smkettner
Well-known member
Securing Nissan brick for airport or other public charging
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=7587
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=7587
The problem with this is the deep-cycling and subsequent "sitting dead" will trash your expensive 12v battery, leaving you with even less reserve time in the future. Disconnection will require you to reset your clock, power window auto-up, and charge timer, but otherwise isn't that difficult and will preserve your battery longevity. I replaced my negative terminal nut with a wing-nut so I can easily do it w/o tools.SanDust said:Tons of electronics on the car, lots of the electronics are new, it's silent when ON, and the 12 battery is smaller than normal. There probably will be situations when the electronics run the 12v battery down. Rather than disconnect the battery I'd just take a small portable charger "just in case". You don't need to crank the engine so it could be very small, taking up less space than jumper cables. Something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Stanley-SSLION-Simple-Battery-Booster/dp/B005GO5E10/ref=pd_sim_auto_3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Coming back to a car with a dead battery parked font-end-in could be a huge pain.
That's true. But if you need to charge at the airport so you can drive home after a trip then disconnecting the battery won't work because you won't be able to charge. I'm also assuming that this is an unusual event that doesn't get repeated so the stress on the battery shouldn't be so great.Ingineer said:The problem with this is the deep-cycling and subsequent "sitting dead" will trash your expensive 12v battery, leaving you with even less reserve time in the future. Disconnection will require you to reset your clock, power window auto-up, and charge timer, but otherwise isn't that difficult and will preserve your battery longevity. I replaced my negative terminal nut with a wing-nut so I can easily do it w/o tools.
SanDust said:This sounds like a more serious issue than just a dead 12v battery but it's probably not. No way should you lose an entire charge in 9 days. (BTW why did you charge it to 100% if you were leaving it, not a good idea). If that had happened then the car would have some serious issues and you'd probably be looking at a new pack.
But it seems like when the 12V died the estimates of the range, which are probably run off the 12v, went completely off the rails. The estimated range of 0 miles or 3 miles was incorrect, and the car probably had its full range. Driving it around charged the 12v and reset the system so the estimate snapped out of its wonky state. Doesn't seem like a big deal and probably no damage was done to the pack.
When you take it to the dealer they will probably say everything is normal. If you can ask them if the 12v is connected to the electronics that estimate the range.
The only obvious thing you did wrong was to charge to 100% and let it sit for 9 days degrading. This is not good! I would have charged to only 80%, (or less) then disconnected my 12v negative as I've described above. If you follow my advice next time you will return with a healthy charge on both batteries, with maybe only 1-2% lost.timtwerp said:Dead Leaf. Charged to 100%. OFF CHARGER. Moved to carport, sat for 9 days, solar panel in the light. 12 volt battery dead. AND the drive battery was DEAD! Some of the days were in the 90's, but I live in Michigan and that should not be the issue.
I was home the first two days, and the Leaf was OFF. I returned to a car without power locks and keyed the door, pressed the power button to find a most distressing sequence of lights and then went dead on the dash is seconds.
I figured the 12 volt battery was dead. I put it on a charger and returned to the car to find the locks worked, hit the power button and WARNING LOW BATTERY! 0 miles! As the car was in the carport, I had to use the OEM 120 volt charger. After 8 hours, the OEM charger registered an error and had stopped charging. I found the car had 1 mile of charge. I could now drive it to the garage and the 240 EV charger. After four hours, it showed fully charged and ONLY a 13 mile range!
I drove it for thirteen miles and the range indicator had increased to 40 miles. I returned it to the charger and drove it normally the next few days and charging cycles. It now appears normal.
I called Leaf and asked them to start a ticket on the issue, they did. I am now to take my Leaf to the dealer to let them test and investigate the issue further. I will post any news here.
I mentioned I was home the first two days of the nine days the car was parked. I entered the car to get items from the car. I checked the lights and I am virtually certain the car was off and I know no lights were on as I checked it at night. I used carwings on an Android phone to show a friend the features of the phone, car-wings, and the car. I do wonder if I hit the air conditioning button or some such thing while I was out of town, but I do not believe that could cause the entire drive battery to discharge to zero. That would be a problem for many others.
So, I too believe that there must be a problem that could be resolved by Nissan.
Rule #1: Most dealers are ignorant and/or lie.timtwerp said:The dealer made it clear that Nissan no longer is supporting consumers charging to 80% to increase the life of the battery. I understood that the charging software is managing that in current Leafs. I have looked online and find no support, but that was the impression I had when I left the dealer on delivery. Do you know anything about this?
I agree with you fully on this point. It is not reasonable to expect customers to take a toolbox to the airport with them and work under the hood when traveling on business. In addition, these deep discharges will result in early failure of the 12V battery, which I *think* is excluded from the vehicle warranty.timtwerp said:It can not be normal for this situation to happen. No one will accept a car to fail after sitting for a short period of time. Nissan must determine why the batteries, 12v and drive train, would discharge just by sitting for a short period, (less than 30 days).
It sounds like your dealer is just making lame excuses for charging your car to 100%. Unfortunately, they all do it.timtwerp said:The dealer made it clear that Nissan no longer is supporting consumers charging to 80% to increase the life of the battery. I understood that the charging software is managing that in current Leafs. I have looked online and find no support, but that was the impression I had when I left the dealer on delivery. Do you know anything about this? (Might need to be a new thread!)
I don't think the battery pack discharged. I think you just got a bad reading because the 12V died. If the battery pack did discharge then you have a big problem because fully discharging the pack is not a good thing.timtwerp said:It can not be normal for this situation to happen. No one will accept a car to fail after sitting for a short period of time. Nissan must determine why the batteries, 12v and drive train, would discharge just by sitting for a short period, (less than 30 days).
Only for one hour, according to the the 2011 LEAF Owner's Manual Revised:SanDust said:If you the car was somehow in ACC mode and some accessory like Bluetooth was on then that would drain the battery.
Of course, that does not mean it doesn't happen, only that it is not SUPPOSED to happen.2011 LEAF Owner's Manual Revised said:12-VOLT BATTERY SAVER SYSTEM
When all the following conditions are met for 60
minutes, the battery saver system will cut off the
power supply to prevent 12-volt battery discharge.
. The power switch is in the ACC position,
. All doors are closed, and
. The vehicle is in the P (Park) position.
Thanks for mentioning this. This is standard on most cars I think. But like you say, it doesn't always work per spec.RegGuheert said:When all the following conditions are met for 60
minutes, the battery saver system will cut off the
power supply to prevent 12-volt battery discharge.
I don't yet have any data for the "plugged-in" case, but I have been taking some data for the unplugged case to use as a baseline. My data is taken manually on a LEAF which is driven intermittently, so I never know a priori how long the car will sit. Still, I think there is some useful data to be gleaned here.Notes:gonefishin said:If anyone else has other reports of "experiments" of leaving their car plugged in for 8+ days please give the full details.
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