No Full Available Regen at 30%

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kieranmullen

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 16, 2013
Messages
276
Location
Hillsboro, oregon
I understand if the unit is mostly charged then regen is not available but it seems the last few months something is wonky. I could be down to 1/3 and still not have the last regen bubble available. I am thinking about putting it on video so back up my claim.

This is not really a big issue but an irritant. Has this ever happened to anyone else?
 
I haven't gone searching through the other posts, but I think there's a temperature aspect to the available regen capacity, and possibly the temperature dependence has been tweaked in recent updates. I've been seeing down to four temperature bars in the mornings, five during the days. Was your battery chilly when you observed the reduced regen?
 
I'm guessing you've got a 2012 LEAF with the P3227 software "update" (more like degrade) and it's cold outside.

NO REGEN FOR YOU.

It drives me nuts but there is nothing you can do.
 
Yes and Yes. Can you fill me in on why it does this? It is still under warranty and they should fix it if it is a mistake. It is only about 50F here though.

ampitupco said:
I'm guessing you've got a 2012 LEAF with the P3227 software "update" (more like degrade) and it's cold outside.

NO REGEN FOR YOU.

It drives me nuts but there is nothing you can do.
 
This update has been rolled out in conjunction with the retroactive battery capacity warranty introduced in 2013. The thinking is they wanted to reduce stressing the pack by limiting regen to reduce degradation and as a consequence reduce the number of warranty claims. No hope for a fix.
 
The good news about P3227 is that it also resolves incompatibility with some EVSEs, most notably the GE WattStation which is known to fry the onboard charger.
 
Valdemar said:
The good news about P3227 is that it also resolves incompatibility with some EVSEs, most notably the GE WattStation which is known to fry the onboard charger.

According to everything I've read, the problem is with the Leaf's software, not with the Wattstation. I have no problem with picking on GE, but in this case the blame appears to lie with Nissan.
 
LeftieBiker said:
Valdemar said:
The good news about P3227 is that it also resolves incompatibility with some EVSEs, most notably the GE WattStation which is known to fry the onboard charger.

According to everything I've read, the problem is with the Leaf's software, not with the Wattstation. I have no problem with picking on GE, but in this case the blame appears to lie with Nissan.

No blame was implied, one way or another the end result would be the same, and if out of warranty would run you well into the 4 figures in repair costs.
 
ampitupco said:
I'm guessing you've got a 2012 LEAF with the P3227 software "update" (more like degrade) and it's cold outside.

NO REGEN FOR YOU.

It drives me nuts but there is nothing you can do.
This. I had only one regen circle yesterday until the battery warmed up over 6-8ºC or so. When driving mountains it is really annoying.

I still think it is a bug in P3227, as opposed to deliberate, but so far Nissan has refused to fix it.
 
Happens frequently in cold weather on my 2014 S. When either leaving a cold garage or leaving a parking spot outdoors in cold weather the last regen ring does not activate for 2-4 miles. Seems to need a battery warmup to get full regen. Happens consistently and also makes sense, so I don't plan to make an issue of it.
 
no loss. You hardly gain anything from regen anyway in my experience maybe 5 percent max... I used to be real picky about using it all the time feathering the brake pedal, trying to hypermile, etc... no real difference. Better just to forget about regen, drive the car more slowly to save range and keep your eyes on the road instead of the green bubbles.
 
Valdemar said:
Last time I checked Carwings I was getting 20-30% back from regen.
On my 30 mile commute, the difference in regen between a 80% and 100% charge results in about 10% less efficiency for the trip. Regen works! Well, when regen is working, anyway.
 
10 percent... I said 5 percent...same thing...It's still not that big of a deal. I'd get excited if it were more like 30 or 40. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they put it on the car. It's just that it's distracting looking at whether the regen works or not. You might find someday that the cost of your smashed bumper because you weren't paying attention to the road far outweighs any electricity savings you get or don't get on account of regen.
 
johnrhansen said:
10 percent... I said 5 percent...same thing...It's still not that big of a deal. I'd get excited if it were more like 30 or 40. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they put it on the car. It's just that it's distracting looking at whether the regen works or not. You might find someday that the cost of your smashed bumper because you weren't paying attention to the road far outweighs any electricity savings you get or don't get on account of regen.
Maybe regen is no big deal for flatlanders but the lack of regen is a major PITA for those of us who drive in the mountains. It's not as if we can use a lower gear and engine compression to control speed on steep descents, as with an ICE car. No regen = riding the friction brakes down the mountain. And from an efficiency perspective that's a LOT of wasted energy. (And no, coasting isn't an option on steep curves where controlling speed is a safety issue. Try doing that on a 14% down grade around a hairpin turn sometime...)

So, I don't have much patience for the "regen isn't worth anything" viewpoint.
 
dgpcolorado said:
Maybe regen is no big deal for flatlanders but the lack of regen is a major PITA for those of us who drive in the mountains. It's not as if we can use a lower gear and engine compression to control speed on steep descents, as with an ICE car.
Hear, hear! Lack of regen on mountain roads can be a safety issue. Sure, many would consider this issue to be a "corner case", but people buy cars with the reasonable, perhaps implicit, expectation that they should be able to drive in the mountains. This will become more important as future models of the LEAF provide greater driving range (and thus greater potential to access mountains).

One reasonable solution could be to use the energy from regen to resistively heat a cold battery pack. Then, as the pack warms to an optimal temperature, it should accept more current.

Even with the current hardware (including on my 2011), it should be the case that blasting the cabin heater increases available regen even at a high SoC. That could amount to ~5 kW more regen. But that is unfortunately not case; blasting the heater merely lowers the battery charge level and regen remains limited or nonexistent. (If there is some regen available, running the heater does prolong the availability of regen on a long descent, however. More than once I've descended our mountain with the heater set to 90 degrees and all of the windows open for this reason.)

It should also be the case that regen remain available at the same level (in kW) regardless of how fast the car is moving. I shouldn't be forced to slow to 30 mph just to get some regen.
 
How about just using regen to run the cabin heater? A downhill slope equals a blast of hot air. even when the battery is at 100 percent! Works good, except in summer I guess. Anyway, I should rephrase my last comment. Regen means little TO ME. Yes, others lives are different than mine. I stand corrected. I get home with my battery at 25 to 30 percent. leave at 100 percent in the morning.
 
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