Daylight Savings Time

[ttweed]

No biggie, really, just flip the switch twice a year.

I am in agreement with this attitude. Yes, it would be nice if Nissan had designed this (and other features) better. It would be wonderful if the car drove itself and served lattes on demand from the center console, too. But I am not suffering any angst and wringing my hands over this. Without even reviewing the manual and never having done it myself (the clocks were set by the dealer before we took delivery), I got in the car and reset both of them in 2 minutes, despite the clunky interface. I could do it in less than a minute next time, now that I understand the process. In the big picture, this design "failure" is small potatoes and doesn't bother me at all--I spend more time checking tire pressures every other week! Maybe they could improve the user interface based on some of the suggested mods, but it is not something that is going to make me trade the car in on a newer/better model, or make me feel like I got burned with an inferior product. :roll:

I'm over it already,
TT

 

[Kwirky]

It would be wonderful if the car ..... served lattes on demand from the center console, too.

Put me on the list!

/reaches over her desk to get another Tassimo latte going...

 

[davewill]

I find I'm tweaking the first charge timer on my LEAF every few days so that I can make sure I have 80% by 5am. The problem with the current LEAF design is that you can't set an end time and calculate backwards to figure out the start automatically, no doubt partly because the estimates for 240V charging are typically off by 10 minutes for every hour (the charging is faster).

Aren't you being a little too precise? If you set an end time of 5AM, the car WILL be charged (to 80% or 100%, your choice) on time...Yes, it might finish up to an hour earlier than that, and I've wished it were more accurate myself, but is this really anything to worry about?

 

[philaphonic]

I find I'm tweaking the first charge timer on my LEAF every few days so that I can make sure I have 80% by 5am. The problem with the current LEAF design is that you can't set an end time and calculate backwards to figure out the start automatically, no doubt partly because the estimates for 240V charging are typically off by 10 minutes for every hour (the charging is faster).

Maybe I missed something here, but have you tried programming an end time of 5 AM and no start time? That's supposed to work, and it did for my Nissan provided 120 V EVSE. Now, if you have an SPX Power Xpress like me, that may not work . . .

 

[TimeHorse]

Aren't you being a little too precise? If you set an end time of 5AM, the car WILL be charged (to 80% or 100%, your choice) on time...Yes, it might finish up to an hour earlier than that, and I've wished it were more accurate myself, but is this really anything to worry about?

If I have less than about 4:30 minutes of 240V charging to do, using my standard 1am to 5am timer is best. If I have more than that, I want to do as little charging as possible outside of the 1-5am window because the rates are cheaper and I want it done by 5am so I can leave the house and get to work then. If I charge a day at work, I think I can get that 4-hour window to work for me. If I have a short day or can't charge at work, I need more than 4 hours and have the scheduling problem. For next week's EVA/DC meeting, I expect to need 100% charging so will likely be charging outside of the sweet-spot. Problem solved with 6.6kW charger. :roll:

Maybe I missed something here, but have you tried programming an end time of 5 AM and no start time? That's supposed to work, and it did for my Nissan provided 120 V EVSE. Now, if you have an SPX Power Xpress like me, that may not work . . .

Nope, you can't do that. You need to set a start time. And the Clipper Creek EVSE I have is about as basic as you can get it: push button to turn on. I rely on the LEAF timer to get it to start charging automatically.

Also, looks like I won't be able to charge for 9 days with my EVSE as Dominion hooks up my new smart meter; they say it takes 9 days from when the electrician comes and when the work is inspected and when they power utility folks come out to wire the the meter in properly.

 

[TimeHorse]

It would be wonderful if the car drove itself

Just wait; in 10 years (9 now) I predict most cars will do just that! Really!

 

[91040]

Maybe I missed something here, but have you tried programming an end time of 5 AM and no start time? That's supposed to work, and it did for my Nissan provided 120 V EVSE. Now, if you have an SPX Power Xpress like me, that may not work . . .

Nope, you can't do that. You need to set a start time. And the Clipper Creek EVSE I have is about as basic as you can get it: push button to turn on. I rely on the LEAF timer to get it to start charging automatically.

2011 Owners Manual- Charging CH-19

When only the charging timer end time
is set, the system automatically determines
when to begin charging based
on the Li-ion battery charge level. The
Li-ion battery may not be charged to
the expected level (80% or 100%) if the
charging timer end time is set so there
is not enough time to charge the Li-ion
battery.
. When only the charging timer end time
is set, the system automatically stops
charging when the Li-ion battery
charges to the selected level (80% or
100%). Charging may stop before the
scheduled end time.

 

[davewill]

Maybe I missed something here, but have you tried programming an end time of 5 AM and no start time? That's supposed to work, and it did for my Nissan provided 120 V EVSE. Now, if you have an SPX Power Xpress like me, that may not work . . .

Nope, you can't do that. You need to set a start time. ...

You most certainly can. You simply set only an end time. The car then figures out when to start. The only rub is what I thought you were complaining about before. It uses the estimated time to charge, which is quite pessimistic. Your car will likely stop charging quite a while before the set time.

 

[planet4ever]

If I have less than about 4:30 minutes of 240V charging to do, using my standard 1am to 5am timer is best. If I have more than that, I want to do as little charging as possible outside of the 1-5am window because the rates are cheaper and I want it done by 5am so I can leave the house and get to work then.

Well, maybe PG&E doesn't have the worst rates in the world, after all. Their minimum rate kicks in at midnight on weekdays, if you are on the EV schedule. Since I also have solar panels I have stayed on the solar schedule, and the minimum rate kicks in at 9 PM (8 PM in the winter and on weekends).

The other question to ask is how much it hurts you to start a little early. As an example, let's say you slop over by one hour, and have an EVSE that can support the maximum LEAF charging rate (i.e. you buy 3.8 kWh/day at the higher rate). With the PG&E rates:

• For the whole house EV schedule it's nearly 53 cents/day extra unless you can keep your total electric usage way down!
• With the EV-only rate (separate meter, the rest of your house not involved) it's not nearly as bad: 15 cents a day extra in the winter, 18 cents a day in the summer, and besides, you're only paying $0.06 to $0.07/kWh for much of the electricity your car uses.

Ray

 

[TimeHorse]

Well, maybe PG&E doesn't have the worst rates in the world, after all. Their minimum rate kicks in at midnight on weekdays, if you are on the EV schedule. Since I also have solar panels I have stayed on the solar schedule, and the minimum rate kicks in at 9 PM (8 PM in the winter and on weekends).

The other question to ask is how much it hurts you to start a little early. As an example, let's say you slop over by one hour, and have an EVSE that can support the maximum LEAF charging rate (i.e. you buy 3.8 kWh/day at the higher rate). With the PG&E rates:

• For the whole house EV schedule it's nearly 53 cents/day extra unless you can keep your total electric usage way down!
• With the EV-only rate (separate meter, the rest of your house not involved) it's not nearly as bad: 15 cents a day extra in the winter, 18 cents a day in the summer, and besides, you're only paying $0.06 to $0.07/kWh for much of the electricity your car uses.

Ray

Oh, Dominion's new rates aren't that bad to go over, but since I'm charging at work (free at the moment but I proposed $230 per year for a dedicated slot and unlimited trickle charging) I am able to fit the entire charge into my 4 hour window most nights; I want my car by 5am so that's the edge I don't like to butt up against. Now, I will take it as wrote that I must have made a mistake when I tried to set an end-time only timer, since it didn't work for me. But I wish the remote charging could be set to 80% because one long day at work I went to 100% and there was no way to stop it apart from checking my status frequently and walking to the car when it reached the ideal amount. I'm finding though that happily I'm pretty good at staying within the sweet spot of 20%-80% charge. So over all, I'm happy. Next week, long trip to the EVA/DC, but the first Capital LEAFs meetup will be at Nissan of Chantilly so that at least is close. Anyway, I still say I love driving my cloud^h^h^h^h^h^h LEAF.

 

[rickrides]

The Garmin 500 on my bike sets the time automaticly. I don't think there is a way to set it manually. Why do we need 2 clocks anyway?

 

[LEAFfan]

Why do we need 2 clocks anyway?

In case one breaks down, you will have a spare!
Am I the only one that has an eyebrow clock only a couple seconds slower than the console one or my cell? How did I get so lucky!? Even though we stay on MST, it would be nice for the rest of you to have a DST option for both clocks.

 

[Coffee_Slurry]

The sheer laughitude of all this.. we have 'trees' growing on some kind of fuzzy-logic dash, a Nav system that gets RSS feeds, charging station updates transmitted through the very aether we drive in.

But the engineers must meet 9AM daily in the War Room to discuss the one technology they can not master -- the lofty pinnacle of technical prowess and state of the art.

"Gentlemen, it's launch day, where do we stand?!"
"Uh, sir, I'm terribly sorry, but we were ultimately defeated by the CLOCK. The damn indicator of time, it mocks me. We can not keep it accurate. It drifts like Gilligan's dingy in a tropical storm. Two clocks, so close, but worlds apart -- which can I trust? Is it Daylight Savings? Is it not? Who can know these things!! We are but mortal men, and know well our limits."

 

[91040]

The sheer laughitude of all this.. we have 'trees' growing on some kind of fuzzy-logic dash, a Nav system that gets RSS feeds, charging station updates transmitted through the very aether we drive in.

But the engineers must meet 9AM daily in the War Room to discuss the one technology they can not master -- the lofty pinnacle of technical prowess and state of the art.

"Gentlemen, it's launch day, where do we stand?!"
"Uh, sir, I'm terribly sorry, but we were ultimately defeated by the CLOCK. The damn indicator of time, it mocks me. We can not keep it accurate. It drifts like Gilligan's dingy in a tropical storm. Two clocks, so close, but worlds apart -- which can I trust? Is it Daylight Savings? Is it not? Who can know these things!! We are but mortal men, and know well our limits."

Listen much to the radio shows of Norman Corwin?

 

[bpc]

Never mind; I figured it out.

 

[planet4ever]

It is confusing, because there are two different "Settings" touch buttons. It sounds like you were trying to use the one that you get to starting with the "Zero Emissions" button, at the bottom to the right of the screen. The one you are looking for can be seen if you start with the "Menu" button, just below "Map" to the right of the screen.

Speaking of confusing, you may not care about this, but a lot of us were confused by that DST setting. It is not an indication of whether DST is used in your area, but instead a switch as to whether it is in effect right now. If you are in an area that uses DST you will need to change that twice a year.

Ray

 

[tps]

Note to self: Allocate an extra 5 minutes on the mornings after the time change to correct the both clocks.