12v battery conditioner for Leaf

Orebro

Been reading some posts over on SpeakEV about issues that some people have had with their Leafs and so many of them turned out to the the 12v battery playing up (such as car not starting, not charging when plugged in etc). I know that the 12v is supposed to get charged automatically but the system doesn't appear to be infallible.

Do any of you use a battery conditioner on the 12v battery and recommend one? I'm considering getting one and maybe using it once a month for preventive maintenance.

Gumbo

Nope. Have mine since 2nd March without issues.

*touch wood I don't wake up in the morning to a flat battery

No I've had my Leaf since January 2015 and no issues. However, no harm carrying a 12V booster jumper pack just in case if you're worried.

KCross

I think it was an issue on the older Leaf's. Maybe the BMS wasn't clever enough and in some circumstances it let the 12V go dead for no apparent reason.

There was speculation that it was things like the telemetry trying to access the mobile network in a bad reception area and it got into a loop and drove the battery dead overnight by continuously trying. It was just speculation though. It seemed to always happen overnight so the car was definitely trying to do something in a loop and it killed the 12V.

There is a green ball that you can see on the top of the 12V battery that tells you if your battery is in need of a topup. I'd definitely take an occasional look at that.

You can also see the voltage of the 12V battery via Leafspy so thats another way to monitor it.

Orebro

Ah ok - thats pretty handy - didn't know about the visual check, or that Leafspy would show the voltage - thanks for the tips.

ED E

KCross wrote: »

There was speculation that it was things like the telemetry trying to access the mobile network in a bad reception area and it got into a loop and drove the battery dead overnight by continuously trying. It was just speculation though. It seemed to always happen overnight so the car was definitely trying to do something in a loop and it killed the 12V.
.

Find that one hard to believe. Cellular TX is regulated to a maximum (tiny) limit so even on a constant hunt a 3.7v 3A cell can last more than a day with no other draw. Would take a week or more for the same kind of load to hit 12v car pack. That is unless the embedded system controlling the car got stuck in a code loop and has significant draw.


Assuming its a traditional LA cell I wouldn't put any extra duty cycles on it trying to condition it without a real cause to do so.

BoatMad

problems with the 12V battery seemed to affect a certain set of 2013-2014 Leafs , my 2016 has been left for 4 weeks with no effect on the 12V battery. ( it was not charged during that time and the main battery was left at 60%)

k123456

Am I correct in saying on a long slow charge, the 12v battery is topped up, after the main battery cells are re balanced

(gen 1.5 leaf 2016)

BoatMad

k123456 wrote: »

Am I correct in saying on a long slow charge, the 12v battery is topped up, after the main battery cells are re balanced

(gen 1.5 leaf 2016)

Yes , the third light flashes on its own to indicate the 12V battery is being charged

However the main traction battery charged thev12V anyway , as and when required ( once the car is " on " ) the main thing to watch is using the car in standby with heaters AC etc running without the main battery activated , unlike normal cars the load on the 12v battery is considerably higher