2013 Leaf - Dead 12-Volt Battery every 2 Weeks

[Phatcat73]

I've owned my 2013 SV for over a month now. I took it in about 3 weeks after ownership due to waking up to a dead 12-Volt Battery. Dealer replaced the battery. They said the OBC tested fine. Now two weeks later, same thing. My 12-Volt registers 5-Volts on my multimeter.

What would cause the 12-Volt to drain? Doesn't the car "go to deep sleep" after shutting it off? I usually leave my keys in the car (garaged). Does the transponder being in vicinity of the car cause it to drain?

Baffled?!?

 

[garygid]

Do you drive it daily?

Driving or Charging should charge the 12v Battery.

So, I you drive most days, it sounds like the 12v Battery is not getting charged,
or there is an unusual current drain. The dealer should be able to easily measure
the current drain without the "keys" in the car, and see if there is an
abnormal drain. Then, in the same test, toss the keys in and see what happens
to the current.

I would think that the RFID overnight, or for a day, would
not be a problem, but... try not doing that.

 

[Phatcat73]

I drive it daily and it was plugged to my L2 charger overnight.

 

[RegGuheert]

If you have a voltmeter, I suggest putting the car in READY mode, in park, and measuring the voltage at the battery. You should see either 14.4V or 13.1V. Anything lower than 13.0V in READY mode would seem to indicate the DC-DC converter is not charging the battery properly.

But I do think that leaving the fob in the car overnight might be what is draining the battery in the car. In any case, that will likely drain the battery in the fob.

 

[ampitupco]

But I do think that leaving the fob in the car overnight might be what is draining the battery in the car. In any case, that will likely drain the battery in the fob.

I've been doing this for over a year. No issues with my 12v battery or fob battery yet.

 

[TomT]

I've regularly done this for a long time and it has had no affect on either the fob or the 12 volt battery.

But I do think that leaving the fob in the car overnight might be what is draining the battery in the car. In any case, that will likely drain the battery in the fob.

 

[Ingineer]

The OBC does not charge the 12V battery, ever. The component that does is the DC-DC converter. It's right under the aluminum cover next to the OBC, but it's a different beast. Easy enough to check it as others have already posted.

I'd suggest NOT leaving the fob in or near the car. Keep it with your wallet inside.

-Phil

 

[Phatcat73]

If you have a voltmeter, I suggest putting the car in READY mode, in park, and measuring the voltage at the battery. You should see either 14.4V or 13.1V. Anything lower than 13.0V in READY mode would seem to indicate the DC-DC converter is not charging the battery properly.

But I do think that leaving the fob in the car overnight might be what is draining the battery in the car. In any case, that will likely drain the battery in the fob.

Thanks. Great idea. I put it in ready mode mode and read 14.4 Volts. I'm at a loss. I'll keep the fob out of the car and see if that changes anything.

Any other ideas? Should the Leaf go into deep sleep as most cars do after X minutes? My Escape goes into a deep sleep after 12 minutes. Door ajar light, headlights, etc... all shut off.

 

[Nubo]

Sounds like there is a ghost load somewhere. May take a bit of detective work with a meter to track down which circuit is involved.

 

[Phatcat73]

Dead again this morning - 12V registered 5V and I needed another jump. This time I didn't leave the key fob in the car all week since the last time it died - 4 days ago. It appears to only die in my garage overnight, whether the car is plugged to my L2 or not. This morning I also had a 72% charge whereas I normally set it to charge to 80%.

She's going in tomorrow. This will be my 5th trip to the service dept since purchasing the Leaf on 3/6. I still love the car, but am seriously concerned at driving one of the first production cars out of Smyrna. Car was built on 1/24.

 

[BestPal]

Obviously there is a problem that needs to be fixed permanently, not just by throwing in a new battery every time - they probably didn't even need to do that, I speculate your old battery could still take and keep a charge and would pass a load test - it was just discharged. Try to ask service rep who's checking-in the car next time you have it in with the same problem to run a full array of tests. Bring them some home made cookies too. As it's been suggested here, going circuit by circuit to find out exactly what the ghost load is and under what conditions it drains the battery. Obviously it doesn't happen every night and this kinda intermittent problems are the toughest ones to diagnose, but it needs to be done. By asking them nicely and repetitively you might be able to have them do it and don't forget about them freshly made cookies .. or at least store bought donuts as a last resort. Please keep us posted.

 

[TonyWilliams]

That's a tough one. If you have an ammeter, perhaps you could measure the current coming out of the battery at shutdown.

Then start pulling fuses to accessory items first. Something is physically draining it. Try turning the headlights physically off (not just the auto shutoff).

With the car plugged in on 2011-2012, the charge on the 12 volt was inhibited, and I'll guess that didn't get fixed for 2013. As soon as the car is charged, go out and unplug the car and measure the 12 volt battery.

Then let it sit unplugged and measure current and voltage every few hours.

 

[Phatcat73]

I took the car in last Friday (4/26) and had it checked out again. Apparently there was a code logged for double pressing the start button when you're shutting off the car? They suspected that I left it in accessory, which I highly doubt as I showed them that the car beeps if you have the door open in accessory. I asked them if the code was dated, and they said no. This code could have been from a long time ago. They cleared the code. They also tested for any battery drain after the car was shutoff for an hour. the car should not drain more than 40ma. My car was draining 20ma for that short duration.

The above was performed after consulting Nissan tech support. Fortunately the dealership is very pleasant to work with and they try their best. They even brought out the Leaf tech to talk to me and provided an ICE rental.

At the end, I told them that my gut feeling is that I'll be back in with the same problem with a revised gameplan. Next time this happens, I want them to test the battery drain over a weekend, not just for an hour. They concurred. In the meantime I drive around with a Duracell battery jump start pack... just in case.

I have a tough love relationship with the Leaf. The car kicks me around every once in a while but then the Nissan dealer and Nissan corporate attempt to go over the top to remedy the several issues I had with the car.

 

[RegGuheert]

Apparently there was a code logged for double pressing the start button when you're shutting off the car?

To me, that's just plain bad design. If they can detect a double press when shutting down and throw a code, why not simply shut the car off instead of going back into ACC? If someone MEANT to go straight from READY to ACC, they will still be sitting there and will simply be slightly annoyed. They can just press it again to get there. The opposite is not so forgiving. If someone MEANT to shutdown and instead double pressed, then they are not there to see that they have left the car on.

It seems clear that the car should NEVER go straight from READY to ACC.

 

[Nubo]

Catch it in the act.

http://www.circuitspecialists.com/dm620.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[planet4ever]

To me, that's just plain bad design. If they can detect a double press when shutting down and throw a code, why not simply shut the car off instead of going back into ACC?
<snip>
It seems clear that the car should NEVER go straight from READY to ACC.

Well, for whatever reason, perhaps just one of mathematical completeness, the engineers designed the car so you can go directly from any state to any other state. See this post where I spelled that out. In particular, single press without the brake cycles you from OFF -> ACC -> ON -> OFF as most of us are aware. Double press without the brake does the same thing in the opposite order: OFF -> ON -> ACC -> OFF. READY state is not part of either of those cycles, but is treated as ON for the purpose of entering the cycle.

[Please don't shoot the messenger.]

Ray

 

[DanBaldwin]

Out of curiosity I checked my 2012 SL, and it doesn't run the dc/dc converter in accessory mode, or in on mode, only in ready mode.

 

[RegGuheert]

Out of curiosity I checked my 2012 SL, and it doesn't run the dc/dc converter in accessory mode, or in on mode, only in ready mode.

Yet another design decision that I have to wonder about. They may not want to run down the traction battery, but they could put limits on that.

 

[bowthom]

Sounds to me like you have a relay sticking. Will intermittently draw 100 mA for the coil plus whatever the load is.

A friend of mine spent $400 dollars at a repair shop trying to solve his AM no-start condition (Ford PU). He brought it over to my house and I discovered a stuck AC relay was drawing 10 amps. Simple fix really, if only they had done the diagnostics without changing the conditions of the test beforehand. They had replaced the alt, starter & battery. That classifies them as "parts changers," a common problem in automotive service.

Good luck and stay on them about a fix.

 

[sorphin]

My '13 SV hasn't given me any issues so far (knock on wood). So I'm interested to hear what your end result is. Good Luck.