Sudden70% Range Drop – Battery Module Failure?

I drove to a Blink station with 2 bars left and charged up to over 50%. Guessometer showed 46 mile range. I dove on the highway at 65 MPH in 70 degree weather. Suddenly – in the blink of an eye the range dropped to 14 miles showing only 2 bars! I checked the Energy Monitor and Carwings which both confirmed that the range was only 14 miles.

The car has 9,600 miles, battery check at 7,500 miles and software upgraded about 2 weeks ago. I currently have it plugged in to charge to 100% and will know by morning if it can hold this charge.
I’ll also test drive it to see if this incident repeats.

The only thing I did differently was charge a phone through the DC port for a few minutes. The A/C was off. The only explanation I can come up with is a battery module failure.

I haven’t seen any other posts concerning this. Has anyone else had this experience?

L2 charging i am guessing. how much range did you have before charging, how long did you charge and did you have to charge to make it home?

reason i ask is is it possible the charging station did not give you what you were expecting?

keep us posted.

Did you go down a hill when the GOM was showing 46 miles and up a hill went it dropped suddenly?

If you haven't already, how about checking for elevation change on that route via Google Earth (http://support.google.com/earth/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=181393" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false?

electricfuture said:

I drove to a Blink station with 2 bars left and charged up to over 50%. Guessometer showed 46 mile range. I dove on the highway at 65 MPH in 70 degree weather. Suddenly – in the blink of an eye the range dropped to 14 miles showing only 2 bars! I checked the Energy Monitor and Carwings which both confirmed that the range was only 14 miles.

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Without knowing how many bars you charged to, how many miles you drove after charging, what kind of terrain you were driving on, etc. it is impossible to answer your question. Most likely is user error. I would doubt a sudden battery failure, but I suppose it is possible. The guessometer is worthless, so I wouldn't pay any attention to that as a piece of evidence.

grabbing popcorn.... What's up after the full charge attempt?

electricfuture said:

The only thing I did differently was charge a phone through the DC port for a few minutes. The A/C was off. The only explanation I can come up with is a battery module

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I never did post it, because I was never able to pinpoint the cause or duplicate the occurence, but I had an anomalous DTE event which (coincidentally) also occurred the very first time I charged my iPhone via the 12v outlet - that day I was only 60 miles from 100% charged to VLB!

I had actually rationalized that it was probably more to do with several consecutive days of charging from above 50% that hadn't given the pack adequate balancing time. Plus it was quite a stormy and cold day (though I didn't use the heater). But now you've got me wondering. However, like I said, I've not been able to duplicate the occurrence, and I have charged my iPhone since then.

So, two fuel bars rolling in. Then a charge to 50%... does that mean it was showing 5 fuel bars? How long did you charge?

Then, you drove a distance... how far?

Then, you noticed two fuel bars again. I don't see how any of this has anything to do with ultimate battery capacity, and quoting the GoM tells us less than nothing; it's actually bad information on a good day.

Is it possible that you used one of our less than stellar Blink chargers that didn't actually charge at all?

I had a panic attack when the allegedly fully charged car didn't show 12 bars. I took it to the dealer to find out that the Blink failed (again). The car was, and is, as awesome as ever.

You looked at one unreliable number in three different places -- the same number from the same source for all three. As Tony said, that tells us nothing. You also said you went from 2 bars to (?) bars and back to 2 bars. No information there, either, but here's a surprise for you: I think most everyone has come to admit, though some don't like it, that the number of bars shown is relative to your battery capacity. If you were to lose half your battery, and charge it as much as possible, you would still see 12 long blue and white bars! So a sudden drop in the "available charge gauge" (as Nissan calls those bars) would not suggest a battery module failure. What you might see, though, if battery modules fail, is fewer than 12 short bars at the far right edge of the dash. That is what Nissan calls the "battery capacity gauge", and has two red bars at the bottom.

Ray

I had an anomalous DTE event which (coincidentally) also occurred the very first time I charged my iPhone via the 12v outlet - that day I was only 60 miles from 100% charged to VLB!

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OK further information:

It dropped from 6 bars to 2 bars (the red ones). Terrain was relatively level (163 from Balboa Park going north). Temperature was moderate 68-70 degrees.
When I arrived at the Blink station in Balboa Park I had 2 bars (14 mile range shown) and I charged for 2 hours going from 2 bars to 6 bars (46 mile range shown).

I drove out and accelerated to 60-65 MPH in relatively flat terrain, however, I noticed the drop after leaving the canyon where a pretty steep incline begins. The phone was plugged after we started and in the flat terrain area. It was dusk and lights were set to auto and probably came on while we were moving.

Re-charged to 100% this morning and drove it without incident – everything was normal.

So mwalsh's comment about plugging in to the 12 V receptacle the 1st time with the same problem is very interesting.

Can someone else who has not tried the port try this – probably near your charging station? We might be able to spot some kind of software issue if others have the same experience.

I’ll try plugging a phone in today and report what happens.

electricfuture said:

So mwalsh's comment about plugging in to the 12 V receptacle the 1st time with the same problem is very interesting.

Can someone else who has not tried the port try this – probably near your charging station? We might be able to spot some kind of software issue if others have the same experience.

I’ll try plugging a phone in today and report what happens.

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I went back and looked at my Facebook, where I did report the problem. This is what I wrote on January 16th:

Anomalous commute today - only 60 miles to VLB. Yes, I drove quite hard to get to work, but I left for home with 56% SOC, so a normal drive (which is was) should have seen me with at least 20% remaining, and probably closer to 25%, not 8%.

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Now where I say that I "drove quite hard", I remember that being between 65mph and 75mph, because traffic was quite light. Now when I drive to work at between 65mph and 70mph, I generally arrive with anywhere from 58-62% remaining SOC, so 56% SOC is well within the margins, given the slightly higher speeds.

I remember the drive home being quite normal in almost every respect, other than it being a bit stormy/chilly with some pretty stiff cross/head winds. The only real variable otherwise was charging my phone. So, as I said, realistically I should have arrived home with at the very least 20% SOC remaining.

That night I charged as normal and the car did not exhibit any further issues. A few days later, I tried iPhone charging again, just to see if I could reproduce what would happen, and could not. I've since charged my phone a couple of times without issue.

I ran the same route without charging at the blink station, phone plugged in and this time A/C on with no problems.

I am thinking that there may be an energy storage buffer behind the DC plug that “charges up” only during 1st time use. I can’t confirm this without the wiring diagram for the DC port connection.

Does anyone have it?

Nope, no such thing.

electricfuture said:

I am thinking that there may be an energy storage buffer behind the DC plug that “charges up” only during 1st time use. I can’t confirm this without the wiring diagram for the DC port connection.

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Charged my Droid and no such problem happened.

electricfuture said:

I ran the same route without charging at the blink station, phone plugged in and this time A/C on with no problems.

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What was your charging like in the days running up to this event? I had at least two consecutive days just prior where I charged to 100% from around or above 50%.

I use 250W AC inverter on the 12v port all the time (have kids and wife on their electronic devices charging lots of time while driving the LEAF) without seeing any range anomaly. I've never charge on a Blink, tho.

occ said:

I use 250W AC inverter on the 12v port all the time

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WOW! You do know, don't you, that the Owner's Manual has a highlighted box that says:

CAUTION
Do not use with accessories that exceed a 12-volt, 120W (10A) power draw. Do not use double adapters or more than one electrical accessory.

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I would think pulling twice that much might create some dangerous heat in the wiring harness. Not to mention void the warranty.

Ray

planet4ever said:

WOW! You do know, don't you, that the Owner's Manual has a highlighted box that says:

CAUTION
Do not use with accessories that exceed a 12-volt, 120W (10A) power draw. Do not use double adapters or more than one electrical accessory.

Click to expand...

I would think pulling twice that much might create some dangerous heat in the wiring harness. Not to mention void the warranty.

Ray

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Maybe what he has plugged into the inverter is nowhere near 250w. If you draw more than 10A wouldn't it just blow the fuse?

What was your charging like in the days running up to this event? I had at least two consecutive days just prior where I charged to 100% from around or above 50%.

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Interestingly I did the same as you!

The cigarette lighter outlet is on a 20 amp fuse. A 240 watt inverter is the max you could use without blowing the fuse. I have a 100 watt inverter but I rarely use it. It is so loud.

electricfuture said:

What was your charging like in the days running up to this event? I had at least two consecutive days just prior where I charged to 100% from around or above 50%.

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Interestingly I did the same as you!

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Ah, so maybe it comes back to out-of-balance cells, and the phone is just a red herring?

I have personally been trying to avoid weekend charging cycles like that since. Sometimes difficult if you don't know what you've got going on, especially with the still limited public infrastructure.