Nissen leaf battery charging.

[NORTON500]

I recently purchased a 2016 leaf with a 24kwh battery. I have a spare battery which I was assured was good. I also have a spare battery charger but I am wondering if the bms is a stand alone unit within the battery pack and should it automatically balance the cells. I am a bit new to this type of vehicle.!

[smkettner]

Yes the cells are balanced automatically no matter which charging connection you use..

[NORTON500]

Thanks for your help, I forgot to add that the battery would be charged in the garage and would not be in the vehicle. Would balancing still be done within the battery. Sorry for not stating that in my original question.

[DaveinOlyWA]

Thanks for your help, I forgot to add that the battery would be charged in the garage and would not be in the vehicle. Would balancing still be done within the battery. Sorry for not stating that in my original question.

Not sure you can charge pack without BMS, inverter, etc. and BMS would control the charge and balancing process. Now if you were to bypass, then there is a small... no.... a VERY small balancing charge that happens between cells but realistically too small to achieve more an a small correction.

[NORTON500]

Thank you for your help. I had thought that with an indecent charger and 12 volts enabled to activate the balancing module that balancing would occur but I have to admit that this stuff is a bit new to me and I’ve got a lot to learn. I know I would certainly have no indicator bars to look at but was hoping that with a timer I could safely put a reasonable balanced charge in the second battery which is not intended to power the car , but power a Compresser for a special purpose in a remote location. Thanks for your advice Dave

[DaveinOlyWA]

Thank you for your help. I had thought that with an indecent charger and 12 volts enabled to activate the balancing module that balancing would occur but I have to admit that this stuff is a bit new to me and I’ve got a lot to learn. I know I would certainly have no indicator bars to look at but was hoping that with a timer I could safely put a reasonable balanced charge in the second battery which is not intended to power the car , but power a Compresser for a special purpose in a remote location. Thanks for your advice Dave

No prob but keep in mind, the pack is near 400 VDC which is a lethal X10 combination. You will need an inverter to make it useful for nearly any application.

[Bob]

I'm not an expert on this, but I've got a fairly good background in the field, and from what I know, you can't do what you want.

In very brief summary, cell balancing means drawing charge out of one cell until the voltage on that cell is the same as all of the others. With >100 cells in the Leaf pack, there are a lot of cells being individually discharged to get the pack balanced. You don't just swap two wires to the total string and have it balance.

Also, I believe that the BMS keeps track of battery information. I've read that replacing the battery in a Leaf is more than just swapping. There is some programming or configuration loading as well. If that's true, you can't just swap packs. You need to keep the BMS with the pack and swap both.

Bob