Nissan LEAF - General

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#1919326 13-Dec-2017 21:46

I test drove a Leaf on Sunday (with my boys in the backseat). It was pretty cool! I didn't take it very far but wow what a smooth quiet ride. The boys loved it too. Sadly it was all I heard about for the rest of the afternoon.

I could see myself driving one of these things to Hamilton, but somewhere like doing a loop of the Coromandel would be a little bit more challenging - charging stations seem to be few and far between there (as far as I can tell).

RUKI

1402 posts

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#1919342 13-Dec-2017 23:33

EVsEnhanced:

Sorry, that my first post here needed to start on a somewhat negative note ....

However, it is one thing for 'Ruki' to copy the Leaf instrument cluster conversion ...

Walter, you just starting your first post here by bluntly lying (re: "copying' [your conversion]). I can't but comment on that. Leafs are in big numbers in Ukrain (English) and Russian Far East (JDM). Over 30 firmware versions (English) from overseas were available for experts long time ago for analysis. Japanese to Russian (or English) conversions have been practiced for JDM cars for decades in many Far Eastern Cities where I am originally from. Nissan, Lexus, Toyota - boys were doing those for ages. Solution for Nissan over OBD was known from circa 2014. Don't claim it to be yours. For me to come to the solution I have been given 5 Japanese Leaf Dashes of different firmware versions to play with. It is not that hard to figure it out how to do those.

I have been the first who converted e-NV200 in New Zealand. I was told you have finally figured that out. ... I have sent out few dashes outside Auckland which you could've have access to... Can't be bothered.

P.S. At the end of the day Leaf owners are covered New Zealand - wide for their dash conversions. Which is all that matters...

You owe me an apology ...

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afe66

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#1919376 14-Dec-2017 08:27

quickymart:
I test drove a Leaf on Sunday (with my boys in the backseat). It was pretty cool! I didn't take it very far but wow what a smooth quiet ride. The boys loved it too. Sadly it was all I heard about for the rest of the afternoon.

I could see myself driving one of these things to Hamilton, but somewhere like doing a loop of the Coromandel would be a little bit more challenging - charging stations seem to be few and far between there (as far as I can tell).

Are you sure?

Plugshare.com seems to show 4 Chademo rapid chargers on the coromandel loop.

vyking56

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1919429 14-Dec-2017 09:38

So today's commute was unfortunately powered by petrol.

I thought I had a handle on the dash menu with assistance from Google Translate, so I enabled the charge timer with the intention of deferring the flow of electrons until the price dipped for the evening. Something I like the idea of doing so I can arrive home, plug in and forget about it until the morning.

Charge Timer = ON.
Start time = 2130.

Blue lights came on when I plugged in, so I was confident that I was onto a winner. Perhaps a little overconfident in hindsight because this morning the battery had not increased from the previous day. 36% with 60KM on the GoM - not enough to covery my 72KM round trip.

Is there a system clock other than the one next to the Speedometer / Treeometer?
It's an "S" model, so it's not getting GPS time or getting itself confused about time-zones.

Also thinking it might be time to consider an English software conversion.

EVsEnhanced

18 posts

Geek

#1919442 14-Dec-2017 10:18

Ok Ruki. If you say you figured out the Leaf conversion without looking at examples of our work then I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. I apologise for saying otherwise and offending you. There is plenty of room for both of us and others in this growing industry and we both have plenty we can contribute to making these cars and other EVs better for everyone to enjoy.

Please stop publicly taking cheap shots at our conversion tool and our partners using it. It is an elegant solution that does certainly have far more safety checks involved than you give it credit for and if it decides not to convert a car for any reason then it shows fault codes so we know why. They have converted hundreds of cars without a single issue, but if/when we do have our first issue we will support out partner in resolving it quickly with minimal inconvenience to the car's owner.

Like you say, Leaf owners are now covered New Zealand wide for their dash conversions and that is a good thing. But it is the efficiency of our process that has allowed the conversion price to come down so much. I think that also matters. We have driven the price down for the benefit of NZ Leaf owners and our partners, not to try to irritate you.

Regarding the e-NV200 van, I had these conversions figured out long before you started offering them. However, we decided not to announce this until we had a solution available using our conversion tool. Asking people to removing their instrument cluster to send to us is a solution, but not an efficient one. However, when you started advertising that you were doing this you forced us to tell our partners that we could do the same.

I haven't seen one of your e-NV200 conversions, but have you figured out how to keep the Power Plug option in the menu or is that lost with your current conversion? The rest is easy as it is based on the European configuration, but the Euro cars never came out with the inverter option hence it is not in any Euro config. Here it is in our conversion:

If you don't currently know how to do this then email me and as matter of good faith I'll tell you exactly how to do it no strings attached. I'm sure you could figure it out yourself with enough time, but why bother? Instead you could but that time into something interesting like figuring out how to make that built-in 1.5kW inverter put out 230V 50Hz instead of 100V 60Hz....

EVsEnhanced

18 posts

Geek

#1919445 14-Dec-2017 10:25

vyking56:

So today's commute was unfortunately powered by petrol.

I thought I had a handle on the dash menu with assistance from Google Translate, so I enabled the charge timer with the intention of deferring the flow of electrons until the price dipped for the evening. Something I like the idea of doing so I can arrive home, plug in and forget about it until the morning.

Charge Timer = ON.
Start time = 2130.

Blue lights came on when I plugged in, so I was confident that I was onto a winner. Perhaps a little overconfident in hindsight because this morning the battery had not increased from the previous day. 36% with 60KM on the GoM - not enough to covery my 72KM round trip.

Is there a system clock other than the one next to the Speedometer / Treeometer?
It's an "S" model, so it's not getting GPS time or getting itself confused about time-zones.

Also thinking it might be time to consider an English software conversion.

On all 'S' model Leafs, the charger timer time you set is the ending time, not the starting time. The starting time is calculated by the car. Like you say, getting an English instrument cluster conversion will save you having to get out Google Translate and is obviously much nicer in general especially when warning messages pop up etc. What part of NZ are you in? Chances are we have a partner in your area that can do it while you wait.

vyking56

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1919498 14-Dec-2017 12:05

EVsEnhanced:

On all 'S' model Leafs, the charger timer time you set is the ending time, not the starting time. The starting time is calculated by the car. Like you say, getting an English instrument cluster conversion will save you having to get out Google Translate and is obviously much nicer in general especially when warning messages pop up etc. What part of NZ are you in? Chances are we have a partner in your area that can do it while you wait.

Ah, good to know - thanks! That explains why it appeared to be doing something when I first plugged in, but it must have stopped shortly after. I'm sure I would have worked it out eventually, but a key reason I'm hanging onto my regular car until the new year.

I'm in Wellington. Any guidance or recommendations on who I could approach for a conversion would be greatly received.

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EVsEnhanced

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Geek

#1919532 14-Dec-2017 12:48

No worries. Happy timer charging tonight. One other trap that I've seen a few times on some S models when timer charging is them not getting to the full intended state of charge when using a low power EVSE (like an 8A one). With a 15A EVSE they are always spot on. It might be isolated to particular EVSEs or car years and/or firmware versions though, so you might be fine. Let us know how it goes for you.

For Leaf instrument cluster conversions in Wellington we have the following partners currently:

Gazley Nissan - Contact Shaun Hickman - 0800 668 668
GVI Electric Wellington - Contact Nicholas - 021 959 400
Kapiti Cars (Paraparumu) - Contact Jason - (04) 297 2428

PhantomNVD

2619 posts

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#1919601 14-Dec-2017 15:10

EVsEnhanced:
No worries. Happy timer charging tonight. One other trap that I've seen a few times on some S models when timer charging is them not getting to the full intended state of charge when using a low power EVSE (like an 8A one). With a 15A EVSE they are always spot on. It might be isolated to particular EVSEs or car years and/or firmware versions though, so you might be fine. Let us know how it goes for you.

For Leaf instrument cluster conversions in Wellington we have the following partners currently:

Gazley Nissan - Contact Shaun Hickman - 0800 668 668

GVI Electric Wellington - Contact Nicholas - 021 959 400

Kapiti Cars (Paraparumu) - Contact Jason - (04) 297 2428

How much for this please?

EVsEnhanced

18 posts

Geek

#1919628 14-Dec-2017 15:30

PhantomNVD:
EVsEnhanced:

No worries. Happy timer charging tonight. One other trap that I've seen a few times on some S models when timer charging is them not getting to the full intended state of charge when using a low power EVSE (like an 8A one). With a 15A EVSE they are always spot on. It might be isolated to particular EVSEs or car years and/or firmware versions though, so you might be fine. Let us know how it goes for you.

For Leaf instrument cluster conversions in Wellington we have the following partners currently:

Gazley Nissan - Contact Shaun Hickman - 0800 668 668

GVI Electric Wellington - Contact Nicholas - 021 959 400

Kapiti Cars (Paraparumu) - Contact Jason - (04) 297 2428

How much for this please?

These are all independent companies so they set their own prices. I don't want to recommend one over another, but feel free to contact them and decide for yourself who you want to support.

jonathan18

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#1919641 14-Dec-2017 15:49

EVsEnhanced:

For Leaf instrument cluster conversions in Wellington we have the following partners currently:

Gazley Nissan - Contact Shaun Hickman - 0800 668 668
GVI Electric Wellington - Contact Nicholas - 021 959 400
Kapiti Cars (Paraparumu) - Contact Jason - (04) 297 2428

A dumb question: the instrument cluster is that which includes the speedo etc, right?

So is there currently any option to converting the original head unit of the S-model Leaf into English without simply replacing it?

Thanks.

EVsEnhanced

18 posts

Geek

#1919665 14-Dec-2017 16:36

jonathan18:

EVsEnhanced:

For Leaf instrument cluster conversions in Wellington we have the following partners currently:

Gazley Nissan - Contact Shaun Hickman - 0800 668 668
GVI Electric Wellington - Contact Nicholas - 021 959 400
Kapiti Cars (Paraparumu) - Contact Jason - (04) 297 2428

A dumb question: the instrument cluster is that which includes the speedo etc, right?

So is there currently any option to converting the original head unit of the S-model Leaf into English without simply replacing it?

Thanks.

Yes, by instrument instrument cluster we are referring to the display in front of the driver behind the steering wheel. This has several pages of information available which are accessed using the 4 little buttons over near the drivers right knee. It also has a bunch of settings that are controlled in a menu there (particularly important on the S model). Plus that is where warning messages pop up.

For the head unit, the S model is the only one where it is really easy to replace it with any aftermarket unit you like with whatever features you want (NZ navigation, Car Play, Android Auto etc). Plus by default you get normal NZ radio stations without using a band expander so it all displays just right. There is no interaction between the head unit and the rest of the car for a S. Therefore, I can't see anyone putting any effort into converting the stock head units in any of the S models.

When Christmas shopping for a new head unit to suit your S, keep in mind that the S head unit is 200mm wide (the X/G HU is not) which is wider than the standard double din size (but common on many Toyotas and Nissans). A double din one can be used, but needs some filler panels on either side which doesn't look as nice. Also, if you want to be really fussy, get one with a 7" display and buttons on the right hand side so you don't need to reach further. All the models designed for LHD markets have the side buttons on the left which is a bit of a pain. There are plenty of great options out there though. Based on a few seconds of searching JVC KW-V520BT, Kenwood DDX717WBT & Kenwood DDX917WS all seem to fit the bill at various price points. You can certainly get a lot cheaper ones if moving away from brand names though. Does anyone else have any other recommendations?

MikeB4

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#1919685 14-Dec-2017 17:38

Is there much to save by importing a Nissan Leaf myself and what would be the best source market to look at? Any ideas folks?

jonathan18

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#1919803 14-Dec-2017 19:13

EVsEnhanced:

Yes, by instrument instrument cluster we are referring to the display in front of the driver behind the steering wheel. This has several pages of information available which are accessed using the 4 little buttons over near the drivers right knee. It also has a bunch of settings that are controlled in a menu there (particularly important on the S model). Plus that is where warning messages pop up.

For the head unit, the S model is the only one where it is really easy to replace it with any aftermarket unit you like with whatever features you want (NZ navigation, Car Play, Android Auto etc). Plus by default you get normal NZ radio stations without using a band expander so it all displays just right. There is no interaction between the head unit and the rest of the car for a S. Therefore, I can't see anyone putting any effort into converting the stock head units in any of the S models.

When Christmas shopping for a new head unit to suit your S, keep in mind that the S head unit is 200mm wide (the X/G HU is not) which is wider than the standard double din size (but common on many Toyotas and Nissans). A double din one can be used, but needs some filler panels on either side which doesn't look as nice. Also, if you want to be really fussy, get one with a 7" display and buttons on the right hand side so you don't need to reach further. All the models designed for LHD markets have the side buttons on the left which is a bit of a pain. There are plenty of great options out there though. Based on a few seconds of searching JVC KW-V520BT, Kenwood DDX717WBT & Kenwood DDX917WS all seem to fit the bill at various price points. You can certainly get a lot cheaper ones if moving away from brand names though. Does anyone else have any other recommendations?

Thanks for the detailed reply - great to have another person on GZ willing to share their knowledge like this; I'm sure I'll be asking for further advice and guidance once my car arrives (next week, hopefully).

Personally I'm not after a new head unit, but rather was inquiring for someone else I know who owns an 'S'; I've ended up with an X.

jonathan18

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#1919806 14-Dec-2017 19:20

MikeB4: Is there much to save by importing a Nissan Leaf myself and what would be the best source market to look at? Any ideas folks?

Are you looking at the gen 2 or the 'new 2018' model? If the latter, I'm sure there'll be plenty of dealers bringing them in once they become available, whether or not Nissan NZ does.

I'd be interested to know how much you may save doing it yourself. Personally, it would need to be a good amount for me to take the plunge, given one has to wear any risks. It's the same reason why I don't buy cars privately (unless the car's still under a manufacturer's warranty) - I'm too risk-averse to go without CGA or equivalent coverage.

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