Bargain Basement Electric

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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Today was one of those "great days out" days and all the charging point plans fell into place nicely...no delays and a bonus at our destination.....the charging point at Bowlees Visitor Centre in Teesdale worked fine with my BP Chargemaster Polar Plus Card, and was both vacant, and free. Gave us options for the route back instead of having to go back up to Bishop Auckland Morrisons. As it turned out we took the path of least hassle and ended up just with one more top up at Chapel House on Tyneside on the Instavolt, and back home.

LOvely little visitor centre with friendly staff and the coffee and cake were excellent, consumed outside in a little gargen with coal great and blue tits/chaffinches/ robins etc feeding at the bird feeders.

Had never been to Low Force, High Forces litle brother but very picturesque and a lovely day for it.
Low Force on the Tees
Low Force on the Tees
BB leaf at the charger Bowlees Visitor Centre
BB leaf at the charger Bowlees Visitor Centre
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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by Mandrake »

Hi Neil,

I have some tricks for you to try on your Leaf - not sure if they will all apply to your car, but give them a go! :)

The first is on the heating system. If you set the heating to recirculate (light lit) then hold the recirculate button for two seconds until it flashes (instead of a quick press) this apparently puts it into a 30/70 mode where it will provide 30% fresh air 70% recirculated air. I'm not sure if it does this by cycling the flap open and closed on a schedule, or whether it just holds it in a partial position - I think the latter.

This can help in very cold conditions where the heater is not having to warm 100% cold incoming air. I think the auto mode will do this automatically for you if the outside air temperature is cold enough but holding the button down for two flashes forces it to be enabled.

Next up - wiper parking. After you turn the car off but before you get out, pull the right stalk towards you (front windscreen wash) and hold it there for a couple of seconds. The wiper blades should move to a near vertical position and park there. They will stay there when you lock the car and in fact will even stay vertical when you get back in and turn on the car, until you press the wiper stalk again.

With the wipers parked vertically they should defrost and become unstuck better and also let melting snow and ice run away instead of getting stuck on the blades.

Lastly - courtesy headlights. After turning the car off but before getting out, pull the left stalk towards you (high beam flash) then exit and lock the car and you should find the low beams remain on for 30 seconds then go off. Each pull of the stalk adds 30 seconds up to a maximum of four pulls for 2 minutes of lighting after you get out of the car.

Useful to find your way to the house door in the dark, or perhaps to a charger in the dark. :)
Simon

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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by mickthemaverick »

I have been reading through this thread today to catch up and I noticed that Simon asked Neil to post the charge menus where he had set the car to 80% charging which Neil did. As there has been no further mention of it my idle curiosity wonders whether Simon found he had that setting on the newer model after all? :)
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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by Mandrake »

mickthemaverick wrote: 09 Sep 2020, 12:47 I have been reading through this thread today to catch up and I noticed that Simon asked Neil to post the charge menus where he had set the car to 80% charging which Neil did. As there has been no further mention of it my idle curiosity wonders whether Simon found he had that setting on the newer model after all? :)
No, it unfortunately confirmed my suspicions that the 80% charge option was removed with the introduction of the Nissan Connect version of the centre infotainment console which was released in 2016 and is installed in my car. Neil's car being a 2015 still has the Carwings centre infotainment system which while outwardly similar has completely different menus and user interface to mine.

So alas, manually stopping the charge is the only way to prevent it charging all the way to 100%. As the charge rate is fairly predictable and I can check the level of charge from my phone when charging it's not a big deal to go out and unplug it at the right time if I really want to stop it around 80%.

What I tend to do now is let it charge to 100% during the working week but on a timer so I plug it in when we get home in the evening but it doesn't start charging until about 3am in the morning - that minimises the amount of time each day that the battery is sitting around near 100% charge.

On a Friday night I usually get home with 65% charge so I just don't charge it on the weekend unless we will be making a long trip to the beach or similar. 65% is around 70 miles - more than enough for any shopping trips, visiting etc that might happen on a weekend. It's also 15 miles more than the entire 55 mile range of the old Ion when it was 100% charged... :lol:
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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Mandrake wrote: 09 Sep 2020, 12:14 Hi Neil,

I have some tricks for you to try on your Leaf - not sure if they will all apply to your car, but give them a go! :)......
Thanks Simon, much appreciated.

Along with its many other benefits, the FCF is an excellent place to store away little tricks like that, and to be able to find them later!

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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

BB Leaf passed its MOT today, with a small advisory on the Leaf parking brake Achilles' heel. Half expected it. Brake discs all round of course but the parking brake operates on a set of rear brake shoes "within the rear disc".

Habitually it squeaks if reversing after standing some time, in a forward direction its fine. Parking brake performance for MOT was fine.

Dont particularly fancy setting to and following this video straight away more a slight irritation but I'll dump it here for future reference.



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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

I was not sure what exact Paint colour the BB Leaf is, but have just discovered the paint code...
Code NAJ  <br />Alizarin Crimson Pearl
Code NAJ
Alizarin Crimson Pearl
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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

End of day BB Leaf at the get us home charging point :-D So yes with an ICE car we may have been home half an hour earlier but the slow lane does have its compensations...and the labrador gets a nice walk too :-D
Northumberlandia
Northumberlandia
Alizarin Crimson Pearl Leaf out of focus in harsh LED light
Alizarin Crimson Pearl Leaf out of focus in harsh LED light
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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by Mandrake »

What would you say your proportion of rapid charging to fast charging is ?
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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Probably around 50/50. Whenever we go out seeing as its usually a trip from the sticks 30-40 miles away from home we usually have a rapid charge somewhere on the way back. That is the usual. We have a public 7kW charger close enough to make the need for a 7kW home charge point unnecessary at the moment. Do use some 7kw chargers "on the road" like on the trip to Teesdale the other day if we are visiting somewhere where we intend to spend a couple of hours.

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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by Gibbo2286 »

Looking on Ebay last night I note there are several Leafs offered at around £4/5k
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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Gibbo2286 wrote: 14 Sep 2020, 09:28 Looking on Ebay last night I note there are several Leafs offered at around £4/5k
Cheaper than buying Battery storage for your domestic solar power with a bit of creativity :-D and you could probably still run down to the shops with it too!

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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by Hell Razor5543 »

NewcastleFalcon wrote: 14 Sep 2020, 09:35
Gibbo2286 wrote: 14 Sep 2020, 09:28 Looking on Ebay last night I note there are several Leafs offered at around £4/5k
Cheaper than buying Battery storage for your domestic solar power with a bit of creativity :-D and you could probably still run down to the shops with it too!

REgards Neil
I recall seeing on BBC Click that one Pacific island nation was, in effect, doing just that. During the night any cars that were plugged in and 'charging' were, in fact, powering the town. During the day the chargers were charging the vehicles. I am not sure of the logistics of it, but it seemed to work well.
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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by Mandrake »

Gibbo2286 wrote: 14 Sep 2020, 09:28 Looking on Ebay last night I note there are several Leafs offered at around £4/5k
What year ?

If they're that cheap they're probably either Japanese built Gen 1 cars (2011-2013, with the cream interior) and should be avoided for multiple reasons, or they're battery lease (Flex) and should also be avoided... :)

2014 is the earliest Leaf that should be considered even as a runabout, and even then you'd be wanting to check the battery state of health in case the battery has been abused as some of the early cars (especially Gen1) suffered high battery degradation rates.

Mechanically the Leaf is a very sound car so it's all about the health of the battery when browsing 2nd hand examples.
Simon

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Re: Bargain Basement Electric

Post by Gibbo2286 »

The £4500 one was 2014 with 57k miles and an owned battery but it's gone now, there are a few examples here.
I'm surprised at how low the mileages are, lots with under 30k miles.
There are currently 280 Leafs listed from 2011 to the latest.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nissan-Leaf- ... SwuwVfWHAl

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nissan-Leaf/ ... SwhU1fWWx4

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nissan-Leaf- ... SwIQBfV6Ms

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2014-Nissan- ... SwvvJfEq5B

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2011-Nissan- ... SwETZfKOt6
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