Deep storage

[stewartm]

Just wanted to share my experience with storing the leaf for a long period. Info was taken from mynissanleaf.com and nissan themselves in France.
January 2015. Parked the car unlocked bonnet open, park brake off. Charged to about 75%, disconnected the 12 volt battery. Car was parked in the basement, granite stone a foot thick and well sealed. Summer about 22 degrees, winter about 4 degrees. Car was fully serviced before storage.
Come April 2016, plugged in smart 12 volt charger for 24 hours, only charged to 12.2v. Powered up, Display showed 7/12 bars power. Plugged in the clipper creek LCS 20 and in two hours off and full. As below.
Car drove well with grabby brakes for a few kms, tyres fine and full. Bit of mould. Heater, AC everything fine.
I have ordered an AGM battery that has only 2-3% self discharge rate for the car, it's not expected that a standard flooded lead acid will last over a year with no charge.
Overall very happy, I could not leave an ice car for that long with no issues, fuel separation, oil, belts etc.
Included the updated charge stations to show the coverage

[EVangelist]

That is very impressive. I'm also jealous 22000km no bar loss!

[stewartm]

Cold is the answer I think. Also last of the '13 build, so fresher batteries. Also hasn't been baked in an Ozzie oven for two years.

[rusdy]

Apr 29, 2016 17:02:17 GMT 11 stewartm said:

I have ordered an AGM battery that has only 2-3% self discharge rate for the car, it's not expected that a standard flooded lead acid will last over a year with no charge.
 

I wonder how expensive that is (compared to LFP battery). The only thing sucks about LFP battery in the current market is, there is no easy to install adapter to the usual battery terminal.

[duncan]

AGM is about 200-300 as opposed to lead 100-200, but is much more tolerant of recovering from a flat battery. What do you mean about the terminals though, there are 2 common sizes and both are well supported in AGM (as well as both left or right + terminals)

BTW while AGM will hold a charge for years, every modern car has a draw which will empty a battery within weeks. Always disconnect negative if you are leaving it for more than a week or 2.

[rusdy]

Jun 16, 2016 21:00:57 GMT 11 duncan said:

AGM is about 200-300 as opposed to lead 100-200, but is much more tolerant of recovering from a flat battery. What do you mean about the terminals though, there are 2 common sizes and both are well supported in AGM (as well as both left or right + terminals)

I meant the terminals for LFP (LiFePO4) batteries. I haven't seen the aftermarket version for car batteries. Last time I installed in my Corolla (overkill, I know), it took quite some work to strip and re-crimp the terminal cabling to suit (bolted connection, not the usual battery terminal). For example from the website:





If there is one 'Plug and Play' for Leaf, I would've bought one already. I just can't be bothered to temper the battery terminal connection in Leaf, yet 

PS: The corolla sold to a friend of mine. No problem since then (2 years and counting to date), it's that good!

[stewartm]

And again, after over a year, charged the agm battery, then reconnected. A half tank on the gauge, 81 km, so a yearly stored loss of 2 bars energy.
Charged to full, 179km range. No capacity loss at all.
Apart from being a bit musty, and adding some air to the tyres, 100% perfect.
Love the leaf, seriously the best in the price range.
My Zoe has been driven by friends, still prefer the leaf.

[4wardthinking]

Wow, your place is all to close to 'Les Mans".
Nice area, good living. Used to be my yearly race abroad for years. My hope is that little has changed in the time elapsed, beautiful part of France.

Back on subject.
Interesting information here, my guess is the batteryis a series two item, which does have a lower rate of self discharge.
What input power are you using to charge it?.
I find that the higher the input power, the better the storage performs.