Battery Died

[tandolina]

Hey all, anyone have their battery die after leaving the car in drive overnight (I used to drive a stick!)?

 

[Fluke]

Do you mean fully discharged (inconvenience), or bricked/dead (OMG)?

 

[WattsUp]

Which battery are you referring to... the 12V battery or the high-voltage EV battery? I assume you mean the 12V battery?

I could easily imagine that leaving the car in drive (D) might keep some kind of electronics engaged, which could drain the 12V battery given long enough. At that point, the car will appear "dead", although the EV battery should be perfectly fine. The car, however, cannot function without a properly-charged 12V battery, which is used to power the electronics and do other key things such as engage high-voltage relays for charging and traction.

Hopefully, all you need to do is jump the car (yes, just jump it, the manual contains instructions) and your FFE will wake up again.

 

[tandolina]

Thanks! I hope it just needs a jump. I'll give that a try tonight. I hope it's just the 12v. All I know for sure is NOTHING happens when I push the button and it won't charge. (... and I left it in drive....)

 

[tandolina]

Thank you! A jump did the trick!

 

[WattsUp]

Awesome! Just don't leave it parked in D again!

If you don't already know, one trick that might help with this is that the car won't lock via the remote unless it is in P. So, if you're unable to confirm the lock (with a double-click on the remote and "honk back" from the car) as you walk away, you'll know you forgot to shift into P.

 

[jeffand]

I wonder if you leave it ingear that prevents gem from going to sleep. Gem is the general electrical modual. Normaly gem powers down after about 15 or 20 minutes. So if you left your door open the lights would eventualy go out. And in the morning you would not have a dead battery. So when gem sees no activity for 15 or 20 minutes it powers down preventing bad suprize. :idea: