The Wilted Leaf - Charging in a Winter Wonderland* 19/11/2024

[320touring]

As a "last of the big spenders" move, I've ordered new wipers and a cabin filter for this tub...

[320touring]

That's yer leaf had it's pre winter checks - 3 new wipers (each a different size FFS). For reference 

 

Drivers front - 26"

Passenger front -16"

Rear -14"

 

Then the rear lights were pulled and cleaned,

There was a fair old whack of gunk in there, and the car being parked under a tree doesn't help..

 

2x 10mm are that all that needs removing to get the unit out - useful to know if I need to replace any bulbs!

Mawkit

Next up, the cabin filter was removed (awaiting the replacement  to arrive in the post)

It was pretty straight forward- 8 screws to remove the glovebox

The white clip to the right of the ECU/control box is what we seek.

It clips in at the bottom then pushes to latch at the top.

With it removed you can see your quarry.

Pull it out and wonder how the car ever got any air in..

It's supposed to be white?!

I also took the opportunity to stop the glovebox rattling by applying my magic rubber dots..

Much better!

 

I also touched in some paint chips on the roof and side. BMW alpine white is a perfect* match

and it's had a hoover, wash and wax. 

Burstit after it with this cold but it was a nice day and I wanted out the hoose. It's improved.

 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Nice. They look alright in appliance white. Were the steelies originally covered by hubcaps or did you source them from a Nissan brother? 

[hairnet]

will any touring knackered hapes make it to chumly?

[320touring]

15 minutes ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Nice. They look alright in appliance white. Were the steelies originally covered by hubcaps or did you source them from a Nissan brother? 

I imagine they'd have had genuine Nissan hubcaps to start with - this Visia model was the super miserable base that they only made for about 6 months before dropping it.

The plan I think is to tidy them up and get them painted to look passable 

10 minutes ago, hairnet said:

will any touring knackered hapes make it to chumly?

Alas naw, we are both busy on the day unfortunately 

[320touring]

The new filter arrived :

Installation was easy enough - I just had to grip it thusly to get it to go in the access hole.

In first shot, clip on and the glovebox back in.

 

Result?

Significantly better airflow😁

[320touring]

Went out today to head to @jaypee's.

Started off with 48% battery and a predicted range of 70 miles on the screen.

After 29 miles, these were the scores on the doors 

So I've lost 45miles on the guessometer, and only travelled 29 miles. What is going on?

 

The answer? Well, it's a couple of things, some related to the hard life of a taxi, and others to corporate scardycattery:

Firstly, my Leaf's battery has quite a significant sag in voltage when the pack gets lower in charge.

When it's fully charged, all the cells are within about 32-35mV of each other.

Even this is a fairly large gap - a brilliant pack will be a 10mV variation.

After being run down a fair bit (nearly 100 miles) my pack has a BIG variation.

This is still ok and the car drives fine. However, what happens is this:

Nissan are bloody keen to avoid you running out of charge.

Therefore they're pretty pessimistic in reporting battery percentage at lower stage of charge! The software is also a bit optimistic at the top end.

It says 100% on the dash, yet is reporting 94% in Leafspy

Then 99 miles later, the dash says 16%, but leafspy says 33.8%

I reckon I could do another 20 miles before getting close to being out of charge.

 

For context, the 11.2kwh that was left in the battery would be approx 50% of charge on a healthy older 24kwh Leaf - something that may only have a practical range of 60-70miles.

 

Part of me is tempted to do a range test with the car. Charge it fully on a 7kw to get maximum charge level (I've seen 32/32.5kwh).

Then take it for a mixed driving route - maybe over a loop of known length ensuring I have reasonable proximity to a number of chargers.

It shouldn't be difficult to do with availability here..

Now I just need the time and motivation...

 

[320touring]

As threatened a few pages ago, I've bought a much more substantial extension for charging the Leaf.

This was done for 4 reasons

1. Increased safety without having to install a 7kw charger (it has an inline RCD, and significantly thicker cable and a waterproof external socket)

2. Ability to get a longer cable to allow charging regardless of the direction the car is parked. It's now 15m Vs 12m previously.

3. The convenience of a "letterbox connector" to allow it to pass through the door without having to take the plug off.

4. If I do get a 7kw charger installed in future, this can be pivoted to be a supply for the back garden.

Not quite as neat as a reel extension, but I can buy a velcro tie or two.

RCD and letterbox connector are both inside, with sufficient slack that the cable is not being pulled taut at the plug.

Previously, the reel extension had to be drawn taut to reach the fence. This is still slack and has enough length to reach the car regardless of orientation.

 

Total cost including cable,socket,RCD and letterbox connector and delivery?

£93.

 

Not the worst.

[hairnet]

nice floor ken

[rainagain]

I’ve been charging my OH’s off an extension since we’ve had it and had no problems so far.

[320touring]

48 minutes ago, rainagain said:

I’ve been charging my OH’s off an extension since we’ve had it and had no problems so far.

Aye. I'm just not sure that an uncovered plug socket is the best choice for winter in Scotland 🤣

[rainagain]

1 minute ago, 320touring said:

Aye. I'm just not sure that an uncovered plug socket is the best choice for winter in Scotland 🤣

It’s alright I tuck it under the car! I’ve got an old enclosure and I plan on mounting that on the wall with a permanent socket inside. The granny charger can live in there as well. 

[hairnet]

soh - yes 

soc - yes

wh/km - yes

what the hells a gigawatt

whats a GID?

i watch teslabjorn and even tho he tests them and owns one i dont think hes ever said what it is

ta

 

[loserone]

20 minutes ago, hairnet said:

whats a GID?

There's 12.5 GIDs in a kWh.  Named after Gary Giddings who wrote Leafspy 

[320touring]

Here's me learning things noo🤣

[hairnet]

sheeeeet

holy macaroni

fanks nerd

 

[somewhatfoolish]

12.5 seems a pretty weird division. Is there a reason?

[loserone]

42 minutes ago, somewhatfoolish said:

12.5 seems a pretty weird division. Is there a reason?

Means there's 300 in a full 24kwh battery?

Edit: nope, that's not true.  It's an interpretation of watt hours or amp hours of energy stored based on sensor output.  

[320touring]

You join us on an expedition!

We departed at 8.15 this morning, heading North and West.

First stop, a firm Favourite - Inverary!

The Leaf is doing some solid numbers

We sauntered off, leaving it plugged in to replenish..

First up was breakfast then a wee amble about the place.

It was significantly drier than the last time

We saw some cool houses and where @loserone will be getting his new Duster

We were blessed with a spot on the way back to the car: an e34 in either 520i or 518i spec if the exhaust is to be believed..

Lastly, we were greeted by LEAF FWIENDS (not really)

[Supernaut]

That E34 was in the same spot when I was there in June...

[320touring]

28 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

That E34 was in the same spot when I was there in June...

Promising*

[320touring]

After another hour North and West, we landed in Oban..

It looks resplendent in the late September sun - a most pleasant surprise!

Another spot was foist upon us:

The it was time to saunter onwards to the next leg...

Have Boat, Will Travel!

[Supernaut]

Mull, or that other island where your friend runs a campsite?

[320touring]

20 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

Mull, or that other island where your friend runs a campsite?

Neither.

Quite glad not to be going to Mull after hearing the Captain of the Isle of Mull utter the phrase "technical difficulties" over the Tannoy.

Gigha ferry leaves from Tayinloan, about 45miles (I think) south of sunny Oban

[Alan_Green]

Did you go to Inverary via Arrochar?  I drove to Dunoon in the early hours of yesterday morning and both the "rest and and be thankful" and the old military road were closed due to a land slip.  Me and my new friend in the Morrison's artic had to go Crianlarich-Tyndrum-Dalmally-Inverary.  An extra 100 miles or something.  Luckily wasn't in my EV.  I'm now in a Facebook group called A83 news. 

[hairnet]

tattie scone or GTFO

[320touring]

24 minutes ago, Alan_Green said:

Did you go to Inverary via Arrochar?  I drove to Dunoon in the early hours of yesterday morning and both the "rest and and be thankful" and the old military road were closed due to a land slip.  Me and my new friend in the Morrison's artic had to go Crianlarich-Tyndrum-Dalmally-Inverary.  An extra 100 miles or something.  Luckily wasn't in my EV.  I'm now in a Facebook group called A83 news. 

Aye went via Arrochar. Checked before I left it was passable, as there had been a slip earlier in the week. It was the convoy system on the old military road, so a wee bit of a delay but not bad. Just drank in the scenery!

Had an alternative route and charging stop planned just in case.

[320touring]

12 minutes ago, hairnet said:

tattie scone or GTFO

The burd had wan on her bacon roll this morning, does that count?

[320touring]

This should offer a hint of where we are off to...

[somewhatfoolish]

2 hours ago, Alan_Green said:

Did you go to Inverary via Arrochar?  I drove to Dunoon in the early hours of yesterday morning and both the "rest and and be thankful" and the old military road were closed due to a land slip.  Me and my new friend in the Morrison's artic had to go Crianlarich-Tyndrum-Dalmally-Inverary.  An extra 100 miles or something.  Luckily wasn't in my EV.  I'm now in a Facebook group called A83 news. 

RABT has been a disaster area for the last 2 decades, all the govt have done is talk a lot of talk and put up stupid mesh bags to "catch" rocks. The £250m Transport Scotland are wittering about wasting on rock shelters in Glen Croe should be spent on a fixed link across the Clyde.