Sudden Turtle Mode in Very Cold Weather

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I’m not seeing turtle mode but I do see my SOC bars drop from 12 to only 2 when I start out with no battery temperature bars and drive up a hill at 100 kph. Temperature around -20C.
Also see the available power circles drop by half just before my range estimate tanks.
As soon as I lift the accelerator to exit highway everything returns to normal. LeafSpy is not showing anything out of the ordinary when I get home.
 
Hi.. just to add to this old thread, I have also twice had turtle icon pop up when driving on the highway in very cold weather (-20 degrees celsius). At first I worried the car would lose power, but nothing really happened.... I still chirped along at 90km/hour, and my range remained where it was (about 50km at that point). Once I parked and restarted the car later the icon went away. So I am interpreting this as a glitch that happens at low temperatures but isn't actually related to performance. I hope not to be proven wrong!
 
+1 for the battery warmer.

IIRC the built-in 300W heater is activated only through a thermostat in the pack and it seems to be the only form of control it has. I'll go out on a limb and deduct from this that it cannot be activated from outside the pack in a way that we could leverage.

I haven't got the turtle mode yet but at -10C (pack temps) I've seen the regen drop to 5-10kW and traction output throttled (though not that much). Driving for an hour restore the temps to positive values (celsius).

I wouldn't mind spending 300W to warm up the pack further if it brings it into more nominal operating range.
 
binks said:
I started to experience this issue this year. Anyone ever find a solution?

I had the same thing happen to me this weekend with my 2017 Leaf S. Temperature was around -15°C (5°F) and battery was at 54%. The car had been parked for several cold days, and it dropped down below -20°C (-5°F) the previous night.

I drove to my destination (under 10 minutes) and didn't really notice much difference except maybe some minor hesitation while accelerating. I parked for about 10 minutes and when I restarted the car there was no more turtle.

Does anyone think it would help to leave the car plugged in all the time during extreme cold? I have my car set to warm up every morning... would that trigger the battery warmer as well?
 
I know Nissan wants you to plug in anytime the temp is -1 outside. I've had the same problem to am extent starting last year where i can end up with turtle mode at start up during times with consistently low temps. To my knowledge it's likely an indication of some weaker cells in the battery pack if the SoC is higher when it happens.

The climate control doesn't start the battery warmer as far as i know, but i have vague memories of some people saying excess climate control flows towards battery pack but I would think that would be negligible compared to battery pack's temp based warmer
 
Does anyone think it would help to leave the car plugged in all the time during extreme cold? I have my car set to warm up every morning... would that trigger the battery warmer as well?

IF you want to leave it plugged in, then I strongly suggest you also attach a 12 volt battery maintainer to the battery, to prevent it from being drained when the car is plugged in but not charging.
 
LeftieBiker said:
IF you want to leave it plugged in, then I strongly suggest you also attach a 12 volt battery maintainer to the battery, to prevent it from being drained when the car is plugged in but not charging.

Too bad the 12 volt battery isn't charged while the car is charging... I guess that makes too much sense.

I'll hook up my battery tender during the cold snap.
 
The 12V battery is being charged when the traction battery is actually charging, but not when the car is plugged in after traction battery charging is complete (or if waiting for charge timer to start charging).
 
GerryAZ said:
The 12V battery is being charged when the traction battery is actually charging, but not when the car is plugged in after traction battery charging is complete (or if waiting for charge timer to start charging).

Thanks! That's good to know.

Drove my Leaf again tonight in even colder weather after a full charge and all went well... no turtle mode.
 
rodenti said:
Drove my Leaf again tonight in even colder weather after a full charge and all went well... no turtle mode.
The pack temperature matters, not the temperature outside
 
Yesterday morning it was -25 °C and I drove my daughter to work. The car had been plugged in overnight with the delayed charge on. The SOC was 94%. After a few hundred yards without any rapid acceleration, the turtle icon came on and was still on when I arrived at work (about 20 km). I turned the car off and on and the turtle icon was off. While the icon was on, the behaviour of the car was normal as far as I could tell. I guess only Nissan`s software engineers know why this would happen.
 
binks said:
This past two weeks with the super cold have been not great for this car

Same here. Turtle mode again this morning at -25°C, but still drove as normal. Driving home in the afternoon the turtle was gone. Doesn't seem to affect the driveability of the vehicle, but definitely bothers me when the turtle appears.

Maybe I'll bring it into the dealership for its yearly service a little early.
 
rodenti said:
binks said:
This past two weeks with the super cold have been not great for this car

Same here. Turtle mode again this morning at -25°C, but still drove as normal. Driving home in the afternoon the turtle was gone. Doesn't seem to affect the driveability of the vehicle, but definitely bothers me when the turtle appears.

Maybe I'll bring it into the dealership for its yearly service a little early.

It does for me. We've been in the situation where using the highway is not an option.
 
GerryAZ said:
The 12V battery is being charged when the traction battery is actually charging, but not when the car is plugged in after traction battery charging is complete (or if waiting for charge timer to start charging).
^^^THIS
Which is why it's good to have a nice, long charge on L1/L2 (also charges the 12v) and then unplug when complete (keeps from draining the 12v)!
 
I have had the turtle mode come on here recently at around 68 or so SoC and 6 degrees after being unplugged. It had started happening last year. I consider it a phantom turtle mode since the car drives normally (don't do much highway driving). I was more concerned last year and took it in early for service and Nissan didn't find anything.

Generally speaking it seems to go away once the battery temp bars get out of the lower two blue bar area.

My hunch is that the cold weather affects the BMS readings of the cells and may be indicative of weaker cells that are going to go bad earlier than others.

Generally speaking to avoid it I think best practice is probably to consider plugging it at whatever temp is necessary to help keep battery warm and utilizing climate control timer to precondition car before departure
 
It would be helpful to the community if someone uses LeafSpy, while the car is in turtle mode, to see if there's a large cell imbalance.
 
alozzy said:
It would be helpful to the community if someone uses LeafSpy, while the car is in turtle mode, to see if there's a large cell imbalance.

There pretty much has to be, unless ALL of the cells are low. Cell voltage is what the BMS uses to assess the battery while driving.
 
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