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LeftieBiker said:
* Partial Recirculate Mode. The 2013 and later Leafs have a barely-documented feature that is actually very helpful in Winter, especially when combined with the next Trick after this. With the ventilation set to one of the modes that allows Recirculation (any of the non-defrost modes), and with Recirculate mode on, press and hold the Recirculate button until the light above it starts to flash, then quickly release it. The light will flash twice, then go out, making it look like the car is in Fresh Air mode. In fact, if done correctly (and it may take a little practice, to avoid re-engaging full Recirculate) the ventilation system is now taking in roughly 1/3 fresh air, and recirculating the other 2/3. This mode does two things: it reduces the amount of external smog getting sucked into the car, and it increases the efficiency of the heater in cold weather, because most of the air doesn't have to be heated from outside ambient.

As far as I can tell, this works in my 2012 Leaf as well. It is not restricted to 2013 and later models.
 
In the 2016 Manual form SV That feature is called Auto Recirulation. Page 4-28
The mention the procedure of holding the button till it flashes. They say it will now run in auto mode adjusting the flapper based on need. It can go to full Re-Circ at times.
I do use this mode and it does lower the energy consumption of the heater especially when it's 0º F or below.
 
I was testing out the Auto function to get recycle along with defrost.

It was 6°F when I left. The car was preheated. It is also very sunny. When I changed the climate control "thermostat" up or down it would go to floor only mode at higher temps and then bi-level mode at lower temps.

Then the outside temperature changed to 5°F and I noticed the change. By pushing Auto it would choose floor only mode at higher temps and defrost/floor mode at lower temps. And just as before, if I hit recirculation it will recirculate in defrost/floor mode.

I'm not sure what the inside temperature is but I had preheated it to 70°F an hour before leaving home and drove 5 miles across town before noticing this change.
 
arnis said:
Leaf that have HEAT button on CC panel:
AUTO engages partial recirculation if heat is needed.
No need to hold recirculation button, it just defaults back
recirculation mode into AUTO (aka third-recirculation if heating engaged).

AUTO almost always keeps airflow setting at defrost+feet in cold (sub-freezing) weather.
Only if there is a lot of sunshine and cabin is fully warmed up, it might switch to feet.

PS! Selecting FEET actually keeps defrost vents active with limited airflow.
To save energy (and it's not very damp) you can manually select FEET, glass will not fog up.
To have more air to the feet or defrost while in defrost+feet or feet mode, close left and right face-went.
To save even more manually stuff up rear passenger foot ventilation.

Selecting face+feet will totally block airflow to windscreen, same with face only.

Also full recirculation is possible with defrost only on newer CC panels with HEAT button.
Just select defrost with MODE button and push recirculation. Useless mode, it fogs up.


TIP: if you want to keep Leaf running with heater working and also want to save juice, push
recirculation button when you exit the vehicle (and there is nobody inside). It will not fog up
as there is no moisture buildup. Except if everything inside is wet :lol:


Partial recirculation can be manually engaged on the Leafs with Heat button, and it doesn't come on automatically in the US models. This may be a European thing.

I've already documented the Floor only defrosting.

Leaving the car in Recirculate when unattended is a good tip. I'll add it.
 
IssacZachary said:
I was testing out the Auto function to get recycle along with defrost.

It was 6°F when I left. The car was preheated. It is also very sunny. When I changed the climate control "thermostat" up or down it would go to floor only mode at higher temps and then bi-level mode at lower temps.

Then the outside temperature changed to 5°F and I noticed the change. By pushing Auto it would choose floor only mode at higher temps and defrost/floor mode at lower temps. And just as before, if I hit recirculation it will recirculate in defrost/floor mode.

I'm not sure what the inside temperature is but I had preheated it to 70°F an hour before leaving home and drove 5 miles across town before noticing this change.

It may be that the CC uses the outside temp only?
 
I just tried this again. It says 4°F outside and now it goes to bi-level. Wait! Now it went to floor only but automatically chooses level one fan.

Is there some sort of humidity sensor? If there's an automatic control on the recirculation door and some sort of logic behind choosing between defrost or not at cold temperatures then maybe there's some sort of humidity sensor that heroes the car decide what to do?? :?
 
LeftieBiker said:
Partial recirculation can be manually engaged on the Leafs with Heat button, and it doesn't come on automatically in the US models. This may be a European thing.

It does engage automatically if it is cold outside. It can be heard in a quiet environment.
Push AUTO, then hold recirc. Flaps do not actuate (light blinks). Choose fresh and then hold recirc, you can hear flap actuating.
Choose fresh and then choose AUTO and you can hear recirc flap actuating.

Actuation time between fresh-30%recirc is shorter than 30%recirc-100%recirc. And fresh-100%recirc actuation time is the longest.
Again, from 100% to partial can be heard if recirc is activated and AUTO has been pushed.

PS! Tech manual states specific outside temperature range when partial recirc will be used.
 
IssacZachary said:
I just tried this again. It says 4°F outside and now it goes to bi-level. Wait! Now it went to floor only but automatically chooses level one fan.

Is there some sort of humidity sensor? If there's an automatic control on the recirculation door and some sort of logic behind choosing between defrost or not at cold temperatures then maybe there's some sort of humidity sensor that heroes the car decide what to do?? :?

If there is sunshine then algorithm adjusts closer to summer mode (full face blowing).
Light sensor is on the right end of the dash next to defrost vents.
 
I was parked in the same spot. But I did turn off the car for a few minutes, then came back out, turned it on, and it was bi-level instead of floor/defrost.
 
Arnis, I think we are talking about two different things. In Auto CC mode the car may well be choosing a partial recirculate mode as it sees fit. Most of us don't use Auto Mode, though, because it likes to draw lots of power. The Partial Recirculate mode to which the FAQ refers is manually engaged with the climate control in one of the manual modes.
 
If you click AUTO and then select fan speed, temperature or even direction, recirculation still stays in auto.
It doesn't default back to fresh if AUTO LED is not lit.


AUTO mode is not some special mode that draws power. It just tries to maintain selected temperature.
This is why one should reduce temperature selection. CC understands that and will lower fan speed on its own
(after warmup cycle). It is possible to reduce consumption if fan speed is reduced (not always true for hybrid heater).

PS! Holding recirc button does not activate "partial recirculation mode", it activates "automatic recirculation mode" aka
the same mode that is activated with AUTO button. During summertime holding recirc will not engage any recirc.
 
arnis said:
AUTO mode is not some special mode that draws power. It just tries to maintain selected temperature.
This is why one should reduce temperature selection. CC understands that and will lower fan speed on its own
(after warmup cycle). It is possible to reduce consumption if fan speed is reduced (not always true for hybrid heater).

I find that Auto seems to overdo it for me. I wish there were a 50° selection. When it's super cold outside and inside it doesn't matter if I set it at 60°F or 90°F. The heater runs full blast. And since we have to dress for -20°F weather by the time it warms up to 60°F it actually seems too hot. 50°F would be just about right.
 
VitaminJ said:
Here's a little tip: check out your front undertray. I was just looking at mine and noticed that it had torn from its mounts and the front corners were hanging down under the car. The undertray is made from some kind of fiberboard and simply tore. Most likely caused by the previous owner pulling too far into parking barriers or curbs and scraping it repeatedly. Just throwing away kilowatts with this not fastened correctly.

My Wife had the same issue with hers. Called the dealer, $130 for the part. I'm thinking about it. I want to wait until the winter is over to fix what is left of the tray.
 
IssacZachary said:
arnis said:
AUTO mode is not some special mode that draws power. It just tries to maintain selected temperature.
This is why one should reduce temperature selection. CC understands that and will lower fan speed on its own
(after warmup cycle). It is possible to reduce consumption if fan speed is reduced (not always true for hybrid heater).

I find that Auto seems to overdo it for me. I wish there were a 50° selection. When it's super cold outside and inside it doesn't matter if I set it at 60°F or 90°F. The heater runs full blast. And since we have to dress for -20°F weather by the time it warms up to 60°F it actually seems too hot. 50°F would be just about right.

Exactly. This is correct. I would recommend enabling full recirculation mode in auto+lowest temp setting+feet. Up until it starts to fog up.
This will speed up heatup and also will limit heating element even more (due to the fact that input air gets very warm very fast).
The more/faster drivers footwell heats up the faster CC thinks "enough of full blast hot". Temp sensor is there.
If you don't have heat pump then it is also reasonable to reduce fan speed to maybe 2-3 bars. With heat pump down to 4 bars.
Feet only direction will heat up the sensor faster and will reduce heating sooner.
Low fan speed (AFAIK) speeds up water heating element degradation. It does have "max temp setting" but that is reached way
too fast if air doesn't cool down return coolant. Air PTC element also just stops as soon as it gets to max temp (105C I believe),
but it is not so prone to failure.

PS! I believe it is possible to adjust displayed temperature to real sensor data. Ask dealer to adjust CC temperature selection display value.
Depends what is the lowest cabin temperature sensor limit, it might work. BMW for example has +10C as minimum sensor value,
16C as minimum selection. But it can be adjusted so 16C shown actually means for example keeping 13C in the cabin.

Of course the best way to is to preheat the vehicle for 5 minutes. This dramatically reduces peak load at startup.
It is also much more efficient than heating while driving due to recirculation activated most of the time, with no fogging up.
 
PS! Holding recirc button does not activate "partial recirculation mode", it activates "automatic recirculation mode" aka
the same mode that is activated with AUTO button. During summertime holding recirc will not engage any recirc.

IF this is the case for you then it's either different for the 2016 SV or different for Europe. Here in the US the Recirculate button acts the same regardless of season. And again, most of us would rather tell the car what we want via the Mode buttons than tell the car "Auto!" and then try to restrain its exuberance with multiple adjustments.
 
This post is to "bump" the topic up, and explain how to use it. Those looking for Leaf driving Tips & Tricks just have to go to the first post in this topic and read that. The rest is discussion of that FAQ-type document.
 
This post is to "bump" the topic up, and explain how to use it. Those looking for Leaf driving Tips & Tricks just have to go to the first post in this topic and read that. The rest is discussion of that FAQ-type document, and "bumps" like this one, because the site won't make it appear at the top of the page.
 
LeftieBiker said:
PS! Holding recirc button does not activate "partial recirculation mode", it activates "automatic recirculation mode" aka
the same mode that is activated with AUTO button. During summertime holding recirc will not engage any recirc.

IF this is the case for you then it's either different for the 2016 SV or different for Europe. Here in the US the Recirculate button acts the same regardless of season. And again, most of us would rather tell the car what we want via the Mode buttons than tell the car "Auto!" and then try to restrain its exuberance with multiple adjustments.


On Page 4-26 of the US Leaf manual it states that the press and hold engages auto mode. The intake flap will operate the same as it does in full auto. So in summer it may indeed be full open. I know when the AC system starts in auto in the summer it is on recirculate for a time so there may be some modulation of the flap.
I do know to engage the auto re circulation mode you must first press to engage full recirculate. then press and hold till the light flashes.
Hope this clears up some missunderstandings.
 
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