Dead Kona EV!

[R P]

And now I'm wondering if it will hold the charge even if it is topped up. What would cause a "defect" in a year-old battery?

Running a lead acid battery dead is damaging in itself. Doing it often hastens its final death.

If a battery runs dead, very important to fully charge it up to 100% ASAP. A partially charged battery will just continue to deteriorate. You can charge it to 100%, but it will not hold that charge for very long if it is damaged.

I think you need a new battery. Hopefully, it is covered by warranty.

 

[Lars]

The car was last used 2 days ago. Nothing unusual happened. Didn't use any unusual accessories. It was plugged in and charged without incident when I came home.

Now, two days before that I did use a DC fast charger for the first time. But it drove 300km over two days after that, again, with no unusual behaviour.

I suggest you invest in a digital voltmeter. The cheapest on will do and last for a life time. Note that the KONA 12V battery should show at least 12.4V. And keep a jumper cable in the car.

 

[Keith Smith]

Nope. Spoke too soon.

The car was virtually dead again this morning. It had enough oomph left to allow me to open the hatch normally but after that it couldn't open the door locks. Eventually I got one door open. All of this despite an hour of "on" time yesterday after boosting, a normally scheduled charge to 80% in the evening and 4 BMS 12 volt recharging events overnight and this morning.

My lithium jumper worked immediately to restart the car. It is now sitting in Utility Mode as per advice of this group. I'm going to leave it that way for a few hours.

This is a year-old OEM battery. Any ideas as to why I'm suddenly dealing with this? I've changed nothing in my car or my routine.

Bad/Intermittent Cell.

 

[Lars]

Bad/Intermittent Cell.

To make sure that it is the battery that (does not accept and keep) charge you can disconnect the negative wire at the battery post and charge the battery with an external charger. It is still a pain, but if it is a year old OEM battery it should be covered by warranty. To get here, charge the battery etc., will take time! But if the battery charges and keeps the charge over night you may have an other problem. Either the car fails to keep the battery charged or the battery is drained by some sort of phantom load. Both would be covered by the 8yrs EV component warranty.
If you would have a volt meter you could do more tests on the 12V battery - see on YouTube how.

 

[Keith Smith]

This type of behavior is 100% consistent with a blown cell. In AZ the heat wrecks batteries. Just take it in and have it load tested. I'd bet money it fails. It appears to be charged , then you put a load on it, it works for a second or two, then falls over. Often times the second or two is enough to even turn over an ICE and start it.

 

[Wildeyed]

I drove the car today with several starts and stops and it behaved normally. Here's a screenshot of today's charging activity from Blue Link up to now . It seems abnormal to me.

 

[Keith Smith]

I drove the car today with several starts and stops and it behaved normally. Here's a screenshot of today's charging activity from Blue Link up to nowView attachment 21501 . It seems abnormal to me.

The thing is the Kona doesn't need a battery for long, and it really isn't loading it much, and when it dips it gets a kick from the traction system. Take it out and have it load tested. If it passes then look at the car, but I would bet it will not. Again this behavior is consistent with a failing cell. It works for a bit, then falls over when it hits a critical point. Don't over think it. Occam's Razor. The most obvious solution is most often the correct one.

 

[Wildeyed]

The thing is the Kona doesn't need a battery for long, and it really isn't loading it much, and when it dips it gets a kick from the traction system. Take it out and have it load tested. If it passes then look at the car, but I would bet it will not. Again this behavior is consistent with a failing cell. It works for a bit, then falls over when it hits a critical point. Don't over think it. Occam's Razor. The most obvious solution is most often the correct one.

I believe you (and others) but I just thought this charging pattern might be indicative of something specific, something that would pin things down.

 

[electriceddy]

I drove the car today with several starts and stops and it behaved normally. Here's a screenshot of today's charging activity from Blue Link up to nowView attachment 21501 . It seems abnormal to me.

As you are probably aware, I don't run Blue Link, so these screenshots are unfamiliar to me.
It is hard to tell when you drove the car in conjunction with the uploads provided. I do know after I complete a drive, the yellow light comes on and charges the 12 system on a regular basis generally ~ .5 hours after the car is shut off (after the drive), then every ~ 2 hour segments after that, and tails off to ~ 4 hours if the car sits for more than 24- 48 hours - unplugged from any EVSE.
Just looking at the uploaded data you provided, I would have to agree this is not normal.
It looks like the car is communicating on a continuous basis instead of shutting up and going to sleep which is probably contributing if not the source of your issues.
Thank goodness I never enabled telematics on my 21MY, after getting spanked with a dead 12V battery on my 2019 MY, due to a similar issue.
Do you actually require all that info, if not, maybe get the dealer to shut off telematics, and see if that helps to get the 12V charging sequence to a "normal" state, and additionally provide your car with the much-needed rest it deserves.
Having a regular 12V charging pattern (visible with the light in the front) makes it quite easy for me to maintain a healthy level of charge, with the occasional utility mode boost when I am in the spirit.
And I do check it with a voltmeter on occasion, just as a verification.

 

[mtd]

My car died today in my driveway. I backed it out to make room for some yard work. It behaved a bit oddly as I backed it up 20 ft, bing-bonged a couple times and asked me to shift from reverse to park for no reason, but I didn't think much of it and moved it as planned.

The "shift into park for no reason" has bit me a few times, the reason is that a door is open. The "shift to park" message on the instrument panel overrides the door opening indicator, so it's not clear what's happening. This happened to me a few times I figured this out.

Having a door open or not quite closed might then explain why your battery was drained shortly thereafter.

 

[Wildeyed]

For the third time in 6 weeks my 12 volt is (almost) dead again. I had my dealer run a battery diagnostic 3 weeks ago after the first two incidents. It was normal cranking power and was resting at 12.4 volts.

My car has been plugged in but not driven for 6 days. I noticed last night that the Blue link had not updated for 5 days so I suspected something might be wrong since previous incidents had similar Blue Link behaviour. All doors were definitely locked.

The weird thing this time was the behaviour of the car. The dash immediately reported something about the 12 volt and to check the parking brake (?) and then the headlights began flashing on and off by themselves for several seconds. The second time I tried to start it the horn sounded on its own in sync with the dash hazard lights, again, all on their own.

Do these weird symptoms mean anything to anybody?

 

[R P]

Possessed?

 

[Wildeyed]

We

Possessed?

I have a jumper battery I'll try tomorrow but no holy water.

 

[R P]

Your 12V battery may need replacement. Just because it charges up fast doesn't mean it is good. I had that problem with my Solterra when I first got it. Went dead on me a couple times. Took it to dealer, and their test said it was OK. Took it to a battery place (Edmunds) and their test said it is bad. Charges up fast but no capacity, and will quickly deplete again. Went back to the dealer with the battery place results, and they agreed to replace it. Has been good ever since.

 

[Wildeyed]

Your 12V battery may need replacement. Just because it charges up fast doesn't mean it is good. I had that problem with my Solterra when I first got it. Went dead on me a couple times. Took it to dealer, and their test said it was OK. Took it to a battery place (Edmunds) and their test said it is bad. Charges up fast but no capacity, and will quickly deplete again. Went back to the dealer with the battery place results, and they agreed to replace it. Has been good ever since.

Maybe another new battery is the solution then. This one (the second) is only 18 months old.

 

[R P]

Maybe another new battery is the solution then. This one (the second) is only 18 months old.

Do you have a BM2 on it? That could tell you if anything is going on, like excessive parasitic draw, etc or not charging when offline when it gets low (no yellow light). Also don't do stuff in ACC mode, have the car On (Ready) if you want to fiddle with settings, etc.

 

[Wildeyed]

Do you have a BM2 on it? That could tell you if anything is going on, like excessive parasitic draw, etc or not charging when offline when it gets low (no yellow light). Also don't do stuff in ACC mode, have the car On (Ready) if you want to fiddle with settings, etc.

No. I'm not a techie sort. I'm sure that there was nothing obviously amiss i.e.radio or lights on while in ACC mode, doors ajar, lights on, hatch unlatched etc. And I have never had any codes stored after these incidents either... according to the dealership.

* I can't help wondering if it's the extremely frequent Bluelink notifications that have something to do with it.

 

[R P]

No. I'm not a techie sort. I'm sure that there was nothing obviously amiss i.e.radio or lights on while in ACC mode, doors ajar, lights on, hatch unlatched etc. And I have never had any codes stored after these incidents either... according to the dealership.

* I can't help wondering if it's the extremely frequent Bluelink notifications that have something to do with it.

Could be but that's what the BM2 can tell you. I have never had Bluelink issues with either the Kona or the Ioniq 6. But have read here about others. So maybe. Also, how far is your car in the garage to inside where you keep your phone, FOB, etc. It may be connecting and waking up the car. Again, the BM2 would show that.

 

[KiwiME]

... I can't help wondering if it's the extremely frequent Bluelink notifications that have something to do with it.

Probably a lot to do with it. The BM2 would have revealed that and I think you'd have no problem understanding it, assuming you have a smartphone.

Normally I see this day after day. No Blue Link on this Kona. 12V battery is over 5 years old and as a result I do have to tiptoe around it to keep it like this.



But when the dealer has the car they can drain it down to 12.0 V in 10 minutes, which is about 25% state of charge. Any further and it could be damaged.



If you buy a new battery I'd suggest an AGM type, what's called a 'hybrid auxiliary' battery.

 

[electriceddy]

when the dealer has the car they can drain it down to 12.0 V in 10 minutes, which is about 25% state of charge

Demonstrates good reasoning to use Utility mode for a couple of hours frequently, especially when one knows it is going to the dealer for any service.

I noticed last night that the Blue link had not updated for 5 days so I suspected something might be wrong since previous incidents had similar Blue Link behaviour.

FWIW Get a new battery, nuke Blue link and disable remote telematics.