Active cooling your leaf battery

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If I may resurrect an old thread. I was thinking a couple of these piezo coolers pointed down the top of the battery with the radiator out front. One of the reviewe has his down to 55 degrees. What do you think?
https://www.amazon.com/Hilitand-Thermoelectric-Semiconductor-Cooling-Vibration/dp/B07RP9RGJ7/ref=sr_1_19?keywords=thermoelectric+cooler&qid=1659126562&sr=8-19
 
Welcome. I suspect that a device recommended for "pet cooling" isn't going to have the heat moving muscle needed to cool a Leaf battery. Nor will six of them.
 
Hi everyone, hope it's ok to reply to this old post, i have the leaf 2021 with 40Kv in israel and saffering of the same heating problem... I thought as a partial solution it might help to add a thin sealed tray under the battery and on one side there would be a connection to a thick tube (like a vacuum cleaner for example) which will be able to connect to one of the openings of the air conditioner and in addition there would be very small holes in the tray on the sides through which the air would exit, in my opinion this should help at least partially , I would be happy if anyone has an idea how to make this device in the most optimal way...
 
In a hot climate, I think few options will offer much relief to force cool the battery unless you are willing to go I to the case. (I guess that leaves a drive to Mt Hermon for some cooling (Shavua Tov).

For cool climates, i found that 3 hours of passive cooling while driving efficiently at highway speeds does almost give you enough space for a reasonable charge. The issue is the top of the pack doesn't have any real airflow, so my curiosity is whether a smal fan mounted under the center rear hatch could help push air over the top of the pack (even just a little)to give me just a little more thermal space. I saw someone on facebook suggest placing cloths between the top.of the pack and the car, then using a spritzer to pull heat via the case. I don't like the idea of pouring water around the battery, even if sealed. My fear about dry ice, is that if the co2 leaks back into the cabin in volume, that might not be good for alertness.
 
DougWantsALeaf said:
about dry ice, is that if the co2 leaks back into the cabin in volume, that might not be good for alertness.

You mean risk of death by asphyxiation
 
Sprinklers, not as crazy as it sounds :) ??

There are about 8000 BTU / 2500 watts of cooling to be had by evaporating a gallon of water. I'm honestly surprised someone has not rigged up an evaporative cooler (as in spraying the pack beneath the car) that would operate only with the car in motion. The pack housing is far more corrosion resistant than the rest of the car. Gravity, some plastic tubing and a reservoir under the hood.

All the connections are at the front of the pack, so a system of tubes delivering water behind that, with the vehicle in motion, would provide quite a lot of cooling. Dala ...

Seriously though, you're talking a lot of mass, contained in a metal box with an air gap. Cooling the pack from the outside is pretty much a waste of time.
 
My proposal, for the Gen I Leaf, was a small but high-powered fan, aimed into the "tunnel" that runs from the nose to the tail of those cars. Alas, that was eliminated for Gen II.
 
I am considering mounting a small (3") USB powered external cpu case fan into the opening to push air over the top of the pack.

In my longer Leaf travels, I find the bottom of the pack actually often cools enough for repeated DC charging, but the top doesn't cool enough by the 3rd charge. Even 5F additional cooling over 3 hours would make a difference.

AC Infinity MULTIFAN S3, Quiet 120mm USB Fan, UL-Certified for Receiver DVR Playstation Xbox Computer Cabinet Cooling https://a.co/d/6jgarn9

A small lith battery pack could run the fan for hours.

I dont know if you need that much air to get a few F of additional cooling.
 
DougWantsALeaf said:
I am considering mounting a small (3") USB powered external cpu case fan into the opening to push air over the top of the pack.

In my longer Leaf travels, I find the bottom of the pack actually often cools enough for repeated DC charging, but the top doesn't cool enough by the 3rd charge. Even 5F additional cooling over 3 hours would make a difference.

AC Infinity MULTIFAN S3, Quiet 120mm USB Fan, UL-Certified for Receiver DVR Playstation Xbox Computer Cabinet Cooling https://a.co/d/6jgarn9

A small lith battery pack could run the fan for hours.

I dont know if you need that much air to get a few F of additional cooling.
I personally have that fan along with:
AC Infinity MULTIFAN S2, Quiet 120mm USB Blower Fan with Speed Control
AC Infinity MULTIFAN S4, Quiet 140mm USB Fan -- even this is only rated at 57 CFM

I use them for cooling stuff like my NVR, LED-lit DLP TV (long story), TiVo Bolt, TiVo mini, etc. I would guess you'd need way more airflow than from any of those to make a dent on cooling the battery.

To me, you'd need something along the lines of the 1st dozen fans at https://www.homedepot.com/b/Heating-Venting-Cooling-Fans-Blower-Fans/N-5yc1vZc4m7, used to try to dry/keep floors or rooms dry that have gotten wet from flooding or foot traffic of people coming in from wet areas. My local Walmart had something like this to keep the floor dry near the entrance.
 
A duct connected to the car's cabin HVAC, says on the passenger side, and blowing cold air from the A/C, might also do the trick. I seem to recall a setup like that being linked here, years ago.
 
I don't think there is enough air pressure in the underseat duct to do ..anything. You might be able to use the case fan to pull air forward from the duct to send AC to the back seats with a little PVC piping.

For the battery, I need the cooling while driving, so the larger floor fan might be a bit unwieldy.

I am not sure any.l air goes over the battery while driving,.so even a little air might help on top. Again 5F additional over 2-3 hours would be enough. The air needs pushed just a couple feet.
 
No, no. I meant connect a flex duct to the cabin air outlet on the passenger side, under the dash. Run the blower on at least 3, set the A/C relatively cold, and that should work. Better still, duct ALL the Floor HVAC outlet air back there this way, and you can select "Cool (or Heat) Battery" instead of "Floor."
 
I think for that to work, you still need to pipe it into the hole and back towards the back of the pack. It also means you have to figure out a way for it not to look unseemly. I was thinking the USB cord could probsbly.squak through the side of the cover.

I will let you know what i decide. Now that the car is outside of main warranty. I want to try some things.
 
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