicates you have a failing 12v battery. Replace it with an AGM style battery, and your problems should go away.
 
cwerdna said:
jimmol said:
charging stops at 22.1kW instead of 22.6kW
...
,charging stops at 22.1kW instead of 22.6kW, 6 volts remaining.
Your post is confusing. What are you talking about when you keep talking about "22.6 kW" and "22.1 kW"?

Are you talking about kWh? Where are you getting these numbers from? kW is a unit of power. kWh is a unit of energy. Leaf has a 24 kWh battery when new with about 21 to 22 kWh user accessible when new. Maybe refer to http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=520169#p520169?

Leaf doesn't have higher than a 6.6 kW on-board charger.

Also, the Clipper Creek unit you refer to isn't a "charger". It's an EVSE. Please see http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=14728&p=332668#p332668 and diagram by planet4ever at https://web.archive.org/web/20180807195449/http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=262630. The L1 and L2 AC charging over J1772, the charger is on-board the car.

I agree that it sounds like the 12 volt is toast. My 5/2013 built '13 Leaf which I bought used in July 2015 had its 12 volt bite the dust in Oct 2015 (http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=440419#p440419).

I guess I was trying to be thorough. LeafSpy shows that my car has 22.6 kW available at the end of a full charging session. The kW info was added in case someone reading the post had an Aha! moment, realizing that ___________ was the reason the leaf would stop charging, or receiving electricity to covert to charge, before it usually does. Obviously that did not happen.

Thanks for the point back to the correct terminology, though sometimes is has been easier to call it a charger when talking to someone who knows nothing about electric cars, but now I could call it the conduit for electricity to go into the car charger. Truthfully, I forget what EVSE stands for...Electrical Vehicle S______ E_____. Getting older and more forgetful.

From what you and other are saying, I bought a new battery and will see what happens.

Thanks for your input.
 
baustin said:
Where are you located? Hot climates kill batteries faster. Your description indicates you have a failing 12v battery. Replace it with an AGM style battery, and your problems should go away.

I am trying to find the location I can put in under profile, but I cannot.

I live in Michigan.

I did buy the Optima yellow top and it is in the car.

Now to charge the main battery.
 
jimmol said:
LeafSpy shows that my car has 22.6 kW

LeafSpy shows the correct units for me, currently 12.7 kWh.


jimmol said:
Thanks for the point back to the correct terminology, though sometimes is has been easier to call it a charger when talking to someone who knows nothing about electric cars, but now I could call it the conduit for electricity to go into the car charger. Truthfully, I forget what EVSE stands for...Electrical Vehicle S______ E_____. Getting older and more forgetful.

Me too. The old and forgetful part.

I usually use the phrase "charging station", which is easier to remember, especially with someone that knows nothing about electric cars.

electric vehicle supply equipment
 
jimmol said:
I guess I was trying to be thorough. LeafSpy shows that my car has 22.6 kW available at the end of a full charging session. The kW info was added in case someone reading the post had an Aha! moment, realizing that ___________ was the reason the leaf would stop charging, or receiving electricity to covert to charge, before it usually does. Obviously that did not happen.
Huh? 22.6 kW available still sounds like the wrong units. Look again.
 
I plug my battery in on Friday evening say 6pm and I do not unplug it until I leave for work at 7:30am Monday and I have no issues. I trickle charge every night Mon-Fri and my car is plugged in for 12 hours at least every night, for the past 3 years, not sure what the prior owner did (they had it 2012-2015) ? But I have no issues with my battery.

And I live in Southern CA, it's HOT, my car at home is on the driveway, but at work it's in a parking structure.

I'd say you have a bad battery.
 
I would recommend using an external charger to make sure the new 12v is fully charged at least initially.

I also weekly charge the 12v battery.
 
Just tagging on to this. I have been through all of this repeatedly with my 2014. Can anyone tell me if Nissan has changed anything in the system for the new 2018 or 2019 cars? Can the EVSE also finally top off the 12 volt battery? Or is it more of the same after years of problems?
 
DanDietrich said:
Just tagging on to this. I have been through all of this repeatedly with my 2014. Can anyone tell me if Nissan has changed anything in the system for the new 2018 or 2019 cars? Can the EVSE also finally top off the 12 volt battery? Or is it more of the same after years of problems?

I don't know if the 2018 charges the 12 volt battery while connected, but I do know it now charges the accessory battery much more effectively. I think this is because with the automatic lights they need for the car to be aggressive about charging it, especially while it's off. So even if it doesn't charge that little battery while connected, it will try harder to recharge it when it's disconnected.
 
It is good to hear that they are addressing half of the problem. Too bad about the other half. I did some hard looking at a Bolt for this info and it appears that the 12 volt battery on that car can be topped off by the main battery even when plugged in. That is a big thing. I am waiting to see what cars come out in the next year or so so I can replace the Leaf I have. So far nothing is perfect.
 
BrockWI said:
I would recommend using an external charger to make sure the new 12v is fully charged at least initially.

I also weekly charge the 12v battery.

Why do you charge the 12v battery ? I never have, do you have the solar panel on the back top of your Leaf ?
 
I charge the 12v battery becasue the charging stages the Leaf uses isn't not good at charging a dead or weak 12v battery. It bulk charges at 50+ amps which pushes up the voltage prematurely in a smaller battery which makes he car "think" the 12v is full when it isn't actually fully charged yet. A larger or healthy 12v battery won't pop up in voltage as much and accept more of a charge.

I always use an external charger to fully charge a new or a run dead 12v battery for any vehicle. I had been charging our Leaf at least once a week and often it takes 5 to 25 amp hours to fully charge the aux battery which implies the car isn't correctly charging the 12v battery.

For the last two week I have disconnected the current shunt at the 12v battery and both of the last two weeks the 12v would top off in 5 minutes of external charging, I might be overcharging the 12v but it looks like it is floating about 13.9v when ever I look at it, which should be ok.

The Leaf S, does not have a solar panel on it, I believe it is just the SV or does the SL have a panel as well? Not that it does much, but better than nothing, although our Leaf is garaged so it wouldn't help much anyway.
 
Been having this problem too after years of no problems. New battery did not help at all. This is absolutely stupid that you have to charge two batteries. Definitely something faulty with the whole thing. Time for a recall Nissan.

BrockWI said:
I charge the 12v battery becasue the charging stages the Leaf uses isn't not good at charging a dead or weak 12v battery. It bulk charges at 50+ amps which pushes up the voltage prematurely in a smaller battery which makes he car "think" the 12v is full when it isn't actually fully charged yet. A larger or healthy 12v battery won't pop up in voltage as much and accept more of a charge.

I always use an external charger to fully charge a new or a run dead 12v battery for any vehicle. I had been charging our Leaf at least once a week and often it takes 5 to 25 amp hours to fully charge the aux battery which implies the car isn't correctly charging the 12v battery.

For the last two week I have disconnected the current shunt at the 12v battery and both of the last two weeks the 12v would top off in 5 minutes of external charging, I might be overcharging the 12v but it looks like it is floating about 13.9v when ever I look at it, which should be ok.

The Leaf S, does not have a solar panel on it, I believe it is just the SV or does the SL have a panel as well? Not that it does much, but better than nothing, although our Leaf is garaged so it wouldn't help much anyway.
 
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