Leaf Spy Stats vs Battery Bars

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Leafy76

Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2017
Messages
8
Location
Cincinnati, OH
Long time reader, first time poster and first time Leaf owner finally!

So brief background is I am currently testing out a 2013 Leaf SV. It was dropped off to me today in order for me to test drive it for 7 days and figure out if I want to keep it. If not I can get a full refund. The problem is it only has 9 bars with 47K miles on it. I knew that when they dropped it off but with the ability to get my money back, I wanted to check the battery stats to see if it might qualify for a battery replacement. If I am confident it will lose it's 9th bar before it's in service date, I will definitely keep the car. I got a decent deal on it and a new battery would make it a killer deal.

Anywho I fired up Leaf Spy today and the stats, for which I did a double and triple check, have me completely stumped. According to the battery stats it shouldn't even have 9 bars. Can anyone make sense of this? Am I missing something? Does it need to be fully charged before taking the readings?

Note the car has a manufactured date of 02/13, so it likely has some fairly old battery chemistry. The in-service date is 07/13. Regular battery check-ups have been performed (according the Carfax) and it was driven mainly in CA with a brief stint in AZ.



 
jlv said:
Leafy76 said:
Does it need to be fully charged before taking the readings?
Yes, especially if looking at AHr.
I thought I had read elsewhere on the forum that it doesn't need to be fully charged. If it does then chalk it up to operator error. :( Are all of the stats affected by the charge status? SOH has me concerned as well.
 
Your profile does not show where you are, so it is difficult to give good advice. These are the stats from my 2013 SV, built in January 2013, when it dropped the ninth bar.
AHr=36.81, SOH=56%, Hx=49.75%, odo=25,670 miles, QC=4 L1/L2=2242

The car does need to be driven regularly for the bar to drop. I drove mine very little during the summer of 2017, due to the range loss. After starting to drive it again (and fairly aggressively), the bar dropped after about a month.

If you are in a warmer climate, and you have confirmed the in-service date with Nissan (877-NO-GAS-EV), then you should have no problem getting the bar to drop by next July. It is still a gamble, but likely a risk work taking, depending on the price of the car.

The SOC does not affect the AHr, SOH, and Hx readings. Based on the picture shown, the cells are in serious need of balancing. This is done by charging to 100%. I would do that every day, and watch the stats, while deciding if you are going to keep the car.

Driving the car regularly (and aggressively), charging to 100% during the hottest part of the day, and leaving it at 100% when not driving, are tactics used to help push it along to get the 9th bar to drop.
 
It looks to me like it will drop that bar by January - IF it stays warm where you are. If not it will likely happen in the Spring. The BMS seems to 'freeze' the bars in cold weather.
 
I am in Cincinnati. It's cold as heck here unfortunately. I am leaning towards keeping the car. I was hoping to see some low readings but that surprised me. Definitely will be verifying warranty coverage before making a decision as well. I know it's a gamble, but it seems like odds are in my favor.

Appreciate the input
 
Alright, I contacted Nissan and confirmed the in-service date for my car was 07/21/2013. So that gives me over 8 months to kill that 9th bar. The more important choice I need to make this week is weather I want to keep the car. This certainly will help my decision making. :D
 
LeftieBiker said:
Don't keep it if you don't have enough range now and will be suffering for 6+ months. Keep it if you can make it work for now.
Oh if I were still working full time with my commute I wouldn't keep it. As it is my daily driving is under 20 miles a day just carting the kids around to their social events, grocery trips etc. Even my wife's commute is only 24 miles round trip. She has a Prius we use for longer trips.
 
Then as long as you are sure it qualifies for a new pack otherwise, it seems like a good bet. Make sure that the heat and A/C work, and there aren't any issues with the brakes.
 
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