Soul EV Spy Questions and Answers

[langemand]

I have created a facebook-page where I will post announcements, support, questions, suggestions, ideas, tips and tricks regarding the Soul EV Spy android app: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=101567105102497&id=101557338436807
Please follow or like the page if you want to be notified.

 

[langemand]

I have created a facebook-page where I will post announcements, support, questions, suggestions, ideas, tips and tricks regarding the Soul EV Spy android app: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=101567105102497&id=101557338436807
Please follow or like the page if you want to be notified.

Now there is also an open forum for users of the app: https://www.facebook.com/groups/soulevspyforum

 

[DaEV]

Hi - I bought a 2018 30Kwh Soul back in November with 14k (miles) on the clock. Been loving the experience (last car Merc ML500!!).
Been a little concerned as over the winter the GOM gas dropped from 120 to 94 miles. During this time the temperature has dropped to around 0'C, I've started doing 2 x 40mile round trips at 60mph per week and have installed a 32amp 7Kwh charger, rather than using the granny plug solution. Obviously things need to settle down and I'll become more familiar with what's happening.
In the meantime I thought I'd have a look a the SOH with a dongle and arrived here.
I ordered the Konnwei dongle on 29 December - delivery quoted mid feb-mid march. It arrived last Friday!!. Tested for resistance, 120Ohm, all good. Tried it out last night using Soul EV Spy Lite and all looks good, barring SOH measurement. Found this thread, read every post, to find that the SOH reading for 30Kwh Souls has been resolved and will now rush over to Google Play Store to purchase a full copy. I will then try it out and no doubt be delighted!! -

Many thanks to the developers of this most exceptional app. - your efforts are very much appreciated

If only I 'did' Facebook - I left it 24 months ago, having been on it, as near as damn it, since day 1 and up until reading the last couple of posts have had no urge to return..... :lol:

cheers
Dave.

 

[ksoul2084]

Hi - I bought a 2018 30Kwh Soul back in November with 14k (miles) on the clock. Been loving the experience (last car Merc ML500!!).
Been a little concerned as over the winter the GOM gas dropped from 120 to 94 miles. During this time the temperature has dropped to around 0'C, I've started doing 2 x 40mile round trips at 60mph per week and have installed a 32amp 7Kwh charger, rather than using the granny plug solution. Obviously things need to settle down and I'll become more familiar with what's happening.
In the meantime I thought I'd have a look a the SOH with a dongle and arrived here.
I ordered the Konnwei dongle on 29 December - delivery quoted mid feb-mid march. It arrived last Friday!!. Tested for resistance, 120Ohm, all good. Tried it out last night using Soul EV Spy Lite and all looks good, barring SOH measurement. Found this thread, read every post, to find that the SOH reading for 30Kwh Souls has been resolved and will now rush over to Google Play Store to purchase a full copy. I will then try it out and no doubt be delighted!! -

Many thanks to the developers of this most exceptional app. - your efforts are very much appreciated

If only I 'did' Facebook - I left it 24 months ago, having been on it, as near as damn it, since day 1 and up until reading the last couple of posts have had no urge to return..... :lol:

cheers
Dave.

Congrats on your purchase AND on leaving FB!

 

[langemand]

Many thanks to the developers of this most exceptional app. - your efforts are very much appreciated

Thank you for letting us know - glad you appreciate it

If only I 'did' Facebook - I left it 24 months ago, having been on it, as near as damn it, since day 1 and up until reading the last couple of posts have had no urge to return..... :lol:

I understand, I have previously been considering dropping FB too.

I (the current maintainer of the app) am also following this forum topic, and if all else fails I can be reached at [email protected], so the facebook page is just an add-on.

I hope you find the app useful.

Best regards,
Henrik

 

[DaEV]

Hi Henrik,

Ok, I've got the paid for app working well with the correct recommended dongle and have recorded several trips out, the recordings of which are in my phones download directory as promised.

I have a couple of questions, hope you don't mind. I have scanned through this thread, so it's just getting a couple of things straight.

I understand the simple things like tyre pressures and temperatures but then there's the next level information, such as the battery cell map. What are the figures and do they give any indication of a healthy battery otherwise - what should be expected. I have a 30Kwh Soul and have 100 cells, all of which seem to be balancing out during the trip. What does the amps line across the bottom of the screen represent?

Is there a document anywhere, produced for this app or otherwise, that explains the relevance of all of the information that the app uses?

Finally, the dreaded SOH. I'm getting the "unknown deterioration / BMS has no SOH value yet" - I understand that a certain amount of charge cycle is required to prompt this and supply the BMS with a SOH value. I charged from 7% to 100% last week prior to using the app. Does it need to be a full 0-100% charge to get it going, or just a sizeable charge (60%+ for example). Does the app need to be running during the charging process? Does the app need to be monitoring the whole time during the charge/discharge cycle ?

Well, that's it for now - sorry to bother you with this, especially if it's all available on Facebook.

cheers,

Dave.

 

[ksoul2084]

I'll let others more knowledgeable than I answer the technical details around calculating the SOH, but the fact that all the cells balance out during driving is a good sign I think.

When my battery was failing there was a set of cells that were always quite far out of range vs the rest of the pack, these were the failing cells.

 

[DaEV]

Thanks - everything crossed

 

[DaEV]

Dongle & Soul Spy say SOH = 100%, so happy bunny. Seems to have taken a couple of hefty charge cycles to get the BMS to cough up the figures but got there in the end. I didn't run it to 0% but 1 x 5% at 1 x 7%, seems to have been enough.
So, big thanks to Soul Spy for their brilliant app. One of my main areas of concern regarding the state of the car has been addressed - cheers m'dears

 

[mgilpatric]

Hello. I have a 2016 SoulEV about 45k mikes. In October 2020, soul Spy was showing about 60% SOH consistently and my range was around 50 miles on warm days so that seemed about right. I brought it in and asked for a SOH report and likely warranty replacement. After I left, the shop said the updated the BMS firmware because that is standard procedure before testing the battery. Of course the battery data was reset and the GOM said I had 110 mile range. I left telling them I would be back soon.

Since then I have intentionally gone through many charging cycles from 100% down to less than 20% to try to reset the battery data. But the GOM still says about 72 miles when charged even though the actual range is consistently around 40 miles in cold weather. The Soul Spy SOH shows 110% still so it is not getting data to reset. My question is: does the new BMS firmware block the reset of parameters the GOM uses to calculate range and Soul Spy uses to determine SOH? If I bring it back to the dealer, I bet they will do a test and say the battery is 110%.

 

[notfred]

The battery temperature also has to be above 10C as well as charging from below 20% to 100% in one continuous charge for the BMS to recalibrate.

 

[IanL]

See https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2018/MC-10143399-9999.pdf Top of Page 2.

Multiple cycles <20% to >90%.

Having done that, I suggest you print it and show it to them if they argue.

The KIA procedure for reading the SOH is at https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2018/MC-10133173-9999.pdf

It sounds like the dealer did not apply the instruction to record the SOH data before applying the update. If he says he did, then ask him to show it to you.

 

[mgilpatric]

Thank you for the information. It has been cold since the update so that could explain the issue. I'll ask the dealer if they did the SOH before updating. Great info!

 

[NorSoul]

Thank you for the information. It has been cold since the update so that could explain the issue. I'll ask the dealer if they did the SOH before updating. Great info!

The newest BMS update is necessary for Kia to approve battery replacement, my dealer applied for a battery replacement last year but Kia told them to update the BMS first. Obviously the SOH was above 70% after the update, so Kia didn’t approve the application.

So please don’t blame your dealer, this is apparently Kia policy now.

 

[IanL]

The newest BMS update is necessary for Kia to approve battery replacement, my dealer applied for a battery replacement last year but Kia told them to update the BMS first. Obviously the SOH was above 70% after the update, so Kia didn’t approve the application.

So please don’t blame your dealer, this is apparently Kia policy now.

So the instruction on Page 1 for the dealer to submit a "customer concern" warranty claim is just for the dealer to be reimbursed for performing the update and to gather data about SOH, and to delay the point of replacing the battery by the time taken to do the multiple recharges.

As the stated effect of the update has no bearing on the durability of the battery, and only on erroneous behaviour after performing reserved charging, that strikes me as profoundly cynical and dishonest. I could be wrong....

I would advise anyone in this situation to maintain records of the multiple recharges, with photographs of the before and after SOCs and the ambient temperature on the console, so that they can't argue that the recharges were not performed as specified.

 

[JRBWallace]

I have a couple of suggested Soul EV enhancements that I think Soul EV Spy could address. (I apologize if any of these are already in the application, I am new to this app.)
1. Reprogram the trunk button on the keyfobs to open the charge door: The only way to open the charge door is the button on the dash. This requires opening the door, if you are outside the car. Many EVs include a button on the keyfob to open the charge door. My keyfobs include a nearly useless button to open the trunk, since the trunk auto-opens when you have the key near and just open it.
2. Add a control to disable the J1772 connector lock. When plugged in to charge, the connector locks when the doors are locked. This may be useful in the USA if you plug in using a portable 120VAC cord, like the one Kia provides with the car. This feature is intended for those countries (not USA) where EV chargers require the user to bring their own cord, and that cord could be stolen if not secured. In the USA, all installed chargers include an attached cord, so there is no risk of it being stolen. There may be instances in the USA where a user might want to lock the connector to avoid someone unplugging your car while you are away. Most places where I charge, I would happily allow another user to take the cord if they need it, and they see that my car is done charging.

Please respond if you agree that these could be useful additions to Soul EV Spy, and could possibly help find the codes to enable them.

 

[langemand]

I have a couple of suggested Soul EV enhancements that I think Soul EV Spy could address. (I apologize if any of these are already in the application, I am new to this app.)

Both suggestions are good, I have added them to the list of wanted features.

 

[langemand]

Google has removed the free Soul EV Spy Lite app from the Google Play Store. The app does not adhere to Google's updated policies. The free app has been out of maintenance for years, except for translations contributed by volunteers.

The paid Soul EV Spy app was previously updated to adhere to the new Google policies, and continues to be available from Google Play Store. You can try out the paid app for some minutes, and if it doesn't work as expected for your combination of Android device, OBD-dongle, and car model, you can get the payment refunded within the trial period.

Please note that the only supported dongle is Konnwei KW902, and use the quick start guide and FAQ in the User's Guide:
https://evranger.com/en/soul-ev-spy-users-guide.html

 

[langemand]

This is good advice:

I know this is an old thread, but I just wanted to say (in case it might help someone) that I was having lots of problems connecting, etc until I went into the Soul's all apps->settings->device connections and deleted my paired phone from the list. Then it worked perfectly. Then it was a simple matter to re-pair my phone afterwards.

I copied it from this thread:
https://www.mykiasoulev.com/forum/posting.php?mode=quote&f=6&p=12189

 

[Lithium]

Dear Soul Spy,
I'm glad to say your app gave me the insight into SOH, prompting me to go to the dealer and ask to have a formal EV battery read out. Soul Spy had me at 69.7% and by the time I got to the dealer is was down to 66%. I have a new battery, installed in 30 days from first warranty claim. Thank you for developing this. Full app was worth it!

I am curious how the APP will read the new battery and updated BMS. So far no SOH reading, I guess more charge cycles are needed.