Shifting into N, Releasing E-Brake with Dead 12V Battery

[bamahophead]

I work at a company that has several LEAFs for employees to drive and demonstrate. I don't own one personally, but have a fair amount of experience in the car. I am trying to put together basic emergency kits for the cars with information on possible issues. Since the cars move around so much, they have a lot of first-time EV drivers in them. I'm dreading the time when someone parks the car in a parking garage and gets out without turning it off, draining the 12V battery in a place with limited access to the front of the car.

Is there a way to shift the car into N and disengage the parking brake so it can be pushed to an open area and jumped in case this happens? I know there is a Parking Brake Mechanical Release in the manual, but it looks like this is no small matter and that the vehicle will have to be taken in and repaired after that's been done. The only information I can find on moving the car to Neutral involves jumping the 12V first, so that doesn't help much.

 

[mwalsh]

Just brainstorming. Don't know if it will work...what about a 12v supply that plugs into the power outlet in the car? I've used these in the past with other cars. Sometimes, if the battery is not too far gone, it's been enough to crank them over enough for a start. But I don't recall if that depended on the power outlet working independently of the ignition (it's been a few years).

 

[smkettner]

I think a jump box would be an easy solution.

 

[davewill]

I think a jump box would be an easy solution.

Since the LEAF doesn't need to run a starter motor to get going, this would work very easily.

BTW to the OP: Leaving the car on doesn't generally drain the 12v battery as happens with an ICE car. It runs down the traction battery fairly slowly. I'd expect the car to stay on for a long time (12 hrs plus or minus, depending on whether the AC/heat is on) before shutting down. You'd have to do something like leave the lights on to run the 12v battery down.

 

[Stanton]

Just brainstorming. Don't know if it will work...what about a 12v supply that plugs into the power outlet in the car?

Warning: my understanding is you are NOT to do this with a Leaf (or any BEV).
I think the "draining the 12v battery" thing was covered (in fact, leaving the car "on" will probably keep the 12v battery charged).

 

[TomT]

Since the power outlet is disconnected until the car is turned on, this wouldn't help much with a dead battery, all other consideration aside...

Just brainstorming. Don't know if it will work...what about a 12v supply that plugs into the power outlet in the car?

 

[bamahophead]

BTW to the OP: Leaving the car on doesn't generally drain the 12v battery as happens with an ICE car. It runs down the traction battery fairly slowly. I'd expect the car to stay on for a long time (12 hrs plus or minus, depending on whether the AC/heat is on) before shutting down. You'd have to do something like leave the lights on to run the 12v battery down.

Ok, that may generally be true. But I just had one of our Volts 12V battery drain overnight, and our best guess as to why was that the driver left with the vehicle still on. It's not unusual for our vehicles to be left alone for 24+ hours, depending on what's going on.

I think the "draining the 12v battery" thing was covered (in fact, leaving the car "on" will probably keep the 12v battery charged).

It's my understanding that this is not the case: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=8471" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (See Sparky's post about half-way down the page). I've seen several other people report similar issues.

I half expect a portable charger to be the best solution for this (unlikely, knock on wood) scenario. If that's the case, I'll just have jumper cables in all the cars and my contact information in case that doesn't work. I just wanted to get some opinions on other options.

 

[kubel]

Since the power outlet is disconnected until the car is turned on, this wouldn't help much with a dead battery,

Does anyone know which relay controls the outlet? I want to defeat it for my dashcam so it will continue working when the car is off.

 

[dgpcolorado]

I think the "draining the 12v battery" thing was covered (in fact, leaving the car "on" will probably keep the 12v battery charged).

It's my understanding that this is not the case: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=8471" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (See Sparky's post about half-way down the page). I've seen several other people report similar issues.

I half expect a portable charger to be the best solution for this (unlikely, knock on wood) scenario. If that's the case, I'll just have jumper cables in all the cars and my contact information in case that doesn't work. I just wanted to get some opinions on other options.

This is a bit complicated so please bear with me:

"On" as in "Ready to drive" (green car icon) will use the traction battery to maintain charge in the 12 Volt battery.

"On" as in accessories, but not ready to drive, will drain the 12 Volt battery fairly rapidly because it is not topped up by the traction battery (except when actively charging).

There has been some discussion that some people inadvertently "double tap" the start button when turning the car off. It takes a few seconds for the car to turn back on so they may not notice. If the foot was off the brake the car would go to accessories mode, but not "Ready", and that would then drain the 12 Volt battery. It is a possible scenario that could lead to a dead 12 Volt battery that would need to be jumped (and, likely, replaced sooner than expected because draining a lead-acid battery is bad for it).

While we're at it, be sure that jumper cables come with instructions that state that the negative cable on the LEAF side must be connected to a grounded part of the car, not the negative terminal of the 12 Volt battery. As I understand it, there is a sensor attached to the negative terminal that shouldn't be disturbed.

 

[Wennfred]

Add to your list an adjustable wrench for the negative battery terminal, read on here about two 2013 S model that glitched after the charging plug was removed and inserted. There was only one indicator, the yellow round brake warning indicator with exclamation mark stays lit. The fix was to remove the negative battery post and wait a minute and reattach it. The leaf started right up after that.

That thread here http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=12590" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Fred

 

[bamahophead]

I think the "draining the 12v battery" thing was covered (in fact, leaving the car "on" will probably keep the 12v battery charged).

It's my understanding that this is not the case: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=8471" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (See Sparky's post about half-way down the page). I've seen several other people report similar issues.

I half expect a portable charger to be the best solution for this (unlikely, knock on wood) scenario. If that's the case, I'll just have jumper cables in all the cars and my contact information in case that doesn't work. I just wanted to get some opinions on other options.

This is a bit complicated so please bear with me:

"On" as in "Ready to drive" (green car icon) will use the traction battery to maintain charge in the 12 Volt battery.

"On" as in accessories, but not ready to drive, will drain the 12 Volt battery fairly rapidly because it is not topped up by the traction battery (except when actively charging).

There has been some discussion that some people inadvertently "double tap" the start button when turning the car off. It takes a few seconds for the car to turn back on so they may not notice. If the foot was off the brake the car would go to accessories mode, but not "Ready", and that would then drain the 12 Volt battery. It is a possible scenario that could lead to a dead 12 Volt battery that would need to be jumped (and, likely, replaced sooner than expected because draining a lead-acid battery is bad for it).

While we're at it, be sure that jumper cables come with instructions that state that the negative cable on the LEAF side must be connected to a grounded part of the car, not the negative terminal of the 12 Volt battery. As I understand it, there is a sensor attached to the negative terminal that shouldn't be disturbed.

Ah, that makes perfect sense. Again, I don't really expect this to be a common problem or anything, but it's my job to be prepared. I will certainly print out an info sheet with that, as well as instructions not to jump of an ICE vehicle with the LEAF.

Thanks!!


Wennfred,

Very good info. Thanks!

 

[dgpcolorado]

Ah, that makes perfect sense. Again, I don't really expect this to be a common problem or anything, but it's my job to be prepared. I will certainly print out an info sheet with that, as well as instructions not to jump of an ICE vehicle with the LEAF.

Thanks!!


Wennfred,

Very good info. Thanks!

You can jump an ICE with a LEAF quite well. Just make sure that 1) the LEAF is in "Ready" (green car icon) mode, 2) the negative jumper cable is attached to the LEAF frame or grounded cable, but not the negative battery terminal, and 3) you give the ICE car battery a couple of minutes to recover before using the ICE starter.

Phil ("Ingineer"), MNL's LEAF and EV expert, wrote up the procedure here:
Jumping another vehicle with a LEAF.