heat when plugged in and fully charged

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ebeighe

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 5, 2017
Messages
96
Location
Phoenix, AZ
confused:
I fully charged my leaf;
I went out to the car and while still plugged in turned car on.
I turned on the heat. the fan blows (and radio works, etc) but no warmth comes out

once i unplug car to drive it, the heater fires up just fine.

is that the way it's supposed to work? I thought that was the idea to have it plugged in so i could 'preheat' car while still plugged in?

when the weather was warm, i did this (run the a/c while plugged in); but if i recall correctly it was never fully charged... and that worked for cooling as expected.

It's a (edit: 2017) model S (so no remote control). It's not particularly cold here, maybe low is high 30's F.

---

I've never used the car's timers -- i'm sortof confused by them and in any event seem very limited function. I do use a timer in my charger.
 
Did you fully turn the car on to Ready mode? (car with arrows on the dash). You have to do that to turn on the climate control, if you just push the button without pressing the brake it will just go into aux mode and run the fan without running the heat.
 
Hit the timer override button (even if it is full), I believe the car has to be actively charging to get get the heat to work while plugged in.
 
magico13 said:
Did you fully turn the car on to Ready mode? (car with arrows on the dash). You have to do that to turn on the climate control, if you just push the button without pressing the brake it will just go into aux mode and run the fan without running the heat.

Unless the '13 - '17 models are different from the '11 - '12 models, surely you cannot get into Run mode while still plugged in (whether charging has been completed or not)?

As BrockWI says, the car has to be actively charging (or showing charge complete with 3 solid blue lights) for pre-heating to work.
If the 3 blue lights have already gone out, even though still plugged in, presumably it is too late for pre-heating. Haven't verified that, but it sounds logical.

Don't think the timer is a factor here (which OP hasn't used anyway) if the charging process has run its full course to 100% without the timer.

So the key appears to be: get the pre-heating done sooner.
 
BrockWI said:
Hit the timer override button (even if it is full), I believe the car has to be actively charging to get get the heat to work while plugged in.
This and you also have to hold down the brake pedal and push the power button twice. Note this works on my '13, I haven't found a way to do this on my '12 and no you can never get the ready light ON when plugged in, on any Leaf.
 
jjeff said:
BrockWI said:
Hit the timer override button (even if it is full), I believe the car has to be actively charging to get get the heat to work while plugged in.
This and you also have to hold down the brake pedal and push the power button twice. Note this works on my '13, I haven't found a way to do this on my '12 and no you can never get the ready light ON when plugged in, on any Leaf.

hey thanks for all the suggestions.

(mine's a 2017S in case that matters).
so i've got a couple of thing to try next time... i don't often fully charge it, or really don't drive that much so it doesn't get charged very often... anyway next time i'll
1) try pressing the override button (and will that make the blue lights come on, i wonder?) and
2) turn on (maybe twice even?) with foot on brake (i can't exactly remember what i did the last time

When i had my difficulty: it had already finished fully charging, and the blue charging lights were already out. Looking back at my openevse data, it had apparently finished fully charging and balancing about 40 minutes before i tried to turn the heat on.
 
ebeighe said:
(mine's a 2017S in case that matters).
so i've got a couple of thing to try next time... i don't often fully charge it, or really don't drive that much so it doesn't get charged very often... anyway next time i'll
1) try pressing the override button (and will that make the blue lights come on, i wonder?) and
2) turn on (maybe twice even?) with foot on brake (i can't exactly remember what i did the last time
That should work, it does for my '13.
 
I just did this on my 2013 S. It was plugged in and done charging. I hit the timer over ride button, it started to charge again. Then press the brake pedal and turn on (the same as you would normally do to drive off) and the turned heat on and it worked. I let it sit that way for 5 minutes before leaving and it was nice and warm (3F outside right now). The nice thing is I set it for re-circ so it heats up faster and since no one is in it that works fine.

I do use the "timer" function, if you don't and it just always charges once you plug it in, I would think just unplugging it from the car and plugging it back in would start the charge process as well.
 
BrockWI said:
Then press the brake pedal and turn on (the same as you would normally do to drive off) and the turned heat on and it worked.

I do use the "timer" function, if you don't and it just always charges once you plug it in, I would think just unplugging it from the car and plugging it back in would start the charge process as well.
It's possible you only have to push the power button once but both times I tried it only once, it didn't seem to heat. Then I'd push the power button a second time and a short while later I'd get heat, maybe I just didn't wait long enough after the first push. If you say it works for you, I have no reason to doubt you and will give pushing just once another try :)
I believe your correct on a Leaf without a timer programmed, you'd probably need to cycle the J1772 connector.
 
I think two start pushes is the same as a start push with the brake pressed?

But yes it takes about 30 seconds before I notice it is getting warm. I use eco a lot and you can't switch to no-eco while plugged in. I should look at what the heater is pulling while in eco mode plugged in.
 
BrockWI said:
I think two start pushes is the same as a start push with the brake pressed?

But yes it takes about 30 seconds before I notice it is getting warm. I use eco a lot and you can't switch to no-eco while plugged in. I should look at what the heater is pulling while in eco mode plugged in.
I basically only use ECO so I kind of forget things might act differently in non ECO mode :)
I prefer the ECO accelerator pedal mapping and probably more important, much more regen in ECO. Unlike some Leafs with a B mode, to get increased regen on our Leafs your only option is ECO.
 
BrockWI said:
Hit the timer override button (even if it is full), I believe the car has to be actively charging to get get the heat to work while plugged in.

that is correct, when really cold out I'd unplug it and plug it back in then hit the heat.

Alt is use the app to turn on charging, then heat, and that works.
 
XeonPony said:
Alt is use the app to turn on charging, then heat, and that works.
... but that's not an option on an S

So... i tried again; at least on a MY 2017 S it doesn't seem possible (didn't try unpluggin/re-plugging; i'm assuming that would allow heat or ac to turn on).
To recap, when fully charged (the blue dash lights have gone out) but still plugged in:
Pushing the button twice will get the fan going but doesn't make any heat.
stepping on the brake while pushing the button seems to have no effect one way or the other.
pushing timer override button doesn't appear to do anything.

Anyway, it is more of a curiosity to me; i don't often charge to 100% anyway, and for the winter it's so warm here i don't typically even ever turn on the heat(! I was more thinking ahead to the summer, and a/c pre-cooling).
 
ebeighe said:
XeonPony said:
Alt is use the app to turn on charging, then heat, and that works.
... but that's not an option on an S

So... i tried again; at least on a MY 2017 S it doesn't seem possible (didn't try unpluggin/re-plugging; i'm assuming that would allow heat or ac to turn on).
To recap, when fully charged (the blue dash lights have gone out) but still plugged in:
Pushing the button twice will get the fan going but doesn't make any heat.
stepping on the brake while pushing the button seems to have no effect one way or the other.
pushing timer override button doesn't appear to do anything.

Anyway, it is more of a curiosity to me; i don't often charge to 100% anyway, and for the winter it's so warm here i don't typically even ever turn on the heat(! I was more thinking ahead to the summer, and a/c pre-cooling).
Lets do this one step at a time.
1. Push timer override button if you have a timer set, if not cycle the j1772 connector. If the Leaf doesn't start charging, stop here, for some reason your Leaf doesn't act like either of mine and the only way the next step will work is if the Leaf is actively charging.
2. If it does start charging, put your foot on the brake and push the power button. You should have heat, if not I guess you could try the foot on the brake and power button a second time, if still no heat after 90?? seconds, well your Leaf doesn't act like mine and I don't know what to say :)
Note it's possible Nissan changed things in '17, they did from '12 to '13 as step #2 above does not work on my '12. Turning the car on when plugged in, even if actively charging, immediately stops charging and pulls all power from the car :x
 
I've seen numerous threads on this issue. I'm very surprised that I haven't seen a definitive answer (that I remember). It seems there should be definitive answers to this stuff. I too have been confused about when the car will and will not preheat.
 
jake14mw said:
I've seen numerous threads on this issue. I'm very surprised that I haven't seen a definitive answer (that I remember). It seems there should be definitive answers to this stuff. I too have been confused about when the car will and will not preheat.

The only real confusion is trying to turn the car on and get the heater to come on while it is still connected to the EVSE. A charging session has to be active, for this to work. Press the On button twice (foot on the brake and press once should also work), turn the heater on, and warm air should be coming out within a few minutes. If a charging session is not active, the car will come on, but no heat is produced.

The Climate Control Timer automates the process, and will activate the charger to keep from draining the battery, if the EVSE is connected. The Remote Climate Control feature of the Nissan EVConnect app (or website) can be used to condition the car prior to driving. When running from the battery, it will operate for 15 minutes and then turn off automatically. If the EVSE is connected, it will run for 2 hours before turning off.
 
I know this isn't the issue here but keep in mind the car won't run the heat even while charging when the battery is below about 18%. My wife was at 10%, becasue it was -15F that day, so she stopped to get add charge and tried the heat but it wouldn't work. She called me and I told her she wouldn't have heat until about 20% and sure enough at 17%, while on the phone the heat kicked in, she was happy, warmed up the cabin, charged to 30% and then drove home with no heat, got home on very low battery ---
 
I have MY13 and also confused by the charging logic when the remote command is sent to turn on the vehicle.

If the vehicle is 100 pct charged with the charging lights off and the vehicle off, and climate control is remotely activated, it does appear that the vehicle will start charging again. However, it appears the traction battery will discharge faster than the vehicle will charge until a certain charge percentage. I've seen it discharge as much as 5 pct from 100 while the remote climate control is running. Is this normal?

If the vehicle is 100 pct charged with charging lights off and I sit inside and turn on the vehicle as though I am going to drive it, the heat pump will NOT turn on no matter if I press the timer button, or brake, or press the power button. I have found I have to unplug the vehicle, then turn it on to ready status, before heating or cooling will begin.

I sometimes let it run for a minute, then turn the vehicle off completely, and then plug it back in, and then turn it back on again into ready mode, and the heat pump will turn on.
 
jdcbomb said:
I have MY13 and also confused by the charging logic when the remote command is sent to turn on the vehicle.

If the vehicle is 100 pct charged with the charging lights off and the vehicle off, and climate control is remotely activated, it does appear that the vehicle will start charging again. However, it appears the traction battery will discharge faster than the vehicle will charge until a certain charge percentage. I've seen it discharge as much as 5 pct from 100 while the remote climate control is running. Is this normal?

If the vehicle is 100 pct charged with charging lights off and I sit inside and turn on the vehicle as though I am going to drive it, the heat pump will NOT turn on no matter if I press the timer button, or brake, or press the power button. I have found I have to unplug the vehicle, then turn it on to ready status, before heating or cooling will begin.

I sometimes let it run for a minute, then turn the vehicle off completely, and then plug it back in, and then turn it back on again into ready mode, and the heat pump will turn on.
On point 1 it depends on your EVSE. I've found you need a minimum of ~18a 240v to keep up with the heater and not start drawing from the battery, even if plugged in. If say you have a 16a 240v EVSE and your heater is running 100%(very cold out) you'll start losing some of your battery charge even if plugged in. If you have a 24 or better yet a 27a EVSE you won't lose any charge and if your battery wasn't already 100% to begin with, you'll start gaining charge during preheat. If you have a 120v EVSE, well do the math, every minute you preheat you'll be losing charge and don't be surprised to lose many percent(5-10??) for a full 30 minute preheat, I only preheat with L2 and a minimum of 19a(well except for my '12 that only charges at a max of 16a @ 240v in which case I have to live with a slight percent loss of charge when I preheat).

On point 2 AFAIK(I don't have a heatpump Leaf) the heat pump will not be used during preheat, only the resistive heater, just the way it's designed.
 
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