Underneath the Beast; a Tour of the Dark Side

My Nissan Leaf Forum

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Did you discover where the "Approaching Vehicle Sound for Pedestrians" sound is coming from? Based on the recordings I've heard (still waiting for my Leaf), I would not expect those sounds to come out of the regular horn.
 
Herm said:
There is a thread on the forum about a replacement, do a search. A loud horn is an important safety device.. I dont care if it bothers people, I seldom use it.
Thanks for the lead, Herm. I found it.

Here it is for anyone else interested: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1602. I picked out the replacement horn I want, plus posted a few more options in the other thread. ;)
 
OilFreedom said:
Did you discover where the "Approaching Vehicle Sound for Pedestrians" sound is coming from? Based on the recordings I've heard (still waiting for my Leaf), I would not expect those sounds to come out of the regular horn.

There is a speaker under the hood down low on the driver's side that plays the VSP sound, as well as the backup sound and some of the charging beeps....
 
downeykp said:
Tony, please post when you have figured out a good way to mount a tire in the unused tire well. Mahalo.


Just bought a new Altima spare (space saver) tire/wheel.

Tire is 135/90/16

Wheel is HEAVY steel, 16x4, 5 lug holes, 4.5 inch / 114.3mm bolt pattern. Not sure of the offset.

Also, got the Altima jack and lug wrench.

I'd sure like to find a lightweight aluminum wheel in that size.

I'll start a new thread when I get this further along.
 
TonyWilliams said:
A 12 volt horn, within the limits of circuit loading (wire size, fuse size) will work. I'll guess just about any horn you'd want to mount.

I guess - as long you don't use something like this...:

59734-super_loud_dual_135_db_air_horn_12v_car_motorcycle_boat.jpg


I'm not convinced that these can be made to chirp ;)
 
TonyWilliams said:
downeykp said:
Tony, please post when you have figured out a good way to mount a tire in the unused tire well. Mahalo.


Just bought a new Altima spare (space saver) tire/wheel.

Tire is 135/90/16

Wheel is HEAVY steel, 16x4, 5 lug holes, 4.5 inch / 114.3mm bolt pattern. Not sure of the offset.

Also, got the Altima jack and lug wrench.

I'd sure like to find a lightweight aluminum wheel in that size.

I'll start a new thread when I get this further along.

Please do.

A real design flaw, IMO, for Nissan not to offer an (optional) spare location.

Are you are talking about accessing the spare from the underside?

So, would you need to jack up the car, to access the spare?
 
I would not call it a design flaw but smart weight reduction, since the car is likely to alway be near some services and only has a sub 100 mile range having a spare only adds much weight and additional cost. I have never owned and EV with a spare.
 
EVDRIVER said:
I would not call it a design flaw but smart weight reduction, since the car is likely to alway be near some services and only has a sub 100 mile range having a spare only adds much weight and additional cost. I have never owned and EV with a spare.
This might be true, but who wants to wait over an hour for a tow truck to come and then the additional time to tow to tire shop. Not me. I would rather change it and be on my way.
 
Very informational and educational!!! Thanks for the kick-ass pics!

FYI: I added a pointer to the "parking/emergency brake" pics from here.

GroundLoop said:
Given the intimacy of these pictures, are you planning to yank the battery pack? :)
TonyWilliams said:
I'd want to read the actual service manual before doing that. I do have jacks that would work, and the center of mass is stamped into the lower main battery case.
Very cool!

The whole parking brake mechanism seems either overengineered or made complex in haste.. I can't tell which.
TonyWilliams said:
Or both. There are lots of places on this car to cut weight. It doesn't even look like they made much effort there.
I haven't thought this through, but there may have been some marketing or engineering requirements that the parking/emergency brake be electrically actuated so its use can be integrated with the start-up-and-drive sequence. However, I can't imagine that a requirement that the parking brake be automatically disengaged if the driver steps on the gas pedal is so important that that Nissan would concoct such a Rube Goldberg machine of a parking brake.

Screw-driven piston in the rear calipers (actuated via a lever and cable, as on VWs) would have saved the weight of the drum brake parts, the electric actuating motor, the reduction gear, and the clutch. Even using a separate drum brake as a parking brake, as on a BMW 5 series, would have avoided the weight of the electric actuating motor, the reduction gear, and the clutch.
 
aqn said:
Even using a separate drum brake as a parking brake, as on a BMW 5 series, would have avoided the weight of the electric actuating motor, the reduction gear, and the clutch.
Isn't this exactly what they did? (separate drum brake for parking brake)
 
aqn said:
Even using a separate drum brake as a parking brake, as on a BMW 5 series, would have avoided the weight of the electric actuating motor, the reduction gear, and the clutch.
GroundLoop said:
Isn't this exactly what they did? (separate drum brake for parking brake)
Yes, but the LEAF's drum parking/emergency brake is not merely pulled by cables manually as in the BMW, but is actuated by cables pulled via a clutch via a reduction gear via an electric motor via an electrical switch, hence "the weight of the electric actuating motor, the reduction gear, and the clutch".
 
downeykp said:
EVDRIVER said:
I would not call it a design flaw but smart weight reduction, since the car is likely to alway be near some services and only has a sub 100 mile range having a spare only adds much weight and additional cost. I have never owned and EV with a spare.
This might be true, but who wants to wait over an hour for a tow truck to come and then the additional time to tow to tire shop. Not me. I would rather change it and be on my way.

Not to mention cell phone coverage is not universal.

Several miles of my regular (hilly) 25 mile drive to town have no reception.

The weight penalty of carring a spare is definitely worth it to me, and good luck to any who can figure out a remedy to Nissan's design error in not including in the LEAF design a suitable place to carry an OPTIONAL spare for those who want one.
 
EVDRIVER said:
I would not call it a design flaw but smart weight reduction...
Leaving it out is a weight reduction. Not allowing for it as an option is a design limitation. That said, I'm glad to save the weight since my commute is very local and well covered by cell phones, and between Nissan and AAA getting tow service is no problem.
 
IMO I would just carry an extra can of tire sealer just in case.. only time in my long driving career that did not work is when I ran over a piece of 1/2" rebar sticking out of the ground. You really wont get too far from civilization with a Leaf.
 
Herm said:
IMO I would just carry an extra can of tire sealer just in case.. only time in my long driving career that did not work is when I ran over a piece of 1/2" rebar sticking out of the ground. You really wont get too far from civilization with a Leaf.

For me, in the past 11 years that I've lived in this house, we've had probably 5 or 6 flats. At least 3 of those destroyed the tire (nail in sidewall was one). Gooey tire sealer won't help, and you can leave the compressor and Goop home when you have a spare.
 
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