Nissan Connect for 2015 / Account Reset

Hello

I have been browsing all of the guides available on buying a used leaf and one thing I have seen a couple times is that you need to take the old leaf's into Nissan to have the system upgraded or to have the old account removed. I'm obviously new but I searched and couldn't find the right answer. Maybe I'm mixing up two things?

Starting at the beginning:

I live in a remote desert area in CA, but have wanted a commuting car so I can stop putting miles on my old f150. I have been looking at used leaf's on carmax and carvana, though I have noticed carmax is about $1000 cheaper for the same thing and has a big selection of 2015's. Carmax nearest me is Palmdale or Bakersfield, I prefer Palmdale because its closer. But "closer" still puts it at 92 miles away, well outside the range of used leaf's. Which means I'll need to get it flatbed-ed up to where I live. I need to check into the cost on that, carvana does that for $399 where I live.

As a side-note, I am aware that I live in a very hot area, almost as hot as Phoenix, and I realize what that does to leaf and its battery. Nothing good. But since I never plan to take the car out of town, I don't see that as an issue. My daily driving is about 10-12 miles each and every day for work and groceries, etc. Even a degraded leaf should handle that.

But because its HOT here I really want the remote climate system to work! So now we are back to the start - on a used 2015 leaf, does it need to goto the dealer to have the system cleared or upgraded in any way? Because obviously once I flatbed it here OR carvana delivered, it would be a major chore to get it to Palmdale where the nearest Nissan dealer is. There isn't really even anywhere to stop and charge on that drive so it would be a tow / flatbed again.

Anyway, hopefully someone can clarify for me. The whole 2g/3g and clearing the old Connect account issue is something I have been trying to figure out. Is that even applicable for a 2015?

All advice welcome!

Thanks!

No one uses the connect App (or whatever App now controls remote AC, etc?)
I don't want to have to tow the car 90 miles back to Nissan if there is something they need to reset.

Is my question stupid? :?:

I'd like to be able to start the AC a few minutes before I go out into the 113F air on summer days.

I was looking through a website from a link on one of these pages and someone in my town had reported data on battery degradation, so I think my plan would work.

In a very hot area, if you only charge Lvl1 or Lvl2 at night, never quick charge, how long would people expect the battery to last? I'd like to be able to drive 20 miles per day still in 5 years, starting with a car with around 11-12 bars and ~30k used miles.

It sure seems like a good deal, offsetting $100 or more in gas from my f150, never driving more than 15-20 miles per day. Where else can you find a 2015 with 20-40k miles for 10k or less WITH a Bose stereo system? The only trouble I am having is carmax seems to have 2015's with either the premium package OR the charge package. I honestly will probably never use the fast charger because there are none within 100 miles of me but the LED headlights would have been nice. How much better is the premium audio system? The LED headlights?

Thanks anyone!

The 2015 is, IIRC, on the borderline, in that the later builds have the updated telecommunications module (TCM) and the early ones don't. Nissan was updating them for free, but I don't know if they still are. The cost is (was?) $199 if you have to pay, but there have been quite a few issues with the updated units - mainly involving them staying on when the car is off, and killing the 12 volt battery.

Now, about a 2015 battery in a HOT climate: that is the best year for this, as it has the "Lizard pack" with better heat resistance, but it will still degrade pretty quickly - something like a capacity bar lost per year. If the car had 12 bars to start, I'd expect the first bar to be lost after just months - or weeks.

Thank you!

Is there a way to tell if the update has been done from looking at the car or in the setup of the head unit somewhere?

On one that I am eyeing I looked up the VIN, and it was manufactured 11/2014, the first mileage report to DMV was 12/2015, and first titled in January 2016

As far as heat, I understand that. Its a bit of an experiment. Honestly if I get 5-6 years out of it it will have paid for itself anyway, they are cheap!
And once I get it here I only need 15 to 20 miles per day.

But wouldn't Nissan honor the warranty if it drops to 8 bars? Its a 2015 so is that 8 years / 100,000 or that falls under battery replacement ?
I've seen those numbers but can't recall - 5 years or 60,000?

LeftieBiker said:

Now, about a 2015 battery in a HOT climate: that is the best year for this, as it has the "Lizard pack" with better heat resistance, but it will still degrade pretty quickly - something like a capacity bar lost per year. If the car had 12 bars to start, I'd expect the first bar to be lost after just months - or weeks.

Click to expand...

You say this like you have access to information the rest of us do not. Agree that a change in battery chemistry made the '15 24 kwh battery pack more resistant to heat aggravated degradation than the '13 and '14 packs. But as far as the '16 and '17 24 kwh and 30 kwh packs being any less resistant than '15 - I know of nothing which would support that contention.

Ok thank you

Honestly the prices jump up towards 13k or more for 16's unless they are a trim S.

So a 15 seems like the sweet spot for my budget for an SV.

does the Bose system make a difference? I can't seem to find a car with both the premium package on an SV trim and the quick charge/LED lights. I'm leaning toward the premium package simply for the better audio since I can replace the lights with HID or LED H13 bulbs myself. And the Fast charge port does me no good at all out here.

Dooglas said:

LeftieBiker said:

Now, about a 2015 battery in a HOT climate: that is the best year for this, as it has the "Lizard pack" with better heat resistance, but it will still degrade pretty quickly - something like a capacity bar lost per year. If the car had 12 bars to start, I'd expect the first bar to be lost after just months - or weeks.

Click to expand...

You say this like you have access to information the rest of us do not. Agree that a change in battery chemistry made the '15 24 kwh battery pack more resistant to heat aggravated degradation than the '13 and '14 packs. But as far as the '16 and '17 24 kwh and 30 kwh packs being any less resistant than '15 - I know of nothing which would support that contention.

Click to expand...

We do need more data from hot climates. Given, however, that 30kwh packs are losing bars, even with the BMS update, in relatively mild climates, I'm not going to suggest that pack for hot climate use.

danrjones said:

Ok thank you

Honestly the prices jump up towards 13k or more for 16's unless they are a trim S.

So a 15 seems like the sweet spot for my budget for an SV.

does the Bose system make a difference? I can't seem to find a car with both the premium package on an SV trim and the quick charge/LED lights. I'm leaning toward the premium package simply for the better audio since I can replace the lights with HID or LED H13 bulbs myself. And the Fast charge port does me no good at all out here.

Click to expand...

Premium Package does affect the value and price, but given the general market emphasis on mileage, a car with more miles on it and Premium Package may cost no more - or even less - than one with PP but with low odometer mileage. Again, I'd like to emphasize that a Leaf - ANY Leaf - isn't a great bet for a really hot climate

Thank you, I am going into it with my eyes open.


Still would like to know about the Nissan connect update. That would be nice to have.

If someone knows how to check, please let me know.

Giving a Nissan dealer your VIN should do it. Here is one topic on the subject:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=23349&p=483239

LeftieBiker said:

The 2015 is, IIRC, on the borderline, in that the later builds have the updated telecommunications module (TCM) and the early ones don't. Nissan was updating them for free, but I don't know if they still are. The cost is (was?) $199 if you have to pay, but there have been quite a few issues with the updated units - mainly involving them staying on when the car is off, and killing the 12 volt battery.

Click to expand...

It was supposed to be free for model year 2015 Leafs: https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1107682_nissan-offers-2g-leaf-owners-a-199-3g-upgrade-with-just-24-days-left and $199 for ones before model year 2015.

cwerdna said:

LeftieBiker said:

The 2015 is, IIRC, on the borderline, in that the later builds have the updated telecommunications module (TCM) and the early ones don't. Nissan was updating them for free, but I don't know if they still are. The cost is (was?) $199 if you have to pay, but there have been quite a few issues with the updated units - mainly involving them staying on when the car is off, and killing the 12 volt battery.

Click to expand...

It was supposed to be free for model year 2015 Leafs: https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1107682_nissan-offers-2g-leaf-owners-a-199-3g-upgrade-with-just-24-days-left and $199 for ones before model year 2015.

Click to expand...

Yes, I just wasn't sure if that free upgrade for 2015 was still in effect.

TSB NTB17-015a at https://x.nissanhelp.com/forums/Knowledgebase/links/933/ may help the OP. They will need to create a free account to d/l up to 2 PDFs per day.

It also includes supposedly the procedure (on page 3) to find out via the nav unit itself whether it has a 2G or 3G TCU installed.

danrjones said:

Honestly the prices jump up towards 13k or more for 16's unless they are a trim S.

So a 15 seems like the sweet spot for my budget for an SV.

does the Bose system make a difference? I can't seem to find a car with both the premium package on an SV trim and the quick charge/LED lights. I'm leaning toward the premium package simply for the better audio since I can replace the lights with HID or LED H13 bulbs myself. And the Fast charge port does me no good at all out here.

Click to expand...

When I first was in the market for a '13 Leaf in July 2013, I briefly listened to the regular SV stereo and the Bose stereo. The latter was noticeably better. Do listen to some stuff w/bass and turn up the bass a bit. There's a sub-woofer module in the trunk for the Bose stereo that's definitely NOT on the non-Bose stereo Leafs.

I didn't even bother w/the S trim since it didn't have cruise control (back in 2013, it does it in 2015). S stereo should be worse than SV.

I can tell you I LOVE the Around View Monitor that's part of the premium package.

A warning about not having a quick charge port: even if you never use it, it may make the car more difficult to sell later. I've run into that. As I pointed to at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=554358#p554358, 3 Nissan dealers I've taken my '13 Leaf SV w/premium don't want it.

Thanks all

Documentation is great! I'll download it in a bit.

A understand about resale. Honestly if in 6 years I am down to 7 or 8 battery bars the resale wont matter anyway. I figure I'll run it till it's no use to me then get a new one. Gas prices are $4 and rising so it almost pays for itself anyway.

I mean I would get one with both packages but I'm not finding one and I dont want leather nor pay 3 to 4k more for an SL

I went in to Palmdale and played around with 3 of them today and inside one of the settings it lists a TCU or similiar version. I bet that will tell me.

I also got a look at one with the quick charge and led headlights and one with Bose. I did think Bose was better though I was a bit disappointed that a 2015 did not appear to have apps like pandora. That only seemed to work on the bluetooth setting when I had it selected in my phone.

The led headlights were nicer. I've seen the whole assembly for sale on Ebay so maybe I could just switch them out later if I wanted. It drives nice enough.

Carmax also seems to have funny pricing like the same model and options priced 2k different. As if their appraisers dont know the vehicles. I literally can transfer over the same car and pay thousands less.

Also went to the Nissan dealer looked at 2018s still on the lot but they had no real interest to drop the price on old models.

Kia dealer did not have niro ev yet, which I think could be a big hit.

danrjones said:

I also got a look at one with the quick charge and led headlights and one with Bose. I did think Bose was better though I was a bit disappointed that a 2015 did not appear to have apps like pandora. That only seemed to work on the bluetooth setting when I had it selected in my phone.

The led headlights were nicer. I've seen the whole assembly for sale on Ebay so maybe I could just switch them out later if I wanted. It drives nice enough.

Click to expand...

I don't think you'd be missing much w/Pandora on the head unit. I think I've used it under 10 times since July 2013 (on my '13 Leafs) and an iPhone is my primary phone. Don't worry about it.

I'm not sure the LED headlight assembly is as simple has plug and play between halogen headlight equipped cars vs. LED headlight cars. The LED headlights are way better than halogens. I can speak w/personal experience from having had the LEDs on my leased '13 Leaf to the crappy halogens on my owned '13 Leaf.

Good thing you're looking at lizard battery Leafs (sorry haven't read your other posts). Ridgecrest rang a bell for me. Kolmstead was from there. Search for posts by him. His '11 Leaf (crap chemistry) lost 4 bars and he had no luck trying to sell it for $4500 years ago. Got donated. See http://mynissanleaf.com/search.php?keywords=&terms=all&author=kolmstead&sc=1&sf=all&sr=posts&sk=t&sd=d&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search.

I'll look his posts up.

I take it he was past his 5 year mark for warranty

The only reason I'm willing to try it is that the cars are so cheap used. I feel bad for those who paid new.

The car I am transferring is literally 3 yrs 3 months and under $10k with only 23k miles

I'll keep looking for ones with led lights but I can also swap out the h13 bulbs to high end led h13s easily

I should note I plan to run leafspy on it when they get it in. Assuming no one did a BMS reset....

It still has all 12 bars right now with 23k. Looks like it was a fleet use in bay area. I'm thinking a company would be less likely to worry about BMS reset or resale. Unless carmax did it.

I read through his story. That's horrible. From 33k to salvation army in less than 6 years.

Making me think twice. But my commute is 10 miles total each day plus side trips. I just better make sure United rentals rents car trailers here.

Thanks!

The chemistry used after March of 2013, through 2014 doesn't fail that quickly. The chemistry used in 2015 & 2016 24kwh Leafs is a bit better still. Not good enough for severe heat, but still not as bad as the "Canary" packs...