NissanTech375 comes aboard

Hello you lucky folks that own the best answer to personal transportation. I'm the lucky fellow at my dealership to be assigned to the Leaf. This coming week I will be going to Leaf school and am thrilled about it. I have actually already became acquainted with the car/s.

So far, the one thing I can advise you owners to do, is don't let the 12V house keeping battery get discharged or very low as your car will not compute/go. Be very careful not to leave any interior lights on or the master switch on.

Very glad to be part of this revolution, Frank

Welcome Frank!

Your tip about the 12V battery is interesting, and something I noticed first in the owners manual that seemed really odd for an electric car was the procedure to "Jump start" the Leaf.

Will you be, or are you an owner of a Leaf?

Caracalover said:

Welcome Frank!

Your tip about the 12V battery is interesting, and something I noticed first in the owners manual that seemed really odd for an electric car was the procedure to "Jump start" the Leaf.

Will you be, or are you an owner of a Leaf?

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At this time, I have a mortgage priority until May 2013. The wife and I also have our own cars that are paid for and in excellent condition. Therefore, there is no need for a new car at this time. Although, when the time comes for a new car, you can bet it will be a Nissan EV.

NissanTech375 said:

Be very careful not to leave any interior lights on

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Another good reason why I changed all of mine to LED. They draw a fraction of the current of the factory bulbs, so it shouldn't kill the battery as quickly if you leave a door ajar or a map light turned on overnight.

Welcome aboard Frank. There are several other techs on here, too, but few advertise! I'll be looking to you for all the dirty details that we can't get from the excellent $20 service manual.

When Nissan "thought police" start telling you how far the car should go, please reference the range chart linked in my signature line.

Tony

My experience has been that, even if you leave the interior lights on, they will time out after a while and go out. I think it was something like 20 minutes...

keydiver said:

Another good reason why I changed all of mine to LED. They draw a fraction of the current of the factory bulbs, so it shouldn't kill the battery as quickly if you leave a door ajar or a map light turned on overnight.

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NT375: I have on occasion listened to the Leaf's XM radio for several hours while in Accessory Mode (gotten from Off Mode by pressing the start button Once, w/o my foot on the brake), and after a while the mode seems to turn Off by itself. Often in response I have turned the radio back on by merely going back into Accessory Mode, but ever since the car seemed to do a seIf-reboot once (the dash clock and trip odometers reset back to zero among other things -- I assume due to low 12v battery power), I decided that I needed to listen to the radio every so often in Ready Mode for a while since that is the only Mode in which the 12v battery will be recharged.

Do you have any recommendations for people like me who use the radio (or anything else) for extended periods while not in Ready Mode? (I am guessing that the auto-off at the very least is an indication that I need to start recharging the 12v battery via Ready Mode, but I don't know how long I need to do that for. I have a voltmeter that I have used to measure the 12v battery's voltage at its terminals, but this approach looks bad! )

MikeD, I'll research the issue and get back to you.

Can you grab us a copy of the dealerships service manual for the LEAF? (lol)

It is basically the same one that is online for 20 bucks...

kubel said:

Can you grab us a copy of the dealerships service manual for the LEAF? (lol)

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The service manual is on the electronic ASIST system, PC based. Not available in print form from Nissan.

MikeD, about listening to the radio... All of the gizmo's are CONTROLLED by the 12V battery. The radio is 12V. The 12V battery is only charged by the traction motor battery when the master switch is in the READY mode. If you use accessory on, you're on the 12V battery, stand alone. Should the 12V battery discharge to the point of inop, you can not actuate the master switch. NOTE: The 12V battery does not charge by the Plug in cord/s...... Once the 12V battery is done, the car will need an APU (alternative power source) to do anything. Just a quick jump will allow you to turn on the master to READY, then you're good to go, right away, as the the DC/DC converter will charge the 12V battery from the traction battery.

I asked about any plans to change this, as you owners are having issues, and the instructor said NO. So that's that.

As far as the map/reading lights left on or the master switch left left on, the 12 V battery definitely will discharge.

With the car left stored.... The IOD (igniton off draw) is SO SUBSTANTIAL, the 12V battery will be dead well before 2 weeks.

The solar panel is Quote " a joke".

It is highly recommended to get a battery tender and use it. Trying to operate with a low 12V battery can and will damage many of the PC modules.

I will say, except for the 12V battery issues, this car is the very best quality vehicle Nissan has produced since 2001. Nissan spent 10 years on this car and the quality of the major components is very good.

NT375: Thanks for researching this issue -- your findings seem important for me to know. I guess for the time being I will alternate between Accessories Mode and Ready Mode, say alternating approximately every 30 minutes when using the radio while stopped for an extended period. I may also connect a simple auto voltmeter gauge to an Accessory Mode enabled fuse to keep closer track of the 12v battery.

This may also be a good reason to invest in a device like Ingineer's LeafScan, which will certainly allow monitoring a variety of a Leaf's operational levels including accessories voltage.

Can you tell me what the "minimum normal operational voltage" for the 12v battery is as a further check?

Also can I assume that if the "low battery" icon comes on in "Ready Mode" and stays on, that this is probably an indicator that the 12v battery's voltage is below this "minimum normal operational voltage" and may indicate this battery needs replacing?

NissanTech375 said:

The radio is 12V. The 12V battery is only charged by the traction motor battery when the master switch is in the READY mode.

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Well... it also checks (and will charge at 5 minutes, and again at 1 hour later) after the car is turned to OFF.

See service manual notes on removing the 12v battery.

A quick perusal of the manual doesn't give a clear story on how to store your vehicle. The only thing I found is :

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If vehicle will not be used for long period of time:
a. NISSAN recommends charging with long life mode.
b. Charge once every 3 months.

For details of the long life mode charging method, see “Charging timer” later in this section. If the Li-ion battery becomes discharged, charge it immediately.
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Very poorly written. From what I have gathered, it is best to leave the car about 50% charged and UNPLUGGED. What has been said is that the 12V battery will never get charged when plugged in because the car will always be topping off the battery (to 80 or 100) every night and therefor reset the 5-day 12V charge schedule. Can you or your instructor shed some light on this?

If you set the LEAF's timer set for charging (to 80%) just ONCE a week, then the 12v battery would get charged 5 days later, once each week, and all would be good?

I like that idea, Gary. There is still the question of will the 12V charge at all with the J1772 plugged in?

Right, we need to verify that being plugged in, by itself,
does not inhibit the DC-to-DC charging the 12v battery
(on the 5-day cycle).

Others just said that the charging event RESET the 5-day counter.

However, one really should have a "Plan B" in case the car gets
unplugged completely, never getting any more charge after
it was parked and left unattended.

1. Can the Consult III+ produce a printout of the 96 cell-pair voltages?

If so, does it take more than 5 minutes to attach the OBD cable, run the test and print, and un-hook the OBD cable?

2. How about reading the "SOC" or "GIDs" value (usually 1 to about 281 on a new battery pack)?

OK, maybe 9 minutes including driving the LEAF into the bay and back out?

If you cannot answer on-line, please PM me. Thanks.

there is another thread that talks about long term storage of Leaf for Vaca (long term meaning 2 weeks or more) and i dont think charging once a week is a good idea since the Leaf plugged in will draw a significant current off the 12 volt battery.

i would charge it no less than every other day. keep in mind, the 12 volt battery is not deep cycle and probably would not recommend it going below 80%. in fact, the higher it stays, the better.

Can anyone think of a way to test the 12V charge during a plugin short of putting a multi-meter with recording (or max hold) on the battery?