Parked for a week with 80% battery charge, came back DEAD

[smkettner]

I guess since it only took 20% to get to the airport I would have considered seeking out the L2 to get enough charge to make it home. As opposed to waiting for a tow. But I also understand just wanting to get home asap. No much cheap eats at LAX while you wait 90 minutes for a charge.

Could be an issue with the car but if it was mine I would first assume I did something wrong. I would do a test at my own house before leaving it at the dealer.

 

[EVDRIVER]

If you left a dome light on inside the car it may keep cycling the DC to DC to charge the 12V battery. You have an issue or something was on you did not see. Easy to check but my inclination is some form of user error.

 

[Ingineer]

This should not happen. (no offense) But my first guess is the car didn't get shut off.

My mother did this a number of times with her new Prius. One night she heard the engine come on in the garage after leading it on!

If not, then something is keeping the main contactor closed (or is re-closing it often).

There is no "danger" in attempting to charge your pack if the 12v is low or dead. It simply will fail to charge.

-Phil

 

[Jimmydreams]

I'm with Matt, unless something is mechanically wrong it was just left on for the whole time.. it would not take much of a current draw to do it over a week... about a 100wh discharge would do it (8A draw from the 12V battery).

It's VERY easy to leave your car on and walk away. At night, the headlights would have come on, and those alone, for 10-12 hours a day could drain your battery.

I'm gonna go with "Human Error Over Malfunction" for $500, Alex! :lol:

 

[smkettner]

If you left a dome light on inside the car it may keep cycling the DC to DC to charge the 12V battery. You have an issue or something was on you did not see.

This would seem to be a poor design. It would seem that if the car did not move for an extended period it should turn itself completely off.
I can see keeping the 12v battery charged but that is minor load if the Leaf would self deenergize all accesories and running gear.

 

[EVDRIVER]

If you left a dome light on inside the car it may keep cycling the DC to DC to charge the 12V battery. You have an issue or something was on you did not see.

This would seem to be a poor design. It would seem that if the car did not move for an extended period it should turn itself completely off.
I can see keeping the 12v battery charged but that is minor load if the Leaf would self deenergize all accesories and running gear.

If a dome light is on it will discharge the 12V and the car will turn on the DC/DC to charge it and repeat, there are likely other loads that come on so it is possible. It's not a bad design as it makes sure you can close the contactor before the 12V batter is dead. If there is a real issue with this car it can be tested in 24 hours if not charged. I bet there is not.

 

[uwskier20]

It's VERY easy to leave your car on and walk away. At night, the headlights would have come on, and those alone, for 10-12 hours a day could drain your battery.

I'm gonna go with "Human Error Over Malfunction" for $500, Alex! :lol:

So, will the car remain on in the absence of the key fob for an extended period of time? That seems odd. I would think that if, remaining still, it would eventually ask, "are you there?" a few times, and then power down.

 

[DarkStar]

It's VERY easy to leave your car on and walk away. At night, the headlights would have come on, and those alone, for 10-12 hours a day could drain your battery.

I'm gonna go with "Human Error Over Malfunction" for $500, Alex! :lol:

So, will the car remain on in the absence of the key fob for an extended period of time? That seems odd. I would think that if, remaining still, it would eventually ask, "are you there?" a few times, and then power down.

Yep, once the car is on it doesn't care where the fob is.

 

[uwskier20]

Yep, once the car is on it doesn't care where the fob is.

I guess that can be a good and a bad thing. I have heard many-a-story of the passenger getting out of the car with the fob in their pocket, leaving the driver stranded. :lol:

I would think though that, after some predetermined period of vehicle inactivity, the car might decide to try to nudge the driver to see if they are even there. Maybe this could be addressed in a future software update.

I will definitely be looking to make sure it is off, and make sure my wife (the forgetful one!) knows as well.

 

[ranchleaf]

It's VERY easy to leave your car on and walk away. At night, the headlights would have come on, and those alone, for 10-12 hours a day could drain your battery.

I'm gonna go with "Human Error Over Malfunction" for $500, Alex! :lol:

So, will the car remain on in the absence of the key fob for an extended period of time? That seems odd. I would think that if, remaining still, it would eventually ask, "are you there?" a few times, and then power down.

Yep, once the car is on it doesn't care where the fob is.

Even as a seasoned EV person I have actually left our leaf on and walked away for a few hours as I was in a hurry. I wonder if the car perhaps shut itself down once it got to 1 bar thus the driver wouldn't have noticed it on? I don't have access to the manual right now, but there might be something in there about it. Would be nice to have an auto sleep setting like a laptop if your parked, where you could set the duration.

 

[smkettner]

If you left a dome light on inside the car it may keep cycling the DC to DC to charge the 12V battery. You have an issue or something was on you did not see.

This would seem to be a poor design. It would seem that if the car did not move for an extended period it should turn itself completely off.
I can see keeping the 12v battery charged but that is minor load if the Leaf would self deenergize all accesories and running gear.

If a dome light is on it will discharge the 12V and the car will turn on the DC/DC to charge it and repeat, there are likely other loads that come on so it is possible. It's not a bad design as it makes sure you can close the contactor before the 12V batter is dead. If there is a real issue with this car it can be tested in 24 hours if not charged. I bet there is not.

My ten year old truck will turn off headlights, dome lights and the rest if left on for an extended period when parked.
I don't know that this feature would work if the key was left in the ON position. Leaf in question was supposedly OFF.
And of course if left running, the truck would certainly idle until the fuel runs out.

But still for an electric car I think some provision should have been made. Say if idle for five hours it should check for the proximity key and shut down.

Might be worth logging into carwings to check battery level while on a trip. Can Leaf be turned off remotely?

 

[Kataphn]

I have been out of state for a week. I just checked charge status of LEAF on owner's portal. Still where we left it at 83%.

 

[KeiJidosha]

Doesn’t Carwings owners portal tell you the status of the car? If not, it should. Saves energy not having to fly back from Hawaii to turn off the Iron.

I mean LEAF...

 

[z0ner]

I wish the OP would come back and update this post, although with all of the veterans reporting little to no degredation methinks he may be too embarassed to admit it was left powered on.

 

[davewill]

I wish the OP would come back and update this post, although with all of the veterans reporting little to no degredation methinks he may be too embarassed to admit it was left powered on.

If he didn't definitely remember either leaving it on or turning it off before, there'd be no way to be sure now. They only thing he can do is either take it for service, or keep an eye on it for more of this behavior.

 

[evnow]

If he didn't definitely remember either leaving it on or turning it off before, there'd be no way to be sure now. They only thing he can do is either take it for service, or keep an eye on it for more of this behavior.

The # of hours on carwings for the trip should give some hints.

 

[EricH]

I have been out of state for a week. I just checked charge status of LEAF on owner's portal. Still where we left it at 83%.

+1

We were out of the country April 19-May 1. I wrote down the # bars as well as the indicated range in miles before we left; both were identical when we returned 12 days later; zero loss of charge.

 

[Jayhawk]

I wish the OP would come back and update this post, although with all of the veterans reporting little to no degredation methinks he may be too embarassed to admit it was left powered on.

Perhaps they forgot that they left this post on.

 

[hill]

I think 'gudy' said in a thread somewhere that he left his car for 3 weeks and lost only a couple of miles.

Here's the thread about the member who shipped his LEAF across county and saw a huge drop in the battery, but turns out because the shipper left it on.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=2291&start=0

Now suddenly we're talking the most likely cause.

I wish the OP would come back and update this post, although with all of the veterans reporting little to no degredation methinks he may be too embarassed to admit it was left powered on.

Pride . . . such a silly thing.

 

[palmermd]

the original post is not even 24 hours old...have a little patients. Not everyone spends there entire day online here. Some people only check once per day, and others less frequently if you can believe that.