Battery gauge at 7 bars (Texas Summer)

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tzzhc4

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 4, 2011
Messages
139
It has been in the 90's since I got my Leaf and the 100's started earlier this week. After driving (nothing strenuous just around town and a little bit of highway) the battery temperature gauge was showing 7 bars. Given what the manual says that puts the battery temperature between 98.2 and 121. When not in use and charging the Leaf is in our garage out of the Sun.

What are people in other hot (Arizona, Texas and Southern California) seeing?
 
I'm in Northern CA and I see 6 bars all of the time when driving at highway speeds in hills with 70 to 80 degree temps. It starts typically at 5 bars right after charging. But so far I haven't seen 7 bars yet. But its in the 90s today so I'll see on the way home from work what the battery temp gets to. ;)
 
tzzhc4 said:
What are people in other hot (Arizona, Texas and Southern California) seeing?

It was 104 degrees here yesterday, and it went to 7 bars for the first time. I checked it after charging for four hours and it was still on 7 bars.
 
I have had the battery temp. go to 7 bars 2 or 3 times -every time the outside temp. was over 98 and I had been driving for awhile. That said, there have also been times when it was 98 outside and I was on the hwy going 60+ and I was still at 6 bars. When at work my car is parked in the hot sun all day, even when it was 100 I still had 6 temp. bars to start with. It looks like we have 2 more temp. bars before we get to the red (when at 7 bars), so I think we are going to be OK even if it gets to 110 here. There is an effect on range in this hot weather as I am definitely seeing decreased range when it is over 97 outside. My garage is hot all the time now and only cools off to 90 overnight, so I'm worrying about if that is affecting the battery life. In the manual, Nissan advises not parking near hot objects :eek: . I could keep the battery in a cooler environment if I parked it on the driveway instead of in the garage overnight, but then I would not be charging during off peak demand times - can't leave garage door open overnight, so garage stays hot.

Any knowledgeable people, please comment on what you think constant ambient temp. of 90-100+ is going to do to my battery....(thinking now I should have gotten the lease....)
 
ecoobsessive said:
Any knowledgeable people, please comment on what you think constant ambient temp. of 90-100+ is going to do to my battery....(thinking now I should have gotten the lease....)

This is really my main concern since it is pretty much 90 from Spring to early Fall here and June, July and August are going to at least be the high 90's if not 100's. I did recently order some heatpump water heaters so when I put those in the garage will be cooled. Just worried about my Leaf cooking in the Texas summer.
 
Remember that the temperature gauge is non-linear. If you look at the service manual, the amount of temperature span that the bars represent grow as you reach either extreme. Thus, it requires a larger change to go from, say, 6 to 7 bars than from 7 to 8 bars... Again, just like the SOC, I wish we had a digital readout of battery temperature... Maybe we can add that to the aftermarket SOC gauge that is in the works...

Edited: I typed the non-linear order backwards!
 
mogur said:
Remember that the temperature gauge is non-linear. If you look at the service manual, the amount of temperature span that the bars represent grow as you reach either extreme. Thus, it requires a larger change to go from, say, 7 to 8 bars than from 6 to 7 bars... .

Looking at the service manual the bars in the midrange (4-8) are all about 24F degrees apart. Outside of that range the increments are smaller.

bt2.jpg
 
Actually it looks to me like the temp. spans decrease when you approach the extreems. Regardless, I think we will be OK since we are fine up to 130, unless someone wants to do a quick charge when it is 115 outside.

Thanks for posting the info from the service manual. Looks like people in cold climates will have more of a problem than us hot climate people (as Nissan expected).

Now let's just get good data on what happens to range in 100-115 temps (all the tables I've seen so far have max temp of 95.
 
I live/work near LEAFfan and have covered parking at work and a garage at home. I have only seen 6 bars so far as my highest. I will check when I leave work here in a few as today is the hottest the car has seen yet; the temp outside here at work is showing 108 degrees F right now.
 
Skywagon said:
I live/work near LEAFfan and have covered parking at work and a garage at home. I have only seen 6 bars so far as my highest. I will check when I leave work here in a few as today is the hottest the car has seen yet; the temp outside here at work is showing 108 degrees F right now.

I wonder if the humidity here plays a roll in heating more? 60% humidity at +100F certainly feels a lot different than +100F with single digit humidity.
 
Sorry, I typed the order backwards of what I intended! The original post has been edited to correct the error.


tzzhc4 said:
mogur said:
Remember that the temperature gauge is non-linear. If you look at the service manual, the amount of temperature span that the bars represent grow as you reach either extreme. Thus, it requires a larger change to go from, say, 7 to 8 bars than from 6 to 7 bars... .

Looking at the service manual the bars in the midrange (4-8) are all about 24F degrees apart. Outside of that range the increments are smaller.
 
I live in Phoenix and currently my car is parked inside the garage not driven since last night and it's already at 6 bars and the outside temperature is 100. I see 7 bars often when I drive in 100 degree weather.
 
Volusiano said:
I live in Phoenix and currently my car is parked inside the garage not driven since last night and it's already at 6 bars and the outside temperature is 100. I see 7 bars often when I drive in 100 degree weather.
So, the batteries are hardly getting above the ambient temperature. Sounds great.
 
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