Exterior light I'd never noticed

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bruce M.
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Bruce M.

Bruce M.

Well-Known Member
This evening I went into my garage for reasons having nothing to do with the car, and I saw a pale yellow light illuminated in the center of the Hyundai badge in the middle of the front. I literally never knew such a light existed and had never seen it illuminated. What is it, and why was it on? I went into the car and looked in the owner's manual but could find nothing. I started the car to see if any unusual indicator lights came on -- again, nothing. But when I turned the car off and the headlights and interior lights went out, so did my little mystery light.

I suppose I'm missing something obvious here. Can someone tell me what it is?
 
It is mentioned in the manual. As best as I can determine it's a "lawyer light" to remind you to resist disassembling the orange wiring under the hood while the light is on. It really is puzzling, the sort of weird feature the Germans would never include.
 
That light indicates that the 12V system is being powered from the main traction battery while the car is off. This can happen if the system detects the 12V accessory battery is low, and apparently also when the climate control is on via timer.

 
That is the auxiliary battery saver. For cars that has not undergo the BMS software update, the traction battery will charge the 12V battery once a day, everyday at a specific time. For cars that went through the BMS update, the traction battery will charge the 12V battery every 4-5 hours.
 
Hard to see what the intended purpose actually is - it's not effective as a safety measure as it could come on at any time, and anyone working on HV systems should isolate them first.
BTW the charge port surround also lights yellow while the 12v top-up is happenning
 
It will also come on when your remote start your climate controls via bluelink. I think the light's purpose is so the car can tell you" hey Bud(or Dave) I'm on and doing stuff" kinda like HAL 2000 :)
 
apu said:
It will also come on when your remote start your climate controls via bluelink. I think the light's purpose is so the car can tell you" hey Bud(or Dave) I'm on and doing stuff" kinda like HAL 2000 :)
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Open the garage bay door, Hal.
 
Thanks to everyone for the explanations. I feel reassured now. Silly me, since it was an exterior light I tried looking in the manual for things like lights and exterior, to no avail.
 
mikeselectricstuff said:
Hard to see what the intended purpose actually is
Click to expand...

A fair point; The information it conveys isn't particularly useful either. Okay, the 12V system is active... why should the end user care, and what are they supposed to do about it? It's not conspicuous enough to serve as any kind of useful warning indicator.

Maybe the actual function has been removed or is reserved to a special mode... I can imagine it being used as a trouble light at a factory storage lot: at a glance, you can look at dozens of vehicles and see which ones are lit up indicating status/trouble.

Makes me wonder what other data you could exfiltrate with a bit of hackery; e.g. have it flash in code to indicate various status conditions, or communicate with something you're parked in front of.
 
KiwiME said:
It is mentioned in the manual. As best as I can determine it's a "lawyer light" to remind you to resist disassembling the orange wiring under the hood while the light is on. It really is puzzling, the sort of weird feature the Germans would never include.
Click to expand...
I couldn't have said it better. Very odd how many times this q.is asked. Easier to ask a forum than look at the book in your hand.
 
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