Nissan Leaf

rolion

Looking for a video on "how-to" replace the LEAfs fob key battery...and I found this one below.
Nice DIY project if can get hands on a old battery set and very solid built:

Gumbo

rolion wrote: »

Looking for a video on "how-to" replace the LEAfs fob key battery...and I found this one below.
Nice DIY project if can get hands on a old battery set and very solid built:

There’s an i3 battery pack for sale on speakev.

unkel

Sold for GBP1131 a couple of weeks ago. Someone got a bargain!

SpeakEV thread

eBay ad

Gumbo

unkel wrote: »

Sold for GBP1131 a couple of weeks ago. Someone got a bargain!

SpeakEV thread

eBay ad

Would compliment our PV array quite nicely

KCross

Soarer wrote: »

Following up on this, I'm back to thinking it's either the 12V, or whatever the car uses to charge the 12V.

Turned the car off yesterday evening, and the i-key error came up. Ignition wouldn't turn on. Plugged her in, and left her charge for the night.
Went out this morning, and the ignition turned on. Same errors as above on LeafSpy.
However, the 12V was reading ~11.5V. When I pressed the brake pedal, it dropped to ~11.3V (from memory).
Cleared the errors, started the car, and the voltage immediately jumped up to ~14.5V.

So the car obviously charges the battery when it's turned on.
And it obviously puts a small bit of charge into the 12V between the time the i-key appears (and the ignition won't turn on) to an hour later when the ignition does turn on.

My 12V battery was bought last April, and had a good slow charging session back in November (thanks again KCross). And yet I'm back to this.
So the fact she charges when running, and she must be doing some sort of charging between error and restart, points to a bad 12V?

Well, as you said, either a dud battery or the car isnt charging it enough.

I'd try to rule out a few things before spending money on another battery as another battery might just delay the issue until next winter and you'll be back where you started.

Maybe there is some drain on the battery somewhere? Anything plugged in like a dashcam? Do you leave the LeafSpy dongle plugged in? Some of them have been known to drain the 12V. Any other devices like USB Memory stick for music etc?

What way are your charge timers set? Do you just have a start time and no end time which ensures it gets a full 100% charge with a 12V topup at the end? If you set an end time it might not be getting to the 12V topup.

Are you using the remotely activated heating? Your car doesnt have a heat pump so remotely activating the heating will put a heavy strain on the 12V and if you have short journeys it might not be getting enough time to float charge it.

unkel

kceire wrote: »

Would compliment our PV array quite nicely

If I got a 22kWh li-ion battery, I'd look into increasing my PV to about 10kwp

If only we could use our cars as home attached storage...

rolion

Then, lets get together, buy a 24kw pack and split in two or three...anything over 5kw will do magic.

There is another clip where explains how we can split and built the links for proper voltage and BMS control.
I watched the guys adventure on his RV bus / camper van.

unkel

rolion wrote: »

Then, lets get together, buy a 24kw pack and split in two or three...

I'd be up for that. Provided of course we can get one for little money. That 22kWh BMW i3 pack went on eBay a couple of weeks ago for GBP1130

Would also like to know up front what sorta money / hardware we are talking about in getting it to connect safely to our homes.

Bearing in mind that you can buy a 2.4kWh battery for about EUR900 + VAT, an AC side controller for about EUR300 + VAT and pay an installer about EUR200 + VAT, so total about EUR1700 including VAT. Minus the EUR1000 subsidy means a net cost of just EUR700. Seems like a safer bet for relatively little money...

Soarer

KCross wrote: »

Well, as you said, either a dud battery or the car isnt charging it enough.

I'd try to rule out a few things before spending money on another battery as another battery might just delay the issue until next winter and you'll be back where you started.

Aye. Definitely going for the divide and conquer approach. The car is with the mechanic today, so I'm getting him to charge the 12V while it's there. If the errors don't come back for a while, I'll have a fair idea that it's the 12V. And it's probably a case of a bad battery, as I've the little 12V charging display thing plugged in that you (I think) recommended, and she displays 14.5V while driving.

KCross wrote: »

Maybe there is some drain on the battery somewhere? Anything plugged in like a dashcam? Do you leave the LeafSpy dongle plugged in? Some of them have been known to drain the 12V. Any other devices like USB Memory stick for music etc?

Like I said above, I've that display thing plugged in all the time. I used have the dongle plugged in all the time, but I noticed that those errors came up more often when I had the dongle plugged in, so I always plug it out now. But maybe the battery's too far gone now and needs the charge?
Nothing else plugged in.
And like I mentioned a few posts back, I drive with my headlights on all the time. But the headlights (dips and full) and parking lights are all LED, so they shouldn't be too much of a drain?

KCross wrote: »

What way are your charge timers set? Do you just have a start time and no end time which ensures it gets a full 100% charge with a 12V topup at the end? If you set an end time it might not be getting to the 12V topup.

Don't have any timers set.
And usually when I charge, she gets the full charge. Not always mind, but usually.

KCross wrote: »

Are you using the remotely activated heating? Your car doesnt have a heat pump so remotely activating the heating will put a heavy strain on the 12V and if you have short journeys it might not be getting enough time to float charge it.

It's rare that I use the remote heating.
But obviously in the last few weeks, I've been using the heat/ac a lot with the kids in the car. Combining that with pretty much all my journeys being short ones, and it's not great for the 12V.

So after all that, and assuming it is the 12V, would a "stronger" battery (like the one in Halford's) cope better?
I don't really understand all the ratings on the 12V, but once fully charged, the 52Ah 480A battery (Halford's) would cope better than a 47Ah 420A battery (standard)?

KCross

Soarer wrote: »

Don't have any timers set.
And usually when I charge, she gets the full charge. Not always mind, but usually.

In theory the battery shouldnt go dead then as it would be getting a decent topup everyday and you said its a relatively new battery. Could be a dud too, of course.

Some people do complain that they get unexplained random dead 12V's in the Leaf. Its like the car gets into some tizzy and drains the battery trying to do something (telematics upload, stuck solenoid or something). It always happens overnight (from what I've read). I havent had it happen myself.

Soarer wrote: »

So after all that, and assuming it is the 12V, would a "stronger" battery (like the one in Halford's) cope better?
I don't really understand all the ratings on the 12V, but once fully charged, the 52Ah 480A battery (Halford's) would cope better than a 47Ah 420A battery (standard)?

Stronger battery means it will take longer to drain so yes in theory it would cope better but it might also just mean that instead of it taking X hrs to go dead it takes X+Y hrs to go dead... but same end result.... dead!


You'll need to watch the physical measurements of the batteries. Trying to get one to fit into the same space and fit the brackets isnt just a case of taking any battery off the shelf. They are all different.

samih

Do you see any temperature related fluctuations? If you get more issues after a frosty night it looks more and more possible that's it is the lead acid battery acting up and the temperature related chemical processes slowing down resulting in drop in voltage until it's too low for the car to function.

11.3 volts is a very low voltage well into the danger zone where, if kept at any lenght of time, the battery slowly self distructs due to plate sulphatation. A fully discharged but otherwise healthy lead acid battery has a voltage of about 12.2 V and fully charged battery in good condition should be around 12.8 V or even slightly higher when resting without a load. Any storage at under 12 volts will kick start the sulphatation process which is practically irreversible (there are some ways around it but this is already TMI). If a battery has spent any length of time below 12 volts it's only suitable for scrap.

Modern cars work batteries hard, including the LEAF, as they tend to keep the battery below maximum charge to either be able to absorb extra charge when slowing down (ICE) or to keep the HV battery drainage at minimum (EV). If a battery has already degraded the low power charging schemes will push it down the cliff almost without a warning.

slave1

So the Leaf is booked in for a service this week, the only real thing I can do to save costs is replace the pollen (cabin if you're American) filter and the garage charge well for it....
Took me 8 minutes, it's behind the glove box with a small section removable to help you contort your hand to get the old one out and the new one in...

Port removed and you can see the hard white plastic cover over the filter



Old filter on the way out....



Very simple job, less than 10minutes for sure including all the flapping about to twist your arm and hand to get the thing out and new one in.

KCross

slave1 wrote: »

So the Leaf is booked in for a service this week, the only real thing I can do to save costs is replace the pollen (cabin if you're American) filter and the garage charge well for it....
Took me 8 minutes, it's behind the glove box with a small section removable to help you contort your hand to get the old one out and the new one in...

Port removed and you can see the hard white plastic cover over the filter

Very simple job, less than 10minutes for sure including all the flapping about to twist your arm and hand to get the thing out and new one in.

How much is the filter to buy on its own?

randombar

slave1 wrote: »

So the Leaf is booked in for a service this week, the only real thing I can do to save costs is replace the pollen (cabin if you're American) filter and the garage charge well for it....
Took me 8 minutes, it's behind the glove box with a small section removable to help you contort your hand to get the old one out and the new one in...

Port removed and you can see the hard white plastic cover over the filter



Old filter on the way out....



Very simple job, less than 10minutes for sure including all the flapping about to twist your arm and hand to get the thing out and new one in.

So what are they doing? Pads I guess?

KCross

GaryCocs wrote: »

So what are they doing? Pads I guess?

Nothing more than a visual inspection and stamp the book.

Batesy

Brake fluid also no??

Gumbo

KCross wrote: »

How much is the filter to buy on its own?

€26 for a Mann one on micksgarage.
€9 for a lesser well known brand.

slave1

I just bought a generic US Nissan carbon filter from Aliexpress, $6.80 delivered, virtually identical to the original Nissan one I took out, which was actually very clean after 2.5yrs

KCross

Batesy wrote: »

Brake fluid also no??

Recommended every 2 years which sounds like overkill to justify the fees to me.

Calahonda52

KCross wrote: »

Recommended every 2 years which sounds like overkill to justify the fees to me.

Is there not a warranty issue here?

KCross

Calahonda52 wrote: »

Is there not a warranty issue here?

Why?

As long as you adhere to the Nissan recommended schedule and get the stamps on the book you are good.

Balmed Out

My 141 leaf has had a flat a few times but never anything on dashboard, should there be?

KCross

Balmed Out wrote: »

My 141 leaf has had a flat a few times but never anything on dashboard, should there be?

If it has TPMS it should throw up an amber light showing a flat tyre symbol.

What trim level Leaf do you have.... XE, SV or SVE?

SVE definitely has TPMS. I think SV has it too. Anyone with an SV confirm that?
I dont think XE has it.

Gumbo

KCross wrote: »

If it has TPMS it should throw up an amber light showing a flat tyre symbol.

What trim level Leaf do you have.... XE, SV or SVE?

SVE definitely has TPMS. I think SV has it too. Anyone with an SV confirm that?
I dont think XE has it.

+1
And it should highlight which tyre it is also.

slave1

KCross wrote: »

If it has TPMS it should throw up an amber light showing a flat tyre symbol.

What trim level Leaf do you have.... XE, SV or SVE?

SVE definitely has TPMS. I think SV has it too. Anyone with an SV confirm that?
I dont think XE has it.

I've an Acenta which is the SV equivalent I believe and it has TPMS and will point out which tyre too via symbol on dash

Balmed Out

Acenta, is this something that can be turned on or off or is it definitely broken? Not a big deal anyhow I suppose.

slave1

Have your tyres been changed since new? If there's a sloppy tyre fitted they could mess up the TPMS

Balmed Out

The tyres have been changed a few times. Anyone know if there is a setting to turn it off?

ELM327

Balmed Out wrote: »

The tyres have been changed a few times. Anyone know if there is a setting to turn it off?

If there is a setting, it would be available in leafspy pro.

Soarer

Just wondering if there’s a chance my car may have been clocked at some stage.

She just passed the NCT there. I know she was an import, so the previous odo readings and dates are....
05/06/2015 123573km
21/02/2017 143114km
23/02/2019 180769km

I bought the car in April ‘17, a couple of months after the nct. And I really don’t think I’ve done 37k kms in less than 2 years.
So could my faffing around with LeafSpy have reset something done previously?

Doesn’t really matter whether or which. Just kinda wondering out loud.