Recent content by alanlarson

You say you "charged it today", but how much, how long? Did you just push it up to around 12.8 - 13 volts, or did you let is slowly charge for hours (like lead-acid wants)? 10.8 volts sounds like it might be one cell of the lead-acid battery not delivering voltage - 5/6 of 13 volts is around...

I don't think they will. The wavelength of light is in the 400 - 800 nanometer range, so a dipole would be about half that. The voltage derived from the electromagnetic field of sunlight would seem unlikely to be enough to overcome the forward voltage drop of a diode. Further, the junction...

I have charged with the EVSE plugged into a 100 foot #12 extension cord. In fact, I have used two different such cords. I have also plugged a 100 foot #12 cord into a 50 foot #12 cord, and chaged through that. No problems. I suspect that the connection to the outlet is poor, and the weight...

Lower energy costs? Not in California - electricity costs about 30 percent MORE than diesel. If electric vehicles make sense for USPS, they should be able to buy them, but political pressure from petitions makes no more sense than political pressure from congress folks. I would sign a...

I tried eco mode, and haven't used it since. It is fairly simple to learn to apply foot to pedal gently and not need eco mode to do it for you. B mode is useful in stop and go, but it does feel a lot like driving the Diesel in a lower gear (manual transmission).

On my 2014, the lights go out. If the handle were defective, it might not be signaling. Perhaps try a few different stations?

I agree. At times I have seen one car in 3 or 4 being cheaters. I suspect they don't ticket them because they want to justify more carpool and toll lanes.

The static and poor reception on the radio in AM mode in the Jetta. VW antenna modules have an apparently-well-known problem with moisture ruining them in just a bit longer than the car warranty. I hope the Leaf doesn't have the same problem in 2 -3 years.

Despite their name, rare earths are not rare. If you want some articles on it, go to google and enter "rare earths are not rare" (include the quotes).

The total charge will be the same. The GOM range tells what you can do with that charge, based on recent consumption and driving style.

Or: "yes, I save $60 on fuel, and my electric bill goes up $80 because I live in California. But it is still a fun car to drive."

It has been reported that the leaf pulls about 300 watts of "overhead" power while charging. That is listed as a factor in L2 charge rates being more efficient than L1 rates - the faster charge means one is wasting 300 watts for fewer hours. Charging at 6 amps from 120 volts would give (at...

Looking around, it appears that it was a 42 volt system, just as current cars are a 14 volt system. This kept the charging voltage around 42 volts, and was a "36 volt" battery. The voltages were all 3 times current values for 12 volt systems. See...

Mine at about 9 months of age has started sagging down onto the charge connector when charging overnight (or similar periods). It used to stay up where I put it when I plugged in the connector, but now I find it down against the connector.

As one who favors nuclear power, yeah! I did read once that the fuel used can be designed to not have the shutdown poisioning problem. Generally that more expensive fuel is used in things like nuclear submarines, where sitting shut down is not acceptable. (I learned this from a friend some...