Random alarm activation whilst driving

[enzomorales]

Hi,

Would be grateful for any help with the following strange issue which has come up, out of the blue, after 3 months and 4000 miles of trouble free motoring in my 2012 LEAF:

A few days ago, on entered the car and beginning usual commute, the the hazard lights flashed accompanied by a beep at random intervals from every few seconds to every few minutes whilst covering around 30 miles over 40 minutes. Towards the end of this journey the alarm randomly activated and occasionally the alarm siren sounded distorted / sick. On two occasions during this trip, I switched the car on and off using the main switch but this didn't appear to make any difference to the problem. The car seemed to drive normally throughout and there were no abnormal indications / fault messages. After completing my journey, I parked up and locked the car. When I returned after an hour or so, the problem seemed to have disappeared but I changed the battery in my keyfob as the car had previously been reporting it was low. I covered another 180 miles across several trips, without incident, until today when exactly the same thing happened again....

 

[keydiver]

Have you tried taking the other key fob with you instead?

 

[enzomorales]

Thanks for reply. I though it might have been related to keyfob but todays problems happened whilst using my spare keyfob........ :?

 

[cwerdna]

Can you put up a video somewhere (e.g. YouTube) of the symptoms?

 

[ElectricEddy]

Any DTCs?

 

[91040]

Have you checked your tire pressures lately?

 

[enzomorales]

Travelled 35 miles to work this morning with no problems. I found a forum thread detailing random alarm activations which turned out to be signal interference from a Blackberry device ( http://www.leaftalk.co.uk/archive/index.php/t-17742.html ) . I'm going to try switching off the devices I carry around ( typically phone and ipad and occasionally a second phone ) to see if it helps. If it happens again, I'll take it to Nissan dealer. I'll try and the capture fault on video and may purchase Leaf Spy to read any DTC. Tyre pressures were fine when I checked a couple of days ago - not sure how that could cause the issue though but appreciate all replies.

 

[enzomorales]

After nearly 1000 miles since last random alarm activation in August, it started again today - managed to catch it on video:

https://youtu.be/Ju1FXxL9djY

https://youtu.be/Ju1FXxL9djY

 

[cwerdna]

I'm guessing that's from some aftermarket alarm. I didn't think our Leafs have any sort of siren like that. Right?

If it weren't nighttime or my car were at work, I'd try setting off the Leaf's alarm to see what it sounds like. I thought it only does the flashing of the lights w/the honk honk honk, like many factory "alarms". I've accidentally had the panic button on the factory remote pressed while the fob was in my pocket, setting that off.

 

[TimLee]

Downright bizarre :!:

I got a strange continuous high pitched tone a couple times when 12V battery was badly discharged and voltage was low.

I would suggest you first check your 12V battery.
Or put it on trickle charger for extended time.

But note that when my second 12V battery failed, that even though a trickle charger would get the voltage up enough for the LEAF to start, the 12V was still bad apparently with a failed cell.

Only way to check the 12V properly is with capacity tester at dealer or parts store.

 

[enzomorales]

Hmmmm, that sounds interesting, I'll check battery voltage / capacity. Thanks.

 

[TimLee]

Hope it is something as simple as 12V battery.

My first 12V was replaced at no cost at two year mark. It is covered under the 3 year 36,000 mile warranty.

When that failed it was replaced prorated for $50.

With only 4 years and four months my 2011 is on its third 12V battery.

Some people with 2011 are still on original 12V battery.
But many have failed within two to three years.

 

[enzomorales]

Check the battery and it looked OK at 12.54V. LEAF went into local dealership a couple of days ago and they couldn't find anything. No codes. Battery test passed. Nissan technical suggested looking for a water leak / corroded connections but nothing found after inspection. Technician decided to trickle charged the battery based on a hunch after viewing the fault videos I posted on You Tube, it then failed the diagnostic test so they now suspect the battery may be faulty (dead cell??) as per TimLee suggestion. Unfortunately they don't have a technical reason for a faulty battery causing the random alarm activations seen and obviously nobody else has really experienced this before - even owners with faulty batteries .......any comments on this appreciated.

 

[Stanton]

Bottom line: faulty/weak 12v batteries in Leafs can be the source of all sorts of random/unexplained errors. If you even suspect it, replace it; if you want to end 12v battery problems for good, put a LiFePO4 starter battery in like I did (it was worth every penny).
Read my blog post about it: http://stanton.myevblog.com/2012/01/16/getting-the-lead-out/

 

[TimLee]

Check the battery and it looked OK at 12.54V. ...

Checking voltage is not very useful in evaluating 12V battery condition.

And good the technician knew the capacity test machine can sometimes be wrong too.

There are numerous reports of strange LEAF behaviour with a bad 12V battery.
Some of it dangerous like defective braking.

You got lucky and only got a weird alarm

 

[enzomorales]

3 days after getting the car back from the dealer with a new battery and it's started again :evil: random beeping, hazard lights and slightly off sounding alarm siren .....after an hour of this, I disconnected the 12V battery.....I'm annoyed to say the least.....