Car has no Power at all - can't start

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Tim94549

Tim94549

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Plugged in to top off my charge last night. (was down to 65%). Never received my usual email notification of it starting to charge. This morning, the BLUELINK App was not updating. So went to vehicle to see what charge happened. No Power at all. No Lights. Won't start.

WTF ? Any ideas to get this thing running again? Should I try disconnecting & reconnecting the battery? or is it tow-to-the-shop time ? Crazy TIA ..
 
will do ... is it OK to use a small portable 12v "booster".. I don't have long jumper cables to connect to another vehicle. Thanks
 
Yes. Before you boost it, check the voltage on the battery. If it is low, that is your answer. Will likely need to be replaced.

Did you have something on overnight that could have drained it?
 
OK, stupid question ? The POSITIVE side connection -- the Clamp that is supposed to grab onto that terminal won't fit inside the plastic housing. (It connects fine to the NEGATIVE). Do I have to remove something to be able to connect to that + terminal ? Or totally disconnect the battery ?
 
R P said:
Yes. Before you boost it, check the voltage on the battery. If it is low, that is your answer. Will likely need to be replaced.

Did you have something on overnight that could have drained it?
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I don't know if I did or not ... I'll check doors, etc...
 
No, don't disconnect the battery. There should be a red shield on the + side that can be lifted out of the way.
 
Yea, I can unclip the + cover to expose the Terminal .. However the JUMPER clips are a little too bulky and can't securely clip onto the + terminal due to the surrounding plastic housing of that area. It clips onto the - side just fine ... hmmm.... Maybe have someone just HOLD the clip against the terminal just to get it started?
 
Can I just connect the Jumper Clip to the small 10mm screw that holds the connector to the terminal. It's the screw on the immediate right side of the terminal - used to disconnect the battery cable from the terminal ... My Charger clamp will actually hold onto that.
 
Tim94549 said:
Can I just connect the Jumper Clip to the small 10mm screw that holds the connector to the terminal. It's the screw on the immediate right side of the terminal - used to disconnect the battery cable from the terminal ... My Charger clamp will actually hold onto that.
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Hope your jump starter worked.
If it did, make sure to leave car in Utility mode for at least 2 hours to allow the 12V battery to charge.
I usually use a meter to be certain 14.4 V is being applied or BM2 works as well.
Check again tomorrow for residual voltage ~ 12.6V before starting the car battery should be OK, if the battery is pooched the voltage will be much lower.
 
Tim94549 said:
Can I just connect the Jumper Clip to the small 10mm screw that holds the connector to the terminal. It's the screw on the immediate right side of the terminal - used to disconnect the battery cable from the terminal ... My Charger clamp will actually hold onto that.
Click to expand...
So, what happened? Did you get your car started? Do you have to replace your 12V?
 
Thanks for your help on this ... The Volt meter only showed 4+ volts .. The Booster worked right away. Car started. I drove it around the block and rechecked voltage. It was back up to 12.5V ... this was very strange. Not sure what happened to drain the battery over 2 days sitting. I check doors, et al .. Nothing. Anyway, I rechecked it this morning after it sat all day yesterday. It's still 12.5V ... The battery is almost 5 years old. Is there an expected life range of these ? I'm thinking I should haul little Booster in case it suddenly happens again. Or just bite the bullet and have it replaced.

Thanks again !!
 
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Follow-up question ... Why put in Utility Mode ? If the battery suddenly recharged ? Is that ONLY to recharge battery ?I see it's used to run things without using the 12V ...
 
OK, I stumbled across a feature that I can't find that is SUPPOSED to prevent the auxiliary 12V battery from doing what I encountered - draining. It's call the Auxiliary Battery Saver + ... It supposed to be found under the OTHER Setting. Enabling it supposedly monitors that battery and tops it when required to prevent draining.

in my Settings / Other ... there is no option for it ... I have the 2020 Ultimate. Is it no longer a option/feature ? I mean if the system is SUPPOSED to already do this by default, without us requiring to set that option, it clearly doesn't work ... at least in my recent issue. Anyone have this Setting in your 2020 ?
 
Tim94549 said:
OK, I stumbled across a feature that I can't find that is SUPPOSED to prevent the auxiliary 12V battery from doing what I encountered - draining. It's call the Auxiliary Battery Saver + ... It supposed to be found under the OTHER Setting. Enabling it supposedly monitors that battery and tops it when required to prevent draining.

in my Settings / Other ... there is no option for it ... I have the 2020 Ultimate. Is it no longer a option/feature ? I mean if the system is SUPPOSED to already do this by default, without us requiring to set that option, it clearly doesn't work ... at least in my recent issue. Anyone have this Setting in your 2020 ?
Click to expand...
Only will appear if the original car never had any updates, that was changed back ~ 2020/2021.
It is "automatic" now, not sure if the minimum 30% SOC of the HV battery still has a bearing as to operational, but I would keep above that level just to be sure.
I am sure that if there is a 12V drainage issue and the ABS operates 10 times in an attempt to recharge the 12V battery, the system will shut down.
RE your follow up question: A manual way to charge the 12V battery is to enable "Utility mode", I use this any time the car will be in for a scheduled service or more recently before enabling OTA updates.
 
Thanks for that level of detail ... Yea, mine has had ALL the updates since 2020 ... So that makes sense why I don't see the option.

Didn't realize there was a min 30% SOC recommendation ... I only charge once per month ... I really don't drive that much, other than locally. (I only have 17,500 miles) .. I had been allowing it to drop to 20% ... sometimes lower (15%) .. I'll keep that in mind going forward.

I'll keep the UTILITY Mode in mind as well.. I have a tester that I'll use more frequently, just to be sure I'm not about to be stranded.

Thanks !!!!!!
 
As of the latest BMS update I’ve noticed, as have several others, that about a 50% or higher traction battery charge is required to see the six daily 12V battery charges instead of one. It used to be around 40%.
 
Is the chassis battery a lead acid? likely is. Those have about a ~5 year shelf life. Keep an eye on it if you let it sit again for a few days. if it's not holding a charge, it may be time to replace it.
 
Yea, it's the default battery that came with the car. I'll keep an eye on it, now. Thanks everyone. Great info. (I wish there was some sort of Bluelink "ALERT" generated when the traction battery CHARGE takes place, or better yet, FAILS. I don't like the idea of having to maintain at least 50% SOC ... I thought the idea was to allow the Traction batteries to reduce in SOC (around 20%) then top to a max of 80% - so they don't degrade. That's what I've done over the last almost 5 years. Using my Dongle to check, my cells all are still 4.14 each. Thanks again ...
 
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