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UsedLeaf

Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2017
Messages
16
So I just picked up a 2012 Leaf SL Premium package with 20,000 miles 11 of the 12 bars and extended service contract for 2 more years. Has the 30 min quick charger as well. Got it for $4200. Best deal ever. Drove it to work for the first time today. I was gonna search here for ideas on switching out to LED, I would think those would save my battery power...

Oh and I am in SF Bay Area
 
The deal that you got was ridiculous... Don't spend a dime on ANY upgrades because you would be throwing away the money you saved on the car into a ditch..

You do not save any significant amount of energy with LED/.////..... It is just a way to have you spend more money...
 
Switching out some of the cabinet lighting was cheap and well worth it for me. I found the overhead light and the cargo light in particular are a huge improvement in brightness.
 
alozzy said:
Switching out some of the cabinet lighting was cheap and well worth it for me. I found the overhead light and the cargo light in particular are a huge improvement in brightness.

Thanks I will look into that

powersurge said:
The deal that you got was ridiculous... Don't spend a dime on ANY upgrades because you would be throwing away the money you saved on the car into a ditch..

You do not save any significant amount of energy with LED/.////..... It is just a way to have you spend more money...

I think it was, she got tons of calls but I was the first there with cash in hand, I left work the moment I saw it posted, luckily she was only 3 miles from my work.
And I was thinking about brake lights, I sit in traffic on the brakes for about 40 min each way, I would think that changing to LED would save on those. I guess I have to do more research. I just wanna save energy.
Here is my dash this morning:
 
First, good luck on your new purchase. Second, let's be realistic. All the lights on the car run on 12 volts. If you want to get brighter lights on the interior, then fine...

However, replacing bulbs on the exterior is a total waste of money.. The car is legally equipped with lights, and all cars around you will see you adequately... Why should you care to save a few watts on some brake lights or signal lights, when you only use them part of the time. There is no savings of electricity on this. When you hit the gas hard, or turn on the AC, you immediately cancel any savings an LED bulb gives.. It's all a racquet to get you to buy more toys.. AND It makes you have to take your car apart unnecessarily.

Use the car as is, and when they blow, THEN pick any bulb you like...
 
You'd probably only save at most like 50 watts, which is 100 to 1000 times less than what the motor draws while driving. If you drive for an hour at 4 miles per kwh you'd save 0.2 miles of range. It's not nothing, but it's small compared to the overall range (around 0.25%). There's orders of magnitude difference between the power consumed by driving compared to the power consumed by any accessories, so I wouldn't fret about shaving off a few watts, but if it brings you happiness then go for it!
 
powersurge said:
First, good luck on your new purchase. Second, let's be realistic. All the lights on the car run on 12 volts. If you want to get brighter lights on the interior, then fine...

However, replacing bulbs on the exterior is a total waste of money.. The car is legally equipped with lights, and all cars around you will see you adequately... Why should you care to save a few watts on some brake lights or signal lights, when you only use them part of the time. There is no savings of electricity on this. When you hit the gas hard, or turn on the AC, you immediately cancel any savings an LED bulb gives.. It's all a racquet to get you to buy more toys.. AND It makes you have to take your car apart unnecessarily.

Use the car as is, and when they blow, THEN pick any bulb you like...

Actually maybe I am wrong. I could have sworn I see bulbs in there and not LED.. But the 2011 manual says LED
 
The 2011 SL (premium package) definitely has LED lights. I'm not sure about the 2012 SL, but I thought it was the same (at least until 2013).
 
As said, the '12SL will have LED headlights and rear exterior lights, but little else. Also as said, don't really expect any range difference by replacing stock bulbs with LED but you might gain brightness or aesthetics but not range.
You got a steal but I wonder whats up with your GOM?? 99 miles is basically unheard of for a 24kwh Leaf, unless someone was coasting down a hill for the last few miles the vehicle was in use on a 100% charged Leaf.....something just doesn't seem right. Oh and speaking of GOM, IMO it's quite inaccurate in the pre '13 Leafs, very optimistic at first and then gets pessimistic towards lower discharge, causing range major anxiety. First thing I'd do is get something like LeafDD(no longer available) or a OBDII adapter and the LeafSpy program. It has a very nice SOC% display among other range indicators, all better than the GOM IMO. With a 11 bar Leaf expect upper 60s to 70 miles for range @ 100% charge, which drops if you like to regularly do 70+ MPH.
If wanting a L2 EVSE(charger) don't waste your money on anything more than 16a @ 240v(well unless you want to futureproof) as 16a is the max you can charge @ 240v, 12a @ 120v.
 
Brake / tail lights and low beam headlights are already LED. The rest of the lights are incandescent and not worth messing with unless for aesthetic / gadget reasons.

Turn signal flasher has a bulb out detector, which replacement LEDs would cause it to flash rapidly unless you add a load resistor to fool it (and negate any energy savings).

Cabin lights are easy and cheap to upgrade if your want slightly brighter / whiter light.
 
... but I wonder whats up with your GOM?? 99 miles is basically unheard of for a 24kwh Leaf, unless someone was coasting down a hill for the last few miles the vehicle was in use on a 100% charged Leaf.....something just doesn't seem right.

The range estimate is based on the last couple (2? 5?) of minutes the car was driven, so if the OP gets 5 or 6 m/kwh for the last little bit of his drive, that's all it takes to see that on startup.
 
jjeff said:
If wanting a L2 EVSE(charger) don't waste your money on anything more than 16a @ 240v(well unless you want to futureproof) as 16a is the max you can charge @ 240v, 12a @ 120v.

I have no clue what this means...lol.
As far as the car, the old lady drove it around town only for grocery shopping, she is retired and was afraid to go far with it. Original owner. Got it with an extended warranty and service plan and the EZCharge card from nissan I just activated since she didn't use it.
And that 99 miles was this morn after I unplugged and drove down the court in eco mode.

Also not sure about ECO mode, I read that people drive on the freeway in that mode???? Is that the norm?
 
@UsedLeaf - if you like to drive like the granny that sold you the car, then by all means drive in ECO all the time :D

I personally only ever use ECO mode for lighter regen braking (I have a 2013, with B mode - heavier regen). IMHO, the only reason to drive in ECO mode when not braking is because you need extra range on a long trip.

If wanting a L2 EVSE(charger) don't waste your money on anything more than 16a @ 240v(well unless you want to futureproof) as 16a is the max you can charge @ 240v, 12a @ 120v.

Jeff is letting you know that the onboard charger on your Leaf is limited to a 3.6 kW rate. When charging on an EVSE outputing 240V @ 16A, that's 3.84 kW - more than your onboard charger allows. So, if you bought a fancy EVSE that outputs up to 240V @ 40A, your Leaf would still limit the charging rate to 3.6 kW. In other words, save your money and buy a cheaper EVSE...
 
alozzy said:
@UsedLeaf - if you like to drive like the granny that sold you the car, then by all means drive in ECO all the time :D

I personally only ever use ECO mode for lighter regen braking (I have a 2013, with B mode - heavier regen). IMHO, the only reason to drive in ECO mode when not braking is because you need extra range on a long trip.

If wanting a L2 EVSE(charger) don't waste your money on anything more than 16a @ 240v(well unless you want to futureproof) as 16a is the max you can charge @ 240v, 12a @ 120v.

Jeff is letting you know that the onboard charger on your Leaf is limited to a 3.6 kW rate. When charging on an EVSE outputing 240V @ 16A, that's 3.84 kW - more than your onboard charger allows. So, if you bought a fancy EVSE that outputs up to 240V @ 40A, your Leaf would still limit the charging rate to 3.6 kW. In other words, save your money and buy a cheaper EVSE...
Your basic advice is correct, but not some of the numbers. Originally, Nissan rated the On-Board Charger at 3.3 kW, which is what gets to the battery after overhead (cooling the power electronics, charging inefficiency) from a 3.84 kW (or higher) EVSE. Then other companies started coming out with OBCs that could handle about twice the current/power, typically 30 Amps at 240 V, or 7.2kW on the input side. So, for 2013 Nissan decided to change how they described their new, more powerful OBC so that it didn't look so feeble compared to the competition, and IIRR began calling it a 6.6kW OBC, rather than the 6kW or lower that it would be called if rated for power into the battery (i.e. the output side of the OBC).

All 2012s have the 3.3 kW OBC, which is the rating into the battery (output side of the OBC), but it pulls up to 3.84kW from the wall (input side of the OBC).
 
Correct and the least expensive L2(240v) EVSEs(part you plug in the wall) tend to max out at 16a, or the max your Leaf will accept. I was just saying there is no need to spend more money on a higher power EVSE, well unless you were planning on getting a different vehicle that could accept higher current. Your Leaf will work with a higher power EVSE, it just won't use more than 16 amps.
 
GRA said:
alozzy said:
@UsedLeaf - if you like to drive like the granny that sold you the car, then by all means drive in ECO all the time :D

I personally only ever use ECO mode for lighter regen braking (I have a 2013, with B mode - heavier regen). IMHO, the only reason to drive in ECO mode when not braking is because you need extra range on a long trip.

If wanting a L2 EVSE(charger) don't waste your money on anything more than 16a @ 240v(well unless you want to futureproof) as 16a is the max you can charge @ 240v, 12a @ 120v.

Jeff is letting you know that the onboard charger on your Leaf is limited to a 3.6 kW rate. When charging on an EVSE outputing 240V @ 16A, that's 3.84 kW - more than your onboard charger allows. So, if you bought a fancy EVSE that outputs up to 240V @ 40A, your Leaf would still limit the charging rate to 3.6 kW. In other words, save your money and buy a cheaper EVSE...
Your basic advice is correct, but not some of the numbers. Originally, Nissan rated the On-Board Charger at 3.3 kW, which is what gets to the battery after overhead (cooling the power electronics, charging inefficiency) from a 3.84 kW (or higher) EVSE. Then other companies started coming out with OBCs that could handle about twice the current/power, typically 30 Amps at 240 V, or 7.2kW on the input side. So, for 2013 Nissan decided to change how they described their new, more powerful OBC so that it didn't look so feeble compared to the competition, and IIRR began calling it a 6.6kW OBC, rather than the 6kW or lower that it would be called if rated for power into the battery (i.e. the output side of the OBC).

All 2012s have the 3.3 kW OBC, which is the rating into the battery (output side of the OBC), but it pulls up to 3.84kW from the wall (input side of the OBC).

Ok I guess I have to read about that, over my head. All I know is it charges in 30 min. gets me to my work and back on a charge even with the killer hills. We will see for how long tho.
I did just air up the tires they were at 37 I bumped to 42. Needs new tires soon tho.
 
Almost 2 weeks and I have put 1000 miles on my car and I love it! I thought this was gonna be just a hop to work car but we have been going everywhere (within reason). Got down to low battery one day with 8 miles to go after driving for 96 miles on one charge with aircon running!! I drive 5mph under speed limit and in cruise control seems to get better mileage for me and in eco mode. And having this free charge card is awesome! 30 min quick charge when we grab lunch or shop at the mall has been awesome. Best $4200 I have spent. So far approx $150 saved on gas from my truck at 17mpg highway. At this rate with the service contract and the 2 year free charge card I am gonna be making money soon!
 
UsedLeaf said:
Almost 2 weeks and I have put 1000 miles on my car and I love it! I thought this was gonna be just a hop to work car but we have been going everywhere (within reason). Got down to low battery one day with 8 miles to go after driving for 96 miles on one charge with aircon running!! I drive 5mph under speed limit and in cruise control seems to get better mileage for me and in eco mode. And having this free charge card is awesome! 30 min quick charge when we grab lunch or shop at the mall has been awesome. Best $4200 I have spent. So far approx $150 saved on gas from my truck at 17mpg highway. At this rate with the service contract and the 2 year free charge card I am gonna be making money soon!
Welcome to the future! Tell all your friends (and enemies for that matter). Help as many people as possible realize that electric vehicles ARE JUST BETTER than gas! The only place those dinosaurs still rule is on long trips (and then only really for people who don't want to stop every once in a while).
 
Ok, if I did the math guesstimate correctly, from your signature: 260,000 mi / 15 mpg *$3.00/gal = $52,000!!!!!!! in gasoline alone since 2011. No wonder the oil industry hates EVs. If you'd bought a new 2011 Leaf for full price instead of your truck, you'd be close to $20,000 ahead. Instead you waited and got a killer deal on a used Leaf. Better late than never. Just think about savings you will see in the next decade.
 
UsedLeaf said:
Almost 2 weeks and I have put 1000 miles on my car and I love it! I thought this was gonna be just a hop to work car but we have been going everywhere (within reason). Got down to low battery one day with 8 miles to go after driving for 96 miles on one charge with aircon running!! I drive 5mph under speed limit and in cruise control seems to get better mileage for me and in eco mode. And having this free charge card is awesome! 30 min quick charge when we grab lunch or shop at the mall has been awesome. Best $4200 I have spent. So far approx $150 saved on gas from my truck at 17mpg highway. At this rate with the service contract and the 2 year free charge card I am gonna be making money soon!
I bought my 2013 almost 2 months ago, and I love it too, but you must have won the lottery and picked up a magical 2012.
96 miles with 8 miles to spare? That battery pack must be like new or you drive a lot more efficiently than I do!
I thought I got a good deal at $7000 but you definitely beat me there, too.
 
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