How to harvest a 2011 Leaf Battery for home power backup

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Anitza

Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2019
Messages
19
Hi all,

This isn't about solar (at least initially) but hopefully the closest group in which to post. My 2011 Leaf is dead, and I want to harvest the battery to use as a power backup for key systems in my house during (frequent in Quebec) power outages. But I'm only just now appreciating that the battery on a leaf needs a mini crane to lift, not something I can pop in my new backseat from where the car currently sits sadly in the mechanic's lot. I can't seem to find an electrician nearby who is familiar with doing this either (i.e. getting the inverter/panel set up and recommending an appropriate place to store the battery).

I'm wondering if anyone has any tips? I have two weeks before I have to remove my car from the lot one way or the other. I'm in the Ottawa/Gatineau area of Canada. I saw on another thread a company in BC who uses these batteries for apartment installations, but can't find anything in this area yet.

I may be interested in wiring in solar down the road, but not anytime soon (Quebec hydro power is relatively clean, and although I have off-grid dreams it is not an immediate priority).

p.s. my Leaf is dead because the IPDM module is toast, and replacements cannot be found in Canada anytime soon with supply chain issues :(
 
I've been under my Leaf several times for cleaning, application of rust prevention coatings, and other preventative maintenance. It doesn't seem that complicated, but when high voltage is involved you need to know what you're doing.

Depending on the distances involved it might not be that expensive to get the Leaf towed to your home, which would give you more time for researching your options.

Plus, you could then part out the car to recover some or all of your costs.
 
You are really asking 2 questions, but 1 of them can be done without any "special" electrical knowledge.
The battery pack can be "dropped" from the car without any specialized tools...except for heavy lifting (that you allude to). If you can find a way to elevate the car (like the lifts most car shops have), you can lower the pack onto a (sturdy) table and/or pallet for storage.
As for re-purposing the pack for power back-up or solar storage: that's a whole other thing that requires specific electrical knowledge and (most important) safety protocols for high-voltage electronics.
 
This has been done before and there are videos on Youtube that show the process. Here is one link that is close (2013 is a bit different than 2011) but it should give you an idea of what is involved.

https://www.summet.com/blog/2015/04/17/how-to-open-a-2013-nissan-leaf-battery-pack-and-remove-the-modules/

I don't know what the latest status is regarding inverters but if I was using Leaf batteries for household backup I'd look for something like a 48V DC in and 240V AC out type inverter. I think those are fairly common and that avoids the high DC voltages of a full pack, which are hard to manage and extremely dangerous.
 
Have you considered purchase of a used IPDM? There have been enough 2011 and 2012 LEAF's crashed to create a supply of used parts (at least in the USA) if you want to keep it on the road.

If you try to use the pack for backup power, you need to consider how you will charge it and keep the cells balanced.
 
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