N00b Q charge timer

Hello!

Picked up a 2015 SV (Premium!) recently, with 54K miles. CarMax $11K probably
could have found one less miles or cheaper, but CarMax so EASY to deal with
compared to dealers and some private sellers we pulled trigger.

Question #1:
Can I, setup the timer so it charges at certain times on weekdays, but then all day on weekends?
When i tried, I seemed to end up getting M-F like I want, but Sa Sun being "OFF" doesn't seem
to mean what I thought. I thought it would mean no timer function but instead it seems to
mean no charging will occur without override.

Next tasks:
1) Mailing EVSE for the 240V/16A upgrade
2) TCU upgrade to 3G

Any other suggested items to look at?

SOH 86% per this OBD reader:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PJPHEBO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

We *really* liked the AroundView feature for difficult parking spots.

Thanks!

ElPresidente said:

2) TCU upgrade to 3G

Click to expand...

I suggest you do not do this. Otherwise you'll be posting in 2-3 months asking why your 12V battery is dead.

Even though the upgrade is free for your 2015, unless you need to query the remote status daily, at this point this is still a pain you do not want to introduce. Nissan still hasn't fixed the lockup issues in the upgraded TCUs.

AroundView is pretty amazing, isn't?

BTW: you might add your location to your user profile.

jlv said:

ElPresidente said:

2) TCU upgrade to 3G

Click to expand...

I suggest you do not do this. Otherwise you'll be posting in 2-3 months asking why your 12V battery is dead.

Even though the upgrade is free for your 2015, unless you need to query the remote status daily, at this point this is still a pain you do not want to introduce. Nissan still hasn't fixed the lockup issues in the upgraded TCUs.

Click to expand...

Supposedly, NTB18-045 addresses this. See http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=531975#p531975.

I had the TCU upgrade performed in December 2016 and have only needed to reset it (by briefly pulling fuse) half a dozen times to keep it working and avoid 12-volt battery discharge. I like to receive charge complete emails and frequently use remote access to check status or start climate control so I don't mind an occasional fuse pull to reset the TCU.

Since SV and SL have two charge timers, it is possible to program times for weekdays and a!low charging all weekend. It is not intuitive so I will reply with recommended settings if you post the desired weekday charging window (start and end).

Regarding charge timers.....

I think (for now) to stick with my current PG&E E-TOU-A rate plan, which is cheaper 20:00 through 15:00 the next day. On the weekends it's anytime.

I am reading up on PG&E EV-A rate plan, where off-peak is weekdays 23:00 to 07:00 the next day, and weekends 19:00 to 15:00 the next day.

I suspect the EV-A plan is too drastic for us, and is oriented toward HEAVY charging households. We live where we bike a fair amount, and Leaf will be the runabout for errands. I doubt we'll need to charge it every night, nor for from heavily discharged.

Thanks!

ElPresidente said:

Regarding charge timers.....

I think (for now) to stick with my current PG&E E-TOU-A rate plan, which is cheaper 20:00 through 15:00 the next day. On the weekends it's anytime.

I am reading up on PG&E EV-A rate plan, where off-peak is weekdays 23:00 to 07:00 the next day, and weekends 19:00 to 15:00 the next day.

I suspect the EV-A plan is too drastic for us, and is oriented toward HEAVY charging households. We live where we bike a fair amount, and Leaf will be the runabout for errands. I doubt we'll need to charge it every night, nor for from heavily discharged.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

I always leave 10 minutes at each end in case the car's clock does not quite match the clock in the meter so here is the set up you need for your current plan (E-TOU-A) which is similar to mine, but I suspect my APS rates in AZ are lower than PGE rates in CA.

For your present rate:
Set Timer 1 to turn ON at 20:10 and turn OFF at 14:50.
Set Timer 2 to turn ON at 20:10 and turn OFF at 20:10.
Enable Timer 1 for Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
Enable Timer 2 for Friday and Saturday.

Explanation: The start and end time set the same on Timer 2 allows the car to charge anytime from 8:10 PM on Friday to 8:10 PM on Sunday so it covers the weekend. Timer 1 allows charging from 8:10 PM to 2:50 PM the following day so it covers Sunday evening through Friday afternoon.


I need to look at PGE's exact rate structure for the EV-A rate before making timer recommendations for it, but I don't think charging off peak can be completely automated with only two timers since there is no common start or end time between weekdays and weekends.