Heater or A/C While Charging?

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MartinChico

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 22, 2014
Messages
85
Location
Chico, California, USA
I've read the owner's manual, and this appears be a simple task, but I'm stumped.

I have been attempting to run the heater for a few minutes, while still charging, before I start my commute home in the evening. So far, all I get is slightly-less-cold air, even after waiting for a solid 5+ minutes for the heater to warm up.

I tried this again using the automatic/thermostat setting, but the results were the same.

This is for a LEAF S, and I did have the ECO setting on in both cases.

Any sage advice?

Thanks!
 
MartinChico said:
I've read the owner's manual, and this appears be a simple task, but I'm stumped.

I have been attempting to run the heater for a few minutes, while still charging, before I start my commute home in the evening. So far, all I get is slightly-less-cold air, even after waiting for a solid 5+ minutes for the heater to warm up.

I tried this again using the automatic/thermostat setting, but the results were the same.

This is for a LEAF S, and I did have the ECO setting on in both cases.

Any sage advice?

Thanks!

I do this all the time. Eco does reduce the heater effectiveness. Try also turning on recirculate to increase effectiveness. Turn it off and turn on defrost for a minute right before you leave to get rid of excess humidity.
 
bigrob90 said:
MartinChico said:
I've read the owner's manual, and this appears be a simple task, but I'm stumped.

I have been attempting to run the heater for a few minutes, while still charging, before I start my commute home in the evening. So far, all I get is slightly-less-cold air, even after waiting for a solid 5+ minutes for the heater to warm up.

I tried this again using the automatic/thermostat setting, but the results were the same.

This is for a LEAF S, and I did have the ECO setting on in both cases.

Any sage advice?

Thanks!

I do this all the time. Eco does reduce the heater effectiveness. Try also turning on recirculate to increase effectiveness. Turn it off and turn on defrost for a minute right before you leave to get rid of excess humidity.

Yep, tried all that. Still the heater output was much, much less-perhaps none-- than when the heater is operating when the car is being driven.
 
MartinChico said:
bigrob90 said:
MartinChico said:
I've read the owner's manual, and this appears be a simple task, but I'm stumped.

I have been attempting to run the heater for a few minutes, while still charging, before I start my commute home in the evening. So far, all I get is slightly-less-cold air, even after waiting for a solid 5+ minutes for the heater to warm up.

I tried this again using the automatic/thermostat setting, but the results were the same.

This is for a LEAF S, and I did have the ECO setting on in both cases.

Any sage advice?

Thanks!

I do this all the time. Eco does reduce the heater effectiveness. Try also turning on recirculate to increase effectiveness. Turn it off and turn on defrost for a minute right before you leave to get rid of excess humidity.

Yep, tried all that. Still the heater output was much, much less-perhaps none-- than when the heater is operating when the car is being driven.
Are you sure the car is actually charging? Try pushing the charge override button before turning the car on while it is plugged in. It works for me just fine. I have a 2015 S.
 
Since you have a 2015 Leaf the following may not apply since it comes from my knowledge of a 2011 Leaf, which does not have the heat pump.

When heating while charging all of these have to be true:
  • The battery must be charged roughly 20% or more
  • The car must actually be charging (just plugged in does not work unless you use carwings to turn it on)
  • Charging on L2 and L3 (L1, or 110V, I've noticed seems to produce weak heat)
  • Climate control should be on full Auto mode (2015: Heat button may have to be on)
  • Car must be ON (power button once with brake pressed or power button twice with brake not pressed)
  • 2015: ECO mode should be off. (On 2011 ECO mode is always off while in park. I believe it is engaged with a button in 2015. If so then ECO may cut heat output in half even while in park.)

You should check the energy screen and make sure the climate control starts to draw energy within a minute or so. If it stays at zero then something is preventing the car from engaging heat, likely something from the above list.

Another thing you could try is using carwings to remote activate the heat. "That heat" is always stronger for some reason. I used to always do this from my desk about 20 minutes before leaving from work. Even on the weaker L1 charger the car was decently warm by the time I got in it albeit not exact toasty. Conversely in my garage on L2 carwings warms the car within 5-10 minutes.
 
bigrob90 said:
Are you sure the car is actually charging? Try pushing the charge override button before turning the car on while it is plugged in. It works for me just fine. I have a 2015 S.
^This
Make sure car is actively charging (one or two Charging Indicator lights are on and one other one flashing). If not, hit the Charge timer OFF switch button and it will force the car to at least start to charge (draw power from the EVSE). Once you confirm that the Charging Indicator lights are flashing in a way that indicating charging, depress the brake peddle and push the Power button. The car will warn you its plugged in, but now the heater will work.

This assumes you are using the J1772 standard charge port with at least a 120 volt 20 amp plug. If its 240 volts you will get a lot more heat. This trick will not work when plugged into a DC fast charger (if equipped).
 
jpadc said:
...Once you confirm that the Charging Indicator lights are flashing in a way that indicating charging, depress the brake peddle and push the Power button. The car will warn you its plugged in, but now the heater will work.

...This trick will not work when plugged into a DC fast charger (if equipped).
But with the Level 2 charging and turning the LEAF On the HVAC will only operate while it is charging.
If it becomes fully charged, it is in On mode and HVAC will stop except for the running blower.
Easy to kill the 12V battery doing that because the DC to DC power supply will not come on till 12V battery voltage drops below 10.5 V.
That is really bad for the 12V battery.

With DCQC the LEAF has to be off to start charging.
But once it is charging step on the brake and push the Power button and HVAC works great.
Not sure it keeps working if DCQC stops or if it protects 12V battery in that mode.
Haven't set at completed DCQC long enough to confirm.
Best to move on to L2 once kW drops below rating of your on board charger.
It is faster.
DCQC is really slow on that last few %.
 
From my observations, there are 4 power on modes available to the car.

Drive mode. all is working. little car is showing, no idiot lights on. Accessed by pushing down the brake pedal and pushing the button. You can drive the car in this mode. The heat and A/c work in this mode.

charge mode. PS light is on. Battery charge indicator light is off. Little car is not showing. Heat and Ac work in this mode. Only available when car is plugged in and charging. (blue lights on dash blinking) Accessed by pushing button when car is plugged in and charging. Brake pedal on or off has no effect.

halfway on mode. all the dash indications show. Pretty much looks exactly like the charge mode above except that the battery charge indicator light is on. this is how I tell the difference between the two. The heater controls light up and the fan runs, but heat and ac do not work. Basically all of the normal things that are powered by 12 v are on, but all the things powered by HV are off. This is accessed by pushing the button with the brake pedal off and the car not plugged in and charging.

accessory mode. just the radio works. accessed by pushing the button again in the halfway on mode.
 
TimLee said:
But with the Level 2 charging and turning the LEAF On the HVAC will only operate while it is charging.If it becomes fully charged, it is in On mode and HVAC will stop except for the running blower.
Easy to kill the 12V battery doing that because the DC to DC power supply will not come on till 12V battery voltage drops below 10.5 V.
You have way more experience with this than me, but I've not seen this in my limited experience. Even when my LEAF was fully charged and I've done this trick, it stops charging (adding GIDs) but never sends a signal to the EVSE to stop delivering power and the 12 volt reading was always over 13 volts (all as reported by Leaf Spy) and I've sat in the car for over an hour this way (okay it was a nap, but whatever). I've only done this while heating (non-heat pump on an S model) so maybe with just AC it will shut down the EVSE. I won't know till it warms up around here :D
TimLee said:
With DCQC the LEAF has to be off to start charging.
But once it is charging step on the brake and push the Power button and HVAC works great.
Not sure it keeps working if DCQC stops or if it protects 12V battery in that mode.
Haven't set at completed DCQC long enough to confirm.
Best to move on to L2 once kW drops below rating of your on board charger.
It is faster.
DCQC is really slow on that last few %.
I'm going to try this again as the only time I tried it I could not get it to work. I do have the "Free" DC charger on the North side so when I get the chance, I'll try it again. Maybe I did something wrong.
 
The experience I reported is with a 2011.
The 2013 forward DCQC protocol is different than the 2011 and 2012.

I didn't think the vehicle power states changed, but they could have changed them.
Someone needs to compare the manuals.
 
johnrhansen said:
From my observations, there are 4 power on modes available to the car.

Drive mode. all is working. little car is showing, no idiot lights on. Accessed by pushing down the brake pedal and pushing the button. You can drive the car in this mode. The heat and A/c work in this mode.

charge mode. PS light is on. Battery charge indicator light is off. Little car is not showing. Heat and Ac work in this mode. Only available when car is plugged in and charging. (blue lights on dash blinking) Accessed by pushing button when car is plugged in and charging. Brake pedal on or off has no effect.

halfway on mode. all the dash indications show. Pretty much looks exactly like the charge mode above except that the battery charge indicator light is on. this is how I tell the difference between the two. The heater controls light up and the fan runs, but heat and ac do not work. Basically all of the normal things that are powered by 12 v are on, but all the things powered by HV are off. This is accessed by pushing the button with the brake pedal off and the car not plugged in and charging.

accessory mode. just the radio works. accessed by pushing the button again in the halfway on mode.
We've had discussions on the behavior and formal (in the manual) names are for the various states, at least while not plugged in. See http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=279704#p279704" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. At the time, I didn't have a Leaf yet but was very familiar w/the similar states on my 06 Prius (Smart Key System in Toyota parlance) and my mom's 07 Altima Hybrid (Intelligent Key in Nissan parlance).

When the car is lit, that's READY mode.

I've personally found then when SoC is very low, I think somewhere around VLBW or below it, you can be plugged into L2 actively charging but the heater or AC (on my '13 SV) may not function while in ON mode. I've only ever hit that at very low SoC.
 
there still is a mode distinct from the others listed in your post as I described earlier. "charge" mode. Which is "ON" mode with the battery idiot light off. Heat will work in the charge mode, it will not in on, but the fan will run. If you have it in charge mode, and the charger gets disconnected or shuts off, the battery idiot light come on, and the heater quits working, but the fan stays on and controls stay lit up. Basically, the charge mode reverts to the on mode. I found this out by experimenting with my car, not by reading anything.
 
I just did this today - and I've done it no problem in the past )but it would not blow cold today). Then the battery charged to 17% and cold air started blowing.
 
jkallen21 said:
I just did this today - and I've done it no problem in the past )but it would not blow cold today). Then the battery charged to 17% and cold air started blowing.
That is different than what the 2011 does.

On the 2011 the HVAC does not start operating after you get above the minimum power level for HVAC operation.

But if you stop charging and put the vehicle in Ready or On, and then go back to charging; then the HVAC will work while charging.

On the 2011 it is like the HVAC lock out does not clear until you have put the LEAF in Ready or On while being charged above the threshold amount.

I don't recall what the threshold power level is.
May be very low battery warning, 24 Gids.
 
I had the same issue with carwings now dead i could not turn on hvac while charging. The info in this thread foxed it for me.

The process for me in my 2012

Press the the charge timer off button. I hear the solenoids kick and the green plug illuminates. The power button twice then auto hvac button. Ac now works while charging/plugged in. I also note the 12v battery light is off so its charging too. Running on evse power. Nice.

Now we just need to figure out how to do this with a smart phone say bt to obd or something. I can get a freedompop phone for $30 and $0 monthly so the data connection is easy we just need the hardware/software to do it.
 
apologies if resurrecting old threads is bad manners, but i *think* this is relevant to this thread...

what i'm finding somewhat baffling here is the decision to allow the fan/blower to turn on during half-on mode. this moving of cold air around doesn't really do anything, *except* drains the 12V faster. why allow the user to hit the climate control button at all at this point and provide the correct visual feedback (AC/heat lights on), just to have it blow cold air?

perhaps there is a good reason for this that i'm not seeing...

when physically inside a fully charged and plugged-in vehicle, having to hit charge timer off (basically forcing the charger to turn on) and then turning on the car to start the AC so that you can draw power from the EVSE is a bit cumbersome, but based on the way the charging behaviour is implemented it does make some sense. and you can always choose to *not* draw from the EVSE and drain the traction battery a tiny bit before leaving, for whatever reason...

i have yet to confirm this, but i'm assuming that a remote (carwings) climate control ON command while plugged in will power the HVAC from the EVSE (assuming it can supply all the power), and not the traction battery?
 
Resurrecting old threads is far better than starting new ones for no reason, believe me, as long as the post is on-topic. Anyway, I think it was just a lack of detailed programming that resulted in the above, not a fully thought out decision.
 
jt123 said:
...
i have yet to confirm this, but i'm assuming that a remote (carwings) climate control ON command while plugged in will power the HVAC from the EVSE (assuming it can supply all the power), and not the traction battery?

It does not draw directly from the EVSE. Using the Remote Climate Control ON command actually turns the charger on to replace what is being drawn from the Traction Battery to power the climate control system.
 
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