New LeafAtlanta Member

Just wanted to say hello from Atlanta! The Wife and I leased a leaf in may from Town Center Nissan and LOVE it! I have been driving a 375wtq Subaru STi for the past 6 years and was convinced by one of my buddys to get the Leaf. It is a no brainer with the tax credit and gas savings. The pruchase pushed us to look into USAA and saved us another $110/month on our auto ins. If you can become a USAA Member I highly recommend them!

The trick now will be to not spend a bunch of money modding my Leaf. I have tinted the windows (tintfreaks.com A+ guy Lance!) and I have installed a small bass tube(8in 100watt- I would suggest the 250watt...).
I am planning on trying to barter for some gripper tires and get a decent set of speakers for the from doors. I think this should do it for me in the "free" car.

This site has already helped me out a bit and I look forward to being hear on the Leaf boards!

Face
wrxatlanta.com
4touge.com

Congrats on the new car!!

I have been considering upgrading the sound system in my Leaf however once I read about the DC/DC converter I changed my mind. Its a 40 amp converter from what I've read on the site. The DC/DC converter is the device that takes the high voltage power from the main car battery and converts it to 12 volts. Remember there is no alternator on these cars.

40 amps * 14.2 volts(what its always around) = 568 watts total 12 volt power.

Now that is assuming that the car is using NOTHING (which isn't the case). Headlights/Windshield Wipers/Seat Heaters/Steering Wheel Heater/Cigarette Outlets/Dome Lights/Rear Window Defog/Fans/Computers/Displays/Pumps all fight for part of that power. Its pretty safe to figure that at LEAST 20 amps (average) is necessary for these loads. I would guess 30 amps would be closer to the maximum power pulled by factory car electronics.

So .... 20 amps * 14.2 volts = 284 watts of power left for stereo equipment. (BEST CASE)

Or.... 10 amps * 14.2 volts = 142 watts of power left (WORST CASE)

Using my worst case figure it would be more like 113.6 watts (assuming 80% efficient stereo equipment). If you were to listen to the stereo with the car in accessory position and deplete the battery it wouldn't be able to recharge it. It wouldn't be ale to deal with the demand of the electronics and have anything left excess to charge the battery (quickly). That 12 volt battery would die a VERY quick death as they are not designed to be discharged heavily.

I would say your 8 inch 100watt sub is the absolute limit of what the car could do.


Edit: Using my best case figure... Assuming you get some efficient stereo equipment (80% efficient) 227.2 watts and that is being generous. That is with everything in the car turned off basically. The 250 watt sub would slowly deplete the 12v system and there would be no hope of it ever catching up.

Edit #2: You never mentioned what make/model the sub is. I'm curious what you purchased and how much it improved the sound. My previous vehicle had a large sound system and I've been learning to live without it. I would love to upgrade mine but due to these issues listed above I'm hesitant to do anything other than a factory speaker swap.

Edit #3: Just an FYI.. The speakers in the car are 2-ohm. They are tricky to find. Typical car stereo speakers are 4-ohms. There are a few posts about replacing the factory speakers. I called Crutchfield asking for advice on this car and they told me they had nothing for it. Their system lists speakers however none are 2-ohm.

I got the Bazooka 8'' 100 watt and the improvement is excellent! I did not want to spend the $1200 or how ever much the bose sub costs. I also installed a set of rockford fosgate r165x3 6.5'' front door speakers which are only 45watts rms. They made a tremendous difference. I have had the sub for about a week and it seems to be doing fine with the battery.

Thanks for the excellent info!

Face said:

Just wanted to say hello from Atlanta!

Face
wrxatlanta.com
4touge.com

Click to expand...

Hey Face. I was Heathbar on WRXatlanta and I had a '05 Saab 9-2x. Just got a '15 Leaf.

I might go check out tintfreaks. How much did that cost you?