New Leaf lasts 2 days before crashing

[garygid]

Running the small 12v battery down too far will make the car unable to do ANYTHING, and the 12v battery must be recharged before Charging of the big High Voltage (HV, about 400 volts) Traction battery Pack can even begin.

My buddy had trouble getting his LEAF "off". He said, "I turned it OFF!", and I replied, "OK, but why is the Nav screen still ON?" ... (grin).

So, it IS easy to miss the right sequence and the warnings. But, adopt a routine of getting it all-off while you are still sitting there, and things will gradually get ... even more complex!

 

[Jimmydreams]

After 15 minutes of 'inactivity', the car should chime and a message should come on the dash saying something like "Are you still there? Press Vehicle Power Button to continue. Otherwise, the vehicle will shut down in 90 seconds...89 seconds...88 seconds...ect" with a countdown chime that CANNOT be missed.

Oh, and I left my car on while I was in my local watering hole. I went in when it was sunny, came out after it was dark enough for the auto-on headlights to be activated. The car was lit up like a christmas tree with no one in it! More than one person was looking at it strangely trying to figure out what was going on. DOH!

Perhaps another thread called "Driver Unintentionally Missed Many Indicators Explaining Status (DUMMIES)?? :lol:

 

[704hov1095]

By the way, what kind of medical diagnosis do you do, Lab, Radiology or other? I'm a retired Lab guy.

I am an MD--pediatric specialist.

Otto

 

[704hov1095]

I did a similar thing early on... Here is my saga: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=3157&hilit=santa+monica

Quite a story. At least you got back to the car before the main battery was fully drained.

I maintain that strong visual (nav or main dash: "Power is OFF") and auditory (nav: "Power is OFF") signals should be programmed in. It would not be intrusive. Currently, the glow in the power switch and both the interior and headlights are on a delay, so if one wants to use their extinguishing as final signals that the car is off, you got to hang around for up to a minute--inconveniencing.

Otto.

 

[davewill]

...I maintain that strong visual (nav or main dash: "Power is OFF") and auditory (nav: "Power is OFF") signals should be programmed in. It would not be intrusive. Currently, the glow in the power switch and both the interior and headlights are on a delay, so if one wants to use their extinguishing as final signals that the car is off, you got to hang around for up to a minute--inconveniencing...

Huh?? Pretty much the entire dash display extinguishes as soon as you turn the car off. How much of a visual signal do you need?

 

[thankyouOB]

...I maintain that strong visual (nav or main dash: "Power is OFF") and auditory (nav: "Power is OFF") signals should be programmed in. It would not be intrusive. Currently, the glow in the power switch and both the interior and headlights are on a delay, so if one wants to use their extinguishing as final signals that the car is off, you got to hang around for up to a minute--inconveniencing...

Huh?? Pretty much the entire dash display extinguishes as soon as you turn the car off. How much of a visual signal do you need?

And if that is not enough of a hint, you can try to turn the steering wheel.
It is hard to do when the car is turned off; though it is in that state when you just have the accessories on, too.

 

[jcesare]

6. Confirm that blue dash lights are blinking randomly (Charge timer is set).

They aren't random.

When the timer is set and EVSE is connected they will blink sequentially 1...2...3... for, I believe, 15 minutes.

When charging they indicate which third of the battery is charging. Solid means that 1/3 is fully charged, flashing means that 1/3 is charging, off means that 1/3 needs to charge.

When you hit the "Charge Now" button, the middle led lights up steady, signaling it is ready to be connected.

 

[mwalsh]

When you hit the "Charge Now" button. the middle led will flash, signaling it is ready to be connected.

Surely it comes on and stays on? That is until you connect the EVSE.

 

[jcesare]

When you hit the "Charge Now" button. the middle led will flash, signaling it is ready to be connected.

Surely it comes on and stays on? That is until you connect the EVSE.

Yes, I will correct post.

 

[planet4ever]

I've gotten caught twice thinking I had turned the car off, but it didn't go off. Fortunately I noticed that the panels were still lit up. The problem, for me, seems to be that I can jiggle my finger a bit on the power button. The computer takes that as meaning go two steps through the cycle, i.e. go to aux mode.

Ray

 

[nater]

Okay, I'm confused. The car was left on, and that somehow killed the 12v battery?

Please explain.

Nate

 

[mwalsh]

Okay, I'm confused. The car was left on, and that somehow killed the 12v battery?

Please explain.

Nate

Remember, no generator/alternator. So the 12v will eventually get depleted from running of the car's systems.

Now, I was under the impression that the 12v system would take charge from the main pack to keep it charged. So that means a) I was incorrect or b) that did indeed happen, which led to a completely discharged main pack and then, sometime following, would have meant a completely discharged 12v system. However, I'm not so sure the 12v system was completely discharged - the OP said that he could get the car into accessory mode.

 

[aqn]

[...]12 residual miles[...] As I got up yesterday, the dash charging lights were off and the car would not do anything other than turn on the accessories.

Does "would not do anything" include "shifter will not go into 'D' or 'R', only 'N' or 'P'"?

Flame suit on.....but that sort of sounds to me like you left the car turned on. No timer charging would be my first indicator and the completely dead battery pack my second.

Ahem, the car is back from a day at the dealer. While there is no absolute proof, examination found 3 error codes that led to a "fail safe state" indicating with strong probability that [...]

From the owner's manual, page 3-11:

"12-VOLT BATTERY SAVER SYSTEM
When all the following conditions are met for 60
minutes, the battery saver system will cut off the
power supply to prevent 12-volt battery discharge.
. The power switch is in the ACC position,
and
. All doors are closed, and
. The vehicle is in the P (Park) position."

If your LEAF was in ACC mode, it would shut down by itself after 60 minutes.

The question is whether your LEAF was in ON mode (e.g. if you just push 'P' and/or engage the parking brake) or in ACC mode; I suspect it was in ON mode, since to enter ACC mode from ON mode you need to push the power button twice (with foot off the brake) and it doesn't sound like you did that?

However, even if it was in ON mode all night and the traction battery was not being charged, would the display draw so much power that it would drain the traction battery's "12 miles remaining" charge (from having to charge the 12V battery all night)? 12 miles should be several kWh's worth of charge, even considering the "guess-o-meter" nature of the "miles remaining" display. Was the A/C or the fan on?

(The traction battery charges the 12V when the 12V battery's voltage is too low. From the service manual, section "EVC" page EVC-45:
"The automatic 12V battery charge control is a control to reduce the frequency of battery discharge by automatically
charging the 12V battery in case the 12V battery voltage is low when the key switch is turned to ON
or the vehicle has been left unattended for a long time.
When VCM [Vehicle Control Module] recognizes a need of automatic charge, VCM controls the DC/DC converter and the system main F
relay and charges the 12V battery using the Li-ion battery power.")

Additionally, your "fail safe" diagnostic codes sound vaguely like a symptom of the "won't go into 'D'" problem. I'm not yet convinced that the issue was simply because of your leaving the car on.

 

[mwalsh]

However, even if it was in ON mode all night and the traction battery was not being charged, would the display draw so much power that it would drain the traction battery's "12 miles remaining" charge (from having to charge the 12V battery all night)? on.

Yes.

I routinely leave my car at shows in second position accessory mode (so not even as "on") and it will routinely draw the main pack down by a SOC bar over a couple of hours of sitting there. So after 8 hours I'm sure whatever was left in the main pack was well gone and the 12v battery wouldn't have been in that great a shape either.

 

[EVDRIVER]

You can get failsafe codes for many reasons and other non-related codes as a result of one code indirectly resulting in another, I have read these codes on my car in Consult. In many cases the LEAF issues reported on the forum are user errors, quite a few too embarrassing to admit at the stage of resolution.

 

[TomT]

As another point of reference, as I documented here many months ago, I accidentally left my car on once when I arrived at work. I had eight bars when I arrived at 8am and when I go back to the car some 12 hours later, I was down to four bars. Since it was parked indoor, the lights had also stayed on all that time as they were in Auto...

However, even if it was in ON mode all night and the traction battery was not being charged, would the display draw so much power that it would drain the traction battery's "12 miles remaining" charge (from having to charge the 12V battery all night)? on.

Yes.

I routinely leave my car at shows in second position accessory mode (so not even as "on") and it will routinely draw the main pack down by a SOC bar over a couple of hours of sitting there. So after 8 hours I'm sure whatever was left in the main pack was well gone and the 12v battery wouldn't have been in that great a shape either.

 

[TNleaf]

After 15 minutes of 'inactivity', the car should chime and a message should come on the dash saying something like "Are you still there?" ...

First thing I thought of...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kgrt7XZ-BQw[/youtube]

:lol: That would be awesome.

 

[EVDRIVER]

I expect we will see many issues like this in the future.

 

[mwalsh]

"12-VOLT BATTERY SAVER SYSTEM
When all the following conditions are met for 60
minutes, the battery saver system will cut off the
power supply to prevent 12-volt battery discharge.
. The power switch is in the ACC position,
and
. All doors are closed, and
. The vehicle is in the P (Park) position."

If your LEAF was in ACC mode, it would shut down by itself after 60 minutes.

My car doesn't do that either. Like I said earlier, I routinely leave my car in the second accessory position for hours upon end, so that folks can see the dash and center stack all lit up.

I do generally leave it with the doors closed but the windows rolled down, so they can stick their head in, and of course it's in Park. The only things that may be wild-cards....this situation may only apply to first accessory position OR opening a door may disrupt this cycle (I can't be completely sure I've stayed out of my car for more than 60 minutes - usually I'll need to get into the hatch, or will open the drivers door so someone can get behind the wheel).

 

[SanDust]

I expect we will see many issues like this in the future.

Unfortunately you're right. Also not limited to the Leaf. In fact I think leaving the car on and running the 12V battery flat may be the leading cause of Volts being stranded. The numbers aren't large for either car but you'd expect far more problems with mainstream drivers than early adopters.

It's something of a design flaw. Since the car is silent there aren't any audio clues that it's on, and some people will miss the charging lights. On the other hand I have turned the car on when its plugged in -- pairing a phone etc. -- so you don't want to prevent it. Off the top of my head I'd say chirping and power lights flashing or even lights flashing if it's plugged in and turned on, unless someone is sitting in the front seat or the driver's door is open. (There has to be a sensor for the front seat, yes?).

Something like this.