As far as I know, the Leaf will not charge the 12v unless you turn it on. So if you don't have the little solar panel, it will kill the 12v if not driven often. The largest issue is unlike an ICE car when you can hear the starter motor begin to be sluggish, you have no way of knowing if the 12v is on it's way out. It either turns on or it doesn't and when it get low like that, it causes all kinds of strange issues.
At least Tesla carefully watches the lead-acid and will alert you when it's low on capacity. On Sat, Aug 1, 2026 at 8:16 AM Darryl McMahon via EV <[email protected]> wrote: > The Leaf SL had the solar panel. We had that on the 2013 Leaf we leased > (for some reason that dealer was very determined we should lease, not > buy - maybe some internal incentive). > > Our current 2017 Leaf is an SL (because the jump from SV to SL in price > was ridiculous at the time), so no solar panel. > > If the Leaf was ever to be left unused and unplugged for an extended > period of time, I would probably have put some kind of maintainer on it, > but in 9 years that has never occurred. It's unusual for it to sit > unused for 3 consecutive days, and even then it's usually connected to a > Level 1 charger. (The gasser sitting unused for 2 weeks at a time is a > definite thing.) > > Darryl > > On 2026-08-01 10:27 a.m., Peri Hartman wrote: > > Here's a 12V battery puzzle. I owned my 2011 Leaf for about 12 years. I > > never replaced the battery and the car electronics still functioned > > perfectly. It was always parked outside, so the I assume the small solar > > panel kept that battery fully charged while the car was parked. Other > > than that, I can't imagine I did anything differently than normal. > > > > Peri > > > > << Annoyed by leaf blowers ? https://quietcleanseattle.org/ <https:// > > quietcleanseattle.org/> >> > > > > > > ------ Original Message ------ > > From: "Darryl McMahon via EV" <[email protected] <mailto: > [email protected]>> > > To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > > Cc: "Darryl McMahon" <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected] > >> > > Sent: 01-Aug-26 06:57:12 > > Subject: [EVDL] Re: Keeping a 2017 Nissan Leaf > > > >> Interesting. I had battery maintainers (either solar on dash or plug- > >> in) on all my ICE vehicles over the years. Mostly because they > >> typically didn't move for weeks at a time as there was pretty much > >> always an EV of some kind in the driveway to do most of my trips. > >> It didn't occur to me to put one on the Leaf due to the big DC-DC > >> converter from the traction pack that should be maintaining the 12- > >> volt auxiliary. > >> I'm content that the failed 12-volt battery had served its time and I > >> think served past its expected life. > >> As for battery maintainers, I can come up with one of those pretty > >> easily (I sell an intelligent version). I should put one on the > >> current gasser - my SO will love having an electric plug hanging out > >> from the front grill (actually, not so much). Not so unusual around > >> here where we still have a lot of gassers with either battery blankets > >> or block heaters or both to improve chance of engine starts on truly > >> cold days. (Back in my pre-OEM EV days, I carried jumper cables so I > >> could tap the traction pack to jump start frozen gassers on the cold > >> days. Can't do that now on the factory EVs because I can't tap the > >> pack or boost from the auxiliary per the owner's manual. So now I > >> carry one of the tiny jump packs for that purpose.) > >> On 2026-08-01 1:08 a.m., Bryce Nesbitt wrote: > >>> That's exactly what the leaf does with a flat 12V battery. > >>> Just replace it, and put the new one on a battery maintainer. Under > >>> $200 at Batteries & Bulbs, expect a 3 year lifetime for the 12v > >>> battery, maye 4 with the maintainer. > >> -- Darryl McMahon > >> -- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. > >> www.avast.com <http://www.avast.com> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Address messages to [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > >> No other addresses in TO and CC fields > >> HELP: http://www.evdl.org/help/ <http://www.evdl.org/help/> > >> OT: If you use an Android device, please read https:// > >> keepandroidopen.org/ <https://keepandroidopen.org/> > > -- > Darryl McMahon > Independent Project Manager (sustainable systems) > > “Your beliefs become your thoughts, > Your thoughts become your words, > Your words become your actions, > Your actions become your habits, > Your habits become your values, > Your values become your destiny.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi > > If your beliefs are shaped by for-profit social media, > who bought them, and why? > > _______________________________________________ > Address messages to [email protected] > No other addresses in TO and CC fields > HELP: http://www.evdl.org/help/ > OT: If you use an Android device, please read https://keepandroidopen.org/ >
_______________________________________________ Address messages to [email protected] No other addresses in TO and CC fields HELP: http://www.evdl.org/help/ OT: If you use an Android device, please read https://keepandroidopen.org/
