As an ev owner I also now own a small booster pack. As my car can be opened with a blade key if necessary and the bonnet is a cable release, it is easy to get in, open up and put the jump pack across the battery. You don't need a big booster, just a basic one. Would be sensible to show Susan how to use the booster and leave it with the charge leads.

The "old way" is you put a heavy load on the battery (purpose built testers used heating coils, I used to use high beam headlights or monitoring voltage while cranking) while monitoring the voltage for at least 15 seconds and the voltage needs to stay high enough (don't remember the number offhand, my tester has the ranges labeled). The newer way can do that more quickly without so much heat and also detect internal resistance and general condition using high frequency signals / loads on the battery and produce a report. So far all the batteries I've tested both ways produce an equivalent good/not result for both tests.

Nissan seem to get this very right in our Leaf, I use leaf spy to see what the voltage is and it is always on 14v when the car is turned on, it never reduces to the 12v you see when the car is off. I changed the 12v in our 2018 Leaf a couple of months ago after Cleevely mobile had tested it and seen it was at 65%, no different to any ICE car, just remove and replace, nothing changed except the default tyre pressure changed to kPa.

Bosch and Varta are the same batteries these days. Varta Black = Bosch S3 Varta Blue = Bosch S4 Varta Silver = Bosch S5 Bosch make it easy, the final number is how many years warranty the battery comes with. Quite simply if a battery doesn't quite make the QC cut for the S5, it will be demoted to the S4 range and so on. An AGM battery will last longer than a regular lead acid 12V, but the ultimate would be to go lithium based. A high quality battery charger/maintainer will be able to put your old battery through a proper cycle and may be able to bring it back to almost full health. Even my Topdon TB6000 Pro does a good job of testing 12V batteries and sometimes bringing them back to good health.

I'm amazed that people are reluctant to replace a consumable part on an EV. I have a 4 year old Egolf and primitively replaced the battery with another with a 4 year warranty for around £100. Being the Golf, it could accommodate a battery about 30% bigger (for the diesel cars). This bigger battery is heavier but the strain on this battery is less. If it fails in the next 4 years I simply take it back to eurocarparts. I always buy over the counter rather than mail order as I don't need the faff with postage if they send the wrong one or warranty. I was able to give my old battery to someone who had a 14 year old one on a fiesta which they need to keep running for a couple of months.

Thanks for this. The minute there is indication of 12v issues on my cars over the years I check drain and then change it. Cheaper to change than risk a breakdown. I do keep a booster in the car whether ICE or EV. Just changed an ICE Nissan Micra after 7 years so had good value on that.

We have a Nissan Leaf bought from new and it still has the same 12v battery it is trickle charged with a solar panel on the back spoiler and has never been an issue. Just bought a 2020 Kia Niro and have had a warning message to say 12v is low. So now I smart charge it once a month to hopefully prolong hits life

PS: Why do we need a 12v battery, when we have a huge 400v battery 😂😂

I am going to check the voltage on mine NOW. also leave the main battery on, if comming and going.

Good points. The size and quality of batteries is questionable. I’ve had an ICE Ford 25 years ago that lasted 18 years life of car and a 2017 lasting only 2 years. It seems the EV 12v isn’t charged enough from the HV. Failing of auto door unlocking is early symptom on e-c4 and Mokka and an hours charging in ready mode solved it. My first MG ZS already came with a new Varta replacing the SAIC 12v. As you say, once 12v is failing it needs replacing and keeping eye on length of maximum charging is a good indicator of health. Every EV brand seems to suffer, but never had problems and have always given extra charging while stationary in ready mode without heating or accessories, especially in winter. Cheers.

Recently the 12 V battery in our new Ioniq 6 died after AC charging. Apparently, one of the computers did not shut down draining the auxiliary battery completely, going to 6 volts, while the HV battery remained at 100%. 🤷‍♂️ So, still problems in 2024 Hyundai/Kia cannot solve. P.S.: The car was locked. I know, because I couldn't get into the damn thing. Wonderful idea from Hyundai to not keep the physical emergency key in the key fob for this model.

Hi mate had to call out my breakdown service earlier last month due to the Niro having the 12v dying 😢 replaced it with yuasa upgrade but have recently saw solid state batteries are becoming available with much longer life cycles hopefully when I purchase my next bev the EV5 SS batteries will be at least on the 12v 😂😂😂 Cheers

????? Export limit what have they told you I just had to do one again for a change of inverter lucky for me they approved it in 2mins seemed like ages the first one I did took 5seconds to approve lol, and this one they didn’t limit me at all they gave me full 12.50kW 😅 few glad they didn’t ask to upgrade to 3 phase I’ve probably pushed there limit now I guess lol

Do you have any battery storage ? I see a lot of people linking these with Pylontech batteries.

E Soul was the old model name, it's now called Soul EV. Pedantic I know but irritating nevertheless. The app will tell you if there is a problem with the 12v battery by showing a warning even if it hasn't failed yet. If you're still using UVO I would update to Kia Connect.

Great video as always, It's crazy that an EV uses a battery designed for CCA when it doesn't have to turn a starter motor! Surely a lithium battery would serve a much better purpose. I would advise a victron mains charger to do a regular charge as they are excellent for maintaining lead acid batteries. To be fair if you get 5 year service it's not worth worrying about.

Good advice. Being a Kia e-Niro owner and a Home Assistant user, I've been using the integration (via HACS) to monitor the 12v battery, as well as other things. There's also an option of the "Battery Monitor BM2" recommended by Mr EV (Andrew Till). I bought this after watching his videos about his e-Niro having issues (and it was before I'd got the HACS integration up and running). The BM2 is a good option for those that aren't too technical, or don't want to use Home Assistant. Another option is via an OBD2 adapter (I've got one of those too) with something like Car Scanner. For my e-Niro though ... so far, so good and no issues but, like yourself, I'm keeping an eye on things.

Kia and Hyundai will flatten the 12 volt battery due to something keeping the processor awake. If any doors are left open or bonnet open car will not go into sleep mode. Hyundai did do fix for my old Ioniq 38kw allowing car to charge battery every 4 hours. Twice the emergency call system operated for no reason leading flat battery. The only way to reset it was to remove negative lead for 30 seconds. A dc clamp meter is very handy and jump 12 volt jump pack. Another thing that helps is 12 volt Bluetooth battery monitor.

Interesting video Nigel. I am curious about how your existing Victron and Solis inverters work together when both export at the same time. I had been told that you can get "export over voltage" issues caused by each of the inverters trying to raise its export voltage above the current detected voltage. My understanding is that for the inverter to export (assuming a single inverter), it takes a reading from the CT clamp then ensures the voltage it inverts at is above this value (hence ensuring the current flows into the grid). When you get a second (or more inverters) installed, then the second inverter might take a reading and detect this higher voltage (as the first inverter is exporting) and subsequently choose to set its output voltage higher than this. The first inverter repeats its periodic monitoring of the current grid voltage and sets the voltage higher yet again until you hit over voltage conditions (which I think is around 253V on single phase). My understanding on how to avoid this is that there is only one CT clamp and that reading is used by all the inverters (which would make sense if the inverter was the same manufacturer and supported such a feature). Given that you have different manufacturers of inverters, I was wondering how your system handled this situation (or likely I have been mis-informed and this isn't really an issue with modern inverters). Your thoughts?

Octopus July billing - check them carefully! Mine seemed very low so I opened the pdf and even though it was dated 24th June to 27 July it actual only covered 24 June to 30th June ie up to the change in the price cap. Raised it with Octopus as normally when the rate price changes I get one bill with pre and post rate change breakdowns on it. Very convoluted email back this morning with a new 1st July to 25th July bill on the new tariff rates. No reason given why I didn’t get a single billing with two price sections like I normally do when the kW rates change - I suspect that it was “a computer error” . Anyway the correct two debits have now been taken. Solar generation here-in July hasn’t been as good as last year so it hasn’t contributed as much as it did last year or in June

Err sleepers don’t meet code mate , it has to be buried scaffolding 2ft due to wind load at extreme times , you’ll be surprised just how easily they can get lifted with 50mph plus winds, I strongly recommend anchoring

I’m looking at putting 3kw of solar on my garage to run with my existing 3.5kw on the house. The house system is south facing and the garage would be an east/west, would this inverter but the correct one for me?

THX for the information. The battery you chose fits to the e-Niro as well. What app did you use to analyze the car battery level? Greetings from Bavaria.

On my Kia Niro EV, (72 plate) I have had one instance of the 12v getting low, during the winter (6 months after I bought it second hand). First symptom was the drivers door failing unlock / lock, I didn't twig what was happening, it got worse over a couple of weeks, then I ended up having to use a 12v jump pack to get the car started. Measuring the battery voltage it was down to 11.7V before I put the booster on. Rang my nearest Kia garage and was informed that they didn't have any replacement batteries in stock, as they had had a run on them. but one of the staff suggested, based their experience with their own car (I think it was a Soul), that I could try charging the battery on the vehicle so long as it was with a modern automatic charger. Also to turn off all possible battery drains in particular the auto welcome, where the lights turn on and bits wake up, when you approach the car with the key. I have a modern Halfords charger from using it with my old ICE car, so I stuck that on it for 24 hours And turned off all the suggested power drains. The problem has not recurred since (8 months later). Following discussions on the forums, I have since fitted a Bluetooth battery monitor (BM2) (I didn't know about the home automation thingy) and that shows the battery being charged in bursts but staying with a minimum of 12.5V.

My leaf 12v lead acid also failed out of nowhere... totally unnecessary, could be super caps these days.

I did see a video a few years ago suggesting that the jolt from a starter motor was actually good for a 12v battery. The last ICE car I bought new still had the original battery when I sold it after ten years. It's true that electronics being on all of the time doesn't help. I'd have thought an annual 12v battery health check a good idea. A weak point on EVs that really needs fixing

Hi Nigel. I had the 12V battery fail on our eSoul at the 30 month mark with no warning. I sourced a new one just like you with a higher Ahr rating. I also fitted a BM2 bluetooth battery monitor, which I highly recommend. £20 off Amazon. It was fine after that with no signs of the new battery being under any stress. When Susan wants the car open for a while at shows, have you looked at using Utility Mode? People use it for camping, keeping dogs in with AC/heating on, etc. Accessible from the menus, it runs things off the HV battery without depleting the 12V battery. We recently replaced our car with a newer eSoul (blue), which is about 30 months old. I’m watching the 12V battery monitor carefully to be sure I don’t have a battery failure sneak up on me again. 😂. Thanks for all your videos.

Don’t pay for fitting, took 10 minutes.

Your battery seemed to suffer from Sulfation, formation of lead crystals, which degrades the life and charge rate. As for the smart charge, if the vehicle HV battery is fully charged most won’t trickle charge the 12v battery after that. MG EVs suffered terribly until the software for the vehicle was updated. Not an OTA update but dealer update. You did the right thing getting the battery fitted professionally as most new battery/ vehicles require software to adapt the battery, basically resetting the car to not treat new battery like the old one. Keep the updates coming.

Just changed the battery on my 3 year old MG5 - a couple of HV Battery Shutdown messages when turning on after a short drive made me think it was time. Went for a slightly upgraded 64Ah vs 55Ah on OEM battery.

Oh, and the garage told me I had to have their standard 12v new battery.. no options. Grrrr grrrrrrrr!

My attempts to add extra solar were knocked down by my DNO, and they have told me I need to upgrade to three phase. Hope you can get yours sorted.

My 12v failed [kona] and the Aa chap said they fail in 18-30months…and there is no 12v warning light. Grrrr

I'm sure you would be better with micro inverters.

Flux is an American style tariff which they want to push out everywhere come 2030, this is why eco7 rate and time must mandatory to remain , if they get there w at we will also have minimum bills of 15 pounds per day known as minimum use which replaces daily charge metre rate which by the way eats into peak rate as well to get the minum bill the idea being array sizing isn’t allowed to be more than you need eg net zero than net positive, cases like this are already happening in oz nsw and they want it here that’s why we have to get vocal demand mps keep just two rates peak rate will hit millions with higher bills just because there get home and want to eat

You mentioned you are applying to increase your dno approved export limit. Are you doing this yourself or is your solar installer doing it? A video on the process would be really interesting, if you're doing it yourself 👍

I got Solis to remotely update the firmware to my 3.6kW 5g hybrid inverter and the continuous max power output increased to 4.3kW. have you come across this before? Can I ask if this is the same with yours too?

I swapped my friends failed 11yr old Aurora for a Solis , looks a good product and a good price.

Glad you did this vid as I was thinking about this type of product for a very specific reason and this helped. Ta.

Sadly this channel is now just adverts / product placements. This is just a 15 min advert. Last 6 vid all ad's.

My missus wants one of these now she's going part time at work. Wants to get to and from the gym a bit easier :-)

Nice looking for a folding bike and looks solid.

I'd look at an electric Brompton, but they are expensive.

AFERIY CHARGE VERY HIGH RETURN COST, TRY TO MAKE YOU NOT TO RETURN. I bought it due to many youtube introduce, so I thought it is good brand so I boguht it. However, It asked for a double shipping charge when i request to return. Even they said it is free delivery, but when you return, they ask you pay also their delivery cost. means you have to pay both ways. I seldom see this kind of company in UK, normally free delivery products, when we return, we just need to pay our own return delivery cost. IN THIS CASE, YOU HAVE TO PAY VERY HIGH COST WHEN YOU HAVE ANY RETURN. BETTER THINK OF OTHER BRAND. I do have allpowers station as well, their service very good. At least will not ask you pay back the stated "free delivery cost" when return. Recommand you to buy other better aftersell service brand. Afterall, not only the product itself is important, but also after sales service also very important.

I have 3 lawns that size. When I had an operation on my arm, we needed to get a smaller lighter mower so that the wife could do the lawns. I have other Sthil kit and batteries hence went down that route. With 2 middle of their range batteries (which I also use for the tree trimming etc.) No my arm is better I am tending to use the Sthil rather than get the ride on or the hand held petrol ones out. Just as quick and I get a good walk too ! One battery easily does one lawn (they have a bigger battery if I had needed it) then swap to the next battery. Meanwhile the first battery is charging for the 3rd lawn, super fast charging. So much easier than corded we used at the old house and no more hassle getting petrol - no petrol car so a special trip to get the jerry can filled not needed either. It was not cheap but the quality is brilliant and it will see me out.

Good review, - nice to know about grid..

This maybe the best inverter for myself, with a small 4 panel garden set up and a 8 panel roof. I wondered on the app control and how easy it is to control for all eventualities? Which inverter has the easiest and which the most technically difficult? A big consideration as the hmi

The 3.6 hey. So the cable from the house to the inverter was big enough after all? I went with thr 3kw on my garage for the moments the inverter goes over rated wattage 😅 Which happens rather often surprisingly with my north south split

You're going to need a bigger garage!!!😆🤣

The Government Spraying us like bugs is not helping 😮