barsad22 said:
And what is the Health number (all I can find is a "16-bit number I'm playing with" earlier in this thread)?
Again, sorry if I missed it in earlier posts.
JG
I'm interested in the same thing right now as well. I recently updated to the latest version, and have been
unnerved by the "health" figure ever since I first saw it. Mine's lingering around the 68% area, apparently dropping. I believe it started at around 72% or so when I first discovered it a few weeks ago. I've since started changing driving habits a bit, and it seems to have stopped the downward trend, now fluctuating around this (last night while charging):
An explanation I've read is that health represents the battery's internal resistance - but not much to explain what that represents. The internal resistance is how much the voltage drops under load - how much effort the battery has to put forth to deliver the amount of power being consumed. This is what makes or breaks a battery, and why lithium has such a huge advantage over lead and earlier batteries: it has a very low internal resistance. As this resistance rises, health gets lower. I'd imagine the Leaf's computer uses this information to protect the battery as much as it can, by setting limits as needed regarding regen and acceleration.
In other words, health is actually very important. This explanation of internal resistance goes in line with all the trends I'd seen in posts I've read so far, and my own car's experience. It could spell an early decay for a strained battery. It seems very much dependent on how much strain is put on the battery during its use. Some folks are posting pretty decent health, and low health seems somewhat rare. I've driven the past 9 months of my Leaf like a racecar for the most part - but with zero quick-chargers to abuse in my area. Just over a thousand L2 charges, three quick charges. It's also a 2011 model that sat unused on a lot for over a year. The sudden racecar abuse of a battery that sat for a year might not be the best thing in the world...
The big question I've got now is... what can be done to improve health, not just stop killing it?