Going on Vacation - Turn Off 12V Battery with Fusebox Switch.

JejuSoul · Jul 21, 2015

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The easy way to do this.

Original post is below.
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I am going on vacation in August. I just checked with KIA what to do with the battery. They said just disconnect the negative terminal of the 12V battery.

This is the same procedure as for the Nissan Leaf mentioned here http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11209#p257652

I recommend getting the charge to around 60%, then park (hopefully inside) and disconnect the negative terminal of the 12v battery under the hood. You only need a wrench.
When you return, simply reconnect the terminal and your Leaf will power up and drive off with only a few % loss of charge. (You will have to reset your clock on the dash)
If you leave it plugged in, you will destroy your 12v battery, and keeping the main battery at 80% is rough on it.

tractioninc · Jul 21, 2015

I never would have thought to do that -- thanks for sharing!

irfca · Jul 21, 2015

How long a period sitting, should the car have the 12vdc batter disconnected? 1 week? 2 weeks? more?

I too would never have thought of doing this! There are a few minor settings that have to be re-programmed if the battery is disconnected ... F/C for temperature was 1 I had to reset after disconnecting my 12vdc battery to charge it (when I flattened it the day after I got it trying to manually pre-heat it!).

JimGord · Jul 22, 2015

I would recommend reviewing the owners manual. For short vacation periods it should not be necessary to disconnect the 12V.
As with the Leaf, the Soul should not be left at a high state of charge and should NOT be left plugged in. (consult manual)
Leaving it plugged in will drain the 12Volt to zero as the computer system is constantly monitoring the charging status.

A Tesla is the opposite rule and a Tesla should be left plugged as it will lose 1% of main battery charge per day.

JejuSoul · Jul 23, 2015

For short vacation periods it should not be necessary to disconnect the 12V.

Yes. I am going to be away for 4 weeks which is why I thought of asking.

Here's an account from someone in Norway who didn't disconnect the 12V

The car has been sitting unused in the garage, and somehow the 12V battery has given up. Got to test the physical key, hood latch and emergency charge port opener as I wanted to see if there was any help plugging it in again. It wasn’t. Resolved it by disconnecting, and removing the battery from the car before trickle-charging it overnight. A quick check with a multimeter gave a measurement of 4.9V before recharging. With the battery recharged, everything was back to normal.
Update New Sønnak-battery installed. Covered by warranty.

see http://www.torbenbrenden.com/kia-soul-ev/

JejuSoul · Aug 27, 2015

Re-connected the 12V and started the car again today. (4 weeks unused)
The main battery had exactly the same charge as I left.
The only item in the computer reset was the Eco Level.
History, Address Book ... was all still there.

tractioninc · Aug 27, 2015

Excellent news. Thanks for the update!

JejuSoul · Aug 28, 2015

Just had a look at the Service Manual.
It states you will lose Eco Level, Clock and Radio Presets when you disconnect the 12V battery.
The clock on my car was working fine when I reconnected after a month.
My best guess is that the clock is reset via the network at bootup if UVO has been setup.
This is the same process as a cell phone.

It made me wonder if the issue with slow bootup in American cars is due to UVO connecting slowly.
(To test bootup put car into reverse and count how many seconds before the grid lines show up.
My bootup time is less than a second.)

JejuSoul · Apr 3, 2016

Bumping this topic because I heard reports of the 12V battery dying during the Easter Vacation. Also a second method to disconnect the 12V battery that has been reported to work is to remove the main fuse.

notfred · Apr 3, 2016

On the 2016s there is a switch in the middle of the fusebox by the driver's leg. That's the recommendation in the manual.

I've left mine for 2 weeks over the Christmas vacation without doing anything. I left it unplugged and locked so there should not have been any drain on the 12 Volt just like a gasoline car.

JejuSoul · Nov 7, 2016

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The switch is here if you want to turn everything off. (UVO and SmartKey stay alive when the car is off, so if you lock the car after disconnecting you will need to unlock with the physical key). There is more discussion about this here - Prolonged Parking without using car

JejuSoul · Jan 22, 2019

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My mistake. I went away on a week's vacation and forgot to turn off the 12V fusebox.
Came back and the 12V battery was dead.
Jump started and everything was fine, but the 12V battery died again the next evening.
Jump started drove to Kia. They checked the health of the 12V battery and then replaced it.

JejuSoul · Dec 31, 2020

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My second car had an original 2015 12V battery until now.
My mistake. I let the car idle during this week's vacation and forgot to turn off the 12V fusebox.
Came back and the 12V battery was dead.
Jump started from first car and everything was fine, but the 12V battery died again the next morning.
I had to call service who jump-started the car.
The service guy wanted to tow me to Kia (about 400m)
I was surprised and let him pick up the front two wheels and begin towing.
The car was on and in 'P'. I sat in the passenger seat and saw the display throw numerous braking and traction control errors.
It towed fine however.
I stopped him after 100m and said I preferred to drive myself.
I turned the car off and on again and all the errors disappeared.
Then I drove to Kia. They checked the health of the 12V battery and then replaced it.

JejuSoul · Dec 24, 2023

Another 12V battery replacement on my blue car.
This is the one with the original HV battery that is now quite degraded ~70% SOH.
I was trying to drive over the mountain on a very cold day. It lost range quickly, then turtled before the top. Managed to drive slowly to the nearest charger but unfortunately the only chademo was broken. Called for a tow and waited in the car with heating on. The car was towed home in the dark with lights on. Am not sure which of these factors caused the 12V to die but once home the 12V was dead and nothing worked. You cannot charge the HV battery without a 12V.
The next day I had to jump start the car, charge it up for an hour, and then drive down to the garage and get the 12V replaced.

A secondary problem caused by the loss of battery power was that the BMS was reset and now shows 100%.
The BMS has yet to re-calibrate after two complete charging cycles.
The battery warranty has 16 months left so this shouldn't be an issue.

Firefly · Jan 5, 2024

JejuSoul said:
Re-connected the 12V and started the car again today. (4 weeks unused)
The main battery had exactly the same charge as I left.
The only item in the computer reset was the Eco Level.
History, Address Book ... was all still there.

But what temperature did you leave it? I’m in Toronto. Going away for three weeks in February. The temps could be -20 Celsius.

JejuSoul · Jan 6, 2024

I am not aware of any relationship between parasitic load on the 12V battery and temperature.
But it doesn't get to -20 Celsius where I am so I don't know.
I don't have a heater built into my High Voltage battery, yours presumably does.
For pre-heating the HV battery to occur the 12V system would need to be on.
But why would you do this for 3 weeks? It only needs to be pre-heated a few hours before you drive.
Maybe someone in Quebec or Norway can answer this

Firefly · Jan 7, 2024

JejuSoul said:
I am not aware of any relationship between parasitic load on the 12V battery and temperature.
But it doesn't get to -20 Celsius where I am so I don't know.
I don't have a heater built into my High Voltage battery, yours presumably does.
For pre-heating the HV battery to occur the 12V system would need to be on.
But why would you do this for 3 weeks? It only needs to be pre-heated a few hours before you drive.
Maybe someone in Quebec or Norway can answer

JejuSoul said:

I am not aware of any relationship between parasitic load on the 12V battery and temperature.
But it doesn't get to -20 Celsius where I am so I don't know.
I don't have a heater built into my High Voltage battery, yours presumably does.
For pre-heating the HV battery to occur the 12V system would need to be on.
But why would you do this for 3 weeks? It only needs to be pre-heated a few hours before you drive.
Maybe someone in Quebec or Norway can answer this

Click to expand...

I meant to say does disconnecting the battery depend on how cold it is going to be for the three weeks the car is sitting unused.
sorry I was not clear with my question.

spidermonkey · Aug 1, 2024

My car sat at the dealership for about ten months, when they finally got the new battery installed they discovered the 12v battery was deader than Dillinger, they replaced it to the tune of two hundred dollars. When I picked the car up I said" Some guys would disconnect the 12v battery if the vehicle is going to sit for any length of time" they thought that was funny then took my check. I live in a northern tier state and it gets down right cold...not as cold as Canada, I mean Canada is pretty much where they keep the cold and then distribute it out to the rest of the world as needed. Anyway In the fall I pull all the 12v batteries out of all the vehicles and tractors and keep them in a nice warm shop. When we get a snow event that requires a tractor to push snow I drop a nice toasty warm battery in there and the old girl fires right up. I have 12v batteries that are almost ten years old and still do the job by simply keeping the ground disconnected when not in use and keeping them warm in the winter. But you know, thats just been my experience.

spidermonkey · Aug 7, 2024

What about just hooking your 12v battery up to a trickle charger "Battery Tender" that way you wont lose any charge to your parasitic load? Motorcycle guys do that.

IanL · Aug 8, 2024

No problem doing that, either using a modern mains-powered charger, or, if out in the open, a solar panel on the dash. The charger can be clipped to the battery, or the panel connected to the OBD socket.

Going on Vacation - Turn Off 12V Battery with Fusebox Switch.

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