How to set the start charge time on a 2013 S model?

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bobsfreeleaf

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 15, 2013
Messages
166
Location
San Diego, CA
So what happens when you follow the instructions on page CH-21 and CH-22?

1. Press Set Timer 1

2. Set Start Time

3. Set % Charge

4. Set End Time

5. Assign Days (if necessary)

6. Save Timer

7. Confirm
 
Bob has an S model LEAF. The fancy radio/nav/controls aren't there as depicted on pages 21/22 etc...
CH-24 & 25 are the applicable pages.
 
I have an S as well Bob - and found the manual to be frustrating. I wish they had listed the differences in timer/capabilities from the higher optioned LEAFs vs. the base model. What you are attempting to set might not be possible. I'd like to hear from someone that has more knowledge about it than you and I. I too have stared at those two pages for far too long... :cool:
Josh
 
Ah, sorry, missed that.

If the manual is accurate, it looks like you are just setting the end time of the charging timer...How does it behave if you set the "to" time to 5am? What time does it start charging on an average day?

As long as you keep within the midnight - 5am super off-peak time, you should be getting the lowest price (in San Diego)...
 
Randy said:
Ah, sorry, missed that.

If the manual is accurate, it looks like you are just setting the end time of the charging timer...How does it behave if you set the "to" time to 5am? What time does it start charging on an average day?

As long as you keep within the midnight - 5am super off-peak time, you should be getting the lowest price (in San Diego)...
Hi Randy: It starts charging immediately when I set the "to" time and plug it in, then it would run to the end time (5am in your example), or at the completion of the charge, whichever is first. Now that I have 240, I am charging in a little over 3 hours in a normal night (from 30-40% SOC). If I plug in when I go to bed at 9:00pm, I will be completing my charge right around the time the rates drop at midnight! Thanks for your help. Bob
 
jopickens said:
I have an S as well Bob - and found the manual to be frustrating. I wish they had listed the differences in timer/capabilities from the higher optioned LEAFs vs. the base model. What you are attempting to set might not be possible. I'd like to hear from someone that has more knowledge about it than you and I. I too have stared at those two pages for far too long... :cool:
Josh
Hi Josh: I sure hope not. I know I asked my salesman if the S had a timer and he assured me it did. This is not exactly what I was expecting :? I've had butterball turkey pop up timers that were more helpful.
 
bobsfreeleaf said:
It starts charging immediately when I set the "to" time and plug it in, then it would run to the end time (5am in your example), or at the completion of the charge, whichever is first. Now that I have 240, I am charging in a little over 3 hours in a normal night (from 30-40% SOC). If I plug in when I go to bed at 9:00pm, I will be completing my charge right around the time the rates drop at midnight!
That sounds like a nearly useless feature if it really works like that. Are you sure that you have "Charging Timer :On" as well as the "To" time? It will obviously start immediately if the timer is off.

[I'm only speaking theoretically, since I don't have a 2013.]

Ray
 
planet4ever said:
bobsfreeleaf said:
It starts charging immediately when I set the "to" time and plug it in, then it would run to the end time (5am in your example), or at the completion of the charge, whichever is first. Now that I have 240, I am charging in a little over 3 hours in a normal night (from 30-40% SOC). If I plug in when I go to bed at 9:00pm, I will be completing my charge right around the time the rates drop at midnight!
That sounds like a nearly useless feature if it really works like that. Are you sure that you have "Charging Timer :On" as well as the "To" time? It will obviously start immediately if the timer is off.

[I'm only speaking theoretically, since I don't have a 2013.]

Ray

Yes, everything right as far as I can tell. There is no place to enter a start time. I am out of buttons to push or manuals to read. I think it has no start time, which is crazy since it has a "charge to" percentage. I mean, really, if you had to arbitrarily remove a function, couldn't it have been the end time? That way we could have started on the timer, and let the percent of charge terminate it.

So now we start a workaround. Something other than me getting up at midnight to plug it in. :( I could have an electrician wire in a 240 volt timer, although that would be $500 or so. That's a last resort. Other ideas?????????
 
bobsfreeleaf said:
There is no place to enter a start time. I am out of buttons to push or manuals to read. I think it has no start time, which is crazy since it has a "charge to" percentage. I mean, really, if you had to arbitrarily remove a function, couldn't it have been the end time? That way we could have started on the timer, and let the percent of charge terminate it.
Well, many of us use end-only timers on our 2011 and 2012 LEAFs, and they work very nicely if implemented correctly. Your "trip computer" does have a charging time display, doesn't it? An end-only timer should back up from the specified end time by the number of hours the charging time display shows, and start the charging at that time. If it doesn't, the timer is basically useless.

I can't imagine that it would have been designed the way you say it is working. I think you should take it back to the dealer and tell them the timer isn't working. You are, after all, at the very beginning of the production for a new model, and one that implements the timer in a new way. It is really quite possible that you have hit a bug in their software.

Ray
 
planet4ever said:
bobsfreeleaf said:
There is no place to enter a start time. I am out of buttons to push or manuals to read. I think it has no start time, which is crazy since it has a "charge to" percentage. I mean, really, if you had to arbitrarily remove a function, couldn't it have been the end time? That way we could have started on the timer, and let the percent of charge terminate it.
Well, many of us use end-only timers on our 2011 and 2012 LEAFs, and they work very nicely if implemented correctly. Your "trip computer" does have a charging time display, doesn't it? An end-only timer should back up from the specified end time by the number of hours the charging time display shows, and start the charging at that time. If it doesn't, the timer is basically useless.

I can't imagine that it would have been designed the way you say it is working. I think you should take it back to the dealer and tell them the timer isn't working. You are, after all, at the very beginning of the production for a new model, and one that implements the timer in a new way. It is really quite possible that you have hit a bug in their software.

Ray
Success! I did some more testing based on your comment above, and you are exactly right. In my initial test, I was doing two things wrong: not setting the "to" time far enough in advance to see what happens when the desired end time is longer than the "charging time" amount. When set beyond that point, instead of an immediate charge light, you get the rotational three light blink, indicating it is ready (to start later). Another reason I was confused is, When I did set the charge time into the future, I first tested this function while the car was plugged in; it only executes correctly after I set the timer, turned off the car, and disengaged, and then reengaged the charging unit. Otherwise, just continues to charge from the moment you turn it off.

I'm a happy charger now. Thank you for being persistent. It was exceedingly not evident that charge "to" time meant charge "end" time. Given only two grainy little images to look at, I think it took a dunder head like me, and an engaged contributor like you, to figure it out. For Nissan, please take note that Manuals should be written from the perspective of the uninformed. I might have figured this out if I had read the six pages of Navigation model instructions but, really, who would when they did not buy that model. Thanks, Bob
 
One quick question regarding the 2013 "S" Leaf charging timer ... once the lights have cycled 1, 2, 3 for about 5 minutes, then turn off (waiting for the timer to engage), do the lights come back on when the charging starts later? I tried it last night, no luck, lights cycled, but when I turned the car on this am it did not charge to 80%.

As the previous poster, I am trying to charge during off-peak hours, between midnight and 7am. Trying again tonight after re-reading all these posts again!! Set the timer with the car on to 80% charge, backed up the time + 1 extra hour more than needed according to trip computer, turned car off, attached EVSE, lights cycled, now are off, if my calculations are correct, the timer should begin in about an hour ... will the charging light come back on while it is actively charging?

Thanks so much! I've only had the car two days, love it ... but this is driving me crazy.

patty
 
Thanks for the reply ... reread everything one more time, switched to 24 hour clock, reset timer and it's working!!! :D
 
I'm confused. What is the step by step? Let's say it's 7 pm, start charging at 10 pm and charge for 6 hours?

Thank you
 
For the S, you don't say when you want to start charging. You say when you want to be able to use the car. So, let's say you want to have it ready by 6 AM. In the cluster of four buttons to the left of the steering wheel (not the two rows of buttons below it):
  1. Push the top left (little square) button repeatedly until you see "Settings" on the dash just above the steering wheel shaft.
  2. Push the top right (little dot) button twice to get down to "Charging timer", then push the top left button.
  3. That shows your current setting, on or off and "to n:nn" which is the end time.
  4. Push the top right button twice to get to the next screen and down to "On", then push the top left button.
  5. You now step through the hours using the top right button until it says "06", then push the top left button.
  6. Since you want to end on the hour, you leave the minutes as is and push the top left button again.
  7. This takes you back to the screen that shows your current setting, hopefully what you want now.
  8. Push the top left button to return to Settings, and again to cycle to the next display.

It's not nearly as bad as it sounds when I spell it out this way. At each step the display shows what the square or dot button does. And normally this is a set-and-forget deal. No matter how deeply drained the battery is the car will estimate how much time it will take to fill it, and will back up that amount of time (or a little more) to start the charging. You end up with a "full tank" every morning. Well, at least if you plugged it in the night before!

Ray
 
2013 Leaf S has this limitation. You can only set when to finish charging. This is painful because you don't want to be up until midnight to take advantage of off-peak rate. I am going to work around it by using this

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0035GF8NA/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Just costs $8
 
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