Leaf Spy AHr max by battery size

[SageBrush]

How are you doubling the capacity?

By doubling the material, weight and volume

 

[goldbrick]

Unless there is a limiting factor somewhere I'd guess that would double the CCA. As a case in point, imagine 2 batteries in parallel. Then you've doubled the weight, volume and capacity. Assuming the wiring doesn't limit the current there should be twice the CCA.

 

[SageBrush]

That's my conclusion also. Which is why (presuming the conclusion is correct) finding a high CCA in a big battery does not imply thin plates.

 

[LeftieBiker]

I may be mistaken, but I think that increasing capacity by increasing size results in increasing fragility of thin plates, requiring that they become a little thicker to resist collapsing under their own weight when the battery experiences light physical abuse like being dropped an inch or two. I just got up and may be talking nonsense, but I'd expect high capacity deep cycle batteries to have proportionately lower CCA ratings...

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

two days in a row (tues, wed) I start car and DO NOT get the customary morning boost . Voltage drops to 13.04 within 10-15 seconds or so (LS delay connecting). Garage temps ~54º

Last night; leaving work (37º uncovered lot) voltage 12.96? Never seen anything below 13 when car is running before. This morning, garage 53.8º and voltage in car; 11.98

This is becoming rather predictable. In 15 months, I have a near comatose battery. Have to think its the wifi? Anyone know if its on all the time or only when the car is running?

 

[GerryAZ]

I think the navigation system in the Plus model connects to WiFi whenever in range if WiFi is enabled even when there is nothing trying to update and whether the car is on or off. That is why I keep WiFi disabled except when I want to check for updates (probably once or twice a month). There have only been a couple of times that map updates were available and I downloaded them. There have been no software updates since I got my car. If your car is dropping the charging voltage back to 13 within a few seconds of starting, then the battery is not absorbing much current so it is likely ready to fail. It will not absorb much current if any cells are really low so it might be good to check fluid level and top off with distilled water to see if there is any improvement.

 

[DougWantsALeaf]

Its true, when our car is at our house, even though we don't have Sirius, we see live traffic on the nav (from the wifi). It drops once we drive away. Though we will likely only take the S Plus on very long trips, I think I will Hotspot my phone to the car if we do take the car. On the S+ we just use android auto. The maps are nicer anyway.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

No real change in status despite being on charger long enough to last at least a few days? I will check battery again after I put traction pack on charger for a few hours. Snowfall for Storm #1 is only 6" so well under stay home levels (with auto socks) and Storm #2 not expected to start until late Friday afternoon so we see.

Info collected in blog (there is no real dialogue)

https://daveinolywa.blogspot.com/2021/02/12-volt-battery.html

 

[GerryAZ]

Dave,

With your charger set on 2A maximum output, you only got about 1 AHr or 14W into the battery. The 2A setting is intended for small batteries like motorcycles use. It will much charge faster if you select 6A output for automotive batteries. The percentage SOC display is just an estimate based upon current and voltage (and only has 25% increment resolution).

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Dave,

With your charger set on 2A maximum output, you only got about 1 AHr or 14W into the battery. The 2A setting is intended for small batteries like motorcycles use. It will much charge faster if you select 6A output for automotive batteries. The percentage SOC display is just an estimate based upon current and voltage (and only has 25% increment resolution).

Oh, sorry about that. It starts on 2 amps by default but I charge it at 4 amps.

Anyway, after I finished charging the traction pack for about 2 hours, I measured the voltage on the 12 volt at 12.30 volts. I measured it again 2½ hours later before leaving the house and it was 12.44 volts so got a bit of a boost.

Again, I noticed voltage later at 12.96 volts but had EVERYTHING on including front and rear wipers, defrost, heat, AC and rear window defogger on. This is 2nd time I have noticed anything other 13.04 volts. I went thru a half dozen recent logs and didn't see any voltages other than the normal 13.04

 

[GerryAZ]

Dave,

With your charger set on 2A maximum output, you only got about 1 AHr or 14W into the battery. The 2A setting is intended for small batteries like motorcycles use. It will much charge faster if you select 6A output for automotive batteries. The percentage SOC display is just an estimate based upon current and voltage (and only has 25% increment resolution).

Oh, sorry about that. It starts on 2 amps by default but I charge it at 4 amps.

Anyway, after I finished charging the traction pack for about 2 hours, I measured the voltage on the 12 volt at 12.30 volts. I measured it again 2½ hours later before leaving the house and it was 12.44 volts so got a bit of a boost.

Again, I noticed voltage later at 12.96 volts but had EVERYTHING on including front and rear wipers, defrost, heat, AC and rear window defogger on. This is 2nd time I have noticed anything other 13.04 volts. I went thru a half dozen recent logs and didn't see any voltages other than the normal 13.04

Either your 12V battery is failing or something is wrong with the DC-DC converter system in your car. With windshield wipers on, the DC-DC converter output should be 14 to 14.5 volts (depending upon temperature) and it should supply more than enough current to easily run all of the 12V loads in the car while still providing at least 20A to the battery (if the battery will absorb current).

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Dave,

With your charger set on 2A maximum output, you only got about 1 AHr or 14W into the battery. The 2A setting is intended for small batteries like motorcycles use. It will much charge faster if you select 6A output for automotive batteries. The percentage SOC display is just an estimate based upon current and voltage (and only has 25% increment resolution).

Oh, sorry about that. It starts on 2 amps by default but I charge it at 4 amps.

Anyway, after I finished charging the traction pack for about 2 hours, I measured the voltage on the 12 volt at 12.30 volts. I measured it again 2½ hours later before leaving the house and it was 12.44 volts so got a bit of a boost.

Again, I noticed voltage later at 12.96 volts but had EVERYTHING on including front and rear wipers, defrost, heat, AC and rear window defogger on. This is 2nd time I have noticed anything other 13.04 volts. I went thru a half dozen recent logs and didn't see any voltages other than the normal 13.04

Either your 12V battery is failing or something is wrong with the DC-DC converter system in your car. With windshield wipers on, the DC-DC converter output should be 14 to 14.5 volts (depending upon temperature) and it should supply more than enough current to easily run all of the 12V loads in the car while still providing at least 20A to the battery (if the battery will absorb current).

Wipers may not have been "on enough" as they were on intermittent at level 3 or 4? Either way, I agree with your assessment that something is wrong.

 

[GerryAZ]

Windshield wipers on intermittent (slowest delay) causes my 2019 SL Plus to keep the float voltage at 14 to 14.5 (depending upon ambient temperature). Blower, lights, and other accessories by themselves seem to have no impact (float voltage will drop to about 13) so windshield wipers are needed to cause voltage to remain high.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Windshield wipers on intermittent (slowest delay) causes my 2019 SL Plus to keep the float voltage at 14 to 14.5 (depending upon ambient temperature). Blower, lights, and other accessories by themselves seem to have no impact (float voltage will drop to about 13) so windshield wipers are needed to cause voltage to remain high.

The other stuff being on could be coincidence. The voltage with any setting of wiper is interesting though. I tried it this morning and same thing. I got the 14.5 volt boost that lasted just over 4 mins, then it drops to 13.04 volts. Intermittent wipers on and stayed at 13.04 volts.

Its barely snowing so putting it on the slower continuous sweep was too irritating to let it run more than a few seconds but its WA so I will have plenty of opportunities to check that as well.

 

[GerryAZ]

I don't use the wipers often, but running them on intermittent is enough (with or without HVAC) to keep the float voltage at 14-14.5. I usually have the XM radio on and the navigation system display the energy screen (doubt that makes a difference, but have not confirmed).

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

I don't use the wipers often, but running them on intermittent is enough (with or without HVAC) to keep the float voltage at 14-14.5. I usually have the XM radio on and the navigation system display the energy screen (doubt that makes a difference, but have not confirmed).

Hmmm, it could. I check LEAF Spy display every morning and it "seems" fairly reactive to changes. The logs are in ~ 6 second intervals so yeah, they would miss some changes but the error is small enough that it doesn't matter. I don't have the center screen meter and when I did, I didn't have LEAF Spy for the most part (Got LEAF Spy a few months before end of 2011 SL lease)

Now, originally Jim said the accessory usage wasn't exact since LEAF Spy only registers usage in blocks so turning something on only represented the power it would use and that seemed quite plausible on my 2013 and 2016 but the 2018/19's seemed to more reactive to changes (headlights, fan, AC heat, etc) and also read at a higher power level. I have to look back at my blogs but seems to me it was 50 to 100 wh higher?

I also seem to remember the rear window defogger didn't register before when now it does?

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

I don't use the wipers often, but running them on intermittent is enough (with or without HVAC) to keep the float voltage at 14-14.5. I usually have the XM radio on and the navigation system display the energy screen (doubt that makes a difference, but have not confirmed).

Hey, I got it to work! Not sure why it didn't the other day but today, I was out playing in the snow and noticed the charge on the 12 volt starting to drop so I turned on the wipers when voltage was still about 13.4 volts and it bumped back up to 14.42 within 10 seconds or so.

So not sure why it didn't work the other day other than it was already at 13.04 volts but not seeing why that would matter?

I think I am dealing with ghosts. A bit of history; all my LEAFs except the 2011 would randomly change air flow when I had AC on during Summer. Didn't happen in any other mode. I would have "face" on and it would switch to floor/face split by itself. Not that big a deal since it would only take a few seconds for me to notice the change as the air gets a lot warmer at first.

So my 2019 did it as well. Not too much, maybe 1-2 times a month, sometimes skipping months. But starting about the time the weather changed, my steering wheel controls started acting up. Couldn't change radio stations or volume. Everything else seemed to work. Power cycling the car fixed the issue and it happened maybe once a every week or two.

So two weeks ago or so? I notice my auto up on driver window stopped working. That only happened once that I have noticed (at this time of year, I simply don't roll it down that much...) so wondering if I have a glitch in the low voltage DC system or the failing battery is causing the glitches?

 

[LeftieBiker]

Windshield wipers on intermittent (slowest delay) causes my 2019 SL Plus to keep the float voltage at 14 to 14.5 (depending upon ambient temperature). Blower, lights, and other accessories by themselves seem to have no impact (float voltage will drop to about 13) so windshield wipers are needed to cause voltage to remain high.

The other stuff being on could be coincidence. The voltage with any setting of wiper is interesting though. I tried it this morning and same thing. I got the 14.5 volt boost that lasted just over 4 mins, then it drops to 13.04 volts. Intermittent wipers on and stayed at 13.04 volts.

Its barely snowing so putting it on the slower continuous sweep was too irritating to let it run more than a few seconds but its WA so I will have plenty of opportunities to check that as well.

I've been meaning to ask: does running the REAR wiper for a pass raise the voltage as well? I'd prefer to use that, for several reasons, including a likely lower power consumption. I also don't want to run my new front blades dry in frigid weather.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Windshield wipers on intermittent (slowest delay) causes my 2019 SL Plus to keep the float voltage at 14 to 14.5 (depending upon ambient temperature). Blower, lights, and other accessories by themselves seem to have no impact (float voltage will drop to about 13) so windshield wipers are needed to cause voltage to remain high.

The other stuff being on could be coincidence. The voltage with any setting of wiper is interesting though. I tried it this morning and same thing. I got the 14.5 volt boost that lasted just over 4 mins, then it drops to 13.04 volts. Intermittent wipers on and stayed at 13.04 volts.

Its barely snowing so putting it on the slower continuous sweep was too irritating to let it run more than a few seconds but its WA so I will have plenty of opportunities to check that as well.

I've been meaning to ask: does running the REAR wiper for a pass raise the voltage as well? I'd prefer to use that, for several reasons, including a likely lower power consumption. I also don't want to run my new front blades dry in frigid weather.

Good question. I will check on that. Probably out and about in a few.

 

[GerryAZ]

Dave,

I am sure you know, but as a reminder, the auto up/down functions must be relearned after power cycling (disconnecting/reconnecting) the 12V battery. Open window and hold open control for a few seconds; then close window and hold close control for a few seconds to relearn.