New owner with questions.

[elpwr]

I've quickly gone thru the owners manual but still have a few questions. It may be that I've not studied the manual enough - so bear with me, I'll try to be brief:

Headlights always default to automatic after powering car down then back on. I have to manually turn them off after each start. Are they on at reduced power for DRL use during the day? Is this normal? Anyway to override the automatic reset?

I cannot get the Center Stack Display screen to go to home without pushing the power button which always turns the radio on. Or pushing the "leaf" to get the energy screen. Then home button works, but not when the screen is showing only the date and time. Is this right? The center power button only affects the media?

A quick search here provided only limited help - forgive me if these have already been discussed.

 

[Zoomit]

Headlights always default to automatic after powering car down then back on. I have to manually turn them off after each start. Are they on at reduced power for DRL use during the day? Is this normal? Anyway to override the automatic reset?

The auto lights will illuminate either the DRL or full headlights depending on the ambient lighting conditions. There's no way to override the automatic reset, that I know of, besides pulling the fuse.

However, the additional energy usage of the lights should not be a concern under normal driving conditions. The lights and the radio don't use enough energy to worry about. You won't notice any significant difference in range by turning off the lights. Your acceleration/deceleration habits will far outweigh any savings by turning off the lights.

 

[NORTON]

The headlight that are always on are known as Daytime Running Lights. Statistics prove you are safer with them, blah, blah,,, and at 110 watts having un-measurable effect on range.
DRL are just the low beams. When it gets dark all the other lights come on.

Not sure what you are asking on your second part. There is a 'Home' soft key. The center 'power button' shuts down all of the center display, except as you said. I don't know if the 'Leaf' responds when you have the center display shut down.

Here's a big question if you are using the 120 volt 'L1' charger that came with the car: Do you know the 'Leaf' button finger tap dance to get to the 12 A charging mode? It defaults to 8 A.

 

[elpwr]

I've been charging with 110 but have a ClipperCreek L2 charger on the way. I'm aware of the "tap dance" to get 12a charge rate - have done it every charge - very frustrating and shouldn't be necessary. But at least it won't be an issue when L2 arrives.

I was able to confirm the automatic headlights setting runs the headlights as DRL's at a reduced power. All lights and full power headlights come on at dark. Also the headlights come on automatically after a short period of windshield wiper operation.

The L1 option is working out better than I anticipated. I've been going about 50 miles per day and have no trouble coming to full charge by early next morning on 110. My 50 miles usually uses only about 36-38 miles of the anticipated range. Looks like I could easily become a member of the "100 mile club" if I tried.

I'm pleasantly surprised and very impressed so far with my Spark EV!

 

[NORTON]

I was able to confirm the automatic headlights setting runs the headlights as DRL's at a reduced power. All lights and full power headlights come on at dark.

Just curious how you confirmed this. Do you see the headlights get brighter when you select ON vs Auto in daylight?
Did you measure a PWM DC signal at the headlight low beam wire? It would still read ~12 VDC but be pulsed.

The reason I ask is I'm on a quest to find decent LED H 13 headlight replacements that create a proper low beam and will work with the DRL signal, whatever that is.
I'll try to measure that later, myself.
I know a PWM DC plays bad with HID systems and that's why the capacitors are needed with some systems. Maybe caps would help LEDs to play nice with the DRL power.

 

[elpwr]

DRL functioning was just a visual observation, no electrical measurements done. In the sunlight I aimed the headlights into an open, darker garage. Different brightness was observed when toggling between auto and headlights on.

These headlights aren't the very best but I find them adequate and don't intend to do any modifications to them.

 

[NORTON]

elp,
Thanks for the explanation.
Yes, the stock headlights are decent.

I commute down some dark (seasonally) country roads that have suicidal deer.
Sometimes more is better. I'm very safety-conscious and will only upgrade if the system has a proper Low beam pattern.
The HID upgrade on my Volt was fantastic.

 

[elpwr]

I live in a rural area also and occasionally, but not often, drive on dark two lane roads at night. Understand your concerns and if you come up with an easy, effective upgrade that has the proper light pattern and even distribution, please post here what you've found.

I'm still not understanding the funky operation of center stack screen. Oftentimes when turning the car on the multimedia (FM radio) comes on too. In fact, I don't see how to turn the radio off and leave the display with the menu running. The only way to get to the menu function on start without first turning the multimedia on is to push the "leaf" button - go to the electric info screen, then use the go-back reverse arrow to get to the menu screen. I don't know if my explanation makes sense, but if anyone can decipher it, I'd appreciate assistance.

Attempt to simplify question: how do you turn multimedia off w/o turning display off?

 

[Zoomit]

Attempt to simplify question: how do you turn multimedia off w/o turning display off?

Unfortunately, you can't simply turn off the radio. I just mute it.

The user interface leaves MUCH to be desired.

 

[elpwr]

Thanks for confirming that. I was beginning to think I was just too stupid to figure it out. Several glaring problems with this interface makes you wonder if anyone even tried to use it before signing off on the design.

 

[elpwr]

Attempt to simplify question: how do you turn multimedia off w/o turning display off?

Unfortunately, you can't simply turn off the radio. I just mute it.

The user interface leaves MUCH to be desired.

Today I used a full battery charge - down to 3 miles range remaining. At about 10 miles the "do you want to turn radio off " message displayed. I thought I had it off already. The multimedia screen was already off, no sound from it, and only the date/time screen displayed. Apparently that's about as close to "off" as you can get it. I frequently want it off while driving but it seems like there's no way to actually do that.

The usage screen showed 18.7 kWh used for 87 miles traveled. All miles with climate control on automatic in FL summer heat and many miles in moderate rain with lots of accessory usage. I'm quite pleased with the range, accuracy of the range estimates, and the overall operation of the car. It's a little jewel!

 

[fengshui]

Today I used a full battery charge - down to 3 miles range remaining. At about 10 miles the "do you want to turn radio off " message displayed. I thought I had it off already. The multimedia screen was already off, no sound from it, and only the date/time screen displayed. Apparently that's about as close to "off" as you can get it. I frequently want it off while driving but it seems like there's no way to actually do that.

If you push and hold the power button for the radio on the dash for a few seconds, it will ask if you want to turn it completely off. That said, it uses so little power, turning it off will have no impact on your range.

 

[Zoomit]

So true! Especially for last few minutes of driving. The energy is probably enough to move the car 20 ft, if that.

The "radio" message is distracting but it does serve as another warning that you are near the end. It's nice that you can set it to be triggered at different battery percentages.

Besides the miles remaining indication, and blinking bottom bar in the battery gauge, there are 3 other warnings: "turn off radio" message, "caution recharge now", and "caution reduced power". I haven't ventured beyond that and never plan to!

 

[elpwr]

That was a one time event for me. Hopefully, I will never do that again. It is really not good to
run the battery to that low a level. But I just wanted to see what the actual range, with my driving style, would be.

I'm just amazed that I'm putting almost 400 miles a week on the car in rural setting with most of the miles at 55-60 mph. It is proving to be far more useful, and more fun, than I ever imagined it would be.

 

[elpwr]

Another anomaly I've seen: when the charge mode is set to "Departure Time", on all subsequent power ups the charging screen shows "Immediately" but shows the selected departure time from the Departure Time setting. Even when showing Immediately, plugging in calls up the two horn beeps and the slow blinking, confirming its actually using the Departure Time. Anyone else seen this?

I've also had the climate control intermittently refuse to accept manual override of the mode and once refuse to direct the cooled air from the dash vents. These have self corrected after a while. And they seen to happen immediately after a charging session.