'15 Leaf - Best place to tap 12v system for 1500 watt AC inverter use?

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summetj

Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2015
Messages
8
If I wanted to use my 2015 Leaf's traction pack to power a 12 volt AC inverter to run my fridge in a power outage type situation, where would the best place to tap in be?


Connecting lugs above the existing wires on the terminals at the power distribution module / charging module seem like the easiest place to connect up, but wanted to ask here for insight before I made up an Anderson connector and fuse block with terminals, etc....

Thanks,
Jay
 
Nubo said:
https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=13097

So in that thread it appears that everybody attached + to the battery positive, and - to the vehicle ground (body).

My question:

Can I bolt directly to the power distribution module + and - terminals instead? The - terminal goes right to the vehilce body, so that appears to be the same to me. I'm just interested to know if the + goes directly to the battery + and is electrically equivalent, or not?

Jay
 
Plus is pretty much direct. Be sure you connect BEFORE fuses.
Negative has a current sensor at the battery terminal (there is an extra connector nearby).
Some say that it is not ok do connect to negative battery terminal, I will not confirm that.
I would rather connect before that sensor rather than after.
 
There is no wiring under the dash that would support the 125 amperes continuous current needed to run a 1500 watt inverter. Connections at the battery should have short circuit and overcurrent protection (fuse or breaker) in accordance with manufacturer recommendations for the inverter. If the negative connection is made directly to the battery, the current sensor will be measuring the current flowing to the inverter. This will cause the DC-DC converter output to be about 14 volts (battery charging voltage) instead of the normal float voltage of about 13 volts. The higher voltage may overcharge the battery. If the negative connection is made to ground (chassis side of the current sensor), then the DC-DC converter output will be normal since the current sensor will only measure current flowing into the battery.
 
summetj said:
If I wanted to use my 2015 Leaf's traction pack to power a 12 volt AC inverter to run my fridge in a power outage type situation, where would the best place to tap in be?


Connecting lugs above the existing wires on the terminals at the power distribution module / charging module seem like the easiest place to connect up, but wanted to ask here for insight before I made up an Anderson connector and fuse block with terminals, etc....

Thanks,
Jay
Unless you plan not to max out that 1,500 watt inverter, the system can't handle that currently with it's 2,000 watt max limit. To have the vehicle running in drive mode to keep the 12 volt system powered still uses some of that power (even with all the lights, heater, radio, off) and for a 1,500 watt inverter to deliver that much power would overload the 2,000 watt 12-volt system because of inverter losses. The reason I know because I've already had relatives try that with a 1,400 watt inverter (yes, 1,400 watt), it basically kills the car and puts up an error code that the 12 volt was overloaded. A safer bet is to setup a 1,000 watt inverter, requires smaller cables, no issue of overloading the 12-volt on the car.

Just for reference here is mine, I have a NEMA 50 amp box where I used all 4 lines to split positive and negative loads across the 12-volts needed for my 1,000 watt inverter. Even at a max load of 1,000 watts, the cables remain ambient temperature, even in the middle of a hot summer. Yes, that is a lithium 12-volt battery in the picture, ditched my lead over half a decade ago :mrgreen:
uF9qV37.jpg
 
All,

Glad to finally join the leaf family! I have a 2020 SL Plus and have a question.

I've done a fair bit of research on this topic, but I'd like to install a 12 v DC to AC inverter underhood that connects to the leaf 12v battery. I can then use the leaf as a mobile power generator or plug my deep freeze in my garage to it, in the event of a power failure.

I've seen some mention that the stock battery is actually undersized and that the leaf prefers charging a larger AGM type battery. That sounds like a great plan, but my questions are as follows.

1.) What is the Amp hours of the OEM battery? For the life of me I can't find this exact spec. Maybe I'm just terrible at searching?
2.) I've seen some recommend a yellowtop AGM replacement. It appears as though the drop in size (51R) is only a 38ah battery. I'd love to put in a larger AGM battery to act as more of a buffer to loads from the inverter. Thinking more of around 50-60 ah would be nice. Since consensus seems to be that the leaf likes charging a bigger battery more than small, does the drop in yellowtop (51R) really solve that issue?
3.) I've read that the leaf's onboard high voltage DC to 12v DC converter can push a max of 1800 watts to the 12v battery. Therefore I'm going to purchase a 2000 watt inverter but be mindful to keep loads around 1500 watts or less.

I'm fairly competent with electrics as my career field is mechanical engineering. However I am a newbie when it comes to the idiosyncrasies and nuances of the leaf.

I've been pretty pleased with the car so far. I'm enjoying the pep it has and the ability to remotely control the climate controls. Game changer!

Thanks for any assistance/recommendations!
 
After reading that thread, (which I haven't seen my post get attached to yet), I have an additional question.

If the positive lead is a fused wire coming off the + battery terminal, and the negative goes to a chassis ground, where does the inverter ground go? If you're using it as a mobile power station, are you supposed to get a metal rod out and stick it in the earth and connect? Not a big deal to leave it off in this case? Just curious what actual experiences you all are having.

Thanks!
 
xsnapshot said:
After reading that thread, (which I haven't seen my post get attached to yet), I have an additional question.

If the positive lead is a fused wire coming off the + battery terminal, and the negative goes to a chassis ground, where does the inverter ground go? If you're using it as a mobile power station, are you supposed to get a metal rod out and stick it in the earth and connect? Not a big deal to leave it off in this case? Just curious what actual experiences you all are having.

Thanks!

Depends on the inverter that you purchase. Some just link the neutral and ground in the inverter and use a GFCI for shock protection. I've seen others that give you a "ground" connection out the back for those purposes and thus the outlet coming from the inverter will show up as a "open ground" on the outlet tester otherwise. For simplicity, find an inverter does the ground/neutral bonding inside the inverter with a GFCI outlet for protection from overload/shock hazard. Then you only need to worry about connecting the positive and negative wires, much simpler. :mrgreen:
 
xsnapshot said:
After reading that thread, (which I haven't seen my post get attached to yet), I have an additional question.

If the positive lead is a fused wire coming off the + battery terminal, and the negative goes to a chassis ground, where does the inverter ground go? If you're using it as a mobile power station, are you supposed to get a metal rod out and stick it in the earth and connect? Not a big deal to leave it off in this case? Just curious what actual experiences you all are having.

Thanks!

I just realize my previous response didn't answer you question directly. The ground on the back of (inverters that have that), should go to the chassis, which if you follow the circuit, actually comes out of the "grounding" part of the outlet. So if something shorts out in the AC side, it can travel to the chassis as the ground for the shortest path. Does mean the chassis becomes "energized with 120v ac" in the event of a short, perhaps in theory but hopefully only long enough for a fuse or breaker to catch it and trip the inverter off.
 
14.4V will not have significant effect on 12V battery but is rather desired in case of high load.
Higher voltage = less losses at DC-DC converter, wiring and DC-AC inverter.
Therefore it is actually wise to connect directly to battery terminal. Plus battery will buffer peaks
and lessen the stress for DC-DC inverter. This is what normal lead-acid batteries were actually made for.
Cranking engines. Nowadays just starting HVAC with inrush current :lol:
I suspect 1500W nominal is absolute maximum Leaf will support...with 2000-2500W spikes for few seconds
buffered by that lead acid battery.
Leaf idle draw when stationary is pretty small with almost everything off. Less than 150W AFAIR.

Usually 1500W nominal inverters are rated 3000W. That is their peak value actually.
 
Thanks for the replies!

Arnis, your reccomendation seems to be contrary to what many on this very forum have said. There was the whole thing about NOT connecting to the negative terminal of the battery as there is a current measuring device there?

On it's face, I never understood why you WOULDN'T want the negative there. Wouldn't you want the brains of your car to register a larger draw and push more power to the DC-DC converter to make up for what you're drawing with the inverter?

I've been doing some research into pure sine wave vs modified sine wave. Most everything I want to run is basic stuff like space heater, deep freezer, etc. No computers. However I see the wisdom of having a pure sine wave just in case you DO need to plug something in that's sensitive.

Thanks for any tips.
 
xsnapshot said:
Thanks for the replies!

Arnis, your reccomendation seems to be contrary to what many on this very forum have said. There was the whole thing about NOT connecting to the negative terminal of the battery as there is a current measuring device there?
I forgot to mention, mine is connected the same way, directly inline with the battery instead of the frame. Otherwise, from what I've seen, many points on the frame are not thick enough to prevent the high DC current from doing metal electrical disintegration process on the connectors or frame points that were not designed to allow such a high current load. If you get any salt or anything acidic in the process it speeds it up. To each their own though, good luck! :eek:
 
Frame is good enough for many hundreds of amps :)


Pure sine wave is much better for motors, that includes compressors, that includes freezers.
Computers, especially with a power brick, do not care about sine wave as they work on DC anyway.


OK quality (almost) pure sine wave inverter is less than 100€. 1500W nominal.
 
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