The 2013 Nissan Leaf battery pack that I disassembled had 48 battery modules in it. Previously, I had separated the modules that were in the front half of the pack, packed in stacks of 2 or 4 “flat packed”. However, I had only removed the 24 modules are located in the back of the pack (under the passenger seat) as a unit, and had not unpacked them yet. When I unpacked them, I discovered that 12 of the modules (every other one) had some differences from what I consider to be the “normal” modules (the other 36).

In the picture above, a “normal” module is at the top, while one of the 12 “special” modules that supports the mounting brackets is on the bottom, with the removed mounting bracket. Note how the tin plate sticks out a little bit more on the “normal” module, taking up the same amount of space as the steel mounting bracket on the “special” module.

The “special” modules have small metal plates that mount to the top and bottom of the modules. These metal plates then bolt into support brackets, which allows this set of 24 modules to be supported “sideways”. I started to worry that these extra pieces of metal would change the spacing of the modules (from my previously measured 1.3333 inches per module), but as it turns out they don’t. The modules themselves are shaped slightly differently (just a bit narrower at the top and bottom) to allow for the extra width of the steel mounting brackets. The main body of the modules should still be compressed to 1.333 inches in size.

Looking inside, the pouch cells extend up past the main body just slightly, so I decided to leave the steel plates on as shims, but cut off the bolts as they would get in the way of my busbars. The bottom of the pouch cells don’t extend appreciably past the main body on the bottom, so I’ll be leaving the bottom steel plates off.

The metal plates have circular tube like supports that reach inside the holes on the modules, supporting them, and are also spot welded to the thin “tin” outsides of the modules. They can be pried off with a flat bladed screwdriver, popping the spot welds out and leaving small holes in the tin plates.

I just used a cut off blade on an angle grinder to cut off the parts of the brackets that I don’t want hanging out on the top of my battery.

I have opened my 2013 Nissan Leaf battery pack and removed the modules. The tools needed are:

• 500 volt class 0 (or better) electrically insulated gloves
• One or two full rolls of black electrical tape, for covering your tools and the terminals of the modules when you remove them.
• Regular leather gloves
• Side clippers and needle nose pliers for removing wire tiedowns
• 1-1/2″ putty knife or chisel and hammer. (or preferably an air chisel)
• 10 mm wrench (preferably a socket with ratchet)
• 13 mm deep socket
• 16 mm wrench and hammer (or impact driver w/ 16mm socket)
• small flat bladed screwdriver for prying clips
• # 1 Phillips screwdriver for removing screws on the sense terminal of the modules

You can watch the 13 minute youtube video here, or spend about the same amount of time wading through my wall of text below….

First: Remove the twelve 10mm bolts Continue reading →

NOTE: The battery pack has 400 volts inside of it. Be sure you know what you are doing and have the proper protective equipment, as it can kill you! It also weights 600lbs, so it can crush you!

I needed to remove the battery pack from my Salvage Nissan Leaf. The 2013-Nissan-LEAF-DG.pdf (Disassembly Guide) I found on the Nissan website has good instructions, but they assume you have an auto-lift (and custom battery moving system).

I didn’t want to purchase an auto lift, so I did it with the following tools on my concrete driveway.

• Class 0 – 500 volt electrically insulating gloves. Necessary when pulling the service disconnect, and the high voltage cables leading from the battery to the motor and interior cabin heater.

Continue reading →

Hojas, the wrecked 2013 Nissan Leaf that I purchased at an auto auction site was delivered to my house, and appeared completely dead. The first thing I did was to check the 12 volt “accessory” battery, and found that it had drained down to 1.5 volts. I think this was because in the collision one of the rear doors was knocked ajar, and the interior lights were illuminated because of that, but it could have also been due to the 2-3 months it had been sitting in the auction yard, or perhaps somebody initiated the emergency shutdown procedure.

After charging the 12 volt battery back up, I was able to put it into “accessory” and “on” mode, Continue reading →