Hi Andrew, another great informative video, having watched it a number of things stand out: 1. I know you have a first edition model from 2019 which I think as you said and the manual confims, only charge via the aux battery saver+ under certain conditions. I have a 2020 '4' which I got 11 months ago and by then the software had (as far as I know) been updated so that the battery saver boosts the charge every 24hrs +20 mins regardless as an attempt to improve things. From viewing other forum posts from '4' model owners I think this is the standard so if you haven't had a software update since you got the car, you might not have this. 2. I don't know if you leave your OVMS plugged in when not using the car but I certainly wouldn't. To monitor my 12V battery I fitted a BM2 Bluetooth battery monitor which is very low power and also allows you to do the tests your battery tester does via its App. I suspect running the OVMS subsystem takes far more power. 3. The point you make about not sitting fiddling with the car unless you've got it on or in Utility is I think really important, paticularly if you have the interior light on, which is likely in winter. The fitted bulbs are 10W rated, so if you have front and back interior lights on thats a big load straight away for not very good lighting. You can get LED replacements which use a fraction of this pretty easiliy. 4 Finally, given number of times that your battery's run down, the circumstances in which it happened and the results from you tests, I'd say that battery is pretty knackered now and need replacing. Once they go beyond a certain point, they become walking wounded in my experience and very non-resilient to non-ideal conditions. Don't know if any of that makes you feel any better or worse but I thought it might be useful. So far I've had no problems with my 12V, though I did give it a several hour trickle charge during the really cold weather to be on the safe side. I've really enjoyed your videos on the e-Niro over the last two years and am sure they have helped a lot of others learn about the EV owning experience. Let's hope you won't need to go through this performance with the 12V battery again
Hi Andrew my Kona 64kw 2023 12volt completely died and the 12 volt had to be replace due to a dead cell, it wouldn’t even jump start off my jump starter. The guy from the RAC replaced the battery and we were on our way again👍 he said lots of kona’s had had this issue due to the batteries sitting around on shelves in factories during covid as production came to ha halt. I waited one year three months for my car from date of order. Fantastic channel, your videos are very handy and interesting. Loved the Kermit frog story, song and accents😂
My 12v battery (e Niro 4,) purchased June 20, has failed twice, 22/01/21 and again 03/02/21. The first time RAC jump started and advised to go straight to KIA and left it with them, 2 days later told nothing wrong. The second time RAC had to put one of their batteries in car to get me started and said his checks showed mine needed replacing. Car in for 5 days eventually replaced the battery with a non Kia one( even though initially told they had to put a Kia one in) but as there are non in the UK!! they put a Yuasa battery in , otherwise they were having to pay for a hire car for me indefinitely! I love the car but it has made me nervous. Message appeared a couple of time saying 'battery was draining, due to plugged in devices' I have never plugged anything into any of the ports and have aux battery saver checked. KIA have not been able to explain why this was happening Sorry this is long winded 😌
My Niro EV 2019 is doing the same thing, battery dies for no apparent reason and I live in California so weather cannot be blamed, I think there's a software issue with the NiroEV. Thanks for sharing this video, I hope Kia addresses this soon.
The design flaw with the 2019 Niro is.. that the aux battery saver does not come on automatically on a low aux battery voltage. It does it on a time interval of every 24hours. Because it runs around 20mins or so, every day it will start the recharge 20mins later. (The 24hour timer will reset on end of charging, or after shutting down the car) problem is that if your aux. Battery voltage drops below say 9 or 10V in between those 24hours, the electric circuit breaker in between main battery and the DC-DC converter that charges the aux. Battery can not be powered and it will fail to charge the auxiliary.
My ID.3 has been having 12v issues recently (it’s very common with the ID.3) and had to force charge it by switching it on and leaving it for hours. The early software of the ID.3 doesn’t charge the 12v unless you’re driving or have it turned on. FWIW, a 12v battery needs 14.5+ volts going in to charge - 13volts is just a preservation charge and doesn’t really increase the charge. I bought a cheap Bluetooth battery monitor that you attach to your 12v and leave it. It’s very useful to keep track of the state of it and brings peace of mind.
A few years ago when my husband had just picked up his new Renault Traffic Van (obviously not an EV), it needed fuel, so we stopped at a garage. The van had done 8 miles. After filling up, it wouldn’t start, so we ended up calling a recovery service. The battery was a deep cycle one and when tested was found to be totally dead and needed replacing. The engineer said that when you get a vehicle, you don’t know how long the battery has been sitting on the shelf before being put in. We needed transporting home in the end as the company do not carry the deep cycle batteries - too expensive to hold a stock of they said. 2 days later and Renault arranged for a new battery to be fitted. So even though your car is just under 2 years old - the battery may be older than that - together with the weather and amount of times it has charged from flat, might be why you need a new one now.
The engineer lied to you, every battery has a date stamped on it showing when it was made, if you are buying a new car and the battery was made 4 years ago - that's easy to see for a person who works with cars.
Lots of people asking where I got the jump starter. Sadly it's no longer available but this one looks very similar and should do the trick (I've not tested though!): amzn.to/2Ns0C49 (UK) If you want to buy the Topdon BT200 battery tester, please use my links so I get a little affiliate cash! amzn.to/2NL0bSf (UK) amzn.to/3pC1K2n (USA)
We’ve had our E-Niro 4 since august and had no 12v issues but I have kept an eye on it because of people’s issues but the 4 seems to have done a decent job at keeping it alive during our cold weather here in Yorkshire. UVO is currently saying caution as it’s probably dropped below 50% in the cold and the car hasn’t moved in 3 weeks. I would also say that a good old fashion multimeter will tell you everything you need to know about the battery voltage and health and that’s what I’ve used.
It would be interesting to see how you get on with a deep-cycle battery. Strange KIA provided a battery designed to quickly dump power to crank an engine into life, which don’t handle being drained.
Was very happy with the deep-cycle capable "Optima YellowTop" in my 2006 Prius, never again needed jumpstart since it was installed and is now 8y old. Sadly that type is not available for Kia. Do you know alternatives?
@@ronexus Can't say I'm particularly into car batteries, other than having to deal with them over the years. I'm making an assumption that the CMF60L-BCI battery in the KIA, is group 35 (should be stamped on the battery), and found these (I guess there are plenty of others).: Arc-Angel Group 35, lifePO4 Delphi BU9035, AGM DieHard 38275, AGM NorthStar NSB-AGM35, AGM Optima 8020-164 35 RedTop, AGM Optima 8040-218 35 YellowTop, AGM Odyssey 35-PC1400T, AGM
Yes, I found the video interesting. And, I agree with you! There should be no reason that the 12v discharges to the point that the car will not start. I have had my e-Niro for just short of three months and it happened to me once. But, that was enough to wonder, 'what the heck were they thinking?' The car should be continually monitoring the 12v battery and keeping it charged. Unless or course, if the the main battery is extremely low. As to your items as to why the 12v, the reason I might agree with is the 'Safety'. They have to DC/DC convert to charge the 12v; why can't that just run the 12v systems, besides running the flashers if you breakdown? I'll leave it there. But, I did get one of those small LI-ion starters and a trickle chargers when I had the problem. Neither used since, but 'insurance'. Overall, I love the car with all that said.
The OBDII connector can prevent the car from turning off which would drain the 12v battery. I had this in my old BMW so got into the habit of unplugging the OBDII device when not driving it.
You could try reconditioning the battery with a good quality charger. When lead acid batteries go flat they get a build up of sulphates on the plates that stop them working properly. Reconditioning tries to remove this by pulsing the battery to knock the deposit off the plates. Your car won't do this on its own; it needs a more specialist charging system. Look for a 12v charger that (believably) says it offers reconditioning. These chargers won't be cheap. I've had mine many years and it was about £50 when I got it 10 years or more ago. My reconditioning charger has recovered the 12v battery in my ICE car on quite a few occasions, saving me from having to replace it after letting it go flat through a lack of use, or carelessness.
I bought a jump pack in the black friday sales. It also has an air compressor, an emergency flashing red led and a white led worklight as well as a usb-a out socket. I am hoping never to need this for our ID.3 but you never know ...
Taking these batteries below 10v effectively kills them. So a previous deep discharge maybe because your OVMS was plugged in seriously compromised the battery, so your batteries own monitoring wasn’t working properly because the battery that powers it was damaged. The way i understand EV’s there is a contactor (electro-mechanical switch) which turns on the 400v battery to the car, however this contactor needs the 12v battery to operate it, which of course once operated will charge the 12v battery. Now the other thing is to fire up an EV does not require a large current unlike starting a fossil car (starter motor cranking an engine) so turning on the EV does not really drain the 12v battery at all, so moving the vehicle should not effect the 12v battery.
Aux battery saver option has been removes on the Kona by one of the recent recalls - it also does the top-up every 4 hours instead of 24h before the update
Removing the Aux Battery Saver option would seem like a real negative , unless Hyundai's recall change to top-up every 4 hours removes the need for the Aux Battery saver .... Please correct me if I am wrong in my understanding
If the battery holder is able to support a physically bigger battery with higher Ah capacity, go for it. I updated the original 40Ah of my 2015 vw e-up to a 54 Ah, the difference is like night and day. Remember that a 12v battery life is 4 years in general.
In some situation when the key is close the car doesnt go go sleep and pulls about 3amps. I testet this with a clamp ampere meter. Allso connected odb can keep the car awake
The timing of this video is funny. My next video, about things I hate about my Niro EV, comes out this week and one of my biggest issues is the 12V battery failing me 😎
@@TheArjulaad the solution is to have the upgraded software that fixes the issue. The Kona got an update that fixed the problem and it seems that in Europe there is an update for 2019 Niro EVs that also fixes the issue. I spoke to my dealer here in Canada and unfortunately there is no update for me at this time so it seems that the update is not available here. I opted to install a bigger 12V battery that uses AGM technology.
I have an Ioniq EV, a cousin to the e-Niro. I had exactly the same problem with my original 12 V Battery, which failed when it was around 6 Months old. I got the battery replaced under warranty. I also have a charger similar to yours just in case.
I have a 2017 Ioniq EV, battery failed a month ago. I had only had the car for a month. I plugged an air pump into the cig lighter and walked away for 5 minutes. Came back and battery was dead. Charged it, checked voltage and it was 13v. Then tried to start car and it wouldn't. Battery was one month out of it's 3 year warranty. So bought a new one, and am more careful about using aux power when car is running. Fortunately I had seen this happen on youtube videos and knew what the problem was when I got the warnings.
i have the hyundai kona ev and i had the same battery problems as you pointed out now i plug car in every night set the preheat on this heats up the car and force the car to charge 12v battery dont have a problem with battery any more and i had the same problems you had hope this helps you and all the other ev drivers out there
This is typical with a battery, some times bad batches come through and they seem to be everywhere, I drive a 69 Plate Iveco Van for work, Never flattened the battery and it drives more then plenty during the working week 17,000 miles in 12 months..... My battery failed at 14,000 miles, came out to it and it was dead, there was nothing on that used considerable battery power over night, i used the same jump pack and drove off thinking it was a one off, Drove 50 miles, turned off and within 3 hours, i couldnt start it! jump pack again, started for 15 minutes (van is fitted with equipment that needs it running at 1800rpm) and turned it back off, it would immediatly restart! given 10 minutes it died again, no start! There was an internal issue with the battery that made it all look good, the AA tester made it look good, the van's charging system worked great however when off it just refused to hold a charge significant enough to start the van back up! I had the battery replaced by the AA (work garages quoted 3 weeks and Iveco said the same AA same day) Bosch S5 battery fitted A battery does just fail and its made even more noticeable now specific cars are made more public facing by people who are fans of cars or like for me where 100's of the same van are owned by a company. it became obvious that the Iveco battery was becoming an issue so Iveco sent out a recall as well, for some reason i had to lose my new bosch battery which was faultless for an obviously more inferior battery (But thats a different story)
My First Edition’s 12v lasted 18 months before a fault in the electrical systems caused it to drain and die. My dealer replaced it for around £85. A month later the replacement died. The electrical fault got worse and the car wouldn’t start at all. Took delivery of the 4+ a week ago so hoping they’ve improved things with the aux battery saver.
had the same issue with my eniro (2.5 years old)...made the mistake of plugging a cool box in for 10 min before leaving and flattened it and its never been the same since..went away for a weeks holiday a month later and its failed again sitting in the drive, looks like I need a new battery
Nice informative video! However, once a battery has run down it often doesn't support load anymore, as more people have mentioned here. Probably better is to replace it fast, in order to not damage other tech systems in the car caused by the flaky battery. You would probably have saved money by just changing the battery, instead of buying the gadgets, or maybe the replacement is even included in the lease agreement. As you say, a battery shouldn't break that fast, but I suspect that the OVMS might have depleted it once, after that it'll never be the same.
I bought a foxsur pulse charger off Amazon for £11 and it repairs battery cells as well as charging them and I had to use it on my 17 year old Corsa last week and it's really good. I think the issue is with the car, not the battery
Interesting to see this is an issue with BEVs as I have had the problem with my Prius a few times during lockdown....a know issue with hybrids. It is more a problem when the car is not driven for two or three weeks, possibly made worse by cold weather. There is drain on the battery when the car is powered down, I am trying to get more info. on this from Toyota Customer Services. I also have a little booster unit like yours so solution is really quick and easy. The 12 volt battery gets charge from the traction battery so Toyota's advice is to put the car in "READY" mode once a week for 30 to 60 minutes if the car is not being used and this will keep the 12 volt battery charged........be aware your car could be nicked if left unattended while doing this!!! I have asked Toyota if a heavier duty 12 volt battery could be fitted that would retain charge for much longer but had no response to my email as yet. However, my little booster gizmo is a real life saver and so quick and east yo use.
Really good explanation. Exactly the same problem with my 2020 E Niro EV. We got the Li ion jump starter as you suggested, a life saver. Ultimately the problem looks like the battery is past it. Did a new battery solve it for you?
You spent quite a bit on testing the battery and jump stating it. Why not try replacing the two year old lead acid battery? Great, interesting video BTW.
I am planning to get an EV but this issue, which seems to be happening on a number of different EV's, not just the e-Niro, is starting to make me wonder if I go with EV or stick with ICE. I may just have been incredibly lucky but I can honestly say that over 47 years of driving ICE cars I've never had to replace, or even charge a 12v battery? Lots of these cars were 5 years old or older too, so not just brand new ones where you'd be very surprised and disappointed if the 12v battery failed. Is the 12v battery still under warranty on your e-Niro?
Just make sure to interigate them to understand if the manufacturer is stuck in a mindset to only charge while driving, like old car onlycharge while ICE is running. I know many people had similar issues with ICE, if they do too much short trips during winter, and the starter use slightly more than they are able to charge on a short trip, with heater on full.
Robert, I think you have been very fortunate not having any battery issues. I have had multiple new vehicles and my experience is that a 12v battery that will last around 3 to 4 years. When ever I have replaced a battery, I always get one with a 5 or 6 year warranty as they will last longer over time and I can avoid the inconvenience of battery related issues. I have the Kia 2019 Niro EV and this last year it has not been driven much and as gone 2 months without being started or charged. I have had no 12v battery issues and the high voltage battery did not seem to loose and noticeable amount of charge. The Battery Saver+ is enabled in the settings. Good luck in your search to see if an EV is for you. I love my Niro EV.
Had a similar problem with two habitation batteries in my Motorhome. Tester and special charger said batteries fully charge. Two 110 amp hour batteries would keep a test headlamp bulb on for just 10 mins. Batteries were U.S. replace job done 3 years still OK. It happens just buy another battery. I had a Kona Electric for two year never a problem, it’s the same setup! Now have the E Niro 4+. A new battery is a site cheaper than that tester !!!! No 12 volt lead battery should be discharged more that 50% deep cycle batteries are mainly use as habitation batteries in caravan and Motorhome and the are best for long slow discharge. Car batteries are designed for high amp short term discharge. Either way both will be damaged if drained below 12.2 volts ie. 50%.
@@sly1024 yeah but that was going to happen more than a decade ago in the industry. Wiper motors, fan motors might need to be in-house also making verticality even greater .
Hi Andrew , I have Kia e niro 71 reg . I’m facing a problem of 12v battery failed many times to start. I have a booster which I use to start the car . I took the car main dealership they there is software issue. I had the car one full day. It’s fixed for two weeks but facing same issue. I had book my car to Kia on 25th April for this month. As you had the car long time. Please advise me how I resolve this issue. Looking forward your advice. Thanks
Very informative video! Probably one of the cells has failed, why not put Kia's warranty to the test? If the batteries are covered for 2 years, why not get them to replace it?
Hi, I am about to take delivery of a KIA E Niro and I am very interested in the 12V jump started as shown in your video. However I am struggling to find this product online. Can you send me a link?
A large part of this problem is that most people have an old 'dumb' battery charger that was their dad's. This issue needs a modern 'smart' charger that will analyse the problem and go through a desulphation process followed by a phased charge programme to resurrect a dead battery. And with an EV use that smarty once a month whether it seems to need it or not. Unless the 12v DC battery is really beyond redemption that will keep it healthy. In that case, a new one is needed.
New Tesla owner here. 1 month in I have no 12v tales to tell - as you might expect- but I note the car battery is draining really fast just sat there >1% per day. Really noticeable in lockdown. I have tried everything suggested to me- but to no avail ..nothing works. By comparison, the drain is 20 times higher than in my BMW i3. Why? Not looking forward to parking up longer term for holidays and finding dead car when I return). (p.s. another gripe....yesterday regen now playing up - switched off completely - dangerously variable braking dyanmic ! Not enjoying my Tesla so far)
@@mike.n.davies Have done...deep dived every forum going. I am confident I have done everything possible. I just now have to live with fact that my Tesla has 20x drain of BMW i3 when 'off' - for no apparent reason (other than bad design)
I haven’t had OVMS plugged-in for ages: I just use it when I’m driving now as it works with ABRP. The 12v did initially go flat because of it though - that was back in 2019.
Call your dealer and tell them what is happening. Even if they have to have the car for a few days to see what's going on. That battery should be covered under the warranty. Kia replaced the battery on my Ceed after 3 1/2 years under warranty. I've only ever noticed the flashing battery charging light once on my e-Niro. But I keep my car in the garage at home. Think I'll still get one of those jump starter packs though. Just in case.
Yes, I'm taking it in on Wednesday. There's a 2-year warranty with the 12v for the e-Niro so I'm hoping they replace it (unless they find another problem of course).
I heard that Tesla are going to lithium for their 12v batteries. I would be wary about swapping to lithium in a car that is designed for lead acid as the regulator that controls the charge needs to match the appropriate battery type. Certainly when you have a 7 year warranty it would be a bad idea as you would invalidate the warranty.
Bad cell in the battery - replace. I've replaced 3 batteries in a lincoln mkz hybrid since 2011. Each time the car died, no dome lights, airbag warning was the only function. It is a smaller and expensive battery too.
This dead battery happens on a lot of hybrid cars Ford, Toyota Hyundai etc. This is awful bad design to allow the 12vt to go too low and kill the car start. It just happened to my wife 5 minutes ago. We are use to it
Hello, thank you very much for the detailed and amazing explanation, is it possible to replace the 12 volt battery with a deep discharge gel type battery in the Byd Atto3?
I live in a warm climate and have not had any trouble with the 12v battery in my Nissan LEAF. Is nine years old and probably needs replacement, but still works. Maybe you just got a faulty battery?
Does the car have the 12v reset button like the self charging hybrid? Kia have my HEV in and are changing the AVN head unit because this is discharging the 12v battery. Hope it works
Thank you for the video. In have the same issue with my 1st edition ev Niro. It happened yesterday for no apparent reason. That is the 2nd time for me. What are the dealers saying ?
See my latest video: they replaced it without question. The 12v has a two year warranty so book it in and I'm sure they'll replace it. I feel like the more of us do it, the better. They'll only fix it if they're losing money on warranty replacements!
Hi Andrew, thanks for a very informative video. I own a Kia e-Soul 2022 model and the 12V battery died yesterday. One (stupid) question: will the 12V battery charge if I charge the car? If yes, then the next question is: how is it possible to open the charging door when the doors are locked and 12v is dead? I’ve read than in a previous e-Soul model there was an emergency handle to open the charging door from the hood… thanks ! Best
Sorry to hear that. From what I remember, the charging door should open whether it has power or not, but it still needs the 12v to initiate that charge, so plugging it in actually won't do anything if the 12v is completely dead. If the 12v has enough power, it will be topped-up while the car is charging, in Ready Mode, Utility Mode, or driving. If you haven't already, do consider getting a portable jump starter. misterev.co.uk/gear/jump-starter
Thanks for the video Andrew, I’m a fellow eniro FE owner and not had an issue with the 12v yet. If it did fail do you think I could do a traditional jump start from my wife’s ICE car?
While we have been locked down, every day, when I walk the dog, I pop into my Nissan Leaf and just turn the ignition on. When I come back, after I have walked the dog, I turn the ignition off and lock the car up.
Something is seriously wrong with that car. My 12v in my 2014 leaf is the original and still going strong and never needed me to charge it up. That 12v is being massively drained
well the 400volt battery must have a stepdown/ tranformer to charge the 12volt battery, so this makes no sense !! just use the 12volt transformer/stepdown to operate all the 12 volt componants
But as you said, you have a 400V to 12V charger already so why didn't they just make that beefier so it could drive all the loads directly?! A PWM step down circuit is not that expensive any more so its just lazyness from the manufacturer :(. The battery could be made from capacitors, li-ion or liFePo4 chemistry and it could be charged extremely fast. But then they couldn't charge the customer for battery service anymore since it wouldn't fail.
my ioniq uses bat saver every day if not driven by 11am in winter its now 945 am may be we should ask why are they so small and low amp capacity. you need at least 10 miles to charge the battery or turn on car for 25 minutes my battery is brand new. there is a lighter one you can get that just has 3 lights the thing is that the drop between full and car not seeing the battery is not very much my ioniq battery was dead after 1yr 7months when i bought the car thats why i have new battery due to massive dead cell
Hey let’s build a fantastic EV and bung in a 12v battery from ICE car because it is cheap.. Needs a better battery and the software upgrade to deal with it. ..As to your issue..Do you need a booster pack that can deliver a high current to turn a starter motor? As an experiment try just plugging in a standard battery charger ..
Hi Andrew. Informative vid. My experience (not EVs though) is that once a lead acid battery has been totally discharged they are never the same again . Usual advice is never discharge below 50%.
It's the same problem for many e soul-owners.. I have a 2020 and a camera in my garage: If the car is unused for a few days, it charges the 12v. battery (from the HV-battery) every 24 hours. It charge for 20 minutes. (registered on my garage-cam) It seems like there is no "sensing" on if the 12v. battery needs a charge or how long it should charge it.. As said, it is always 20 minutes charge,every 24. hours. (car not plugged in)
A load tester is a better way of testing whether your 12 volt battery is holding a charge. In my experience , you can charge a dead battery up to voltage and appear okay, but once you put a load on, it quickly dies.
I think you have the answer. I live in a very hot climate, and each year my battery would die. I decided to fit a volt meter in the car so I could keep an eye on any voltage drops before the battery fails. Even with this, i still can't catch the problem before it fails.
@@petertwiss4215 The battery should be approximately 12.8V with a full charge and no load and 12.0V when the battery is almost depleted. But you can get up there even if the battery has little capacity. Just remember it can also be the charging circuit that is the source of the problem. Some EVs seem to have poor charging logic, where it does not provide charge even when the battery is down to less than half capacity left.
I see you are using a OBD2 adapter. Don't leave that connected to the car when you switch the car off! And finally many 12 Volt batteries are bad quality nowadays.
I have a leaf and noticed the other day that one of the 3 blue lights on the dash was flashing. The car was parked on the drive and locked up it appears that this was the 12 volt being topped up. Sounds you need a new 12v battery.
My Nissan leaf battery lasted 4 years only, before I had to replace it. EV's wreck the 12 volt batteries much earlier than ice cars, which last about 6 to 8 years generally
Hello from Canada thanks for your video's great job man! I'm kinda surprised no one has commented on the fact that your brake fluid appears really low if it is as low as it appears in this video you better get that checked out. Also the charging system test is only for "ice" cars as the first check is the alternator diode ripple test then the unloaded and loaded tests for alternator output is a dead give away hence rev to 2500 rpm. Keep up the good work I look forward to the next video. Cheers!
It’s happened to me a couple of times, but it’s definitely when it gets very cold (below zero). I’ve found that keeping it connected to my zappi helps, but without the OVMS to warn me, I’d have far more problems. I’ve used the zappi in those circumstances to add some charge and that kick-starts the recharge of the 12v 😁
As I understand lead acid batteries, if you deplete the charge below 50% the battery is permanently damaged. If you go a lot lower than this, and a reading of about 4V is below 10%, even once, then the battery will be completely cream crackered and needs replacing. I guess your breakdowns running your high voltage battery out have ended up damaging the 12V one. Lithium batteries are much more expensive, and require very different charging voltages and routines. Replace with lead acid battery and keep an eye on its state of charge.
I think one of the main reasons for having a 12v battery in all ev's is the cost of ancillary electrical stuff like bulbs, pumps heaters etc. KIA has access to the global established market for 12v stuff. If KIA used a 400v system they would have to make everything from scratch and unique to the Niro. No stuff aftermarket ex Halfords etc would work either so it would push up the cost of the car unnecessarily all round.
But it is zero problem to make a voltage converter from 400V to 13V. It may be they do not want to be complely dependent on the big battery for some reason. Let say for fault diagnostics.
Only thing I would worry about is the characteristics can be different, maybe the car will hurt it. The charging voltage can be too high, or too low. Maybe the battery saver will fail to detect low battery, an start charging too late. If I replace the led acid in my Model 3, I will check with Tesla Servicecenter to confirm the modification first. I have heard Tesla talking about Li-ion for new cars, but I don't know if it is as easy as just swapping, or if the circuit has to be different.
A few days after I received my e-Niro 2020 the 12V was flat. The problem was not the battery, but a current leakage due to a faulty interior fuse box. After the fuse box was replaced I have not had any issues.
I had issues on my car with the battery that kept on being flat, turned out after replacing the battery my tracker was draining the battery, mechanic couldn’t find or get to the tracker but he did cut the wire that charged it seeing as the shop that fitted it are closed due to covid
The problem i had with a trickle charger on my motorbike is that you don’t know that the battery is no good......until you’re on your ride, have stopped and need to go again. It’s a real pain 🥴
Thanks, Andrew. In short: Make sure that the replacement 12 Volt Lead/acid battery is rated for deep discharge (Deep Cycle). If not, and if it's only a standard high current car battery, it will be useless after a handful of discharges. No Lead/acid battery likes being completely discharged, so it must be either a cost-cutting measure or else ignorance which drove the decision to use that battery type as auxiliary batteries in EV's.
Very informative thanks. My 12v has died on my PHEV Niro several times, twice because I left the boot open too long ! It would be useful for Kia to provide a quick user guide for basics like this. Moving from a diesel has taught me a lot about the benefits and cautions needed with EVs. Portable charger is a great idea.
Vicki Gordon Bloomfield (Transport Evolved) did a video about this 12 Volt issue on EV's, specifically her Nissan Leaf. She indicated that the principal reason for these relatively early 12 Volt issues on EV's is because they DO NOT experience "High Current Instantaneous Loads" as would be the case in an ICE vehicle when starting the engine. As such, the plates inside those 12 Volt EV batteries build up deposits which limit their ability to hold as much charge. Those Starting Procedures on an ICE vehicle "Shock" the internal plates and cause the built up crystals to dislodge, thus restoring capacity to hold charge. I DO NOT KNOW if this is true or not but it certainly sounds plausible.
I’m intending to upgrade to a 12v LiFePO4 lithium battery the next time the regular 12v battery fails, if not sooner. Some models designed for automotive use declare themselves empty at 20% state of charge, meaning you can “jump” them by enabling the last 20% (letting you start the car and start charging it again), from what I understand. :-)
Hey Andrew. Get a Bluetooth 12v battery monitor. Amazon have them for £25. I have them for my soul and id3. They log the voltage on the battery for up to 35 days. Hardly use any power themselves. Shows if you have a phantom current draw and when your car is recharging the 12v battery.
You can help your 12v battery by replacing any incandescent bulbs by led ones from AliExpress, for the interior and exterior. For headlights buy quality ones with a proper cooling solution. To get rid of canbus warning, you might need led bulbs with integrated resistors ( consume more ) or better, use a canbus dongle and app to change the profile of lights from normal to Led, it will stop the failed bulb warnings and not necessitate resistors led bulbs, so consume less.
Hallo John, Are you able to give more information about the mentioned canbus dongle and app to change the profile of lights from normal to led? Do you have a link to a website where this canbus dongle is available? Thanks in advance!
Hello Mr Till. We are looking to buy E-Niro 4+ 2021 EV but we are really put off by 12v battery as you highlighted. Car will be doing about 650 miles evwry week (130 miles /day) Mon- Fri. Has rhwat issue been fixed now as we watch your channel and are aware you have a Kia E-Niro ev now. Any help would he greatly appreciated. ❤
Funnily enough, I just had an issue with the 12v today while we’re in the Italian Alps on holiday. Video coming soon. I think it’s just because my 2020 e-Niro hasn’t had a firmware update that should improve 12v battery management but I’ll take it to Kia when I’m home in a couple of weeks. It could also just be because the 12v battery is old. It’s not enough to make me regret getting the e-Niro as I still think it’s a fantastic EV, but I’d certainly recommend getting an emergency jump starter just in case. misterev.co.uk/gear/jump-starter Stay tuned for the video anyway!
@@MrEV Thank you for getting back to us while on holiday.❤️ Have a fantastic holiday😊. 👍 If you could touch on couple of things: How wide spread is this problem with Kia 12v batteries? Is this just certain models/years? And what firmware update would bw the cure? By the way we are looking to buy directly from Kia Dealer 2021 model 4+ but very nervous as wife does long miles and need it to be not stressfull🤞🤞
@@MixBags There are plenty of people that have hard-wired dash cams in their e-Niros without a problem. If they're always on (when the car is turned off) then you may have issues but otherwise they'd be fine.
12V battery problem on Kia e-Niro purchased in March 2021. In April 2022 I've found battery flat. The dealer has replaced it because "defective". January 2023: battery is flat again (3V after 2 days without using it): tomorrow I'll go to the dealer hoping that they fix again. What is the problem with battery? From my point of view, the problem is that the car DC/DC charger in the EPCU unit is set for a high voltage. When I push the brake pedal and turn on the car, I see 14.7-14.8V on 12V battery. In the original Kia 12V battery instructions it's written to "charge battery with max 14.4V! What is the 12V battery voltage on your car, when car is ON (ready to drive, so with the internal DC/DC converter ON)? Do you know if is possible for the dealer to regulate the DC/DC converter voltage to be less than 14.4V? Thanks.
