Charge to 80%, program to top up to 100%

I'm not sure where to post this, since it involves both the car and the EVSE, so I'm reaching out to two subforums. Perhaps someone has figured it out. Some background: I have a Siemens Versicharge (non-networked) and a 2013 SL. I drive the car very consistently, about 50 miles/day on weekdays and nearly nothing on weekends. It's a commuting appliance I typically return home around 6 and plug in immediately. The car sits at 100% for most of the night and almost all weekend. At my last service, the dealer said I should try to minimize parked time at 100%, so I'm trying to address this.

The Versicharge is good, but has limited programmability. I can either start a charge immediately by plugging in, or I can set a 2, 4, 6, or 8 hour start delay. The timer in the Leaf allows me to start/stop charges and choose either 80% or 100%, but is limited to one charge "event" per day and only one %age. Neither of those capabilities allow me to do this:

1. Arrive home 6pm with with approx. 30% battery.
2. Plug in and charge to approx. 80%. Stop charging.
3. At about 6am, start charging so the car is at 100% by 7am.

So, I need 2 "events" per 24 hours: an initial partial charge followed by a top-up. The Versicharge has a board-level remote switch which I have confirmed will work as a shutoff. Adding an external timer circuit will allow me to plug in and have the EVSE shut off after about an hour. Problem: 1) there are no instructions from Siemens on how to properly connect this. I am hoping someone here has done it. 2) I have yet to find a 2-event timer circuit.

Since my EVSE cannot sense charge %age (other than 100%), using the car's timer is nice, because it can be set to stop at a %age limit. However, it only handles one "event" per day. Using the car's timer together with an external timer seems like a good idea on paper, but the two programming techniques can conflict with each other.

Any ideas on how to accomplish the charging pattern in bold above?

I'm not sure 100% this will work, but maybe you could turn on long-life mode (aka charge to 80% under Carwings > Settings, I believe) then set a timer to end charge by 7 am that's set to 100%?

Better check ~6 am to make sure it started the 1st time you try this or do it weekend, when you don't need all the juice.

(I don't know since I've almost never needed your use case in an automated fashion. Car is rarely charged at home.)

cwerdna said:

I'm not sure 100% this will work, but maybe you could turn on long-life mode (aka charge to 80% under Carwings > Settings, I believe) then set a timer to end charge by 7 am that's set to 100%?

Better check ~6 am to make sure it started the 1st time you try this or do it weekend, when you don't need all the juice.

(I don't know since I've almost never needed your use case in an automated fashion. Car is rarely charged at home.)

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Yes. This was my first thought as well. However, as far as I can tell, the car's on-board charge timer only allows one charging "event" per 24 hours, so the 80% or 100% toggle applies to a whole day. In other words, I see no way to charge to 80% and 100% within a single day.

Is there a way to hack the car's timer programming? It's stupid primitive.

Bibendum said:

Yes. This was my first thought as well. However, as far as I can tell, the car's on-board charge timer only allows one charging "event" per 24 hours, so the 80% or 100% toggle applies to a whole day. In other words, I see no way to charge to 80% and 100% within a single day.

Is there a way to hack the car's timer programming? It's stupid primitive.

Click to expand...

Well, the 80% part via "long-life mode" isn't via the timer.

What I suggested might work, but I'm not sure. If you plug in and it doesn't start, try pushing the timer override button and see if it stops at 80% (it might go to 100%). Then, wake up at 6 am or whatever to see if it's started for the end timer to 100% portion.

Agree the timer has some goofy limitations. Don't know of any way other than maybe using Nissan's API (not sure if it's still is open after the security/lack of authentication debacle that's been addressed) to send commands.

You may need to adjust the start and end times a little to achieve the desired results, but this should work for you. If you have it finish charging about an hour before departure time, you can also use the climate control timer to adjust the interior temperature to your preference.

Set a daily timer for 100% charge that starts at 2:20am and ends at 7:40pm. This will start an early morning charge cycle that ends at 100% before you are ready to leave. The timer will still be active when you connect at 6:00pm and start charging. The timer will stop charging at 7:40pm, leaving you around 80% full.

Pushing the timer override button will cause it to charge to 100%.

The only way to do this will be to use the climate timer to get the timer to finish the charge. It'll likely not end up at 100%. Unfortunately I don't think this will be better for the battery as when its near full it cycles between charging the battery and drawing from it (if you watch LEAFSpy). It'll also be consuming a fair bit of extra power and wear.

This is exactly what I do every day with my 2013 - works great. My goal is to have a charged-enough car available for an errand or emergency in the evening, not have it sit at 100%, but have it at 100% for my commute.

I have a scheduled timer to End Charge at 7am at 100%
I have the normal charge limitation set to 80%

When I get home at 6pm, I plug in, and hit the timer override to start charging to 80%. Then sometime in the morning, it starts charging again and finishes at 100% right at 7am, for me to leave for work.

You could not have the timer on Sat/Sun, so then the car would sit at 80% over the weekend.

The only drawback is having to push the override button, but even if you forgot to do that, you'd still have a 100% charged car in the morning.

Diddly said:

This is exactly what I do every day with my 2013 - works great. My goal is to have a charged-enough car available for an errand or emergency in the evening, not have it sit at 100%, but have it at 100% for my commute.

I have a scheduled timer to End Charge at 7am at 100%
I have the normal charge limitation set to 80%

When I get home at 6pm, I plug in, and hit the timer override to start charging to 80%. Then sometime in the morning, it starts charging again and finishes at 100% right at 7am, for me to leave for work.

You could not have the timer on Sat/Sun, so then the car would sit at 80% over the weekend.

The only drawback is having to push the override button, but even if you forgot to do that, you'd still have a 100% charged car in the morning.

Click to expand...

Ah, I stand corrected this was a change they made for the 2013 MY. Page CH-29 of your manual indicates two new settings that we don't have in 2011s: A temperature for the remote climate control feature and 80% long life mode. In the 2011 the manual specifically says "Long life mode can only be set using the charging timer function."