Leaf Gen 1 Heating

Shefwedfan

I am just wondering, my mother has a Gen 1 Leaf, loves it. I have it set up so in morning it is nice and toasty when she heads out but I was talking to her earlier and she says the car is very cold.

Now she is only doing small trips so I told her to use the air con but she says it is very slow to heat up and really by the time it heats up she is at destination or close to it....

I am just wondering, is this normal? do I need to replace something in it?

Its a 12 Leaf Gen 1....thanks

KCross

Gen 1's are known to have heater issues. "PTC Heater" I think it's called.

If you turn up the temp and the blower do you get a decent blast of hot air or is it non existent?

Alternatively, maybe the timer is set wrong?

Shefwedfan

KCross wrote: »

Gen 1's are known to have heater issues. "PTC Heater" I think it's called.

If you turn up the temp and the blower do you get a decent blast of hot air or is it non existent?

Alternatively, maybe the timer is set wrong?

I havent car with me till weekend.....

Just wondering if it was known issue and easy repair?

Soarer

It does take time to heat up.

I could turn the heating on full, leave my place to go to the shop (approx. 3k away), and it'd only be after taking the chill out of the air at that stage. Certainly not warm/hot.

So if that's what she's doing, it's fairly normal.
Now if the timer is working, you've given it at least 10 minutes to do it's thing and it's still cold, then you've a problem.
On t'internet, talk of fixing/replacing the heater element runs into the many thousands.
That's why I reckon I got mine so cheap. The fan wasn't blowing, so the "heater" wasn't working. Thing was, the pipes were still getting warm, so the heater was grand. My mechanic had it fixed in less than 20 minutes, and the fan's been spot on since.

So check if the fan is still working, and take it from there.

Shefwedfan

Soarer wrote: »

It does take time to heat up.

I could turn the heating on full, leave my place to go to the shop (approx. 3k away), and it'd only be after taking the chill out of the air at that stage. Certainly not warm/hot.

So if that's what she's doing, it's fairly normal.
Now if the timer is working, you've given it at least 10 minutes to do it's thing and it's still cold, then you've a problem.
On t'internet, talk of fixing/replacing the heater element runs into the many thousands.
That's why I reckon I got mine so cheap. The fan wasn't blowing, so the "heater" wasn't working. Thing was, the pipes were still getting warm, so the heater was grand. My mechanic had it fixed in less than 20 minutes, and the fan's been spot on since.

So check if the fan is still working, and take it from there.

She leave her house at 9 in morning, I have timer set so she loves it because the car is nice and toasty....it is plugged into charger

Let's say at around 12 she will get back into car, distance could be 5km away. Turn on heating, by the time she gets to destination the car will still be cold.....

From what you are saying Soarer this is correct?

Next question, I dont have app or anything set up for her, could she start the heating 5-10 mins before she leave to have it warm? would it eat up much of the battery(not that she needs it but she will ask:P)

KCross

Shefwedfan wrote: »

She leave her house at 9 in morning, I have timer set so she loves it because the car is nice and toasty....it is plugged into charger

So in the timer scenario it works fine and the car is toasty? In that case it doesn't look like you have an issue with the heater. If you did it wouldn't work in any scenario.

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Next question, I dont have app or anything set up for her, could she start the heating 5-10 mins before she leave to have it warm? would it eat up much of the battery(not that she needs it but she will ask:P)

If its plugged in it should draw the majority of the power from the EVSE so it won't affect her range much... a few percent. When initiated from the app it runs the heating for 15mins and you need to set the temp in the menus (separate to the temp button on the dash). At least thats how it works in the Gen 1.5's.

Shefwedfan

KCross wrote: »

If its plugged in it should draw the majority of the power from the EVSE so it won't affect her range much... a few percent. When initiated from the app it runs the heating for 15mins and you need to set the temp in the menus (separate to the temp button on the dash). At least thats how it works in the Gen 1.5's.

Plugged in is no issue.....

If not plugged in is really the questions

mordeith

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Plugged in is no issue.....

If not plugged in is really the questions

We've a Gen 1 leaf and the heater is hopeless when not plugged in. Takes a while to get any heat. Mind you I can't give a full overview as the missus freaks if I have it on for long. Once she sees the 4/5km drop in the GOM she's panicking!

Shefwedfan

My mother is hilarious, she is first person in about 50 mile radius that has an electric car....she was telling me last night that loads of people are asking her about the car.....

She tells them all she loves it, it is perfect but the heating system is terrible on it.....haha....something I would never discuss when asked about a car

Would preheating using the app at the destination be an option even when not plugged in? 15 minutes of preheat should ensure that the heating system water if fully warmed up before she drives back home.

On the Gen 1.5 the heat is pretty much instantaneous even without preheating as the heating works directly using resistors in the heater ducts (I know that the primary heating is via heat pump, but the car always uses resistive heating first before the heatpump has begun to work efficiently).

Shefwedfan

samih wrote: »

Would preheating using the app at the destination be an option even when not plugged in? 15 minutes of preheat should ensure that the heating system water if fully warmed up before she drives back home.

On the Gen 1.5 the heat is pretty much instantaneous even without preheating as the heating works directly using resistors in the heater ducts (I know that the primary heating is via heat pump, but the car always uses resistive heating first before the heatpump has begun to work efficiently).

Can you do that? That was the question a few posts back

I know in eGolf I can turn on the car to preheat even if not plugged in....

I would guess you can do the same with Leaf?

KCross

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Can you do that? That was the question a few posts back

I know in eGolf I can turn on the car to preheat even if not plugged in....

I would guess you can do the same with Leaf?

You have to configure a CarWings account, then login to it via the touchscreen in the car, download the app to your phone and then you can initiate a remote heating action which will run for 15mins max.