High Voltage Battery Low Level Warning Light

[tonycpsu]

So, this is what my instrument panel looks like right now:



After my recent accidental discharge of the 12V battery, I was thinking that the little icon with the positive and negative terminals was telling me that something wasn't right with that, but looking at the owner's manual, that's apparently called the "High Voltage Battery Low Level Warning Light" for the traction battery:


Except... as you can see, the main battery is around 80% and the car has ~200 miles of range. So... anyone have any idea what's going on here?

 

[davidtm]

It changes color. When mine was down below 10%, it was yellow. May change to red after that? Otherwise, when white it indicates that the gauge is for the traction battery level, I guess.

 

[tonycpsu]

It changes color. When mine was down below 10%, it was yellow. May change to red after that?

Wait, so it's always there, even though the manual says "The warning light illuminates when..."?

 

[tonycpsu]

OK, just did a Google Image search and apparently every picture of the instrument panel shows the battery icon. So the owner's manual isn't just unclear, it's factually wrong.

 

[CR EV]

OK, just did a Google Image search and apparently every picture of the instrument panel shows the battery icon. So the owner's manual isn't just unclear, it's factually wrong.

By illuminate, they mean changes color...otherwise, they would say that it appears. I understand the confusion and think that English familiarity may be at issue. Retired, but used to work in tech and, particularly in the early days, used to say that tech manuals were proof of alien life because no human could possibly decide to put those words together that way...

 

[tonycpsu]

By illuminate, they mean changes color...otherwise, they would say that it appears. I understand the confusion and think that English familiarity may be at issue. Retired, but used to work in tech and, particularly in the early days, used to say that tech manuals were proof of alien life because no human could possibly decide to put those words together that way...

I hear you about something possibly being lost in translation, and I've worked in tech for 20+ years so I've seen my share of poor documentation. Kia's not some fly-by-night Amazon seller of webcams, though, and more importantly, the rest of the owner's manual is generally of high quality and mostly free of poor translation artifacts, so it's surprising to have an error with such an important indicator. There's no dictionary definition of "illuminate" that really works there, particularly since going from a bright blue to amber or red color would likely be making the icon less luminous.

Oh well, now I know, and knowing is half the battle. Hopefully this thread helps anyone else who's confused about this in the future.

 

[Greg Elmassian]

The manual is poorly translated for sure. You wonder if the original Korean was not also in error either. It's a huge manual that I only look to for "exploring" and verifying items for myself.

If they could have made the manual half the size but twice as clear/accurate... oh well, again, it is an inexpensive car that has a lot of complexity. You don't walk into a Target store and assume you get the same service as Saks 5th Avenue...

Greg

 

[jeff_h]

I wish I'd taken a picture a couple days ago as I was down to 9 miles when I got to work and started charging, and I had that battery icon lit but it was red - but I don't remember if it was in that same location (may have been) or in a slightly different one.

 

[TimW]

This confused the hell out of me too, but I think it's a confusion over two separate lights which use the same icon. The "SOC gauge" in the LCD display is always on and the "warning lamp" that comes on in the panel above when things go sideways.

For my new e-Niro 3 (2021 model I think) I have the images below in the manual (red circles mine). I've only had the car for a few days and have yet to experience a low battery, but I'm happy that presence of the SOC gauge in the LCD is not cause for alarm. Pretty silly of them to use this icon as every driver knows this battery symbol as a "warning" indicator.