greengate
Well-known member
While driving east on I94 just after the Lyndon Station WI interchange there was a full sized car carrier in the ditch...full of new Nissan leafs. They were thrown around like toys..one was even bent in half. ugh
soldcake said:there is no fire, no gas spill, no oil in the field. . . .
There is probably a very good reason for there being a removable cover on the hump between the back seat foot wells of the Leaf with an emergency disconnect for the battery in easy reach located inside it.
LeftieBiker said:There is probably a very good reason for there being a removable cover on the hump between the back seat foot wells of the Leaf with an emergency disconnect for the battery in easy reach located inside it.
That isn't there to stop a pack fire, as thermal runaway would keep it going regardless. The shutoff is there for catastrophic damage to the rest of the drivetrain and high voltage wiring that could result in electrocution (or, possibly, fire in another part of the car).
Have you ever tried quickly pulling the disconnect?Quickly pulling the disconnect may just prevent a short in the main connector from causing thermal runaway.
nenik said:Have you ever tried quickly pulling the disconnect?Quickly pulling the disconnect may just prevent a short in the main connector from causing thermal runaway.
The disconnect (service plug) is in the middle of the passenger compartment, covered with metal shield secured by 3 bolts. It's purpose is not emergency disconnect but rather reducing the danger whenever working on the HV system (by breaking the circuit and also reducing the voltage hazard from 400V to 200V).
powersurge said:Just because the car may be in an accident, does not mean that it will go on fire... That insane Tesla accident was driven by a crazy animal to do that to a car. any car would have been obliterated in that way.
Simple - go to your car, pull up the plastic cover and look down.RockyNv said:The instructional video and written instruction only mentioned prying off the plastic cover on the hump inside the car, flipping the locking lever and pulling it. There was no mention of removing bolts in the printed instructions or in the video,
Cor said:Simple - go to your car, pull up the plastic cover and look down.RockyNv said:The instructional video and written instruction only mentioned prying off the plastic cover on the hump inside the car, flipping the locking lever and pulling it. There was no mention of removing bolts in the printed instructions or in the video,
You will see a metal shield with 3 bolts requiring a 10mm socket to undo (like almost everything else on the Leaf).
This "Service Disconnect" has an appropriate name: it is meant to be used by the Service person, before working on the car's HV circuit, to be pulled and stored in a safe place while the person is working on the HV circuits. This "breaking the pack in two halves" was already common practice on the first 2001 Prius and ever since there has been a Service Disconnect on the high voltage batteries (it may have been on earlier vehicles like the original RAV4 EV, but I never worked on that one so I don't know).
Storing the service disconnect in a safe place (such as the mechanic's pants pocket) is common place where maintenance need to be done
on a machine that can have life threatening consequences if not completely disabled. I have heard of stories of divers who will refuse to do maintenance on the prop or even any place below the water line of a ship, unless the keys to the ignition of the main engine are in their pocket.
What the original question was: preventing high power discharge by pulling the service disconnect is a logical idea, but that is the function of the fuse that is bolted onto the service disconnect, it will react way faster than you can open the cover, unbolt and pull the disconnect.
By that time the fuse has already permanently disconnect the pack in the center if the current is substantially higher than the 225 Amp continuous rating of the fuse in the 2013+ service disconnect. (Earlier packs had a higher rated fuse).
Cor said:Rocky,
Thanks for the link to the first responders' guide.
Does the 2014 have no charge door release handle under the dash?
My 2011 has two handles side by side: charge door and hood.
Did the guide use a wrong picture or is the 2014 charge door not operated by a handle next to the hood release?
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