My Nissan Leaf Forum

Yep. Another newbie question/request.

I found the manual's explanation for those three blue LEDs incomprehensible. Is there a user created cheat-sheet or video link that does a better job?

Examples:

(1) Middle section of CH-26 of the 2012 manual: "The indicator lights illuminate in order from 1 to 3." So "illuminating in order" is not blinking?

(2) The indicator light turns off if the charger is not connected. It also turns off 15 minutes after charge is complete. Seriously? They turn off when the charge is complete? What good is that if I can't tell at a glance what the state of the charge is? It's not like those LEDs suck down kWh's like crazy. Even my Canon's battery charger's solitary LED turns a solid green when the charge is complete and stays that way till I unplug it. I must be missing something.

(3) The rightmost single LED blinking is different from the leftmost single LED blinking? Which way is left and right anyway?

I'm sure these things can be cleared up pretty easily but I gave up on the manual. I couldn't find a handy cheat-sheet in the wiki.

As per their diagram, Nissan label the LEDs, "1,2,3" where 1 is on the "left" side when facing the car from the front. When you plug in but the charge is delayed due to timer settings, the LEDs light one at a time in the sequence 1...2...3, and repeat for about 15 minutes. After that the lights stop and the vehicle waits for the charge timer. It's a way to remind you that the timer is on if, for example, you stop at a public charger, where you'd probably want to hit the timer override.



The lights will indicate state of charge the whole time you are charging. But yes, once charge is complete they will turn off. However you can set up Carwings to send you messages such as "charging stopped" or "charging complete".



I don't see my manual using the terms "rightmost" or "leftmost"

If LED 3 is blinking all by itself, the 12V battery is charging.

If LED 1 is blinking all by itself, you are charging but the state of charge is in the lower 1/3 of the range.

If LED 1 is solid and LED2 is blinking, you are charging and the SOC is in the middle 1/3 of the range.

If LED 1 and LED2 are solid and LED3 is blinking, you are charging and the SOC is in the upper 1/3 of the range.

If LED2 is lit by itself, the timer-override has been enabled.

All three lit up steady is full charge.

Thanks. That's way more understandable (and succinct) than the manual.

I guess I wasn't expecting the LEDs to turn off when the charger is connected (after 15 minutes).

If you walk up to the car and see (1) the three LEDs are off and (2) the charger is connected, it could mean either that:
(a) it is fully charged, or
(b) it is waiting for the timer to kick in to start charging. Current battery status not indicated.

So it seems that the primary intent of the LEDs is a status indicator when you are leaving the car, not when you are getting back in.

That makes the utility of these LEDs less than what it could have been.

Nothing that a software upgrade can't fix, though. Has the Leaf been jailbroken yet? (kidding!).

I don't quite get that. When you leave the car and plug in, either the lights will light up in sequence to let you know that the charging timer is on and that the car is not charging now or LED 1 (or higher) will light up to let you know that it's actively charging. You would come back to the car afterwards - if the lights are all off, charging is complete. If the lights are still on, charging is still in process. Don't see a problem with the utility of that - unless you came back an hour or two afterwards to see if your charge timer set off like it was supposed to and you were pretty full to start off with? That'd be a pretty rare situation, I would think.

I wish the flashing lights during charge worked a little differently. If I designed it I would:

Charging Progress working on:
1 bar first led flash pause
2 bars first led flash flash pause
3 bars first led flash flash flash pause
4 bars first led flash flash flash flash pause
5 bars first led solid second flash pause
6 bars first led solid second flash flash pause
7 bars first led solid second flash flash flash pause
8 bars first led solid second flash flash flash flash pause
9 bars first and second led solid thrid flash pause
10 bars first and second led solid third flash flash pause
11 bars first and second led solid third flash flash flash pause
12 bars first and second led solid third flash flash flash flash pause
Finished all solid

Here's a scenario:
1. You have a weekend charge timer (all day); and a weekday charge timer (night only).
2. You take a longish trip in the morning, come back home and plug in the charger.
3. That afternoon you look (from your upstairs window) at the dashboard and see that all the LEDs are off. Cool, you are all set for another trip.
4. When you get in the car in the evening you see that the battery is not charged at all. What happened? Dang, it is Memorial day, not a weekend. So your car's charge timer didn't kick in at all. The LEDs on the dashboard misled you.

You could have the LEDs show SOC in binary, then you could tell at a glance:

off-off-off = 0%
off-off-on = 14%
off-on-off = 29%
off-on-on = 43%
on-off-off = 57%
on-off-on = 71%
on-on-off = 86%
on-on-on = 100%

What I wish is that there was some cross-brand consistency. The behavior is, like, almost the opposite between LEAF and Volt. I have no idea what it is for iMiEV or PiP or Coda or ...
If you arrive at a public charging station and some car is plugged in, it would be nice to have some notion of what is happening. Is their battery low or nearly charged? About how long is it going to be before they are done?

And, yes, I agree with the implied frustration of the OP. Eight different defined states for three lights (and one of those is still ambiguous) is a bit much to wrap your brain around.

Ray

But you would see that immediately when you plugged in after the trip. You would plug in and you would see the lights start flashing in sequence on the dashboard instead of light 1 lighting up. "Oh, that's right, my charging timer is on because it's a weekday!" Hit the timer override button on the dash and you're in business.