Dead Kona EV!

Mine does have a flashlight indeed. :) It is called the Boostmi Compact. It is on Amazon.ca for $89 but I bought mine at Rona for $69.

You can charge it through the car's USB or lighter port but you don't boost the car's 12v battery that way. You just put the clamps on the 12v's positive and negative studs as you would with typical booster cables, they are simply tinier. :)
 
Francois said:
Mine does have a flashlight indeed. :) It is called the Boostmi Compact. It is on Amazon.ca for $89 but I bought mine at Rona for $69.

You can charge it through the car's USB or lighter port but you don't boost the car's 12v battery that way. You just put the clamps on the 12v's positive and negative studs as you would with typical booster cables, they are simply tinier. :)
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That model has basically the same specs as the one I posted (but since yesterday the price from Can tire doubled to $139 from $79 - sale end)
Seems like a good thing to have just in case, but I probably would still cautiously apply the negative lead to chassis ground (not the battery terminals) last to avoid any sparks around the lead acid accessory battery. I assume this one:
https://www.rona.ca/en/boostmi-jump...MImcSzucXK5QIVyh-tBh1-gQ1pEAQYASABEgLzLvD_BwE
 
I have a similar 8000 mAh version from costco https://www.costco.ca/winplus-type-...nd-portable-power-bank.product.100504939.html
I think it only around $75 in store. The online price includes shipping.
Its specs indicate 350 starting amps, which would be oodles for an EV. I have used it a couple of times already to boost my father's CRV and more recently my 5.7 liter v8 tundra. It worked great, not sure if it would start a cold soaked truck in -30, but at 0 degrees Celsius no problem. Really impressive for its weight and form factor.

Also as far as sparking, most of the better units have some degree of logic built into them that doesn't let juice flow until it senses the correct polarity. This may be an issue if a battery is completely void of any voltage.
 
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Whew, just got through 9 pages, and took lots of notes.

My first 12v failure occurred at around 2500 miles. Although the car sat for 3 days, it was plugged in, and battery saver was on. No lights or anything else found on that could have drained the battery. I called Hyundai, they called AAA, they used a power pack, and I was good to go. Until 2200 miles later. Less than 9 hours of sitting, come out of work to dead battery. That night I got a power pack overnighted to me, and by lunch the next day, I had the car restarted. When you use the power pack, and turn on the power pack after hooking it up to the battery, all you hear is the car "wake up" or power up. Car started immediately, but this time there was a service engine light on, and it told me to take it back to Hyundai today. I called Bluelink, they said Saturday would be fine. I drove the car home, and parked it. Luckily I have another car. Took it up to Hyundai on Saturday, they said the car was "throwing all kinds of codes" and they needed the mechanic to look at in on Monday. Today is Tuesday, I finally heard back at the end of the day, they couldn't replicate the problem, couldn't find any problems, I pick the car up tomorrow morning. (They gave me a Nissan Kicks as a loaner - same size as Kona so that was nice, but gas ugh). If this happens again (and I have no doubt it will) I will have it towed back to them. I created a new thread about this 12v dead issue. If you've had the issue, please post over there. I'm on a few boards and there have been several who have had it happen at least once.

Linda
 
Twice lately I've noticed that my car seems to be topping up the 12volt battery. The car is plugged in and the front emblem LED was illuminated. But the charge port surround light was also on (and green). Is that unusual? The car is fully charged and plugged in all day. I've never read any mention of the charge port light coming on in this situation. Anybody have any insight?
 
Wildeyed said:
Twice lately I've noticed that my car seems to be topping up the 12volt battery. The car is plugged in and the front emblem LED was illuminated. But the charge port surround light was also on (and green). Is that unusual? The car is fully charged and plugged in all day. I've never read any mention of the charge port light coming on in this situation. Anybody have any insight?
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According to the manual it should only glow green when charging. (blink green when scheduled charging is set). It should however glow yellow when charging the 12 V auxiliary battery or scheduled air conditioning/heater is operating. Page H16
I assume it only does this if the charge port door is open with a J1772 connector plugged in, I have never opened the charge port door when the front emblem LED was illuminated.
 
electriceddy said:
According to the manual it should only glow green when charging. (blink green when scheduled charging is set). It should however glow yellow when charging the 12 V auxiliary battery or scheduled air conditioning/heater is operating. Page H16
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Oh. I can't remember having read that. And I'm colour blind so maybe the light is yellow?! I guess that might be the answer. I just hope it's that simple. I'd still like to know why the 12V needs such frequent top-ups though. I mean, my ICE cars never had top ups and I had years of trouble free starts that required much more cranking power than the Kona would ever draw.
 
Wildeyed said:
Oh. I can't remember having read that. And I'm colour blind so maybe the light is yellow?! I guess that might be the answer. I just hope it's that simple. I'd still like to know why the 12V needs such frequent top-ups though. I mean, my ICE cars never had top ups and I had years of trouble free starts that required much more cranking power than the Kona would ever draw.
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It is possible the 12 V battery may consume more than residual current (sleep) when left plugged in. I used to have that problem with my Leafs until I switched to just charging when needed.
 
electriceddy said:
It is possible the 12 V battery may consume more than residual current (sleep) when left plugged in. I used to have that problem with my Leafs until I switched to just charging when needed.
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I have it set for scheduled charging but I leave it plugged in at all times when not driving - even if it sits fully charged for a couple days. Are you suggesting I should unplug? I hope not. That's a pain.
 
Wildeyed said:
I got my car back today. It seems to be fine (knock wood). They replaced the EMCU which is apparently the brains that handle all of the electrical functions. Its failure is what caused/allowed my 12 volt battery to deplete which, in turn, killed the car.
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@Wildeyed, did that solve the problem?
 
Wildeyed said:
Seems to have. I've never had a recurrence. While it's been in covid hibernation for two weeks at a time it remains healthy. I have seen it charging while plugged in several times all on its own (grill light has been illuminated) and it's always started when called upon. Fingers crossed.
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Good news that resolved your issue, what model EVSE do you have?
 
I've just replaced my 12v lead acid battery with a LiFePo4 40AH unit.
I've had the car for 15 months and the 12v battery was cactus. I was able to get a warranty replacement, which I have set aside in case this experiment doesn't work.
My 12v battery was so bad that even if I put the battery on the charger and brought the battery to full and then disconnected the charger, I couldn't even open the doors for long enough to vaccum the car even with interior lights off without not being able to start the car.
With the new LiFePo4, so far so good.
Additionally, the battery has a built in gauge showing % and V, as well as a push button off switch.
Shall I make a new post for everyone with my findings once I've had it in there for a few weeks?
 
electric_city said:
I've just replaced my 12v lead acid battery with a LiFePo4 40AH unit.
I've had the car for 15 months and the 12v battery was cactus. I was able to get a warranty replacement, which I have set aside in case this experiment doesn't work.
My 12v battery was so bad that even if I put the battery on the charger and brought the battery to full and then disconnected the charger, I couldn't even open the doors for long enough to vaccum the car even with interior lights off without not being able to start the car.
With the new LiFePo4, so far so good.
Additionally, the battery has a built in gauge showing % and V, as well as a push button off switch.
Shall I make a new post for everyone with my findings once I've had it in there for a few weeks?
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I assume you live somewhere with a moderate climate. I have entertained LiFePo4 idea briefly but would be very concerned about its ability to safely take a charge at -20C or colder. It could very likely discharge sufficiently at that temperature but I am afraid it would otherwise ruin the $500+ battery very quickly in my winter conditions. Anyways I look forward to hearing about your experience.
 
apu said:
I assume you live somewhere with a moderate climate. I have entertained LiFePo4 idea briefly but would be very concerned about its ability to safely take a charge at -20C or colder. It could very likely discharge sufficiently at that temperature but I am afraid it would otherwise ruin the $500+ battery very quickly in my winter conditions. Anyways I look forward to hearing about your experience.
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Im in Brisbane Australia, the battery cost with freight was $389 AUD, I will post my findings in a new topic in a week or 2 :)
 
electric_city said:
I've had the car for 15 months and the 12v battery was cactus. I was able to get a warranty replacement, which I have set aside in case this experiment doesn't work.
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What was the history with the battery?

If all of a sudden it became unable to hold a charge, it was probably defective and any replacement might fix the problem.

If there were repeated instances of the battery going dead at intervals of weeks or months, but holding a charge between those instances, then it was probably the car drawing the battery down, which eventually wore it out. This is a known problem with the Kona EV and other EV models.
 
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