Interest In A 12V Battery Upgrade Kit??

Hi Guys,

The 12v Battery on my 2013 S died suddenly earlier this week, and I tried a number of alternatives to the weird size battery Nissan put in the car. Eventually I settled on a slightly larger (Group 56) battery. It fits in the same spot as the OEM battery (there is a lot of room) but it does require a custom hold down that I'm making. I was thinking about offering these as kits for other people. I know some people don't feel the 12v battery is charged enough and upgrading the the larger Group 56 battery will help with that some. As well as allowing you to buy a replacement battery anywhere at any time instead of having to find the more rare 51R size. (And the Group 56 is about 30% cheaper).

Electrically it is identical, just has a larger capacity.

Thoughts?

Joey

I posted a similar swap. I found the space is the same as the Nissan Rogue so I swapped mine out for that. The details are in this thread

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=18129&p=439206#p439206

So will just the Rogue hold-down work with the Leaf tray?

The hold down would work with the Leaf tray, but the 34N won't fit in the Leaf tray

I'm surprised you describe the 51R as rare. Here in the Portland/Vancouver area, I've found it at every local store that carries car batteries. It's in millions of Hondas, and probably other makes as well.

OTOH, if you claim it is small and overpriced, I'll definitely agree with that!

Yeah, they aren't super rare, I'm actually down in Corvallis and I had a few options, but not everybody had it. And, I couldn't get the Optima without ordering it and that's what I really wanted.

@BrockWI - nice write-up. Thanks for pointing me to it.

The Size 56 battery has the posts much closer to the sides than the Rogue battery, did you have any trouble with the bundle of wires. On mine, the battery is now pushing the bundle of cables out of the way a little. But it's just a smidge. I was going to put a small pad between the battery and the bundle so that neither one wears through the other, but I doubt that would even be a problem. Just trying to be sure.

Joey

It was really a pretty simple swap , the neg lead is a bit shorter, but not so much to cause any issue.

Let me try again. Group 56 battery, in Leaf tray, with Rogue hold-down. Will those work together? The hold-down in mine looks pretty universal. I suspect a generic adjustable one would also fit.

It may... The 56 is still a relatively narrow battery (6 1/8") whereas most of the batteries are approx 7". So a universal hold down may work. I ordered a few different hold downs to try out. I want to find the best fit. I also ordered some acid neutralizing absorbing mat since the tray isn't quite big enough.

Joeynovak said:

It may... The 56 is still a relatively narrow battery (6 1/8") whereas most of the batteries are approx 7". So a universal hold down may work. I ordered a few different hold downs to try out. I want to find the best fit. I also ordered some acid neutralizing absorbing mat since the tray isn't quite big enough.

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I thought you wrote that it fit the tray fine. Never mind.

Me personally, I ditched the factory lead acid 12V battery and put in a 2lb Li-Ion batttery. I've run them in all my cars/motorcycles for the last 7 years. They're only $99 on Amazon too. I just used foam bricks to get the battery to the proper mounting height for the tie down. Oh, and not entirely necessary but most people will appreciate having post adapters as the battery is set up for motorcycle terminal connection. U can buy those on Amazon for around $12 - $15.

http://www.amazon.com/YTZ14S-Z14S-Lithium-Sealed-Battery/dp/B00DCXIJJG

Do your motorcycles run 10+ amps worth of accessories?

I looked at going with a smaller battery, and decided not to. The capacity rating (in Ahr) of the li-ion motorcycle batteries is pretty low (3 to 4?). Leave the head lights on for 15-20 min and your stuck. (Assuming the headlights draw 20amps or so.). And just the headlights is a kind of a light load.

Not saying the li-ion motorcycle battery is a bad idea. It's just not for me.

I have a 2015 SV (took delivery in Oct 2014).

My original battery was mostly okay until about 2 weeks ago. I say "mostly" because I did have the issue where the upgraded 3G TCU would go quiet for weeks on end, although none of the other systems in the car were affected. As has been discussed in other threads, this could have been caused by marginal supply voltage at the TCU when the car is off. (I've successfully done the fuse-pull-reset of the TCU a few times.)

I took my Leaf into the local Nissan dealer for its 3-year checkup the last week of October 2017. As part of that checkup, they did a test on the 12V battery, which passed... but by the 1st week of November the 12V battery was completely kaput. I tried to charge it with an external 15A charger, and also with a battery tender. I could get the voltage up to about 13V after the charger was removed, but it would drop to <6V as soon as I put any load on it. My guess is that it was already on its last leg, and that the test performed by the dealer (which probably involved a high current load) was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Anyway, I decided to replace it with a Bosch AGM battery of the same size (51R) as the original battery. So far, so good... but only time will tell if the AGM lasts any longer (and maybe keeps the TCU happier) than a regular flooded lead acid battery.

Even though I decided against the Li-Ion option, I'd like to thank those that are willing to go out on a limb, then report their successes and failures back to the forum.

Jeff

Joeynovak said:

I looked at going with a smaller battery, and decided not to. The capacity rating (in Ahr) of the li-ion motorcycle batteries is pretty low (3 to 4?). Leave the head lights on for 15-20 min and your stuck. (Assuming the headlights draw 20amps or so.). And just the headlights is a kind of a light load.

Not saying the li-ion motorcycle battery is a bad idea. It's just not for me.

Click to expand...

My thoughts as well. Most of the cheap Li 12V-replacement batteries have very low true Ahr capacity, if they even list it at all. They may be able to provide a short burst of starting current for a car, but the problem is modern cars draw current even when parked ("dark current"). LEAF even more so. After a few days of parking these low-capacity batteries will be fully drained. Imho in a Li replacement you need at least 20Ahr or so to be viable. And those don't seem to come cheap at all.

The answer to this age old question of Leaf 12v batteries has 2 solutions... First, you do not need a L-ion battery, or AGM deep cycle. The 12v electrical system does not require any cold cranking power (like starting a big engine), so the stock one is adequate. If you want an upgrade, get the biggest that fits in the battery tray, or even get a bigger tray, and you can have a good, powerful, Lead Acid battery that can last 10 years, like most of my car batteries do.

Second, it is not the size or type of battery that is important. Dead Battery problems do not happen suddenly, but over time, when we are not looking. My 3 year old battery is in NEW condition. I know this because I have installed a digital volt meter that tells me the battery voltage at all times when I drive. You can get one reasonable, and install it in the cigarette lighter, or hard wire it. When you see the battery voltage start going down, then you can investigate what your car is doing....

powersurge said:

The answer to this age old question of Leaf 12v batteries has 2 solutions... First, you do not need a L-ion battery, or AGM deep cycle. The 12v does not require any cold cranking power to start a big engine, so the stock one is adequate. If you want an upgrade, get the biggest that fits in the battery tray, or even get a bigger tray, and you can have a good, powerful, Lead Acid batter that can last 10 years, like my car batteries do.

Second, it is not the size or type of battery that is important. Battery problems so not happen suddenly, buy over time when we are not looking. My 3 year old battery is in NEW condition. I know this because I have installed a digital volt meter that tells me the battery voltage at all times when I drive. You can get one reasonable, and install it in the cigarette lighter, or hard wire it. When you see the battery voltage start going down, then you can investigate what your car is doing....

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Sure, you can intervene and spend time charging the battery separately from the vehicle, or disconnect it before parking for more than a day or two... Examining its voltage constantly; doing load tests... But if you just want to be able to drive without playing nursemaid to a 12V battery, a deep-cycle is a useful alternative.

Nubo said:

Sure, you can intervene and spend time charging the battery separately from the vehicle, or disconnect it before parking for more than a day or two... Examining its voltage constantly; doing load tests... But if you just want to be able to drive without playing nursemaid to a 12V battery, a deep-cycle is a useful alternative.

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...or just replace it with a LiFePO4 battery and forget about it! If capacity is a concern, there are higher Ahr alternatives available (I use 20 AHr https://www.lithiumpros.com/product/lithium-pros-c925-12v20ah-lithium-ion-battery/)...for more $.

Stanton said:

Nubo said:

Sure, you can intervene and spend time charging the battery separately from the vehicle, or disconnect it before parking for more than a day or two... Examining its voltage constantly; doing load tests... But if you just want to be able to drive without playing nursemaid to a 12V battery, a deep-cycle is a useful alternative.

Click to expand...

...or just replace it with a LiFePO4 battery and forget about it! If capacity is a concern, there are higher Ahr alternatives available (I use 20 AHr)...for more $.

Click to expand...

I'd consider 20AH to be a viable capacity in a Li replacement, but I'm not willing to spend $800 for it. At $300 I might bite. One does also have to be careful, there are a lot of fly-by-night characters in that market niche. I'd wait until it's not so much like the Wild West. Or, build a pack of my own. 40AH LiFePo cells can be had for about $60 each. I built 8 of them into a pack for my electric lawnmower and it kicks ass! :mrgreen: