Discharged Low Voltage Battery after SW upgrade

[UberGandalf]

Hello, last night I started the install of the latest entertainment SW so as to add the CarPlay capability. As it take quite a long time, I left the car powered on with the Level 2 charger plugged in and went to bed.
This morning the car was dead. No power/reaction to remote or power button. Found out the LV battery was down to 2V so completely discharged. Could not find any way for the car to recharge through the L2 charger or get to use the HV battery.
Had to recharge the LV battery with my other car, then could start. HV battery still showing fully charged.
1- Why would the LV battery completely discharge - it could turn off after a few ours, it could keep charge using HV, it could keep charge using L2 ? What am I not getting here?
2- How come de-plugging / replugging the charger not charge it?

Thanks!

 

[mtndrew1]

Some cars have a function wherein the vehicle shuts down after a prolonged period of inactivity. The Chevy Volt does this after several hours and perhaps the Soul does this as well.

If you left the vehicle unattended for many hours, it probably shut itself off but remained in Accessory Mode (lighting/infotainment active) which then drained the 12V battery.

As the car needs a fully operational 12V system to engage the high voltage contactor it wouldn't matter if you plugged the car in or not. Once you jumped the 12V battery the car was able to engage the HV battery pack, and the DC-DC converter recharged your 12V battery (like an alternator in a gasoline car would).

 

[UberGandalf]

thanks for the reply & explanation. Understood and it makes technical sense. Still feeling like this is some kind of a silly design from Kia, letting the car self-discharge and being out of order even though the power plug is inserted.
Thanks again.

 

[mtndrew1]

There are a couple goofy ways you can leave the Soul EV in a state where it'll run down its 12V battery. It's not the best interface IMO.

I'd imagine your situation is one in which they're trying to avoid liability for a driver inadvertently leaving a car running and then someone (perhaps a child) hopping into a silently running car and taking off with it or hurting someone with it.

What happened to you here seems like an edge case.

 

[SoulEV2016]

the explain is more simple : you can't recharge a ACID battery with fast charge.
From a empty ACID battery, it can take 20h to charge correctly.

If you have strong wallbox (6,6kW) ... your car is plug but the Soul EV only charge ACID 12v battery during the High Voltage driving or during the charge of the high voltage pack.


Other explanation : your battery is dead because of too many deep discharges. Classic.

Start battery (Soul EV) is not deep discharge battery (inverter, solar storage) in the whole world of ACID battery.

---

SW upgrade always be execute with ON car (green car with arrows on dashboard).
ON car use DC-DC converter ... not the ACID battery.

 

[mtndrew1]

the explain is more simple : you can't recharge a ACID battery with fast charge.
From a empty ACID battery, it can take 20h to charge correctly.

If you have strong wallbox (6,6kW) ... your car is plug but the Soul EV only charge ACID 12v battery during the High Voltage driving or during the charge of the high voltage pack.


Other explanation : your battery is dead because of too many deep discharges. Classic.

Start battery (Soul EV) is not deep discharge battery (inverter, solar storage) in the whole world of ACID battery.

---

SW upgrade always be execute with ON car (green car with arrows on dashboard).
ON car use DC-DC converter ... not the ACID battery.

My interpretation of what the OP said is that he had the car in the ON position (green car + arrows), left it running for the night to complete the software update, and then when he came out to the car in the morning the car was OFF with a dead 12V battery.

I've had cars in the past that will shut off after a period of inactivity even if they were ON (Prius/Volt). I assume the Soul does the same thing to prevent an inadvertently running car from being left in public.

 

[notfred]

There's a firmware update for the DC/DC converter that is meant to charge the 12V in more situations, but I'm not sure if it would help in this scenario.

 

[UberGandalf]

the explain is more simple : you can't recharge a ACID battery with fast charge.
From a empty ACID battery, it can take 20h to charge correctly.

If you have strong wallbox (6,6kW) ... your car is plug but the Soul EV only charge ACID 12v battery during the High Voltage driving or during the charge of the high voltage pack.


Other explanation : your battery is dead because of too many deep discharges. Classic.

Start battery (Soul EV) is not deep discharge battery (inverter, solar storage) in the whole world of ACID battery.

---

SW upgrade always be execute with ON car (green car with arrows on dashboard).
ON car use DC-DC converter ... not the ACID battery.

My interpretation of what the OP said is that he had the car in the ON position (green car + arrows), left it running for the night to complete the software update, and then when he came out to the car in the morning the car was OFF with a dead 12V battery.

I've had cars in the past that will shut off after a period of inactivity even if they were ON (Prius/Volt). I assume the Soul does the same thing to prevent an inadvertently running car from being left in public.

That's correct. Car was on when I left it. (green car/arrow).

 

[UberGandalf]

There's a firmware update for the DC/DC converter that is meant to charge the 12V in more situations, but I'm not sure if it would help in this scenario.

Is this upgrade done by the driver or does it need to be done by the dealership?

 

[mtndrew1]

There's a firmware update for the DC/DC converter that is meant to charge the 12V in more situations, but I'm not sure if it would help in this scenario.

Is this upgrade done by the driver or does it need to be done by the dealership?

This is a dealer-installed update.

 

[UberGandalf]

thanks!