Charge Timer on 2013 Leaf S - Can someone Tell Me

[Eire32]

Hi,

So I am trying to program my Leaf 2013 S to switch ON its charge off-peak starting at 10:10pm and Ending at 05:50am.

I went into the timer settings and while theres a Timer ON time i.e. 22:10 theres no Timer OFF time to enter and as such as soon as I get out of the car the car starts charging right away……

Driving me nuts, the newer model seems straightforward …..am I missing something here that theres no timer OFF time…..

 

[BrockWI]

It is an "End timer" meaning whatever time you set it for is when the car will be done charging. Since your off peak rate ends at 5:50, just set that time for 5:50 and it will be charged by that time. The car will automatically calculate a "start" time on its own based on the end time. So if thinks it will take 2 hours to charge at 240vac and you have the car set for 5:50 it will just start at 3:50. I have never had the car overshoot then end time, but have seen it done as much as an hour early.

The only issue is if your charging on 120vac with the supplied trickle charger the car will take a LOT longer to charge and start charging before your 10:10 time, but if you need it charged by the end time you set then it has to start before your 10:10 time to get done by 5:50.

 

[Eire32]

Hey!

Thanks so much for explaining that!
I got the EVSE upgraded trickle charger so it will charge in 5 hours it says even though there is 45% battery left!

How much effort would it have taken them to create a timer on time!!

Thanks for the quick reply!!!

 

[BrockWI]

I agree, but the funny thing is they wanted to make it as simple as possible, just set and end time and forget the rest. I sort of get it, but at the same time it is confusing at first.

 

[Slow1]

So.. .if I set the "end timer" does that mean it will apply every day?

What happens if I plug in mid-day and need to charge a bit (home or public) - do I have to clear the timer or is there an easy override?

I have not yet played with the timer (we don't have TOU billing here) - but may want to in order to 'just be a good citizen' and draw during lower demand times....

 

[TomT]

It is one of the truly stupid ways that they differentiated the S from the SL and SV...

How much effort would it have taken them to create a timer on time!!

 

[dgpcolorado]

So.. .if I set the "end timer" does that mean it will apply every day?

What happens if I plug in mid-day and need to charge a bit (home or public) - do I have to clear the timer or is there an easy override?

I have not yet played with the timer (we don't have TOU billing here) - but may want to in order to 'just be a good citizen' and draw during lower demand times....

Yes, the timer on the S model applies to every day (no days-of-the-week settings, as on the SV/SL). To charge during the day you can turn the timer off or you can use the override button on the dash (left of the steering wheel).

One caution: if you use the override button it will charge as long as it remains plugged-in but if unplugged the car will revert to timer. That can be a problem if someone unplugs the car for some reason: it won't start charging again when the plug is replaced. If that's an issue, best to just turn the timer off (no need to change the time setting).

One advantage of end-time-only timer is that it helps electric companies. Why? In TOU areas, if all the EVs switch on at the start of the low rate window it causes a spike in usage. With end-time charging each car comes on at a different time, depending on how much charge is needed (and they tend to finish at random intervals depending on how the car calculates SOC and charge time). Less stress to the grid.

The problem with the end-time-only timer on the S model is that it isn't well explained in the manual or on the dash, not that it doesn't work well.