is there any problem with charging the leaf only with 120?

There is no adverse effects to using the 110v, trickle-charge cable, other than it takes a very long time to fully charge the car.

I called Nissan LEAF customer service and asked them some questions about battery life and charging. According to this agent they recommend charging at LEVEL 2. Level 1 is for convenience when you don't have 220V. Will trickle hurt it? Don't think so, and I did not press the agent on if it would reduce life. The did offer that fast DC charging is not something you want to do often (if at all). Is there data to back that up or is this their opinion? Did you read the manual. Sometimes there are pearls of wisdom in there.

The issue with the fast charging is it creates heat and the leaf has no ability to deal with heat. Nissan foolishly has not installed any active cooling as most/all other electric car vendors have done. So when you fast charge this creates more heat, which will kill your battery.

Every Leaf on the road has a dying battery just a question of how fast

I think that is true level 2 is best over all. I do believe the fast charge once in a while can help battery so as you watch the temp. I have seen my Ahr and SOH move back up from a proper fast charge.

As long as the battery is not overheated quick charging does no harm.
The recommended charging temperature is 6-7 bars on the temperature gage. At lower and higher temperatures the charging rate is reduced. The battery should not be left at a low state of charge at temperatures below 0°F. The battery heater comes on at 0°F but not if the battery is below 30% if the car is not connected to the charging station.
Some do-it-yourselfers have routed a flexible duct from the HVAC to the battery compartment for cooling in hot ambient and heating in cold ambient temperatures. Perhaps some can inform the rest of us of the results?

I can't see any reason for the trickle charger to hurt anything. As others have said, the biggest issue with these batteries is heat. If anything, the 120V charger would put the least amount of heat into the battery. I've only had my Leaf for a few weeks, but I've only charged it with the 120V charger and haven't seen any issues.

The only thing the trickle charger may hurt is your wall outlet and its own plug, watch both like a hawk for any signs of heating or blackening of the terminals. If you find any, replace your wall receptacle. To produce a useful amount of 400V DC current for the Leaf battery from a 110V AC source takes more than a "trickle" of wall current.

Aside from that, the charge rate from the trickle charger is barely enough to heat the battery at all, and it's axiomatic for every battery chemistry known to man that slow charging is always healthier than fast. Some battery types are hurt less by fast charging, but that's all you can say. From a longevity standpoint, if you use the car little enough that the trickle charger keeps you rolling with no inconvenience, then it's the healthiest way to go.

I completely agree. If I was plugging into an old outlet that was only wired with 14 gauge wire, I'd feel differently about it, but in my particular case, it's a brand new outlet wired in 12 gauge. No signs of overheating yet! Though my girlfriend took the car today and ran the battery down to the VLB warning. It'll be over 20 hours charging, so I'm watching it close to make sure nothing gets too hot. I don't plan on continuing to use L1 forever, but until I finish rewiring the garage, L1 will have to do.

float_6969 wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 30, 2021 4:59 pm

I completely agree. If I was plugging into an old outlet that was only wired with 14 gauge wire, I'd feel differently about it, but in my particular case, it's a brand new outlet wired in 12 gauge. No signs of overheating yet! Though my girlfriend took the car today and ran the battery down to the VLB warning. It'll be over 20 hours charging, so I'm watching it close to make sure nothing gets too hot. I don't plan on continuing to use L1 forever, but until I finish rewiring the garage, L1 will have to do.

Sounds like you have an excellent handle on it. Happy (electric) motoring!

Thanks! The charge went fine! I checked the plug when I went to bed and it was slightly warm, but nothing I would call hot. It must have taken less than the 20 hours that the car predicted because it was charged when I woke up this morning and that was less than 16 hours charging.

That being said, I don't like that ANY heat built up in the plug and eventually I'm sure the heat would damage the outlet/plug, so L2 is definitely the better option.