Recovery from turtle mode?

[michapok]

If you're driving up a mountain and hit turtle mode what happens after you turn around and start regenerating downhill? Will the car come out of it or does it need to be plugged back in before that happens?

 

[surfingslovak]

If you're driving up a mountain and hit turtle mode what happens after you turn around and start regenerating downhill? Will the car come out it or does it need to be plugged back in before that happens?

I don't think that the car will let you engage anything but neutral if you have killed it in turtle mode. It won't recharge in neutral at all, only coast. The chances of coming out of turtle mode without killing the car are low, since only a tiny amount of energy is available before the battery contractor drops. I wouldn't plan on arriving at the top of a mountain in turtle mode, that's cutting it way too close.

 

[derkraut]

If you're driving up a mountain and hit turtle mode what happens after you turn around and start regenerating downhill? Will the car come out it or does it need to be plugged back in before that happens?

I don't know; but I'm not gonna try it either. :!:

 

[TonyWilliams]

What a timely topic. I have never successfully done this, or tried to do this in a LEAF. But, tonight, after 144.4 miles driven at 3.7 miles per kWh, I hit turtle mode in the Rav4 EV. I was about 2 miles from the charge station, which was about at a 300-500 foot lower elevation.

The car did come out of turtle before I arrived.

 

[surfingslovak]

What a timely topic. I have never successfully done this, or tried to do this in a LEAF. But, tonight, after 144.4 miles driven at 3.7 miles per kWh, I hit turtle mode in the Rav4 EV. I was about 2 miles from the charge station, which was about at a 300-500 foot lower elevation.

Pretty funny, although that's probably not what you were thinking! That said, I have to admit that I hit turtle at the top of the Bay Bridge in the LEAF once. It did not get out of turtle on the way down, perhaps because I tried to coast as much as possible and the grade wasn't very steep (2% to 3% average). The elevation difference was about 250 to 300 feet, and it took about 1.5 to 2 miles to come down to sea level.

 

[michapok]

Hmm, any consensus then? Will the Leaf behave like the Rav4 and come out? I've never gone down to turtle mode but I thought that it would still be in drive, not neutral.

 

[GerryAZ]

If you get turned around and head downhill before the contactor opens, regeneration should work. It would take quite a bit of downhill driving to get enough regeneration to get the turtle light to turn off. There would not be much time/distance between turtle and shutdown (contactor open) when going uphill so you would need to turn around immediately when the turtle light comes on. It takes almost an hour of L2 (240-volt) or 2 hours of L1 (120-volt) charging to get the contactor to close after shutdown.

Gerry

 

[surfingslovak]

Hmm, any consensus then? Will the Leaf behave like the Rav4 and come out? I've never gone down to turtle mode but I thought that it would still be in drive, not neutral.

It will be in drive when you reach turtle mode, but you will have very little energy to play with until the battery contractor drops. It's not a good idea to let the contractor drop, because the car won't go into drive anymore, and it will take a while to recover from this state, just like Gerry described above. Whether the car will go out of turtle mode on the way down will depend on how much energy you can recover and put back into the battery. This might require an elevation drop of 500 feet or more and a relatively steep slope. Why do you need to know this?

 

[shrink]

I really wouldn't know either way, but these guys charged up a depleted LEAF battery by towing it:

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1060638_can-you-charge-a-2011-nissan-leaf-by-towing-it-apparently-so-video" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I imagine heading downhill would potentially yield enough charge to get out of turtle depending on the grade and distance. I can't advise trying it, but I am quite curious.

 

[reeler]

I drove my 2011 Leaf from Denver to Silverthorne. It is about 70 miles and mostly uphill. I drove in the slow lane behind the slowest truck that I could find. I did not run the A/C and it was in summer. It hit turtle as I was approaching the continental divide. The Eisenhower tunnel cuts through the mountain as you transition to the 15 mile downhill run to Silverthorne.

I put the car in regen mode and drove downhill. It is steep so I could go freeway speeds and still regen. At the bottom of the hill, it was still in turtle. I drove the car to a restaurant and plugged in at level 1 over dinner before going the 2 additional miles to my cabin.

I bought a RAV4 for that trip and there are no issues doing the drive even in Winter.

 

[michapok]

Originally I was going to rent a Leaf on vacation and see if I could make it to the top of an 7,500ft mountain. It's mostly a 8-10% grade up the entire way so regen the entire way down wouldn't be a problem. So, I wanted to see if I had to turn around at VLBW or could I go all the way to turtle. Now though, I did more research and for the trips I'll be making the Leaf won't work so that experiment has turned to a purely thought one. Still pretty curious though..

 

[TonyWilliams]

Originally I was going to rent a Leaf on vacation and see if I could make it to the top of an 7,500ft mountain. It's mostly a 8-10% grade up the entire way so regen the entire way down wouldn't be a problem. So, I wanted to see if I had to turn around at VLBW or could I go all the way to turtle. Now though, I did more research and for the trips I'll be making the Leaf won't work so that experiment has turned to a purely thought one. Still pretty curious though..

Give us the mountain / road, and let's look at it.

 

[michapok]

On Maui, Starting from Kula @2,500ft (plugshare member) up to the top of Haleakala @10,000ft. Here's a google map route: http://goo.gl/maps/LlPZ4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's basically straight up at a 10% grade the entire way. I've heard of people doing it but I think they charged at the entrance to the park which is at 7,000ft.

 

[surfingslovak]

On Maui, Starting from Kula @2,500ft (plugshare member) up to the top of Haleakala @10,000ft. Here's a google map route: http://goo.gl/maps/LlPZ4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's basically straight up at a 10% grade the entire way. I've heard of people doing it but I think they charged at the entrance to the park which is at 7,000ft.

I think you can make it all the way from Kula. I would check the available stored energy in the battery with a Gid meter and conserve energy. About half of the usable battery capacity is needed to lift the car from 2,000 to 10,000 feet elevation. I remember watching this video a while a ago. It looks like the owner was down to one bar, but didn't see a low battery warning:



Click to open

 

[michapok]

The rental car I would have gotten was had already lost a bar of capacity (2011 model) so it sounds like it would have been really close. I know Maui is way out ahead on quickcharge stations so maybe in a few years they'll have one or two on the way up. Oh well, would have been fun to try on a single charge.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

not sure i would refer to "Turtle" mode when you are DOA. Turtle mode is reduced power. your question seems to address no power. two very different birds here.

 

[michapok]

Dave, not sure what you mean by leaf being dead - I had planned on driving as far up the mountain as I could (hopefully to the top), but turning around when I got to either VLBW or if possible go a little further until I hit the reduced power (turtle) mode. At whichever of those points I would turn around immediately and drive back down, getting back to maybe 30% SOC by the time I descended the entire 7,5000ft (or maybe even 10,000ft if I went all the way to sea level).

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Dave, not sure what you mean by leaf being dead - I had planned on driving as far up the mountain as I could (hopefully to the top), but turning around when I got to either VLBW or if possible go a little further until I hit the reduced power (turtle) mode. At whichever of those points I would turn around immediately and drive back down, getting back to maybe 30% SOC by the time I descended the entire 7,5000ft (or maybe even 10,000ft if I went all the way to sea level).

Turtle mode still allows regen. if the power drops low enough, the pack will be disconnected and regen wont be an option which is what i thought you were originally talking about.

in your situation, you can definitely regen the power on the downhill. only thing i would make sure of is a charging station somewhere near the bottom in case you regen less than expected. i think you will be ok. i have regen'd a few hills around here and did gain a few bars (off the side of Mt. Rainier and no, did not go to the top. was simply driving past it)

 

[surfingslovak]

Dave, not sure what you mean by leaf being dead - I had planned on driving as far up the mountain as I could (hopefully to the top), but turning around when I got to either VLBW or if possible go a little further until I hit the reduced power (turtle) mode. At whichever of those points I would turn around immediately and drive back down, getting back to maybe 30% SOC by the time I descended the entire 7,5000ft (or maybe even 10,000ft if I went all the way to sea level).

I think given the steep continous grade and the results reported by Liam, this plan would have worked. I would turn around the moment I hit turtle, probably even sooner. Would consider a Gid meter a must, especially with a LEAF that has lost a bar. Speaking of which, could you tell us more? Mileage and age would be quite interesting. First LEAF with a missing bar reported from Hawaii. Although it's been predicted, no instances of bar loss were reported on this board.

Turtle mode still allows regen. if the power drops low enough, the pack will be disconnected and regen wont be an option which is what i thought you were originally talking about.

This was all discussed upthread already.

 

[Reddy]

The rental car I would have gotten was had already lost a bar of capacity (2011 model) so it sounds like it would have been really close. I know Maui is way out ahead on quickcharge stations so maybe in a few years they'll have one or two on the way up. Oh well, would have been fun to try on a single charge.

Shaun, are you still here? http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=8949&hilit=maui#p200252