Info on the Lead Acid Battery of the Nissan Leaf? (To be used with an Inverter for appliance use)

[NissanLeafCamper]

Hi guys,

Just curious but what type of lead acid starter battery does the 2013 nissan leaf use? I tried to check up on mine and it has this huge clamp over the sticker which doesn't let me see. Does anyone know the specifics of it? I need the info for an inverter set up I want to try and use I'm being told that I need

"As a general rule for each kilowatt of inverter, you need 100Ah of battery for 48V, 200Ah for 24V and thus 400Ah for 12V. This is to provide a reasonable C discharge rate, prolong battery capacity and life, to support surges and keep wiring and heat losses to a sensible level. "

I want to use an induction cooker from amazon that uses 1800 watts and a blender seperately (Not at the same time). I just want to make sure that if I get a pure sinewave inverter it will work with the lead acid battery the leaf has .

Oster Blender
120 volts
375 watts
25-60 hz max freq
A.C. Only
made in mexico? at least not chinese

Induction Cooktop (from Amazon)

DUXTOP 1800-Watt Portable Induction Cooktop Countertop Burner 9100MC

15 power levels 200W, 300W, 400W, 500W, 600W, 700W, 800W, 900W, 1000W, 1100W, 1200W, 1300W, 1500W, 1600W, 1800W;
Product Built to North American Electrical Standards, 120V 60Hz AC

My guess is that I will need at least a 1800 watt pure sine inverter? Will it be able to handle the 'surge loads' from the induction cooktop and the blender? Not at the sametime I am sure. so used indiividually.

Perhaps?

http://www.amazon.com/Xantrex-PROWatt-Inverter-Model-806-1220/dp/B002LGEMOQ/

My question was prompted due to a review in that inverter which states... and I quote:

""I see a few complaints in the reviews about having trouble with high-load applications of this inverter. I bought one about a year ago, with the intent of using it to get solar-powered air conditioning in my RV. I made it work, eventually, and the problems I encountered had nothing to do with the inverter (which supplied 1500 watts sustained load and handled the surge of starting the AC, once I got everything else working).

First of all, wiring: Everything will tell you that 4 gauge should be more than big enough: Not even close. I tried 4-gauge. Then I tried 0-gauge. Then I tried making the wire runs shorter. Then I started doubling up wire runs in parallel. By the time I was through, my battery interconnects were double and triple 4-gauge in parallel, and the connection to the inverter (coming from the center battery of 5) was 000-gauge (also known as 3/0). Connecting that to the terminals on the inverter required taking an industrial terminal block normally used for substation wiring and drilling a 3/8" hole to connect it to the terminals. Finally I had something that wouldn't drop 2+ volts over the wires when drawing 125 amps. When they say 4 gauge can pass 200+ amps, they mean that it won't melt the wire, not that it will give you a usable voltage.

On top of that, batteries: Lead-acid batteries may say they can deliver huge numbers of amps, but not without huge voltage drops. In practice, for every amp you're drawing you want at least 2 pounds of battery (so, minimum 4 size 27 batteries to deliver 125 amps needed for 1500 watts). Try to power your space heater off something you can pick up assisted, and you're just going to get a lot of annoying beeps.

And don't forget that after you've drawn off half of the amp hours theoretically available in your batteries, your *maximum* voltage will have dropped to around 11.8 (so battery load and wiring losses will be working from a lower baseline). With 5 type 27's, I could run the original rooftop air conditioner for no more than 1.5 hours before they were too far down to provide 11.0 volts under load. So I figured out a way to mount a modern, high-efficiency unit that provided the same cooling for half the power.

The point here is that with a really big inverter, you're pushing 12V right to the absolute limits, and you have all *kinds* of weak points that will keep your system from working properly. These are really intended for big residential solar systems with batteries in the thousand-plus pound range. This inverter works *fantastically* well, now that the rest of the system is properly supporting it, but even for an experienced electronics tech getting all that arranged properly was quite an education."

 

[user 10599]

The below thread has an excellent write-up on how to hook up an inverter to your Leaf to power your home appliances. It includes examples of the type of inverter and cabling you will want plus the connections to make and the mode to put the car in so that you can effectively tap the capacity of the main battery by way of the starter battery.

http://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=13097

 

[NissanLeafCamper]

Thank you for the reply.

I read through that whole thread now, but there is still not specifics on the battery of the leaf. This is also for the 2011 and 2013 leaf. At the end of the thread someone is asking where the negative terminal for the 2013 is and I happen to have a 2013 so I will still need that info also.

The 2013 doesn't seem to have that little ledge that the negative lead from the inverter is bolted to in the pic.
Would the location I have marked in this picture work? There is a little metal plate bolted to the block that supports a wire.

wups, thought i could upload the image.


Alrighty, well, for the meantime, can someone tell me how many watts the DC cig lighter port under the climate controls can handle? I've got a 300 watt inverter I was just going to plug into there for the meantime.

Thanks in advance

and the negative terminal quote

According to Ingineer, Nissan LEAF senses current on the negative terminal,
so best not to connect directly to that.
"WARNING: NEVER connect anything directly to the negative post of the Leaf's 12v aux battery! This is a current sensor and doing so will disrupt the charging system! ..."edXC"

At LEAST I found out that battery size might not be an issue per this quote here:

I'd definitely go with a much larger accessory battery. Maybe a "marine" hybrid starting/storage battery...

This is not the route to take.
The "size" of the Accessory 12 volt battery will not help your cause.
Perhaps initially (like the first 2 minutes), then the DC to DC converter will see the load, and begin trying to make up for the loss (charge).

The bottom line is you can only sustain the load the the DC to DC converter can supply.

But now you have introduced a battery with more capacity and consequently requires more power to charge when it gets low, so your requirements are now more variable, and possibly much higher than you intended.

The 1000 Watt continuous pure sine wave is the way to go.
It has something up it's sleeve in a short highload condition, and if you go bigger, your run time drops so much as to be useless.

However, I would still like to know the specifics on the nissan leaf battery. Does anyone know if the 2013 uses a different battery than thte 2011 and 2012? The battery in my 2013 doesn't look like the one in KILLAWHAT's lead which I believe is a 2011.... In that his looks like it has a grey casing and mine is totally black. Just a little change, but I don't know if it might be a different battery than the one in the 2011/2013.

It looks like in order to be able to see the full battery you need to remove that bracket thing which holds it in place. This is down by un doing the screws, but is this safe to do? Must the leaf be off? Must the battery be disconnected?

 

[RegGuheert]

The battery in the 2011 LEAF is very similar to a 51R type, but I am not sure the 2013 uses the same battery.

I do not recommend trying to run anything close to 1800W from the LEAF 12V system. The highest current we have seen measured from the 2011 DC-DC converter is 135A. As a general rule, you should estimate that your current draw will be 1/10 of your power draw, or around 180A for 1800W. It is very possible the DC-DC converter will "fold back" at such high currents to prevent damage, leaving the tiny battery to try to support the voltage on its own (it can't for more than an instant). You may even blow a fuse...

Still, an inverter is a useful thing to have with the LEAF, but I'd plan on keeping all loads below about 1000W.

 

[NissanLeafCamper]

The battery in the 2011 LEAF is very similar to a 51R type, but I am not sure the 2013 uses the same battery.

I do not recommend trying to run anything close to 1800W from the LEAF 12V system. The highest current we have seen measured from the 2011 DC-DC converter is 135A. As a general rule, you should estimate that your current draw will be 1/10 of your power draw, or around 180A for 1800W. It is very possible the DC-DC converter will "fold back" at such high currents to prevent damage, leaving the tiny battery to try to support the voltage on its own (it can't for more than an instant). You may even blow a fuse...

Still, an inverter is a useful thing to have with the LEAF, but I'd plan on keeping all loads below about 1000W.

Thanks RegGuheert. Just why would the dc-dc converter "Fold Back"? Isn't the inverter connected to the battery and the battery to the dc-dc converter? The draw would be from the battery, but not from the DC-DC Converter wouldn't? I don't understand why the 'stress' would be on the dc-dc converter when the inverter is drawing from the battery. Is it just poorly made? I don't understand why the DC-DC converter would try to charge the battery faster than it should/is capable only to 'fold back' and fail in the end. It makes it seems counter productive in that if it would just hold a steady flow it would be able to continue with out 'folding back'. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but it is confusing the unit would try to do more than it can and fail when it could just do what it could and be steady....

I also read in the other thread that people mention installing a breaker? Would this prevent the blown fuse you mention? If I use the inverter with the induction cooker likely the most i'd use it for would be 10 to 15 minutes. and the blender only 2 or 3 minutes at the most....

Is the dc--dc in the 2013 the same as the one in the 2011? Do you think they will get bigger/more powerful once E-Vans get rolled out?

 

[Nubo]

However, I would still like to know the specifics on the nissan leaf battery. Does anyone know if the 2013 uses a different battery than thte 2011 and 2012? The battery in my 2013 doesn't look like the one in KILLAWHAT's lead which I believe is a 2011.... In that his looks like it has a grey casing and mine is totally black. Just a little change, but I don't know if it might be a different battery than the one in the 2011/2013.

I don't have the specific group-size, but there is nothing special about the OEM battery. It's a small standard automotive 12V flooded lead-acid battery with SAE terminal posts. About 45 AH capacity when new, iirc. I know the specific group-size has been mentioned previously on the forum so a search should turn it up.

 

[RegGuheert]

Thanks RegGuheert. Just why would the dc-dc converter "Fold Back"?

It is a very popular strategy used in DC-DC converter design to try to keep all of the devices in the safe operating area during an overload condition. FYI, here is a primer on overcurrent protection strategies. Even if it doesn't fold back, the voltage will drop.

Isn't the inverter connected to the battery and the battery to the dc-dc converter? The draw would be from the battery, but not from the DC-DC Converter wouldn't?

Only if the car is not in READY mode. In READY mode, the DC-DC converter is powered by the main traction battery and will attempt to hold the voltage at its output at 13.1V. At 13.1V, the lead-acid battery does not provide any current to the load. So ALL the current comes from the DC-DC converter If the LEAF is not in READY mode, your battery voltage will simply collapse above 180A and your inverter will shut down.

I don't understand why the 'stress' would be on the dc-dc converter when the inverter is drawing from the battery. Is it just poorly made?

On the contrary, the DC-DC converter in the LEAF is very well engineered. I don't think I've read of a single failure in the 2011/2012s. There were some issues in the 2013s, but that has been fixed, I believe.

I don't understand why the DC-DC converter would try to charge the battery faster than it should/is capable only to 'fold back' and fail in the end. It makes it seems counter productive in that if it would just hold a steady flow it would be able to continue with out 'folding back'. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but it is confusing the unit would try to do more than it can and fail when it could just do what it could and be steady....

Even if it holds a constant maximum current, the voltage still will drop and the load will transition to the battery.

I also read in the other thread that people mention installing a breaker? Would this prevent the blown fuse you mention? If I use the inverter with the induction cooker likely the most i'd use it for would be 10 to 15 minutes. and the blender only 2 or 3 minutes at the most....

15 minutes at 1800W output (~2000W input) equates to 0.5 kWh. That is roughly the capacity of your 12V battery if you take the energy out slowly. at a discharge rate of 4C, you are probably taking out TWICE the capacity of the battery.

Is the dc--dc in the 2013 the same as the one in the 2011? Do you think they will get bigger/more powerful once E-Vans get rolled out?

No, they are diffferent. It's possible that they even LOWERED the capability in the 2013s to save money.

 

[NissanLeafCamper]

At 13.1V, the lead-acid battery does not provide any current to the load. So ALL the current comes from the DC-DC converter

Why is this so? I don't know anything about batteries, but it makes me wonder why when the battery is at that capacity (Is it full capacity?) does not provide any current to the demanding load? Why is it all instead drawn from the DC-DC converter? Doesn't the battery have enough charge to deal with the load?

15 minutes at 1800W output (~2000W input) equates to 0.5 kWh. That is roughly the capacity of your 12V battery if you take the energy out slowly. at a discharge rate of 4C, you are probably taking out TWICE the capacity of the battery.

So the faster it discharges the smaller the capacity it becomes?

No, they are diffferent. It's possible that they even LOWERED the capability in the 2013s to save money.

Well That is not good news. This means I will have to test it and find out if it provides less than the one in the 2011?

Would you happen to know what kind of foldback mechanism the dc-dc uses? I read the article you provided and there seem to be different variations to this technique.

 

[RegGuheert]

Why is this so? I don't know anything about batteries, but it makes me wonder why when the battery is at that capacity (Is it full capacity?) does not provide any current to the demanding load? Why is it all instead drawn from the DC-DC converter? Doesn't the battery have enough charge to deal with the load?

13.1V is what is known as a float voltage. The battery (when full) neither provides nor draws current at that voltage.

Once you try to draw more current than the DC-DC converter can put out, the voltage will drop and the battery will then provide some current to the load.

Now for more bad news: As the voltage drops, your inverter will draw MORE current, which will cause the voltage to drop even more. Due to the resistance that such a small battery has, you will not have much chance of powering your load beyond what the DC-DC converter can provide.

Would you happen to know what kind of foldback mechanism the dc-dc uses? I read the article you provided and there seem to be different variations to this technique.

I don't know, but I would guess it most likely provides a constant current in an overload situation.

The DC-DC converter in the LEAF is water-cooled, which means it can probably provide a lot of current for a long time. On other cars I have that use a normal air-cooled alternator, I have observed that they will simply stop providing current for a while (minutes) if they get too warm. I don't know if the LEAF DC-DC converter has any modes where it would do this, but I suspect the overcurrent protection is all it needs to do.

 

[NissanLeafCamper]

Thank you for that information I feel like I have learned a lot... even if I am a total nooblet at this type of thing.

So the most important thing, i would guess, is to check just how much this 2013 dc to dc converter is able to out put to the battery? Because, like you said, if it gives out less juice then... it might become impractical? I am hoping it provides more current than a 2011 model, but nothing can be certain until I found out exactly how much it provides.

This leads me to ask: How do I check how much power the dc to dc converter provides to the battery?

I guess I need to buy something? Hopefully something not too expensive. Then, I guess, use the battery until the voltage drops low... then turn the car to fully operational position (Is it called on? or Ready?) and check what amount is being pumped into the battery?

Is this about right? What tools would I need? I feel like I should do this before buying any inverter please help!

 

[RegGuheert]

I think the car measures the current from the DC-DC converter and I believe someone said LeafSpyPro reports it. Perhaps someone can post the highest current they have seen.

 

[NissanLeafCamper]

That makes it so much easier.... I think i will start a new thread asking it as a request in the title. hopefully a nice leafspy 2013 owner can chime in.... Where should I put the thread though? Where would the most suitable area be?

 

[RegGuheert]

Here is a bit more information for you:

Must read post by Ingineer: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=8970#p207532

According to Ingineer, 135A is the full output current.

Definitely heed his instruction to NOT connect to the negative battery terminal. I'm not sure where the proper connection point is in the 2013, but you need to find it and use it.

And here is a trick that might help you: If you turn on your windshield wipers, the DC-DC converter puts out about 14.5V. (You could remove your wiper arms if you wanted to run it for a while like this.)

IF the current does not reduce at the higher voltage (some converters limit power rather than current) and IF the 2013 has not reduced the capability of the DC-DC converter and IF the car was using almost no power (it actually uses a few hundred watts for pumps and electronics) there would be about 1957W available with the wipers on and the DC-DC converter running at 135A. If you subtract the car load, you are down around 1600W. If you purchase very fat cables and an extremely efficient inverter, you MIGHT be able to get about 1500W out of this thing on a good day.

Here is a YouTube video of someone benchtesting the 2011 DC-DC converter:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMhcHkOg-Mk[/youtube]

He only managed about 75A from the inverter, but he did not have the liquid cooling connected and running.

Here is a YouTube video of someone benchtesting the 2000W version of the inverter that you are considering:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwx5fWtHcs8[/youtube]

Note that with a 900Ah battery and 4/O cables, the inverter is still seeing only 11.6V.

For reference, here is part 1 of the previous video:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxHfh91mcf8[/youtube]

My recommendation: Don't buy an induction cooking plate over 1200W. Powering even that will require a high-quality inverter and very carefully-implemented high-current connections.

 

[NissanLeafCamper]

Thanks that is some mighty helpful information.

I popped the hood of my 2013 leaf and looked about the wiper area. The wiper motor is hidden by a cover of hard plastic where you need to remove a few plastic clamps. I Removed the plastic clamps, but in the end you need to remove the wind shield wiper to be able to remove the large plastic cover. You pop a little cover at the base of the wiper and there is a big metal nut (?) which I guess holds it in place. I don't have the tools to remove it, so I could not remove the plastic cover in the end.

However, after removing the clamps I was able to lift the cover enough to peek inside. The motor has a line of cables that appear to be connected via a gray connector. I could see red, blue, and yellow cables, but I am not sure if it has another since I did not have full view. The grey connector (Or housing plug?) appears to be the type you can turn and plug off... so this leafs me to wonder the following:

If I unplug the windshield wiper motor then fire up the leaf and turn the wind shield wipers ON from the inside can I trick the DC to DC converter into still juicing up the extra voltage? If so this would be nice since I would not have to remove the wiper blades and instead just 'unplug' the motor. As for access to the plug there is a smaller cover you can remove and barely gives you access to touch the plug. I am sure with some effort I can unplug it from there.

Though even if I were to do that right now I don't have the tools to test the voltage to see if while the motor is unplugged the dc to dc converter still juices up the battery via turning on the wipers from inside the nissan leaf. I don't know if the leaf can 'sense' if the motor is unplugged and thus not tell the dc to dc to juice up the battery. A test would need to be done.

If this works though it should give about 1400 watts of power instead of 1200 is that right?

Also, I looked at the starter battery and the BLACK (Which I think is the negative) connector and noticed the places where it was connected to... which I would think is the negative spots where you could connect the inverter?

Again I am a total noobie at this and have not experience with electricity so I wouldn't know if any of the sections I saw connected would be useable. I need to take some pictures and post them here so people can see what I am talking about... but I have to recharge the batteries on my camera for that.

I have no phone... as crazy as it sounds.

Another question: You mention only using a 1200 induction cooker, which I believe I have seen in amazon, but I want to ask you if I could run the blender I have in mind with only 1200 watts of power?

Oster blender

120 volts
375 watts
25-60 hz max freq
A.C. Only
made in mexico? at least not chinese

375*3=1125 watts? I don't know how much power the motor will need but my guess is that 1125 will be the utmost limit for it. Will this be enough? Or do you think it will use far more than 1125 watts on start up?

 

[RegGuheert]

Since the blender is 375W, that should be no problem.

Regarding the wipers: I like your idea of pulling power rather than pulling off the arms if for no other reason than the fact that the wiper motor draws power, but it should also be simpler. (BTW, the arms come off by removing the black cover and taking off one nut for each. But the issue is getting them back on in exactly the same position.) I'm willing to bet that pulling the relay would work, but I didn't find it in the owner's manual. Let me see what the service manual says. You'll just need to remember to put it back on before driving! Anyone know which relay it is?

 

[NissanLeafCamper]

After removing 3 clamps and a plastic bolt and also a little plastic panel I managed to unplug the wind shield wiper motor with out removing anything else. I went inside the car and powered it up. No problems; no warning light. So I turned on the windshield wipers and of course they did not work. No warning message either. Then I turned off the car and replugged the windshield wiper motor and then went back inside and did the same test. All worked fine.

So things look good just... I can't test the voltage. I have no phone and no leafspy app so I need an alternative. Can't I use a volt meter on the battery? I don't even know if that's the right now, but I mean a device to check the power of the battery to see if it is being charged at the extra power with the wiper motors in the ON position. Any device I can buy from home depot?

On the not so plus side I found out one of the jets that spray water on the windshield does not spray much water at all. Never really looked into that before so I don't know if it was this way when i got the used car a month ago. Upon finding this I thought maybe I did not plug the wiper motor well so I went back to do it.

First however, I wanted to test if the wiper motor plug had anything to do with the spray units. I unplugged the wiper motor again and turned on the car. No warning message. Turned the wipers on and they did not work obviously. I pulled back the wand for spray and the units sprayed. Well only one sprayed the other just dribbles some water. Maybe it is plugged up with dirt? I went back and plugged in the wiper motor and re did the test. No warning message and the wipers worked. Pulled back for a spray and only one worked the other just dribbles a bit of water out.

I popped the hood open again and looked at the tubing for the spray units. As a reference the windshield wiper motor is on the driver side while the water lines for the spray are on the passenger side. That means a single line is split and then ran into the passenger spray unit then the other one is ran to the driver side unit. The Driver side spray unit works fine and sprays really well. It is the passenger side unit that just dribbles when you pull back the wand. This leads me to believe that the water motor thing for the sprays work. Also the water flows well since it is a single line then the line is split into a Y and one goes in to the first spray then another into the other. So... I think one of the spray units, the passenger side, might be plugged up or something.

What do you guys think about that? At least the good news is you don't need to remove the wiper blades to unplug the wiperblade motor.

I think the wiper motor is not involved in the spray unit since the sprays worked while the motor was unplugged. Also, i thought maybe the water level was low for the sprays so I popped the lid on the spray jug and filled it with filtered was (Hope thats okay) then retested and it did not help. can sprays plugg up? I don't believe they use any electricity since they only have the water lines going through them. I think a motor down below pushes the water.

I'm going to take pictures of the motor plug and report back.

 

[LeftieBiker]

You should have asked here before doing all that work. The Leaf's spray jets are often defective, from what I've read, and they can also plug. The fact that one sprays fine means the pump (a separate unit) is ok. A voltmeter on the battery might show a slight jump or drop in voltage when the wipers are turned on (or a drop followed by a recovery) or it might not. Not that is worth a try.

 

[NissanLeafCamper]

So here is the shot of the space you need to access to get to the wiper motor. Its on the driver side you need to lift a small plastic panel to reveal that open spot. I had already unplugged the motor for the wipers so you can probably see it.

Next here is the unplugged connector. You can reach it with out needing to take off the wipers or the whole plastic bay on top. Though not as easy as you'd think. You better have small hands! You need to take off a few plastic clamps, a plastic bolt, and a small plastic panel.

Here are the cables. I see Yellow, Blue, Red, and one yellow with black.

This is what you need to remove. 3 clamps. 1 Plastic Bolt, and the plastic cover.

Now on to the battery. You see the yellow and black cable? I believe that is the negative one. You can see it running to the motor. It is clamped there with a screw. I don't know to which part of the motor assembly stack is connected to. I'd think this is a ground point?

And this is the right side of the battery. You see the cable running down to the right which is black and yellow? It clamps to the frame of the car. You can see it right in the middle of the picture. I don't know what it is for.but it is connected to the body of the car? Or maybe I should say grounded?

That is all I have. Now i just need to test the voltage of the dc to dc to see if it still juices high 1.4v? when the wipers are on but I don't know with what. I need to find out if the power in the dc to dc was not turned down on the 2013 model. Can I get anything from home depot to do this job?

You should have asked here before doing all that work. The Leaf's spray jets are often defective, from what I've read, and they can also plug. The fact that one sprays fine means the pump (a separate unit) is ok. A voltmeter on the battery might show a slight jump or drop in voltage when the wipers are turned on (or a drop followed by a recovery) or it might not. Not that is worth a try.

Thanks for the reply. I was taught that hard work pays off, but I tend to be pretty lazy . So since they are often defective should I take the leaf to the shop? Its still under warranty. It will expire next year. That is... the bumper to bumper. I have a 2013 leaf.

Also, i'm stuck on checking the voltage from the dc to dc. I don't have a phone or leaf spy so... what can I use to check the voltage? Anything from home depot? And I'm hoping I can check it on the battery instead of having to open more things and ripping out the dc to dc converter with my hands XD. It won't go well FOR ME I just know it. :lol:

Also, I'm poor. I am hoping to get this done before investing into an inverter just to know it will work. It would be nice to use the induction cooker, but someone mentioned the power on the 2013 dc to dc might have been down graded. By how much? who knows but I need to find out.

 

[BrockWI]

This is from page 7 in this thread

http://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=13097&start=60

"I finally got to try this out last night. I have a Xantrex Prowatt SW2000. I have the inverter connected with 24" #2 welding cable and big beefy jumper cable clips. I turned the leaf on in park, with the parking break on then connected the positive to the positive on the battery, then connected the negative to the body of the top part of the motor. I turned on the inverter to find it sitting at a nice, 13.2v. I connected up a 1650w electric heater starting first on low at 600w, the voltage dropped a bit to 13.0v and I let it sit for a few minutes checking the connection to make sure nothing got warm. Then I turned it up to 1650w, to my surprise the voltage still only dipped to 12.8v and some of that is likely due to the #2 wire and clips. Again I ran it for about 5 minutes and nothing got warm."

Now would I run 1650w regularly on my 2013 Leaf, no and I would I tell anyone else to do so, no, but I ran it for about 5 minutes with nothing getting to warm so the leaf can do this. I would think your induction cooker isn't going to be running for hours at a time so again it should be ok. Personally I would set it to run at 1200w or less and make sure the car is on and in ready to drive mode. The main traction battery will do all the "heavy lifting" for power supplying. The "starting" battery in the leaf is useless for powering any larger 120vac loads via inverter on it's own. Honestly if you tried to power a 1200w induction burner with the car off it might run 1-3 minutes and then the aux battery would be dead and remember once the aux or starting battery is dead you can't turn the car on to use the traction pack to charge the aux / starting battery.

 

[RegGuheert]

A voltmeter on the battery might show a slight jump or drop in voltage when the wipers are turned on (or a drop followed by a recovery) or it might not. Not that is worth a try.

Actually, the voltage RISES from 13.1V to 14.5V when the wipers are turned on.