Has the Kia EV6 12v battery charging system changed since 2021? - Update -Apparently not⬇️

[@EV_OBD]

This is nothing new, I noticed it in very early Kia EV6 2021: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jZS7nKp7mdqNjNE And also in 1-gen Kia Niro, Kona 2019-20: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZq8eIN-dtmXiJo. You should display 12V Battery Current to see the whole picture (it saves some energy during acceleration). Threshold is probably 92% Aux SOC in E-GMP.

[@evodessey]

Cheers Alan,maybe my failing 12v battery was making it misbehave

[@EV_OBD]

@@evodessey No difference, your old 12V battery (at 99% SOC) was continuously discharged during this 6-minutes trip (I asked for your log file and added my opinion): kzbin.info/www/bejne/iJascoOIpLJ_fbM

[@DC30307]

Yes, I also observed the charge/discharge during regen/accelerate cycles, both before and after the ICCU update. I've also noticed that the car will tend to charge the 12v while on but in park, and also during L2 charging. I've also confirmed that if you initiate L2 charging while Battery Saver+ (12v charging while car is off) is already active, the 12v charging will be terminated, and stay off during the L2 session, causing the 12v to be discharged. I think the difficulty we're all having is nailing down the exact charging strategy in this car. Every time I think I have it figured out, there is an exception. MOSTLY it seems to try to charge during deceleration, but I've seen cases during highway driving where it will start continuously charging the 12v, even when it's not needed (12v fully charged due to just completing L2 charge session). I recently added a 20ah auxiliary lithium battery in parallel with the regular 12v battery. Since the lithium has slightly higher voltage than the lead acid battery, it tends to maintain the lead battery at a high enough voltage (12.8v+) that the regen charging doesn't kick in. The lead & lithium batteries charge up during L2 charging, then the 12v system is maintained by the lithium battery until the lithium gets down to around 15% SOC (around 12.7v +/-), then the charge during regen strategy will return. It generally takes a couple days of driving without L2 charging for the lithium to get that low, so it's now rare to see the car charging the 12v while driving. Most of the 12v charging is occuring during L2 charging, and since I generally do that every couple days, that's usualy enough.

[@ScottDLR]

Thanks for this. I have a new EV6 (11 days old) and just noticed the orange light on the top of the dash was illuminated. It sounds like the 12v charge strategy is very different from any other vehicle.

[@evodessey]

I’ve never seen my light on,even when the 12v was failing but then again i don’t really do that many miles.

[@ScottDLR]

@@evodessey Me neither, short trips and I only had 140 miles on the car!

[@TechnicallyJeff]

Interesting to see!

[@evodessey]

See the Alan Brown pinned message. He’s the king of OBD & Car Scanner. It would seem the behaviour was already there in the old version. Maybe because my 12v was shortly due to expire it was behaving strangley

[@TechnicallyJeff]

@@evodessey I was watching mine yesterday. Mine was around 60% according to the Ohmmu app and it was charging under acceleration and deceleration.

[@EV_OBD]

@@TechnicallyJeff Ohmmu Li-ON runs at much higher voltage, which distorts the measurement done by vehicle's tiny 12V BMS. More important is the 12V SOC perceived by the vehicle (readable in Car Scanner as 12V Battery SOC). This energy-saving behaviour /slow discharging followed by rapid charging bursts during deceleration/ happens only when 12V battery is over circa 92% 12v SOC *EDIT: when over 82-84% SOC. Sadly, any cycling of the lead-acid battery will degrade it.

[@devlalvani9662]

Brian, I've had no updates since Mid May 2023. But in 3 and a half months of owning the car I've never seen the bump on the dashboard turn orange. What I do see regularly is the battery icon showing charging on the top right of the infotainment screen and also seen that same charging logo when in utility mode. I don't have the ICCU update either.

[@evodessey]

I’ve never seen the orange light on my dash come on either. Only charge symbol you see on infotainment is your phone i think.

[@devlalvani9662]

@@evodessey I see a Bluetooth headset symbol when phone connected. But to the right of that I see a battery charging symbol. Is that my phone charging on the wireless adapter in the car? My 12v regularly gets charged so how come no amber light?

[@JOHNREED-iw4tl]

IMO, if you never see the orange charging light, it means that you are driving a lot of miles per day, so the charging all takes place while the car is underway. I don’t drive so many miles, and I see the charging light quite frequently.

[@ianrobins5501]

at the beginning of September on my MY23 Niro had odd behaviour on the 12v while IO charging and left the 12v low ( notices it on BM2), so connected car scanner and noticed the same sort of pattern as you since that event my 12v seems to dip to a lower voltage 12.3ish than before. i also have a 11 year old I30 and it does the same thing come of the throttle and the voltage rises to 14V, so does that mean i have a self charging hybrid LOL. you can get are better info of car scanner if you go to the 12V battery LCD-V2L screen which shows 12v SOC, current and voltage with temperature. when charging over night the voltage can drop to 13V from 14.4ish V.

[@stephenclay6852]

I know if I’ve been washing the car and had the boot up and down and the drivers door open and closed so the drivers seat is going backwards and forwards the car suddenly makes a noise for a few minutes then stops or sum times when I’ve been stood in the garage the noise comes on and after a few minutes goes off . I suspect it was the 12 volt battery been topped up. I hope.

[@evodessey]

That’s interesting. Looks like i’ve got some more Battery monitor digging to do😂

[@MarkWinspear]

Having suffered twice now with 12v battery drain (first time we were instructed to put Intelligent Octopus into 'dumb' not 'smart' mode and Kia updated Kia Connect to poll less often, now Kia want to replace the battery again and are investigating whether the towbar has anything to do with it

[@evodessey]

Now that's a different reason.

[@jacovandenberg2255]

Hi, in the timeframe from 5:30 - 6:30 I see the 12V battery voltage jump from 12.7 V to 14.7 V . A healty 12V lead-accid batery can NEVER jump such huge steps in voltage in a minute unless the charging current is enormous (like >> 100 A) or the internal resistance is very high, meaning the battery is defective. These measurements cannot be trusted as-is. this behaviour can only be explained is there is a relative large impendance between the battery and the circuits you're measurements are taken. If you hook up a meter direct to the terminals, these huge jumps in voltage will not be visible.

[@evodessey]

That’s maybe because that was my old unhealthy 12v battery that failed a week or 2 after those readings were taken in April. I had to have it replaced.

[@ScottDLR]

Actually, they can jump quite quickly. A fully charged 12v batt that has been at rest will be 12.6~12.7 and then jump right up to the system voltage of a running eng which is about 14.4 or so.

[@Swedishchef11]

Then why does a battery in a regular ice car live for over 10 years? They charge all the time when engine is running

[@evodessey]

I have to say i don’t really know. Even my wife’s Renault Zoe needs it’s 12v battery changing every 3 years otherwise it becomes very unstable. Part of it has to be to do with the quality of the battery they are installing.

[@Andrew-ib5ik]

Brian, only in the last few days I’ve been monitoring the 12v battery the same way with car scanner on the main screen. Don’t have a battery monitor tho. I too noticed it only charged when regen happening. But can you advise when on AC charging does this also recharge the 12v battery?

[@evodessey]

It always used to but after the ICCU update i need to recheck all of my assumptions

[@Goldfish120X11]

Could this have anything to do with the BMS update for rapid charge pre-heat? This changed quite a bit and also gave better economy. Was you April data before or after your BMS update?

[@evodessey]

My data was after the BMS update. Also when i was having 12v battery problems in May which led to having it replaced i had car scanner running every time i took the car out. 12v charging still behaved the old 2021 way.