Is it ok to use 240 level 2 charger every day

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driven a leaf for 4 years. I know many people worry at the beginning about charging and how far they can go. I learnt drive it like any car and just charge the car when needed. Just think in 6 to 8 years most will have bought a new Ev anyways just my thouights
 
We typically charge our Clarity twice a day, and leave it plugged in all the time it is in the garage.

I see lots of comments on the internet about disconnecting batteries from chargers when the battery is full. I just don't see any evidence in our house for that requirement.

For example: All of my garden equipment is battery powered. The lawn mower 36V B&D battery has been plugged in since March 2011, only unplugged to mow the lawn. I see no degradation of the lawn mower battery.

The Clarity manages itself. It won't overcharge.
 
jdonalds said:
We typically charge our Clarity twice a day, and leave it plugged in all the time it is in the garage.

I see lots of comments on the internet about disconnecting batteries from chargers when the battery is full. I just don't see any evidence in our house for that requirement.

For example: All of my garden equipment is battery powered. The lawn mower 36V B&D battery has been plugged in since March 2011, only unplugged to mow the lawn. I see no degradation of the lawn mower battery.

The Clarity manages itself. It won't overcharge.
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There's one potential drawback to keeping the car plugged in when it's full; it drains the 12V battery. When the car is plugged in, it's constantly communicating with the charger. This drains the 12V battery, and in the case of the Leaf, the 12V is only recharged whilst driving (but I think many EVs will be the same).
 
We have a 2014 BMW i3-REx and 2017 Prius Prime. We keep one or the other on our L2, 40A 240VAC, JuiceBox 40 Pro. This allows enabling 'pre-conditioning' so the cabin is warm/cooled using grid power and a charging tweak to the battery.

We've not experienced any 12V battery discharge issues but I have not done a formal study. There are 'parasitic' losses for the key fob electronics. However, these are typically very small.

Bob Wilson
 
I drive a 2014 Volt and have for 5 years. I mostly charge on my Level 2, and I've never had an issue with that except once, and that was not the fault of the charging method.

In 2015 I had a part specifically designed to step down voltage to charge the 12v battery fail, so the 12v battery died. Could have happened on gas, on LV 1, or LV 2.

I keep mine plugged on the 240VAC L2 40A Wattstation any time I'm not driving it, with the exception of using the included LV 1 charger now and then to make sure it is working. And, of course, I try to unplug it during the wonderful electrical storms we have here.

This lets me precondition in the mornings before I drive out into heat, bringing the AC loop (which is shared with the battery pack) down to 65F. I get phenomenal range this way.

Also all Volts after a software update sometime in 2014 I believe regularly test and top off the 12v battery when plugged in. Or should, unless you have a part failure like I did.
 
ryd994 said:
Battery coolant is not water based. It's some non conductive fluid and must be serviced by Honda technician only. I guess you're talking about generator coolant. That's the same coolant as engine coolant.
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Every EV that uses liquid cooling for the battery pack, as most of them do, uses a water/antifreeze (glycol) mix for the coolant. Not opinion; fact.

I guess, from later comments, you're talking about a Clarity PHEV, altho this was posted in the "General" section of the forum rather than in the "Honda Clarity" section. Yes,that should be serviced only by a Honda trained tech, not by the driver/owner. But it's still just a water/antifreeze mix; nothing special about it.

* * * * *

I've never seen a claim that L2 charging ages a li-ion battery pack faster than L1 charging. KentuckyKen gave a pretty definitive refutation of that his post #20 in this thread.

I would always use L2 charging in preference to L1, where it's available. It's not only faster, it wastes less energy on very cold days when it's necessary for your car's battery heater to operate while charging. In fact, I've seen some reports for one or more EVs that running the battery heater can take so much of the power available on L1 charging that it hardly charges the battery at all. Dunno if that applies to the Clarity PHEV or not, but even if it doesn't, there's no point in wasting money by running the charger longer than necessary.
 
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jdonalds said:
For example: All of my garden equipment is battery powered. The lawn mower 36V B&D battery has been plugged in since March 2011, only unplugged to mow the lawn. I see no degradation of the lawn mower battery.
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Your lawn mower, like mine, probably uses sealed lead acid (SLA) batteries, which are best maintained at 100%. Your car uses Lithium Ion (Li-Ion) batteries, which are best maintained at 50-80%. You are right that the vehicle's BMS should manage all of that for you. In my case, I have to manage my batteries manually, since my lawn mower is from the 70s and doesn't have the original charger, and my car is a Leaf with a notoriously bad BMS.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
 
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