Annoying recharge limit after a dead battery.

Hey-

So I stretched too far and lost power 1.8 miles from a charger. Pulled into a local fire station and they let me plug in to an outlet. The car is now at 6%, but I can't get out of neutral because "low battery." This is lame. Just need to go 1.8 miles....

Anyone know what the threshold is when my car will move again?

The charge of shame...

110 only provides about 3 miles per hr.

If you're going to ride around that low, you really should get Leaf Spy.

brettiegabber said:

Hey-

So I stretched too far and lost power 1.8 miles from a charger. Pulled into a local fire station and they let me plug in to an outlet. The car is now at 6%, but I can't get out of neutral because "low battery." This is lame. Just need to go 1.8 miles....

Anyone know what the threshold is when my car will move again?

Click to expand...

6% should be no problem driving, should take you maybe 5 miles, not sure why you can't get out of neutral but I'm guessing?? it may be more of a 12v battery issue than HV or traction battery. You might try turning car ON while it's charging and try running the WW motor, I've read doing so kick starts the HV to 12v battery charging circuit. If you had a 12v battery charger you could try that but I know you aren't at home.

Phatcat73 said:

The charge of shame...

110 only provides about 3 miles per hr.

Click to expand...

US voltage is 120, not 110. For slow, careful driving, L-1 provides 3-5 miles per hour.

From what I recall, the manual says that if the main battery is completely discharged and no power to drive is available, the car will not be able to be driven until the range (GOM) meter changes from the all-dash "---" display to a numeric value.

Since our 2012 switches from numbers to "---" at around 4-6 miles, I would guess that you will need to be charging at the L1 rate for about 2 hours, maybe a bit more.

Hopefully by now you are already back on your way!

Both times for me, it took an hour and a half on L1 before the car would go into gear. Seems that the battery must get above Very Low Battery Warning. This was on a 2011.

To answer some questions:

1. I have a LeafSpy. I just stupidly tried to stretch too far. Was really close. It was a very cold day and the road was hilly.

2. The magic number is 7%. At 6% percent I could not get out of neutral. At 7%, I could.

3. Took about two hours of charging. The first hour did not raise the GIDs much. Second hour it seemed to charge more regularly.

Yep. This is what manual mentions. if you run down to 0 you need to charge to at least very low battery warning.

Next time drive at 40km/h 20-25mph speed way before running out. Also you can rope-tow dead Leaf at very slow speeds.
Don't tow it faster than bicycle driving speed!
Or if you want to tow it faster you have to stop before it dies. For example if you see the turtle and you can NOT make it.
Stop the vehicle, stop the climate control. Find a friend and tow wtih D eco or B mode. Regen will charge the battery.
It is totally safe to do if regen is active, even at higher speeds. It is not safe to tow wheels on ground with motor disabled due to dead battery.