Is there any way to tell a 2017 Leaf to only charge to 80% instead of 100%?

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drbrake

Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2019
Messages
23
I have heard here and elsewhere that if you have a choice it is better for your long-term battery life only to charge to around 80%. I know that some automatic battery management takes place anyway but is there anyway either through the standard controls or using third-party software to tell it to charge overnight but only To a given level?
 
Nissan in their infinite "wisdom" removed the 80% limiter on US Leafs starting w/model year '14.

https://insideevs.com/news/317213/2013-nissan-leaf-rated-at-75-miles-but-84-miles-using-the-outgoing-2012-epa-ratings-system/
https://insideevs.com/news/320736/2014-nissan-leaf-mostly-unchanged-as-range-technically-moves-up-to-84-miles/

Some possibilities include using the timers to have charging ending hours after you would normally unplug, having the charging start way late or using an EVSE like a Juicebox that lets you set a target SoC (you have to input the current/starting SoC each time). It can then guesstimate as to when to stop to reach the target level. It has to guess by energy dispensed since J1772 has no protocol for the car to tell the EVSE the car's current SoC.
 
drbrake said:
I have heard here and elsewhere that if you have a choice it is better for your long-term battery life only to charge to around 80%. I know that some automatic battery management takes place anyway but is there anyway either through the standard controls or using third-party software to tell it to charge overnight but only To a given level?

Unfortunately, the only year models I remember where 2013 (because I had one and it had the charge to 80% option) was the last year to have that feature, so the 2017 model does not have this feature as far as I know.

Just my experience, I never used the 80% option and always charged to 100% anyway and my battery degradation wasn't much worse than anyone else I've read here given the hot climate I live in. I wouldn't leave it charged to 100% for weeks on end, but if you use it daily like I did, charging to 100% didn't seem to be a big deal in the grand scheme of things.
 
knightmb said:
always charged to 100% anyway
That is not a choice I would make.
my battery degradation wasn't much worse than anyone else I've read here given the hot climate I live in.
I live in a high desert climate in the Southwest. Our LEAF battery has been degrading at a loss of ~ 1 Ahr (about 0.33 kWh) a year. Was that the experience you had with your LEAF, or is your memory playing tricks on you ?

OP, one can mitigate the damage by limiting the time the battery sits at or close to 100% SoC. As noted above, set the charging to end ~ one hours AFTER the expected departure time.

And, DO NOT leave leave the LEAF in a hot, unventilated garage. That is how you poach an egg, and how you poach a LEAF battery.
 
SageBrush said:
knightmb said:
always charged to 100% anyway
That is not a choice I would make.
my battery degradation wasn't much worse than anyone else I've read here given the hot climate I live in.
I live in a high desert climate in the Southwest. Our LEAF battery has been degrading at a loss of ~ 1 Ahr (about 0.33 kWh) a year. Was that the experience you had with your LEAF, or is your memory playing tricks on you ?
Maybe, that's why I had LeafSpy keep track of it for me :mrgreen:
https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=32026
 
I would still avoid 100% or high SoC on a regular basis unless it's really needed. I've pointed to this person who was down 7 capacity bars (5 remaining) by Dec 2017 on his '11 Leaf, despite the super mild PNW climate: https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=552809#p552809.

Yes, the chemistry on pre-4/2013 Leafs was crap, but his charging habits didn't do him any favors. I suspect if he took better care, by that point, he'd only be down maybe 3 or 4 bars, not 7.

This person with a 1/2013 built '13 (also bad chemistry) at https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?t=31297 was down 6 capacity bars by July 2020 in an extremely mild climate. SF does not get hot compared to the rest of the Bay Area at all (example at https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=533224#p533224). I suspect their car if taken care of better would be a 9 or 10 bar car by that point, not 6. Per https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=587652#p587652, seems like they'd been charging to 100% for years.
 
The only way I know of to have a 2017 stop charging at 80% charge is to add an after-market CAN-bridge to the car that adds this feature. The CAN bridge intercepts and modifies CAN messages between the various parts of the car and can be programmed to stop charging at 80%. User name Dala here on the forum has a business that I think sells this equipment. You can contact him or search here for more details.
 
If your daily drive is constant, just apply some simple math to set your timer. I drive exactly 30 m per day. I travel 4 miles p kwh ie: 7.5 kwh used door to door. Charging at approx. 3 kwh equals approx 2.5 hrs charge time. Adjust in 10 minute increments to taste to accommodate output voltage variations. I usually end up with a 76% charge. There is no need to be exact. I usually charge this way for the regen. My 2017 11 bar battery seems to start showing best Regen feel about 88 percent.
 
Lambtron said:
Charging at approx. 3 kwh
kW

Otherwise agree with your post, although I think it is easier to just set the end time to ~ 1 hour after your expected departure. That works really well if the departure time stays about the same.
 
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