The new battery will last much longer if it gets fully charged by a charger or maintainer at least once a week. Many of us have added the hardwired lead for a battery maintainer, and some of us have also lengthened the lead and run it into the charge port compartment, so we can top off the accessory battery without opening the hood. This also allows you to leave the car plugged in for longer periods while not charging, without killing the 12 volt battery.
12V Battery problems
- Thread starter Swifty
- Start date
Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:
Bob
Well-known member
The Leaf will NOT top off the 12V battery when it is connected to an EVSE. I'm not sure why, but it has frustrated many Leaf owners.
Note: This may have been fixed in more recent years, but was the case for 2013 and earlier.
Bob
Note: This may have been fixed in more recent years, but was the case for 2013 and earlier.
Bob
TimLee
Well-known member
Not quite correct Bob.Bob said:
When the EVSE is charging the traction battery it does charge the 12 volt battery.
Normal routine charging of the LEAF every two to three days or more often is usually sufficient to keep the 12 volt tolerably charged.
The problem is the LEAF should NOT be left connected to the EVSE for extended periods.
Unplug it from the LEAF when the LEAF is done charging.
Leaving the LEAF connected for a week while on holiday is the easiest way to kill the 12 volt battery.
The LEAF uses more parasitic power while connected to the EVSE.
Also it will not do the periodic top off of the 12 volt, but that periodic top off is also often inadequate for the 12 volt battery.
DNAinaGoodWay
Well-known member
If you plug in and start a charge session on your home EVSE, and then manually push the stop button on the EVSE, the LEAF will stop charging the traction battery, but top off the 12V, indicated by flashing the driver's side blue dash light.
That's assuming you have a Stop button on your EVSE, of course.
You piqued my curiosity, so (at 06:35) I went out to my garage and checked. I knew there was a row of two lights and a third "something else". Turned out that the "something else" is the fault indicator. Luckily, that's never come on, which is why I didn't know what it is.LeftieBiker said:
Apart from that, there's only the key lock, which simply turns off the mains 240V supply inside the wall charger. I'll go and read the manual. I recall seeing something about 12V charging.
The Nissan portable EVSE doesn't have a Stop button, and neither do the Clipper Creek EVSEs that are popular here. It's interesting that you can use a stopped EVSE to charge the 12 volt battery, but for a lot of us it isn't useful - no Stop button.
DNAinaGoodWay
Well-known member
No stop button? As an experiment, try switching off the breaker. The third blue light flashes for a while as long as the J1772 is plugged in. GBarry42 measured it in this thread:
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?style=3&f=26&t=16788" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I noticed it one day when I had to leave early before it was done charging. No clue why unplugging the J1772 stops it.
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?style=3&f=26&t=16788" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I noticed it one day when I had to leave early before it was done charging. No clue why unplugging the J1772 stops it.
RegGuheert
Well-known member
While you are correct that the LEAF starts charging the 12V battery when the traction battery is charged, Bob is correct that it does NOT top it off. Rather it charges for a few minutes and then drops down to a float voltage of 13.1V after just a few minutes. As a result, the battery never gets fully charged in many usage scenarios, leading to sulfation and early death.TimLee said:
TimLee
Well-known member
I agree completely.RegGuheert said:
The amount of time it spends at 14.4 volt top off charging is often very short.
Still baffling why they were so cautious with 12 volt battery charging.
dgpcolorado
Well-known member
I generally get seven to nine years out of a standard car battery. Nine years is most common. Depends on where one lives and how one takes care of the battery.Stanton said:
So, I got up this morning and went to start my 2013 Leaf and it was completely dead. No lights, no beeps, no nothing. I jumped the 12 volt and it started fine. Drove it 6 miles to the dealership. The Leaf technician is not there on Saturday so all they could do was test the 12v. It was at 12.4 volts. So is that normal? Should I just replace the battery? It seems to be working fine at the moment.
Stanton
Well-known member
Leesonw said:
Unless you like playing "Russian Roulette" with getting stranded (and/or a host of other 12v related problems), replace it.
jpadc
Well-known member
Let them keep it overnight and have the dealer test it the next morning before trying to start the LEAF. When they see its bad, you can get Nissan to pay for the replacement battery as its a warranty item unless you are past the milage.Leesonw said:
Yes, there is no problem with that. The maintainer won't always start charging right away if the car is also charging the 12 volt battery (the system voltage will read "full" then even if the battery isn't) but it will start charging as soon as the car starts to neglect the battery again.
As for the battery reading 12.4 volts: if it's an old battery it isn't worth the risk. If it isn't old it will probably last a while longer after being properly and fully charged. Mine went nearly dead in 2013, and it's still working. Of course, it gets a lot of help from a battery maintainer...
RegGuheert
Well-known member
There is no way for anyone to answer that question since we do not know the conditions under which this voltage was measured.Leesonw said:
I wouldn't.Leesonw said:
Even if your battery is in fine shape, you should not trust it until it is FULLY charged using an EXTERNAL trickle charger. The reason is that it is nearly impossible to fully charge a lead-acid battery quickly. On top of that,the LEAF does not do a good job even if it has the time.Leesonw said:
TimLee
Well-known member
Agreed.LeftieBiker said:
But depending on the battery maintainer it may not do much because it has seen voltage from the DC to DC while the LEAF was charging.
When LEAF finishes charging EVSE should be unplugged because leaving it plugged up for long time is bad for 12V.
But I always disconnect the battery maintainer negative lead and reconnect so it can check the resting 12V voltage and start the maintainer cycle from the start.
mjblazin
Well-known member
This holiday vacation I uncovered several things I did not know:
- my 12 volt battery was dead upon 8 day absence. Best thought on culprit was OBDC II wifi adapter I did not disconnect. Though not a problem day to day, it was enough after more than a week.
- a electric car where 12 volt battery dies not work is problematic, e.g., rear hatch not accessible
- I did a jump on 12 volt and started car. Unlike an ICE, just driving around the Leaf for an hour does not charge up the 12 volt battery. You have to take the 8 hours to charge it with a real charger. I did so and have not had a subsequent issue.
- in my Volvo, when battery died, all set ups vanished creating issues for things like radio. For some reason, the Leaf retained all set ups from XM settings, Internet/phone connections, garage door opener to dashboard time.
***. Is there another battery in the system that keeps the set ups in place as in a lap top? If it is there, it was a lifesaver.
Now I make a habit of disconnecting the wifi adapter. I have an extension cable so the dashboard port does not take abuse from connect/disconnect, another reason to always have an extension cable.
- my 12 volt battery was dead upon 8 day absence. Best thought on culprit was OBDC II wifi adapter I did not disconnect. Though not a problem day to day, it was enough after more than a week.
- a electric car where 12 volt battery dies not work is problematic, e.g., rear hatch not accessible
- I did a jump on 12 volt and started car. Unlike an ICE, just driving around the Leaf for an hour does not charge up the 12 volt battery. You have to take the 8 hours to charge it with a real charger. I did so and have not had a subsequent issue.
- in my Volvo, when battery died, all set ups vanished creating issues for things like radio. For some reason, the Leaf retained all set ups from XM settings, Internet/phone connections, garage door opener to dashboard time.
***. Is there another battery in the system that keeps the set ups in place as in a lap top? If it is there, it was a lifesaver.
Now I make a habit of disconnecting the wifi adapter. I have an extension cable so the dashboard port does not take abuse from connect/disconnect, another reason to always have an extension cable.
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