20 Current EVents / January 2014

LEAF SPY

NEW SOFTWARE

By Jim Pollock, SFBayLEAFsIf you own a Nissan Leaf then Leaf Spy is the Android application you need to get. It will let you learn more about your Leaf’s battery and energy usage (plus many other things).

Connection to the Leaf is made through a wireless OBDII Bluetooth adapter plugged into the Leaf’s OBDII port located just above the driver’s left knee. This has been a standard port on all cars since 1996 but Nissan uses their own unique message protocol for the Leaf. This prevents the use of the normal “code scanner” you find on the web or your local auto parts store. If you have one of those you will find it does not recognize the Leaf.

There are three versions of Leaf Spy:

• Leaf Spy Lite (Free) o Battery AHr capacity (Total capacity of the battery

which is equivalent to the size of a gas tank, not how much is in it)

o State of Health in % (Nissan’s gauge of the overall health of your battery)

o Number of Quick Charges (if you are buying a used Leaf this could be important to you)

o Number of L1/L2 (120 v/240v) connections/charges o Voltage of each of the 96 cell pairs making up the

high voltage battery pack o Temperature of the battery (4 sensors in 2011/12s or

3 sensors in 2013s)

• Leaf Spy ($9.99) o All the features of Leaf Spy Lite o Ability to Log all data to a CSV file that can be

imported into Excel o If your Android device has GPS then location data

can optionally be saved in log file o Display Tire pressure for each tire (Leaf must be

moving) with low pressure Alarm set point o Remaining energy in kWh and “Gids”. o Resettable energy used counter in Wh units o Estimated range based on user selected efficiency

number

• Leaf Spy Pro ($14.99) o All the features of Leaf Spy o Service Menu § Change Door Lock/Unlock Settings

Picture of OBDII Bluetooth ELM327 mini

Leaf Spy Lite first screen – AHr, SOH and other information on top lines, center graph of the 96 cell pair voltages, bottom battery temperatures, min, avg, max cell pair voltage and difference between min and max cell pair voltage.

Leaf Spy Lite second screen – Histogram of battery voltages giving an indication of how well the battery is balanced.

January 2014 / Current EVents 21

NEW SOFTWARE

Overview showing Leaf plus Adapter plus App displaying Leaf battery data.

Leaf Spy and Leaf Spy Pro information screen showing energy remaining in battery, tire pressures and estimated distance remaining.

Leaf Spy Pro screen used to select service options. continued page 22

22 Current EVents / January 2014

Leaf SpyContinued from page 21

NEW SOFTWARE

§ Read Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTC)

§ Register tire positions (after tire rotation or seasonal tire change)

§ Clear Diagnostic Trouble Codes

To get the app running and start to learn more about your Leaf you will need three things: • Leaf Spy Lite (to start with) • An Android phone or device with Bluetooth. • An OBDII Bluetooth adapter (around $12 on eBay/

Amazon) called an ELM327 mini

Menu to change auto door lock/unlock settings.

Menu used to read Diagnostic Trouble Codes with example codes.

If you have an iPhone you will need to buy an inexpensive “No Contract” Android phone with Bluetooth (around $40 when on sale) to run the app on as Apple does not support linking to a generic Bluetooth device. These “No Contract” phones are available from Amazon and Target. There is no need to activate the phone or purchase a SIM card as you will be basically running the phone in Airplane mode.

January 2014 / Current EVents 23

If you have a Leaf you should really visit the Android App Play Store and read the reviews written by current users of Leaf Spy Lite/Leaf Spy/Leaf Spy Pro to help decide if this app is right for you.

To learn more about the Leaf Spy series of apps visit the two forums located on mynissanleaf.com. You can use these quick links:

bit.ly/LeafSpyForum For information/questions/status on Leaf Spy and Leaf Spy Pro

bit.ly/LeafSpyLiteForum For information/questions/ status on Leaf Spy Lite

NEW SOFTWARE

Menu used to Clear selected ECU’s (Electronic Control Unit) DTCs

Menu used to perform Tire Registration

So far the best OBDII Bluetooth ELM327s adapters that work with the app seems to be the “mini” type which are about 1.25” tall. Once you have the OBDII Adapter and Android device I recommend you install Leaf Spy Lite (free version) first to insure everything works before purchasing the more advanced versions of Leaf Spy.

If you would like to learn more please visit the mynissanleaf.com web site and look in “Leaf Ownership – Accessories/Mods – Leaf CANBus” section for the Leaf Spy topics.

Development of Leaf Spy continues. Features currently being debugged are a Brake monitor screen and a Motor power screen. The Brake monitor screen gives a visual representation of the amount of energy being recovered by the motor versus that being wasted by the brake pads. The Motor power screen displays a graph showing power used or power recovered through regeneration.