Parking Leaf for 3 weeks (vacation) - how should I leave it (for battery)?

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michelb

Active member
Joined
Dec 2, 2016
Messages
38
Hi,
we're going on vacation for 3 weeks and so our Leaf will be sitting in our driveway (no space in garage). What's the best thing to do with the battery? Should I leave plugged to EVSE? Should I charge to 100% and unplug? Should I leave it at around 70% and unplugged? The temperature will likely be low 30s to high 50s.

Let me know. Thanks,
Mike
 
Don't leave it plugged in - that is known to kill the 12V battery. Also, don't leave it fully charged. 70% and unplugged would be just fine. Ideal would be lower SoC, maybe 30-40%, but it won't make a noticeable difference in three weeks.
 
Hi,
good to know. Conveniently enough, I forgot to turn off my charge timer when I plugged in my car at work this morning so I should get home with about 40% left today!

Thanks for taking the time to reply,
Mike
 
michelb said:
Hi,
we're going on vacation for 3 weeks and so our Leaf will be sitting in our driveway (no space in garage). What's the best thing to do with the battery? Should I leave plugged to EVSE? Should I charge to 100% and unplug? Should I leave it at around 70% and unplugged? The temperature will likely be low 30s to high 50s.

Let me know. Thanks,
Mike

Ah, the sick sad game of trying desperately to maximize rechargeable batteries' lives!! :)

They are GONNA die slowly declining death eventually, and there's nothing we can do about that. It's called "entropy!"

Thermodynamics is a b itch! Internal combustion engines grind themselves into metal shavings, batteries slowly decline and become worthless eventually, etc. And rechargeable batteries wear out a little more slowly and no so abruptly and catastrophically but slower and more infuriating!

What have we got ourselves into? ;-)

John Kuthe...
 
Levenkay said:
People wear out eventually, too, but that doesn't mean school cafeterias should provide booze and cigarettes.

Yep, I think it's an "area under the curve" problem with 't' on the horizontal and health+fun on the vertical!

John Kuthe...
 
Battery SOC between 30% and 70% is ideal and do not plug the car in. Also, unplug any devices from the OBDII port and make sure the car is completely off. The car will charge the 12-volt battery from the traction battery periodically. I park at my office or the airport quite frequently for 1 to 3 weeks at a time and the only time I had an issue was when I left a Bluetooth device plugged in to the OBDII port and left a phone running LEAF Spy on the passenger seat (returned to completely dead 12-volt battery in the 2011 after only 6 days). Enjoy your vacation.
 
On a the volt (I know a different car)
You fully discharge the main traction pack.

Plug the car in and setup the time of use timers so it only charges about 15 minutes a day, the 12v charger kicks in during that "event" and you can maintain the cars batteries for weeks or even over a year depending on when the car is allowed to charge.

Not sure if some version of that trick would be leaf friendly.
 
We do a fair amount of traveling (2-5 weeks each time) and my routine is to keep the traction battery around 40% and hook up a battery tender to the 12 volt battery.

After three years the 12 v battery is in top shape, so it works well for me.
 
As GerryAZ said "The car will charge the 12-volt battery from the traction battery periodically. " Just don't leave the car plugged in to the EVSE while you are gone for several weeks. It won't hurt to put your 12V battery on a trickle charger, but it should also not be necessary unless the 12V battery is near death.
 
It won't hurt to put your 12V battery on a trickle charger, but it should also not be necessary unless the 12V battery is near death.

Even when there are no issues with dying 12 volt batteries, they tend to be kept at about 12.6 volts in the Leaf, and that's nowhere near full. Topping off with a trickle charger before the trip is cheap insurance.
 
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