Best Charging Habits

I'm almost a week into owning this 2013 SV, and so far so good. A few strange looks from some of my coworkers, but not as bad as I thought. With my short commute, i can probably go 3 days on a full charge, but I've been doing 2 since it takes so long on Level 1. I use about 25% of my capacity a day, so I assume it's best to run it down a little bit further, or no difference? I tried the 80% charge one day, but I ended up having to run to Discount Tire on the way home (new Yokohama Avid Ascends with rebate) and I was down to about 40% charge for that day.
There is a free L2 charger at the local county annex a few milts from me, I thought I'd try to hit that on the weekend and see how that goes.
I"d like to put in a 240 volt system in the future, but right now I'm tying to figure out if I'll need it enough to justify it.
I also have my charger inside the garage with the cord running under the door. I set the downward pressure as light as I could and still have it stay down. I tried putting a piece of rubber around the cord, but then the whole door has a 1/2 inch gap across the bottom which is probably enough to attract rodents!
I've read of some owners getting some capacity back if the battery was over charged or in high heat for a long time and then was treated better in it's next life? Mine came from the San Jose area but is now in the comparatively cool and wet Pacific Northwest.
I need to get to a dealer soon and get another key FOB for it and maybe get the 3G upgrade. Sounds like another $500 I hadn't planned to spend right now.
Things I like: Plenty of leg room and easy to get in and out. Seat cushions are a little short, tough. Very good visibility out of the windshield, not quite as good out the back. I do wish I had the backup camera. Quiet. I appreciate that after 40 years of listening to diesels drone on all day.
Things I don't like: The headlights. They work fine, they are just abnormally ugly. I suppose they wanted to make a statement. NO spare tire, but a bottle of goo and a pump? Good thinking. Having to move the joy stick twice to get into B mode. The seat belt tensioners are a little aggressive. I find myself pinned in my seat when I need to lean forward to double check a mirror. Were they afraid I was going to fall out?

I asked the Leaf tech at my dealer, who seemed to know his stuff, about best charging habits for my 14 Leaf. His advice was to not charge when it's already at a high SOC. I don't charge when I'm above 80%. I have free L2 at work (but pay to park). I charge about 3X a week there. My distances are not that great and usually only charge for 1:20 each time. That gets me to about 36% more power. I keep track of the %'s and times of each charing session to get a sense of how much I need to get me about 80-85% SOC and set the timer accordingly. Sometimes that's 2 hours or charging and at times I've only charged for an hour. I try to not go below 20% before charging. If I need max range I charge to 100%. I'm trying not to stress about charging and figure that times I run the car low and charge to 100% will help the car recalibrate.

In the 2 months I've had the Leaf, I've only used my ClipperCreek at home about 8 times because of the L2 work availability. But having the ability to go from 50% to 100% in a few hours is huge when we make longer runs on the weekend. Money well spent to have this option. There are times I would not have been able to use the Leaf on the weekends if I only had L1 at home.

The 3G upgrade is worth it for me. I like to be able to connect to my car and see it's charging when at work or out using L2 chargers away from home. Kind of cool to see my driving stats online too.

This FOB discussion may help save some $: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?t=10785

I removed the head rests from the back seats. I never have folks back there and it improved the visibility immensely.

Enjoy your Leaf!

It's best to charge in the cool of night or the early morning. I think someone here said that it's best to charge when the battery has less than 6 bars.

Nissan recommended charging to 80% (and still does in most countries). Some say that it makes no difference. Apparently the problem is leaving it at 100% especially in hot weather. I personally just charge to 80% unless I know I'm going to be driving far that day.

40% is still a lot. You can go down to 20%. Below 20% and you should charge right away after going that low.

The headlights are designed to guide air around the mirrors in order to reduce wind noise

I think someone here said that it's best to charge when the battery has less than 6 bars.

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That's me. Since a Leaf can read 6 temp bars just from ambient temp, though, you may still have to charge at 6. I draw the line firmly at 7, but in a road trip / QC scenario, it may be unavoidable.

LeftieBiker said:

I think someone here said that it's best to charge when the battery has less than 6 bars.

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That's me. Since a Leaf can read 6 temp bars just from ambient temp, though, you may still have to charge at 6. I draw the line firmly at 7, but in a road trip / QC scenario, it may be unavoidable.

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This is my rule-of-thumb too. Fortunately, in upstate NY, most of the year the car cools off to 5 bars overnight. There are very few exceptions. I have yet to have to charge at 7 temperature bars (although I've made the mistake of doing so in the past). In the PNW, you also should be able to abide by this rule. Anywhere south of 39-40 degrees latitude, this may mean not using the car for the summer which is silly.

jim0266 said:

I removed the head rests from the back seats. I never have folks back there and it improved the visibility immensely.

Enjoy your Leaf!

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+1, in fact I've done this on my last couple cars and like you said it helps immensely!
I just put the head rests on the back seat, if someone sits there and needs them, they can easily put them back in the slots.
Most modern mini vans seem to have gotten this right, the rearmost headrests easily fold forward, some even do it automatically with a motor.

The most "scientific" knowledge I have it that the battery's best state of charge for long life is at 50%....

I like charging when the battery is between 30-40%. If you are going to use it the next day, then charge to 100% the night before, use it until 80--90%, and keep on using it until 30-40%.

If you really do not use the car for long distances, then for your peace of mind, then charge to 80% and recharge at 30-40%.....

powersurge said:

If you are going to use it the next day, then charge to 100% the night before, use it until 80--90%, and keep on using it until 30-40%.

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Can you flesh this out or clarify your thinking? The using the car to 80-90% past has me confused. Thanks.

jim0266 said:

powersurge said:

If you are going to use it the next day, then charge to 100% the night before, use it until 80--90%, and keep on using it until 30-40%.

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Can you flesh this out or clarify your thinking? The using the car to 80-90% past has me confused. Thanks.

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I think he means don't charge it until you're lower than 80% or 90%. In other words he's saying charger it to 100%, but don't charge it again until you've used 10% or 20% dropping the battery charge below 90% or 80%. Correct me if I'm wrong.

According to the owner's manual it says not to charge if you're above 80%. So if you charge to 100% one day and then only drive it 5 miles and you end up with 93% don't charge it again until you've used it more.

The car should be charged to 100% occasionally, in order to equalize the cells of the pack. Just set a charge time to have it charge fully to 100% and then shut off right before you need to use it. Once a month should be enough. Just make sue that it actually stops charging on its own, or the equalization won't be complete.

http://www.electricvehiclewiki.com/Battery_Capacity_Loss#Factors_Affecting_Battery_Capacity_Loss

LeftieBiker said:

The car should be charged to 100% occasionally, in order to equalize the cells of the pack. Just set a charge time to have it charge fully to 100% and then shut off right before you need to use it. Once a month should be enough. Just make sue that it actually stops charging on its own, or the equalization won't be complete.

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I bought my 2013 Leaf on Wednesday and charged it to 80% at work (L2). Zero cells were shunting afterward. Yesterday at work I let it charge to shut-off, and last night and this morning many cells were shunting. Is that what you mean by equalization?

Yes, that's the cells equalizing.

I found someone locally who has an OEM EVSE 29690 3NFOA for $80. (Actually, she says she has two)
I'm thinking of sending mine in for the EVSE upgrade to 240V and I would have a spare to keep in my car.
Seems like a pretty good price to me!
I'm going to meet up with her tomorrow and confirm that it works OK.