2013 Leaf - Dead 12-Volt Battery every 2 Weeks

[BrockWI]

I can't remember where I read it but I thought someone figured out if you removed the shunt? It stayed at the higher voltage all the time while the traction battery was on?

[LeftieBiker]

That would be the current sensor on the negative battery terminal.

[LeftieBiker]

I finally topped off the water level in my 12 volt battery yesterday, after being told by the local dealership that "it's a maintenance-free battery" when I had the car in for service in May. I just wanted to warn folks that when they remove the caps the cells may look full, but it's likely illusory. There are oval, vertical cutouts on the passenger side of the fill holes, and assuming that the ovals should be almost fully covered by water, I ended up adding about 1.25 cups (maybe a bit more) to the battery. This solved a problem that had cropped up: the maintainer wasn't reaching the flashing green "finish charge" level, and was instead staying in the red "bulk charge" mode. Now it's finishing the charge normally again, and going to full green.

[bzalex]

Today, I've found my 12V battery dead again. This is the third time this year. Last time it was about 2-3 months ago. Since then I've been very carefully to watch the voltage reported by LeafSpy every time after stopping the car. But yesterday, before arriving home, I made a short break and I turned off the car in the same time while stopping LeafSpy on my phone. Then, after 5 minutes, I drove home(few streets away) and I didn't start LeafSpy again for such a short trip.
In the morning the 12V battery was dead. I had to use the mechanical key to open the door. The interesting part is, the "Link" LED on the ODB Bluetooth device I have, was blinking continuously at a pretty fast steady rate. My first though was that somebody connected to my ODB device and that was the reason why the battery was drained. But I don't think it is the case, because as far as I remember, you can pair with the ODB only at power on. So from now on I will try to check the "Link" LED to see if it is linked to the battery issue, or it was just generated because the ODB adapter had not enough power to work properly.

[baustin]

Today, I've found my 12V battery dead again. This is the third time this year. Last time it was about 2-3 months ago. Since then I've been very carefully to watch the voltage reported by LeafSpy every time after stopping the car. But yesterday, before arriving home, I made a short break and I turned off the car in the same time while stopping LeafSpy on my phone. Then, after 5 minutes, I drove home(few streets away) and I didn't start LeafSpy again for such a short trip.
In the morning the 12V battery was dead. I had to use the mechanical key to open the door. The interesting part is, the "Link" LED on the ODB Bluetooth device I have, was blinking continuously at a pretty fast steady rate. My first though was that somebody connected to my ODB device and that was the reason why the battery was drained. But I don't think it is the case, because as far as I remember, you can pair with the ODB only at power on. So from now on I will try to check the "Link" LED to see if it is linked to the battery issue, or it was just generated because the ODB adapter had not enough power to work properly.

I would suggest that you get one of the OBD extension cords that has an on/off switch in it. Turn it off when you exit the vehicle so the BT Dongle is not active. This is the one I have: https://smile.amazon.com/Tonsiki-Female ... 2470955011

[eddiebo924]

So how do we explain all of the other upgrades (like mine) that seem to work (at least most of the time)?
Or is this something specific to the 2013 MY?

Well. . . I have a 2015 and it's doing the exact same thing. At NISSAN now. Just found this tread and am going to send it to let them know they can stop trying to figure out what's wrong with it. Also going to ask for my money back for the battery they sold me a few months back.

Uggg.

[Nubo]

Hey everyone,

Looks like we can at least put the cause of the issue to rest. As Occam would suggest - in my case at least (2013 car getting the 2G --> 3G telematics upgrade) was the cause of the problem. Nissan (the manufacturer, not the dealership) flew over their engineers who designed the telematics from Singapore to my dealer to look at my car and a few others that were experiencing the problem. Within 2 days they assessed that the telematics unit itself was drawing an inappropriate amount of power, could not be fixed, and their options were:

1) replace the 3G unit back with the original 2G unit which would disable Carwings and also solve the parasitic power-draw issue

2) I could manually disconnect the 12V battery every day upon getting home

3) I could pull the fuse at strategic intervals - the sales person serving as an intermediary was a bit dubious about this, which suggests to me that they were very dubious about that. l

Whaaaa? Replacing with a known good 3G unit was not offered as an option? Or are they saying they're ALL bad? Hmmm.. I had the one on my 2015 replaced though I never bothered to log in and set it up for Carwings.... Maybe for the best

[eddiebo924]

Is this theory and plan sound?

I’ve owned a 2015 LEAF since Sep 1, 2014. LOVE IT! Have about 48,000 miles on it and it runs like a champ. But had the TCU unit replaced in early January of this year and since then I’ve had the yellow electric warning light show up multiple times and have had to have the car jump started multiple times. Most recently this past week when I couldn’t even jump start it. Had to flatbed it into the dealership. Anytime it’s needed a jump start it’s been sitting for at least two days.

The theory I’ve come up with after readings many different posts on this site is this. My daily commute to work is about 60 miles total and at work the car sits outside in the sunny Colorado the whole time. Between the miles driven and the solar panel pushing some power into the 12v, even if CarWings is down and continually trying to get service, the battery is powered up enough to ride it out until I’m on the road again to charge it up. BUT. . . . When I’m home for two days, the car sitting in the garage and CarWings out of service, the 12v is depleted and boom, I’m in need of a jump start. Sound like a solid theory?

Right now the car is at the dealership and they’re trying to replicate the issue as they have twice before. Being that CarWings was running fine yesterday, is today and probably tomorrow when they come in on Monday the car will likely start right up. So my plan is to ask them for my $150 back for the battery they sold me several months ago and tell them “I really wish Nissan had a fix for this” because from what I’ve seen there isn’t one and then. . . Kind of sucks but when I’m home for two days, keep an eye on CarWings and when it’s out throw a battery tender on the 12v.

Sound good?

Thanks!

[cwerdna]

eddiebo924: Charge up your 12 volt fully w/an external charger. Try doing what I did at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.p ... 92#p499192. Ever since I did that, I've not had a single yellow ! car warning light nor DTC of P3131 and that still holds true as of today.

I probably will agree to data transmission and turn on saving of charging locations before I bring my car in for the (slightly overdue) "required" annual battery check. If it triggers the yellow ! warning and DTC P3131, at least it'll be on record w/the dealer. I won't ask them to fix, only document as I doubt the dealer can do anything, at this point.

I'm guessing a TSB or service campaign will come out to address this. Or perhaps there is just some bug w/saved charging locations auto-created by the old TCU vs. new one?

The emails I receive for charging complete/stopped, from NissanConnect in my current state are flaky. They usually work but sometimes don't.

[LeftieBiker]

Is it possible to either wire in a remote On/Off switch for the TC unit's power, or to relocate the power supply to a circuit that's only live when the car is on?