Can you go from On to Accessory without turning the car off?

[EricBayArea]

Sitting in park with the car on does use trace amounts of electricity from the traction battery. I've had situations where I need to sit and wait for someone for a few minutes and in a typical ICE car I would turn the key from ON to ACC (accessories) so I can continue listening to the radio and use the windows, etc. With the LEAF, I know I can get to Accessory mode from OFF by not pressing the brake and pressing the power button 2 times. However, is there a way to go from ON to ACC without turning the car completely off?

 

[IBELEAF]

I just ran into this yesterday and wondered myself. Seems like an obvious feature to have in any car.

 

[Stanton]

Sitting uses so little power I don't even bother; I often sit for 15-20 minutes waiting for my son to get out of school and never turn my Leaf off without any noticeable loss in capacity/range. Besides, the car needs to be "on" if you're going to run the A/C anyway (which is what I love about NOT running an ICE car).

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

I can't make rhyme or reason out of the power button for much other than the "normal" cases of turning the car on and off with the brake pedal depressed. I should probably get the manual out and study it again. It would be interesting to see a state transition table

There was an interesting case I ran into when I was showing someone the L1 evse in a parking lot. With the L1 plugged in, but not connected to AC power, I turned the car on, but could not turn it off no matter what I tried. I was afraid I had created a problem for myself, but fortunately disconnecting the L1 cleared up the problem. Probably nobody would ever do that normally, and it appears to not have been tested.

 

[rawhog]

page 5-8 in owners manual.

 

[EricBayArea]

As indicated by the manual, the answer is "No." The only place you can go from "Ready" is "Off."

 

[Nubo]

Is there really much energy saving between ACC and ON(parked)?

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

page 5-8 in owners manual.

But what about all the variations with inputs of brake pedal depressed or not and charging connection connected or not? And, from what I saw, connected but not powered?

 

[planet4ever]

By the way, folks, to further confuse an already confusing topic, the terms many or most people use here are contrary to the terms Nissan uses. Nissan says:

ACC is one, not two, presses of the power button (without the brake) from OFF. The central console is lit up but the dash is black. In ACC the audio and nav systems work, though some features of MENU and "Zero Emission" do not. Power accessories, including climate control, do not work at all.

ON (not acc) is a second press of the power button without the brake. The dash lights up, though without the little green car in the middle. Now the 12v power accessories work, including windows, fan, and the automatic features of climate control, but not heating or cooling. You can shift between Park and Neutral, but not into Drive or Reverse.

READY is what you get when you press the power button with the brake depressed. (Well, actually, if you were already in READY, that takes you to OFF.) People here seem often to call that ON.

Don't ask me to explain the transitions between OFF and LOCK. I haven't figured those out yet myself.

Ray

 

[Cheezmo]

Those definitions of ACC and ON are pretty much how it has been in all of my cars. The keys had OFF, ACC, ON, and Start positions. You could move to ACC to just listen to the radio, etc. but had to go to ON for doors and things. Once you Start the key would go back to the ON position.

I think Nissan has pretty much emulated those same states with the one and two button presses. What is missing is being able to turn the key from ON back to ACC (which would stop the engine but leave he radio going).

 

[Valdemar]

Sitting uses so little power I don't even bother; I often sit for 15-20 minutes waiting for my son to get out of school and never turn my Leaf off without any noticeable loss in capacity/range. Besides, the car needs to be "on" if you're going to run the A/C anyway (which is what I love about NOT running an ICE car).

I didn't make a note of the exact drop but I think I once lost about 5 miles from just sitting for 30-40 mins in the ready mode, more than enough to make a difference between making it home on close to empty battery and having to call for a tow truck.

 

[EricBayArea]

If I knew I was sitting for 10 min or more I would definitely turn the car off, but under 10 I question. That begs another question for those of you who have more car monitoring gadgets than I (which is none);

What does it take to drain the 12v battery? What i mean by this is, assuming I charged my LEAF to 80% last night, which I take to mean that during the charging process the 12v battery was also topped up, and then today I drive to work, 15 miles, then to lunch, 5 miles, then home, 15 miles, then some errands, 10 miles, for a total of 45 miles of driving. All the while I'm locking and unlocking doors, rolling the windows down and up. Constantly listening to music via bluetooth from my iphone (not plugged into the car for power though)... Will the 12v go that 45 miles without needing to be topped up from the traction battery? What if I managed 70 miles of driving, would it need to be topped up then?

I just wonder if sitting around for 10-30min listening to the radio, waiting for something with the car in READY mode while I have 20 miles left on my charge to 80% last night, will actually cause a drain from the traction battery to top up the 12v.

 

[gbarry42]

Any time the traction battery is connected, the 12 volt battery will be charged (if it needs it). That means it gets charged when you are charging, and it also means it's being charged in Ready mode, and, of course, when you're on the road. So, no worries.

It takes real power to charge the 12V, but compared to everything else, it's not very much. Climate control, however, will draw down the traction battery in non-trivial amounts.

 

[Valdemar]

If I knew I was sitting for 10 min or more I would definitely turn the car off, but under 10 I question.

I didn't know at the time the drain was significant. Now I do.

 

[Nubo]

I'm still dubious that there's much difference in consumption between the ACC, ON, and READY states, over and above whatever compliment of accessories you've chosen to power. To me the main point of dropping out of READY is to remove any chance for unintended acceleration.

 

[EricBayArea]

If someone with a meter that can read battery power, perhaps a simple experiment: record battery, leave car in park in READY then take battery reading after 10mim. Compare that to the same experiment with the car in ACC and then after turning it to READY, 10 min later.

 

[gbarry42]

Sounds like a job for LeafScan. When it becomes available.

 

[TomT]

You can also do it right now with Gary's SOC meter...

Sounds like a job for LeafScan. When it becomes available.