jffjnny wrote:I'm having a similar issue. I'm new here, and there's 30 pages of this thread, so I'm sorry if this exact thing has been mentioned before.
I have a 2014 SL. I've only had it about six months, used with about 21000 miles on it.
A few weeks ago I noticed the EV system warning light on after charging in my garage overnight. I had washed it the day before and thought maybe something in the charging port got wet. I drove it to work the follow Monday, where it sits in the sun. Came out after work, no lights were on. I assumed it had dried. The next day after being in the garage, not charging, same light was on. I had to leave for work, no time to investigate. After work, no light. This went on for a couple days, baffling me. Regardless of charging or not, in the garage overnight the light came on, and after work, the light was off. I did some research and realized the sun was recharging my battery, which was likely the cause of my light after being in the garage. After a few days, this issue seemed to resolve itself.
A few weeks later (This past weekend), the light came on again and after being in the sun, went back off. This happened last Thursday and Friday. Then Saturday after being in the garage for about 24 hours without charging, my car was totally dead. I made the decision to just buy a new battery, since I was fairly certain the battery was the issue. Probably on the verge of dying and being kept alive by the sun. I got a Optima Yellow Top, because I read it was a good battery for this car. Changed it out Sunday. I've been working well all week, until today (Friday). The light was on again. It was cloudy yesterday and is overcast today. So maybe the sun wasn't helping me as much, but what on earth could be draining my battery?
I'm not in warranty so I'm hesitant to take it to Nissan. Any ideas?
Thanks
Sounds very similar to the issue I had. The telematics unit has a flaw and it will fail to connect to the server so it will just keep trying over and over. This drains the battery over night, even a fully charged, brand new battery. Then in the morning you turn your car on and the car recharges the 12V battery with the DC-DC converter which is SUPER beefy so your 12V gets recharged back to full power by the time your trip is done. I don't think it's the solar panel, I think it's just your morning commute. To confirm this, turn your car off when you arrive in the morning and then turn it on again: my bet is the light will be off.
Every once in a while this telematics loop will drain the battery totally dead and you'll be stuck.
Here is a list of things that I know of that can trigger the telematics (it's probably incomplete) so if you avoid any of these things, you're less likely to have a dead car in the morning:
- Using the NissanConnect ("Carwings") app at all, even just having it on in the background.
- Having your car in an area that is stored as a "preferred charging" station
- Having a setting to send you notifications based on anything that might trigger (being at a preferred charging station, plugged in, unplugged, whatever.
I have taken my car in to Nissan 5 times about this same issue now, and they finally admitted the problem. See here
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=25722.