largest 12v battery in 2013 leaf?

[Phatcat73]

I had a similar problem with my 12v dying constantly. Then all of a sudden, it just stopped reoccurring.

Now I check the charge occasionally with one of these tools. When I'm out of town, I'll put it on a tender as well.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0015P ... detailpage

By the way, Costco has a 3 amp battery tender for $40.

[BrockWI]

After a while with the new larger battery in there I have noticed some interesting things. When the car is bulk charging the 12v aux battery it sits a the top end voltage a LOT longer. I have also noticed in the last two weeks when I went to charge the battery with an external charger it was topped of in 15 minutes or so suggesting it was adequately charged, with the original battery it often took 5 to 10 hours. Now I know it has only been two weeks, time will tell.

Having worked with large lead acid banks in solar PV, my guess is the original battery was to small for the charging algorithm. So when the system was at the "bulk" phase and it saw the charging amperage drop off (don't know the threshold) the car would go in to "float". Now with a larger battery it takes more amperage to hit that same point and in turn puts more power back in the battery.

My guess this is like having to large of a charger on to small of a battery. To add to this as the battery ages it's capacity would fall off and cause the situation to get even worse, a cascading effect.

[GerryAZ]

After a while with the new larger battery in there I have noticed some interesting things. When the car is bulk charging the 12v aux battery it sits a the top end voltage a LOT longer.

Brock,

I noticed the same thing when I replaced the original battery in my 2011 with an Optima AGM deep cycle (Yellow Top) of the original size. That Optima was still performing like new when the car met its demise 13 months after installing it. Unfortunately, the insurance company's storage yard would not let me keep the battery when I went to look at the car and make sure I got everything out of it. The original Nissan flooded cell batteries have relatively high internal resistance when new and get higher as they age. This makes the DC-DC converter drop back to float sooner than it should. The lower internal resistance of the AGM battery allows it to charge to a higher SOC before the DC-DC converter drops back to float. As soon as the Nissan flooded cell battery in the 2015 starts getting weak, I will replace it with an AGM even if it is still under warranty.

As you are seeing, there is no problem with the charging algorithm of the DC-DC converter when it is charging a battery with low internal resistance.

Gerry

[BrockWI]

Yes while I agree it seems to preform much better with a better / larger battery, you would think they could tweak the settings knowing the battery they put in the car. I suppose it is a fine line to boiling off water and not fully charging it. I am familiar with flooded batteries and I am fine with checking them once in a while. But man I like AGM's, our last house bank was eight 8D AGM's, no messing with them and they lasted 13 year with no work, no mess no venting, this time I went with L16's again, less expensive, but more work

[BrockWI]

Well 2 months later and still in great shape, no 12v issues. I still charge the 12v once a week and every time the charger goes in to float within a few minutes. Again I truly believe the larger capacity / better battery the Leaf's 12v charging works fine.

The bottom line is some of the existing or "stock" group 24 batteries are undersized for the car and I would recommend a new group 24 or larger 34N replacement. I am sure Lithium would work as well, but I was concerned that the car might not play well with it. Also if I return the car when the lease is up I could swap back the stock battery or just leave this one in there and I doubt anyone would be the wiser.

[cwerdna]

Here is a pic of the battery in there. I should have taken a before and after, but here it is.

Thread resurrection. I was just thinking about your battery and the barely reaching negative cable.

Maybe if you got a 34R battery, things would be better? Not that I'm saying this is a recommended battery, but here's a 34R battery I found: https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/NBP8434R. Notice which side of the casing the terminals are? And, compare to where they are from my '13 w/the battery my Nissan installed (as a free warranty replacement) at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.p ... 22#p439322.

I might go down your path when my 12 volt croaks but w/a 34R...

[csites]

I went with a $250 Optima Yellow Top D35 AGM battery (what I believe is generically called a 35R) so the terminals are on the right side. The D35 fit great even though it has significantly more capacity than the stock 51R battery. I removed the 51R-sized plastic tray, used the 1-inch plastic riser provided with the Optima, and substituted the Rogue battery hold-down, part number 24420-4M800. The hold-down is about a 1/2-inch larger than ideal, but still works well. I plan to return the substitute Rogue plastic tray as it didn't fit in the metal tray well, seems unnecessary with a sealed AGM battery, and the plastic riser provides plenty of protection for the battery itself.

Thanks to BrockWI and cwerdna!

Hopefully this will solve the problem with the battery dying every 6-9 months since my 2013 Leaf was new. I bugged Nissan and two dealers for years, but they could never find a solution. (I did try disconnecting the telematics unit as suggested elsewhere on this forum, but no luck)

2021-01-16 update: added photo
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6mfqosxdroz4y ... .jpeg?dl=0

[DIYev]

I went with a $250 Optima Yellow Top D35 AGM battery (what I believe is generically called a 35R) so the terminals are on the right side.

Optima's part numbering scheme adds a "D" to the beginning of the generic group number, so if you have the reversed pole version of a group 35, it should be labeled "D35R." Does it say D35 or D35R on the top label?

[BrockWI]

the "R" in the group number is for reverse posts

[csites]

I went with a $250 Optima Yellow Top D35 AGM battery (what I believe is generically called a 35R) so the terminals are on the right side.

Optima's part numbering scheme adds a "D" to the beginning of the generic group number, so if you have the reversed pole version of a group 35, it should be labeled "D35R." Does it say D35 or D35R on the top label?

It is labeled D35. The posts are on the right, so it fits perfectly.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6mfqosxdroz4 ... jpeg?dl=0