Charging % question

[MarvGordon]

I think I know the answer but want to make sure I haven't missed anything....

It appears we can charge to either 80 or 100%. I assume my only way to charge to say 50% or 90% is to use the timer and "guess" on stop time?

My main reason for asking is that I've adopted the 80% limit but would like to bump it up just a bit on really cold days or when I want a larger "safety net" when i have to drive a few extra miles.

Thanks

 

[Nubo]

Those are the only 2 programming choices in the car.

If you have a smartphone, it's pretty easy and convenient to turn on the climate control a certain amount of time before your departure. Not only will it warm the car, but will add charge as well, once the car warms and the draw of the heater drops. So you can add some charge and also not have to "spend" battery power warming up the cold car. I find that if I start the climate control when I am getting into the shower, the car is toasty and at 11 bars by the time I leave.

Or you can access Carwings via a computer also.

 

[RegGuheert]

If you have a smartphone, it's pretty easy and convenient to turn on the climate control a certain amount of time before your departure. Not only will it warm the car, but will add charge as well, once the car warms and the draw of the heater drops

Actually, since it is a 2013, it should be able to charge up the battery right away using climate control if it has a heat pump (SV or SL) or it has the 6kW charger option or both.

Of course, in MN, perhaps you will need the 6kW charger on those coldest of days.

 

[ebill3]

Just use the app or the override button and don't be concerned if it goes to 100% - you are going to drive it momentarily so it is not going to harm the battery.

 

[ERG4ALL]

Just this morning the wife needed to charge beyond the 80%. We use the 120V power cord. I pushed the timer-off button at 8:30 and at 10:35 the car was still charging as the third light was still blinking. We disconnected and she started the car and drove off. The charge showed 12 bars and over 90 miles on the GOM. Thus, we got nearly a 100% charge with practically no stress on the battery.

 

[smkettner]

If you need the power just go to 100% using the end timer.
100% is not a big deal unless you let it sit for an extended period.
Best to use the system as designed. JMHO

 

[GregH]

I wouldn't worry about charging to 100% if it's relatively cold.. especially if you're not going to be sitting at full for hours.. ie if you set the timer to finish charging around the time you leave for work (and don't set start time) it won't spend much time at "full". I would guess the extra hour or two spent between 4.05V/cell (80%) and 4.1V/cell (full) won't do any harm, especially in colder climates.

 

[Stanton]

I wouldn't worry about charging to 100% if it's relatively cold.. especially if you're not going to be sitting at full for hours

+1

 

[keydiver]

Just this morning the wife needed to charge beyond the 80%. We use the 120V power cord. I pushed the timer-off button at 8:30 and at 10:35 the car was still charging as the third light was still blinking. We disconnected and she started the car and drove off. The charge showed 12 bars and over 90 miles on the GOM. Thus, we got nearly a 100% charge with practically no stress on the battery.

I do this a lot. Weekdays I only charge to 80%, but on the odd day where I know I might need extra range, the first thing I do when I get up is use the Android app to start the charge. Within ~1 hour the car has charged from 80% to 100%, and I'm ready to go with the extra range. Since it only sits at 100% for minutes, not hours, there is no danger of battery degradation.

 

[dgpcolorado]

If you need the power just go to 100% using the end timer.
100% is not a big deal unless you let it sit for an extended period.
Best to use the system as designed. JMHO

While I would agree with you under most conditions, the downside of going all the way to 100% is no regen braking. For those of us who head downhill, keeping the SOC lower than 100% can be helpful. My way of getting a bit more than 80% is to charge to 80% with my timers then add some more charge by hitting the override button and setting a kitchen timer for a half hour or so (L2).

That said, Minnesota is pretty flat, so needing regen braking to descend hills likely isn't a consideration.

 

[MarvGordon]

Thanks for all the feedback. I don't believe we have any DC Fast Charging stations yet in Minnesota. Minneapolis/St. Paul has a few major highways that "circle" the twin cities and cross through N/S and E/W. It would be a HUGE plus if the state/cities would install just a few DC stations in key locations. I'm in good shape for my work commute, but for those days when i'd like to drive into the city and run errands not having a fast charge option is a real pain....

 

[Nubo]

Just this morning the wife needed to charge beyond the 80%. We use the 120V power cord. I pushed the timer-off button at 8:30 and at 10:35 the car was still charging as the third light was still blinking. We disconnected and she started the car and drove off. The charge showed 12 bars and over 90 miles on the GOM. Thus, we got nearly a 100% charge with practically no stress on the battery.

I do this a lot. Weekdays I only charge to 80%, but on the odd day where I know I might need extra range, the first thing I do when I get up is use the Android app to start the charge. Within ~1 hour the car has charged from 80% to 100%, and I'm ready to go with the extra range. Since it only sits at 100% for minutes, not hours, there is no danger of battery degradation.

Same here, with the modification that about once a month I will set a timer (with LEAF LINK) so that the car actually has about 4 hours to sit after 100% charge completion, to allow time for cell balancing. This is only important if you're going to be pushing to near the range limits, but having an unbalanced pack can result in an unexpectedly rapid decrease in SOC near the bottom of the pack. I ran into this a couple of months ago and reinstated the monthly balancing period.

 

[MarvGordon]

What I was hoping for was an easy way to charge, to say, %50 at home and take advantage of the free charging at the parking ramp and charge to 80% or more (when i need it).

Would be simple if we had support for multiple timers per day and more granularity on % values.