Air conditioning not working when car is not moving?

[mtndrew1]

a electric car parked with 0 RPM (at motor) and 0 KM/H (at the wheel) ... only the A/C drain the battery (battery power column) -and my GPS is OFF-

It's simple. :mrgreen:

It's electric.

What year is your car (the soul ev) ?

This is inaccurate. Go start your car, plug in your Torque app, turn off the HVAC, and that segment of Torque will still show you using power.

My car uses roughly 1 kW of power when in Drive, stopped, with all accessories and HVAC off.

My car is a 2015 model.

 

[UberGandalf]

Anyone got a pic of where that fan and associated connector would be?

I would be surprised if anyone had a pic of this, but the fan would be just behind the condenser and radiator and those are located just aft of the front bumper assembly (you can see the front side of them by peering through the lower part of the bumper). If you were to take off the plastic decorative pieces in the engine compartment you could probably look down at the fan which is likely housed in its own shroud.

http://carbuzzard.com/2014/09/2015-kia-soul-first-drive-review-hamsters-on-tiptoes/olympus-digital-camera-1596/

So the fan in question is the big fan (about 1' diameter) that is just behind the radiator ? (grille - radiator - FAN - main engine section) ?
This fan is completely idle for me. I do not see it operating at all even when car is parked and AC is on (and the issue is happening)

 

[mtndrew1]

So the fan in question is the big fan (about 1' diameter) that is just behind the radiator ? (grille - radiator - FAN - main engine section) ?
This fan is completely idle for me. I do not see it operating at all even when car is parked and AC is on (and the issue is happening)

That's the one and it should be running when the A/C compressor is active and the car is at a stop. Sounds like you found your issue!

 

[UberGandalf]

Made appointment with Kia tomorrow. Will report back here.

 

[JejuSoul]

Anyone got a pic of where that fan and associated connector would be?

From the service manual

Seen with the front panel off.

--------------------------------------------------------------

The Climate system has its own diagnostics. You use the buttons on the climate controller in the car. You will see a two digit number on the nav screen after pressing the MODE switch more then 4 times within 2 seconds while pressing the OFF switch.
No one else has ever seen anything other than 00, which means Normal.

 

[UberGandalf]

Thanks a lot, this is very helpful. So indeed, this fan does not seem to operate. Kam'sahamnida.

 

[SoulEV2016]

The Climate system has its own diagnostics. You use the buttons on the climate controller in the car.

You will see a two digit number on the nav screen after pressing the MODE switch more then 4 times within 2 seconds while pressing the OFF switch.

No one else has ever seen anything other than 00, which means Normal.

Confirmed.

 

[mysoulev]

my observation is different than both of you (SoulEV2016 and mtndrew1) on A/C power consumption:

when car started, it can draw as much as 2kwh, gradually reduced to 0.24kwh (fan speed reducing at the same time), but then it will go back up to 0.3kwh and then to 0.5kwh (fan speed remain at low). Climate set to Auto, 22c, outside temperature 30c.

it appears to me that the compressor is variable but when the cooling is still too much at the lowest speed the heater is turned on to maintain the comfortable level, because when i set the temperature dial to 21.5c (from 22c), the power draw would reduce to 0.24kwh again.

 

[UberGandalf]

After 1 week and bringing the car to 2 different Kia dealership (first one took the car in but then came back after 1 day saying they could not find the issue and that they could not get support from Kia as they are not an EV dealer...) and after quite a bit of pushback ('you are not using the right mode for the climate control' ...), we finally got the car back on Friday. As expected, issue was that the radiator cooling fan was not working, and the dealership was able to trace back to a connection issue in the fuse box. Now the fan works, the AC works, and everyone is happy.

Thanks to all of you for your very helpful suggestions and feedback. That really helped out!

 

[SoulEV2016]

 

[mtndrew1]

Congratulations on getting the problem resolved. Sounds like a frustrating experience, but at least it's over.

 

[GizmoEV]

Sounds like Kia could use a little better QC on connections. I had a DCFC issue where it would cut out after about 0.25kWh with an error on the AV charge station. It turned out to be a loose ground wire to the battery pack cooling fan.