So like many others, my 12V battery has been exhibiting some problems. If anyone can give me some additional information and wouldn't mind taking a minute or two to read this I would greatly apperciate it:
Here's a summary of what has happened:
1) Some warning lights were coming on, and I suspected that it was due to 12V battery problems. I used a battery maintainer to fully charge it about two weeks ago.
Question 1) Should you disconnect the 12V battery from the Leaf if you charge it with a battery charger/maintainer? I am wondering now if I possibly broke my battery maintainer or if (worse), I did some damage to the Leaf DC/DC converter using a battery maintainer (read on for further explanation)
The first time using the maintainer last week took about an hour to get it to full (its a multi stage charger)
Four nights ago, I started getting the brake warning light again which I attributed to the 12V battery and I assumed it was getting low again ( or wasn't going through its 5 day DC/DC top up charge in time etc)
However this time, after stopping at a quick charge station on my way home, the battery was completely dead and the car would not start! (First time this happened)
A guy who happened to be at the quick charge station said it happens to him occasionally and he had a lithium booster pack but it didn't start the car! I assume because the battery was completely dead. I had to have emergency roadsid come out and everything came on immediately once the jumpers were hooked up to his huge truck battery.
So this leads me to ask how much is needed to start the Leaf in terms of cold cranking amps?
But ther's a bit more (thanks for bearing with me this far, hopefully this is going quick)
So after getting the Leaf home, I hooked up the battery maintainer charger and it read completely dead and filled it all the way back up from 0%. It took about 2 hours.
At this point I"m assuming all is good and that I'll just check it every few days w/ the maintainer to "fill in" in case the Leaf's five day cycle for topping off the battery falls short etc.
Big problem though. A few nights later I go to hook up the maintainer and the first time, it reads that its almost full, and just tops it off over a couple minutes (went from 95% to 100%). But then it starts acting strange and resetting. Right when it is supposed to start analyzing the battery, instead the battery charger keeps resetting as if there was a lapse in power or a safety mechanism was triggered etc.
The next day I go to hook up the charger again and it again says the battery is completely dead and starts charging from 0%. it got to 13% and then again the battery charger reset, and after that it woudlnt start again ( it kept resetting). However, I am pretty sure the 12V was not completely dead because all the lights and everything was working fine even w/ the car completely off.
So I am thinking at this point that I should be fine as long as I carry my portable power pack with me, but the problem is the jumper cable assembly (multi pole housing) broke and I can't find a replacement for it. I can, but it looks like it might be cheaper to just get one of these newer, smaller, lighter lithium ones.
But can a Lithium powerpack /jumpstarter start the Leaf if its completely dead (i.e. the 12V?)
And my next question, is, could I just hook up my jumper cables directly to the poles on the 20AH Universal battery that is inside the Powerpack that I have now? The reason I ask this is because you don't turn the Powerpack on to use the jumpstarter and B) since the Leaf shouldn't require nearly as many CCA's as a normal gas car, I am wondering if the 20AH universal booster battery would be sufficient.
If anyone knows A) about how many CCA's the Leaf needs to start the system, and B) if there is anyway to manage the DC/DC charging system to ensure that the 12V doesn't die, I would be most grateful!
At this point I am just hoping to get this taken care of as easily as possible. I am somewhat against going out and buying a new battery after all the stories I hear about "drains" on the 12V.. which might lead one to believe that since the 12V battery isn't used for all the much anyway once the car is started, it might be better to just have a powerpack charger for those times when the 12V dies.
Again, the wealth of knowledge and experience here is highly appreciated, any brief thoughts or responses are welcome!
Here's a summary of what has happened:
1) Some warning lights were coming on, and I suspected that it was due to 12V battery problems. I used a battery maintainer to fully charge it about two weeks ago.
Question 1) Should you disconnect the 12V battery from the Leaf if you charge it with a battery charger/maintainer? I am wondering now if I possibly broke my battery maintainer or if (worse), I did some damage to the Leaf DC/DC converter using a battery maintainer (read on for further explanation)
The first time using the maintainer last week took about an hour to get it to full (its a multi stage charger)
Four nights ago, I started getting the brake warning light again which I attributed to the 12V battery and I assumed it was getting low again ( or wasn't going through its 5 day DC/DC top up charge in time etc)
However this time, after stopping at a quick charge station on my way home, the battery was completely dead and the car would not start! (First time this happened)
A guy who happened to be at the quick charge station said it happens to him occasionally and he had a lithium booster pack but it didn't start the car! I assume because the battery was completely dead. I had to have emergency roadsid come out and everything came on immediately once the jumpers were hooked up to his huge truck battery.
So this leads me to ask how much is needed to start the Leaf in terms of cold cranking amps?
But ther's a bit more (thanks for bearing with me this far, hopefully this is going quick)
So after getting the Leaf home, I hooked up the battery maintainer charger and it read completely dead and filled it all the way back up from 0%. It took about 2 hours.
At this point I"m assuming all is good and that I'll just check it every few days w/ the maintainer to "fill in" in case the Leaf's five day cycle for topping off the battery falls short etc.
Big problem though. A few nights later I go to hook up the maintainer and the first time, it reads that its almost full, and just tops it off over a couple minutes (went from 95% to 100%). But then it starts acting strange and resetting. Right when it is supposed to start analyzing the battery, instead the battery charger keeps resetting as if there was a lapse in power or a safety mechanism was triggered etc.
The next day I go to hook up the charger again and it again says the battery is completely dead and starts charging from 0%. it got to 13% and then again the battery charger reset, and after that it woudlnt start again ( it kept resetting). However, I am pretty sure the 12V was not completely dead because all the lights and everything was working fine even w/ the car completely off.
So I am thinking at this point that I should be fine as long as I carry my portable power pack with me, but the problem is the jumper cable assembly (multi pole housing) broke and I can't find a replacement for it. I can, but it looks like it might be cheaper to just get one of these newer, smaller, lighter lithium ones.
But can a Lithium powerpack /jumpstarter start the Leaf if its completely dead (i.e. the 12V?)
And my next question, is, could I just hook up my jumper cables directly to the poles on the 20AH Universal battery that is inside the Powerpack that I have now? The reason I ask this is because you don't turn the Powerpack on to use the jumpstarter and B) since the Leaf shouldn't require nearly as many CCA's as a normal gas car, I am wondering if the 20AH universal booster battery would be sufficient.
If anyone knows A) about how many CCA's the Leaf needs to start the system, and B) if there is anyway to manage the DC/DC charging system to ensure that the 12V doesn't die, I would be most grateful!
At this point I am just hoping to get this taken care of as easily as possible. I am somewhat against going out and buying a new battery after all the stories I hear about "drains" on the 12V.. which might lead one to believe that since the 12V battery isn't used for all the much anyway once the car is started, it might be better to just have a powerpack charger for those times when the 12V dies.
Again, the wealth of knowledge and experience here is highly appreciated, any brief thoughts or responses are welcome!