Charging timer question

My Nissan Leaf Forum

Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

lynnsleafca

New member
Joined
Mar 7, 2017
Messages
1
If you set the timer to start charging at a certain time in the evening, then plug the car in AFTER that time, will it charge? My car didn't charge last night and I think this is why.
Thanks, apologies if this is a basic questions but I searched and couldn't find the answer anywhere!
 
Don't hesitate to ask such an important question..

I had that problem also. personally, I do not bother with a timer, as the car stops charging automatically when fully charged.

I would not trust those timers, and then I have an uncharged car in the morning!!
 
What year and trim do you have? Some come with timers that set both start and end time, others just have a single entry that is more of a target finish time.
 
lynnsleafca said:
If you set the timer to start charging at a certain time in the evening, then plug the car in AFTER that time, will it charge? My car didn't charge last night and I think this is why.
Thanks, apologies if this is a basic questions but I searched and couldn't find the answer anywhere!
It won't start charging until it deems necessary to achieve being charged by the time you've set. In your case if you plugged in after your departure time for that day it goes for the next departure time.
IOW yes thats why it didn't charge. If you had wanted an immediate charge pushing the timer override button would have done that but still kept your timer intact for future charging.
 
S trim has a charge finish time only timer so it calculates when to start charging. The SV and SL trim levels have more options.

If you set start and end times on SV or SL, the car will start charging immediately if plugged in during that window. If outside the window, the car will wait until the next start time to begin charging. Since there are 2 timers, you can have different settings for different days. If you only set an end time, the car will calculate when to begin charging like the S trim level timer.
 
I personally like using the charger so I can just charge to 80%. I don't need more and heard the battery will last much longer if not fully charged and let sit for prolonged time like over the weekend.

John
 
jjleejr said:
I personally like using the charger so I can just charge to 80%. I don't need more and heard the battery will last much longer if not fully charged and let sit for prolonged time like over the weekend.

John

It is not bad to charge to 100%, and should be done periodically to keep the cells balanced. It is bad for the battery to sit for extended periods of time, especially in the heat, at 100% charge. It is not good for the battery to sit for extended periods of time with a charge level below 20%. To help extend the life of the battery, it is best to have the charge level between 20% and 80% while it is parked (especially for longer periods of time).
 
My SL has the option to end charging at a certain hour and the optional option to start charging at a certain hour.

But I'm only using the option to end, not to start. That way, if I do charge to 100% it's just before I get in the car and go, and so the car has sat only a short while at 100%. :)

Although if I'm sure I won't need 100%, I just switch it to 80%. No harm is done doing that. :mrgreen:

The only time I find that the start time to charge option would be necessary is when it's extremely cold. When I set it to end at a certain time and to charge to 100% charging becomes so slow in the cold that the Leaf doesn't start charging soon enough and doesn't charge up to 100% by the time it's supposed to finish. The solution is to set the start time so it starts charging earlier. This doesn't seem to be the case though if I only charge to 80% in the cold.
 
I just got a 2017 Leaf SV and set the timer to start charging at 9pm and end at 9am, just to test it out. I'm using 120V so the estimated time to charge is about 22 hours so I do not expect to charge to 100%. However, when I plug the charger in at 8:45pm it starts charging right away. I tried twice using two different start times but same occurred. I checked the current time and it is correct. Any idea why my timer doesn't seem to be working? I had a 2013 SL that I traded in, and it's timer worked perfectly, however Nissan has changed the timer software. Thanks.
 
jadman said:
I just got a 2017 Leaf SV and set the timer to start charging at 9pm and end at 9am, just to test it out. I'm using 120V so the estimated time to charge is about 22 hours so I do not expect to charge to 100%. However, when I plug the charger in at 8:45pm it starts charging right away. I tried twice using two different start times but same occurred. I checked the current time and it is correct. Any idea why my timer doesn't seem to be working? I had a 2013 SL that I traded in, and it's timer worked perfectly, however Nissan has changed the timer software. Thanks.

The timer is actually "On" in the menu? Maybe, because it's trying to charge to 100%, it's starting immediately to attempt that, instead of obeying the timer's start time. I think I've seen that before: if the start time won't allow the car to charge to the limit, it will start before the "Start" setting...
 
LeftieBiker said:
jadman said:
I just got a 2017 Leaf SV and set the timer to start charging at 9pm and end at 9am, just to test it out. I'm using 120V so the estimated time to charge is about 22 hours so I do not expect to charge to 100%. However, when I plug the charger in at 8:45pm it starts charging right away. I tried twice using two different start times but same occurred. I checked the current time and it is correct. Any idea why my timer doesn't seem to be working? I had a 2013 SL that I traded in, and it's timer worked perfectly, however Nissan has changed the timer software. Thanks.

The timer is actually "On" in the menu? Maybe, because it's trying to charge to 100%, it's starting immediately to attempt that, instead of obeying the timer's start time. I think I've seen that before: if the start time won't allow the car to charge to the limit, it will start before the "Start" setting...

Yes it's "on" in the menu, maybe that's it but the timer on the 2017 Leaf is way more confusing than on the 2013 models. If it's doing that it is very silly, I don't need 100% SOC and want to start after 9pm to get my off peak rate. Not sure I like Nissan's logic on this one. I'll keep playing with it to see how I can get it to do what I want. Thanks
 
jadman said:
LeftieBiker said:
jadman said:
I just got a 2017 Leaf SV and set the timer to start charging at 9pm and end at 9am, just to test it out. I'm using 120V so the estimated time to charge is about 22 hours so I do not expect to charge to 100%. However, when I plug the charger in at 8:45pm it starts charging right away. I tried twice using two different start times but same occurred. I checked the current time and it is correct. Any idea why my timer doesn't seem to be working? I had a 2013 SL that I traded in, and it's timer worked perfectly, however Nissan has changed the timer software. Thanks.

The timer is actually "On" in the menu? Maybe, because it's trying to charge to 100%, it's starting immediately to attempt that, instead of obeying the timer's start time. I think I've seen that before: if the start time won't allow the car to charge to the limit, it will start before the "Start" setting...

Yes it's "on" in the menu, maybe that's it but the timer on the 2017 Leaf is way more confusing than on the 2013 models. If it's doing that it is very silly, I don't need 100% SOC and want to start after 9pm to get my off peak rate. Not sure I like Nissan's logic on this one. I'll keep playing with it to see how I can get it to do what I want. Thanks

I had a 2011 Leaf and now have a 2017 Leaf. I think the the 2017 Leaf timer setup display is simpler and clearer. Recheck what day you have assigned, and double check the AM / PM selections and associated start and end times. When you are crossing from one day to the next day you have to be careful how it is done.

To answer the original poster, yes it may depend on which Year Leaf and how you set up the timer and if you are crossing over from one day to the next. On my 2017, I had forgotten to plug my car in even though I had set the timer to activate at 4AM and just charge for an hour. Somehow I woke up and plugged it in a little after 4AM and the car immediately started charging.
 
Back
Top