Still getting 12V error with new 12V battery

Hi all, newbie here, searched the archives, sorry if I missed a thread where this was already covered...

Short story:
- Replaced 12V battery.
- Car went into ready mode as normal, showing 3 bars of charge and 20 mile range.
- Turned car off, plugged in standard 110V trickle charger and first blue charge light started blinking as normal.
- Came back 5 hours later, all blue charge lights off.
- Car won't go into ready mode, display shows little red 12V battery error light and zero charge on the main battery.
- Battery still has 12.6V. Headlights, tail lights and all interior electrical stuff seems to function normally.
- Tried disconnecting battery to reset system, but still got same result as shown in the pic.

Thoughts on what's wrong, anyone? I've done some reading on the interwebs and I understand now that 12V management is a common issue, but I haven't come across the exact problem I'm having.

Longer story:
I bought the car 3 months ago and everything has worked perfectly until now. It has a replaced main battery with 12 bars. Five days ago the same scenario I described above happened with the old 12V battery. I hooked up the trickle charger like normal, came back about 20 hours later to find the car unable to go into ready mode, with the display as described above. Measured 12.1V with everything off, dropping to 11.7V with the car "on." Tried jumping off a running car that was putting out 14.4V, after around 10 minutes it still wouldn't go into ready mode, either while still connected or right after disconnecting the jump. Date stamp on the battery said it's 8 years old, and we were having the coldest temps of the year (in Seattle, so cold means 32ish), so I figured it was a good bet a tired old battery was the problem. Put the new battery in, everything looked good and normal, thought the problem was solved, but then after 5 hours of trickle charge it has the same problem it had with the old 12V battery (as described above in the "short story").

I just picked up an adaptor to run LEAFSpy but haven't tried it yet (sorry, it's Christmas and it's raining!). What should I look for when I hook it up?

Any and all ideas and suggestions greatly appreciated!

I seem to recall an issue with traction battery replacement that may be related. If the new battery doesn't match the battery warmer and other configuration specifics of the old battery, there can be a substantial 12 volt charging issue. I'm afraid I don't remember the details, but the post is here...somewhere.

It sounds like the 12V battery is not charging while the traction battery is charging so then charging stops when the 12V battery gets too low. Your new 12V battery is OK after it is charged since you show 12.6 and accessories all work. Hopefully, Leaf Spy will give some clues. I remember something about the battery heater issue for 2011 and 2012 models that LeftieBiker described, but don't remember all of the details. The cold weather package (which included traction battery heater) was introduced late in 2011 production. This means there were 2 different replacement traction batteries to fit 2011 and 2012 Leafs. If the wrong battery was installed, then the missing heater or heater present when not required (not sure which) would cause issues like you describe. Maybe the issue is also related to temperature so it only shows up when temperatures are low.

The following details would help:
1) exact year/month (model) of your Leaf
2) when was the traction battery replaced (miles?)

Depending upon the answers, @GerryAZ may be right...or it could be something else. LeafSpy will definitely help with diagnostics, but this may ultimately require a trip to the dealer (that replaced the traction battery)...depending on your answers.
Also, you may want to update your profile (delivery date) per #1 above.

Don't trust that just because it is a new aux battery, that it is fully charged. Put a charrger on it and verify that it is fully charged before trying to start your car or charge your pack. 12.6 is way too low for a new battery; it started one time but didn't have enough to continue without re-charge, which it never got.

Lead acid begins to sulfate quickly when the voltage is left low, and a good sustained charge at 14.4 is needed to de-sulfate the plates and restore capacity as much as is possible after being damaged.

It may require several cycles of clearing DTC errors caused by a low aux battery before the car recovers, been there and done that. Good luck to you.

I read my error codes with LEAFSpy, screenshot linked below.

Can anyone help me interpret? Thank you!

http://citytank.org/images/IMG_E5809.jpg

You have many of the codes associated with low 12 volt battery voltage. You also have some that are not, and are charging system related. An example of the latter are the 'isolation fault' codes, which indicate an internal short - although there may not be one, depending on the reason for the fault. I also don't think that the charging port faults are accessory voltage related...

Make sure your new 12V battery is fully charged and then clear error codes with Leaf Spy. Disconnect 12V battery for a few minutes, reconnect battery, then clear codes with Leaf Spy. If car does not function correctly after this procedure, then post a screenshot of the remaining error codes so we can offer more suggestions.

I cleared all error codes with LEAFSpy. Then car started as normal, drove it 5 minutes, parked it at home again, turned it off, then back on, now won't go into ready mode, and has two error codes:

P31E7 00C0 EV/HEV Restart Inhibition EVC-310
P0AA6 00C0 EV/HEV Hybrid Batt Volt Sys Isolation EVC-157

Screenshot here:

http://citytank.org/images/IMG_E5815.jpg

Thanks everyone!

(Is there a way to insert images directly in posts?)

It appears that you have a traction battery ground fault. Since the battery is normally completely isolated from chassis ground for safety, a single ground fault will not cause a high discharge current. The car has sensors to to monitor for high resistance ground faults and shut things down before serious damage occurs. A single ground fault will not cause a short circuit so the sensors and controllers allow the car to continue to operate until turning it off and will then prevent restart. You can likely clear the codes to make the car start again, but the cause of the battery ground fault needs to be found and corrected.

You can add images directly into posts if you are a forum supporter (pay annual membership fee).

Thanks Gerry.

Any recommendations for how to track down the ground fault?

Is it time for me to give up and bring it to a dealer repair shop?

You can also just link images here inline, so that they appear here, using the "Img" tag in the editing tools.

Do you have any paperwork for the traction battery replacement? If it were mine, I would discuss the situation with the dealer that did the battery replacement to see if there is any remaining warranty. If not, then I would systematically check all auxiliary systems that use traction battery voltage (heater, heat pump or A/C compressor, onboard charger, and inverter/motor) before going further. There are hazardous voltages involved in all of this testing so I am not advocating DIY unless you are qualified. Unless there are problems in the auxiliary systems, the ground fault is likely inside the battery case or being caused by faulty ground fault sensors.

Do you have a voltmeter? If so then it might help to monitor the aux battery voltage before and after starting to determine if you are having issues from a weak or worn out aux battery causing this fault.

A sulfated battery can read a high unloaded voltage but will collapse under load, and it will not accept a normal charge. Just because it is a "new" battery doesn't mean anything if it was left discharged, even 3 days is enough to cause permanent sulfation damage. There is plenty of information about this on the wwweb.

nlspace - Right now the 12V reads 12.2V with the car off, and 11.8V with it on.

See also the linked LEAFspy screen shot from yesterday showing that it's drawing 7 amps, which seems like a lot of current for the car on but no accessories running.

http://citytank.org/images/IMG_5823.png

But based on GerryAZ's above response that the error codes indicate a ground fault, it doesn't seem like a weak battery is the root problem. In fact, I wonder if the 7A draw on the 12V is related to the ground fault?

See ALLDATA.com for info on how to isolate a insulation fault in the high voltage system.
Suspects are wiring/connectors/compressor/heater/PDM/traction motor.
Not a normal DIY as has been said.
Let us know what you come up with.

If you know first hand of a trustworthy Nissan dealership that has certified LEAF mechanics, then hopefully they'll figure out the root cause.

Another option might be this company:

https://www.ev-works.com/contact/

Having said that, I haven't used them before so this isn't an endorsement. Check them out before giving them a call...

Did you check vehicle excursions to see subtleties of tech's test drive? Is that an image of 100 percent charge when you got it back after aux battery substitution?




Kodi

Just a thought, and I may be off base but:
In one of Dala's videos he was working on installing a 65kw battery pack from a wreck and had a isolation issue, there was a very small dent in the bottom of the traction battery case. Long as short of it was just a slight damage (easily caused by a fork truck lifting the pack) can squeeze the cells and cause a isolation issue.
IIRC from the video he remove the dent and I can't remember if he repaired the cell or replaced it.
Not a DIY job for most of us.
Traction battery replacement with those fault codes tickled my memory. May or may not be your problem.