My Experiments With Turtle

[edatoakrun]

Is it safe to assume that LEAF brake regen will charge the battery and take the car out of "turtle"?

I want to try a big ascent, and expect to be close to turtle at the top. If I don't make it, I can always turn around as soon as I hit turtle, and recharge with regen, right?

Good question ... I don't think anyone's tried that ... and I won't risk guessing what Nissan has "up its sleeve" once the car enters turtle mode. But we're all ready for YOU to try it and answer your own question :lol:

Probably not a good idea to try it here, though:

http://www.nps.gov/lavo/planyourvisit/winter-road-closures-and-spring-clearing-update.htm

The greatest drift depth encountered last week was in excess of 30'

Check out the 6/17 photo. Not much room to maneuver, and one dead LEAF could cause quite a traffic incident.

The northern route to the peak is still closed by snow, and won't open for at least another week. I did make it into the Park, to 5,300 ft on 7/5, and will post about the trip shortly.

 

[GaslessInSeattle]

Has anyone actually gained bars back going down hill?
G

 

[LEAFer]

Has anyone actually gained bars back going down hill?
G

Yes -- not me though -- but I read it here on MNL somewhere ... abasile maybe ?

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

i gained bars on the Pullyallup hill

 

[Caracalover]

I saw the turtle tonight for the first time. I wouldn't have had to...
... 15.5 miles: The turtle came on.
Bottom line for me: There really is quite a bit of reserve after the last bar disappears. I'd call it the equivalent of 1½ bars.

Ray

Thanks for the information Ray, hope to never need it, but good to know anyway.

Best, Eric

 

[TonyWilliams]

I made it to turtle mode tonight, and subsequently came up about half mile short of my house. It was a strategic error that made me walk.

When I first saw "battery low", I reset the trip odometer, measuring 6.5 miles at about 60 mph speed to the next announcement benchmark of "very low battery".

6.5 miles was very much to my range estimates, so I knew that I'd get about the same after "very low battery". I only had 3 miles to go, so I thought we'd wind it up to 94mph for a mile of so to help out getting to turtle mode.

Then I missed my freeway turn off, and the next one down the freeway was blocked for construction! I was already 3.5 miles into "very low", with 5 miles to go. Not even close. The LEAF went into turtle mode with about 1 mile of freeway to go, and an additional mile of surface street, with a final uphill climb to the house.

I got a little lucky in that I was at the top of a hill on the freeway, so I immediately went to neutral and coasted off the freeway and all the way to the first traffic light (about one mile). Heck, I was starting to think I might make it !! As soon as the traffic light turned green, I put the car in drive (I wasn't sure it would let me) and made it through the intersection, with just the uphill part left. At 6.4 miles into "very low", the dash mounted red battery symbol lit up (I guess that means it's no longer charging the lead/acid battery) and the party was over.

One half mile short. I left my oldest son with the car (broken leg), and my youngest son and I walked up to the house to get the mini-van. I have a big yellow tow strap, and remembered to grab a screw driver to pop out the bumper cover for the LEAF tow hook to then be threaded in. I also remembered to slide a trailer hitch into the tow receiver on the mini-van, so that the tow strap could just be looped over the trailer hitch 2 inch ball.

When I got back to the LEAF, I popped out the bumper cover, threaded in the tow hook that was in the left rear storage compartment, threaded the tow strap through the hook and over the mini-van's tow ball. Easy and quick.

In 10 more minutes, we had the car back in our driveway, but it's up hill to the charger. So, I got out the modified EVSE, and a 120 volt extension cord, and let it sit for 3 hours. I did try to drive the car in the garage after 15 minutes of 120 volt charging, but it wouldn't. Every time I checked the car via CarWings, it showed no fuel bars, and 0 mile range. Even after 3 hours of trickle charge.

It did start up, however, after the 3 hour trickle charge. It's now in the garage, on the L2.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Tony; glad you made it ok. sucks on the freeway thing. if there was a wide enough shoulder i would have slowed down immediately and did the freeway at 30 mph to add range but then again. i would only attempt that on about half the freeways here (some parts around here simply have inadequate shoulders to drive on!)

but all in, 90+ miles if even half freeway is excellent.

 

[occ]

I made it to turtle mode tonight, and subsequently came up about half mile short of my house.
.
.
...so I knew that I'd get about the same after "very low battery". I only had 3 miles to go, so I thought we'd wind it up to 94mph for a mile of so to help out getting to turtle mode.

Did I read you right...you "speed up" to 94mph at "very low battery?" :lol: Good to know the power is there there when it's that low.

Again, thanks for the report Tony - good data and insight.

 

[evnow]

6.5 miles was very much to my range estimates, so I knew that I'd get about the same after "very low battery". I only had 3 miles to go, so I thought we'd wind it up to 94mph for a mile of so to help out getting to turtle mode.

Then I missed my freeway turn off, and the next one down the freeway was blocked for construction! I was already 3.5 miles into "very low", with 5 miles to go. Not even close. The LEAF went into turtle mode with about 1 mile of freeway to go, and an additional mile of surface street, with a final uphill climb to the house.

94 mph !

This is the reason why most of us who have tried turtling intentionally kept circling around the house. I think turtle to stop is too short a distance to rely upon for anything other than safely getting into a parking lot ...

 

[abasile]

Has anyone actually gained bars back going down hill?
G

Yes -- not me though -- but I read it here on MNL somewhere ... abasile maybe ?

Yes, I once went from 9 bars to 11 bars going down "our" mountain. The 9th bar had been almost full, though.

Normally we gain just one bar going down the mountain, but that additional bar seems to then last quite a while. For instance, a couple of days ago I charged to 7 bars in order to maximize downhill regen. After maybe the first couple thousand feet of descending (out of ~ 5000'), we went to 8 bars. At the bottom of the descent we were still at 8 bars. However, that 8th bar lasted us roughly 15 miles of freeway driving at 55 mph. We arrived at our destination, 50 miles from home, with 5 bars, only 2 fewer than what we started with! Thanks to tbleakne's home L2, we were able to charge to nearly 100%, sufficient for the return drive of 50 miles and 5000' uphill, gently driven.

 

[TonyWilliams]

This is the reason why most of us who have tried turtling intentionally kept circling around the house. I think turtle to stop is too short a distance to rely upon for anything other than safely getting into a parking lot ...

I did the "house circle" on the first day I got the car, from the Guess-O-Meter numbers (not knowing any better then), and got bored driving around for what seemed forever. Never made it to turtle.

My plan was mostly sound this time, with reasonably accurate data to predict when it would turtle. Just bad execution with missing the exit, and bad luck with a closed exit when I really needed it.

Good learning experience.

 

[TonyWilliams]

if there was a wide enough shoulder i would have slowed down immediately and did the freeway at 30 mph to add range but then again. i would only attempt that on about half the freeways here (some parts around here simply have inadequate shoulders to drive on!)

That would be suicide near my house, at night, with 14 freeway lanes (not an exaggeration). I'm not going to turn a minor inconvenience into something worse.

I had planned on pulling off at the freeway exit as soon as I saw turtle (from 70 mph), but immediately realized that I could coast to my exit at a reasonable speed keeping up with traffic. It's amazing how well the car rolls in neutral !!!

Getting all the way to the first traffic light (well off the freeway) was well beyond my initial expectation with turtle mode originally popping up at 70 mph a mile earlier.

The only question at that point was how far the walk would be on boring residential streets.

 

[planet4ever]

Normally we gain just one bar going down the mountain, but that additional bar seems to then last quite a while. For instance, a couple of days ago I charged to 7 bars in order to maximize downhill regen. After maybe the first couple thousand feet of descending (out of ~ 5000'), we went to 8 bars. At the bottom of the descent we were still at 8 bars. However, that 8th bar lasted us roughly 15 miles of freeway driving at 55 mph.

Yes, that can happen. The SOC at which bars are added is intentionally offset half a bar from the SOC at which they are removed, presumably in order to prevent a bar from blinking on and off repeatedly if you are doing some regen and are right at the margin. So, in your example, bar 9 would not have been displayed until you were really at 8½ bars, from the perspective of discharging. Thus what you might have gotten is 5 miles on an invisible bar 9 and then 10 miles more on bar 8.

Ray

 

[gbarry42]

Now, a while back, someone said that after turtle mode, they went into golf cart mode. I've been scanning the dashboard at startup, and I just can't seem to find that golf cart icon :lol:

 

[TEG]

http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2011/09/field-trial-killing-the-nissan-leafs-battery.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[AP1]

Thanks Teg. This is a MUST SEE video for all Leaf owners.

 

[planet4ever]

Very straightforward honest appraisal. Bravo, cars.com

There was an important news item there:

I asked if we could instead be brought to Eric's house, a mere 2 miles away. She said yes, any distance less than 50 miles is allowed.

The warranty says specifically that towing to a dealer is included. Period.

Ray

 

[IBELEAF]

http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2011/09/field-trial-killing-the-nissan-leafs-battery.html

The only interesting part from th video was the car wasn't moving but ac was still working. Anyone knows how long it would last?

 

[davewill]

I asked if we could instead be brought to Eric's house, a mere 2 miles away. She said yes, any distance less than 50 miles is allowed.

The warranty says specifically that towing to a dealer is included. Period.

Glad they have some leeway. I'd hate to have to go the dealer just for a charge, or for a flat tire.

 

[Herm]

What happens when its 1AM and the dealer is closed, and the charging spots are ICED?.. I bet they will waive that 50 mile rule then.