12 v battery flat

[CPN]

13 minutes ago, Dala said:

I set the switch to 12.4 V - so that the car battery does not run out

...and is it doing as you want so far?

[Dala]

No, that's why I need a powerful solar car charger.  For shopping in shopping malls okay, for 2-3 hours standing, but for a long time it's bad.  Car cameras consume 8W when recording.

[Knitswithbeer]

I wouldn't be without my Dashcam though. It was invaluable when an idiot rear-ended me on the M62 even though it only faces forwards.

The dynamics showed what speed I was doing when I was hit so he couldn't say I'd stopped suddenly.

[Dala]

Consumption of 0.67A is OK while driving.  When standing, there is a problem with the motion sensor and the 35 Ah car Battery.

[Cyker]

14 hours ago, Dala said:

I use this: HK3 ACC HARDWIRE KIT CABLE

I don't know if it was a mistake 😕

That should be fine, I use something similar for my Viofo A119, except I only connected up the 12v to an ACC source as I didn't want my Dashcam running all the time off the car Battery (Even in the diesel!).

 

13 hours ago, CPN said:

Do you know of any that work like that? I've had a look on Amazon and most of them turn their outputs off as soon as you plug a charging source into them?

They do exist but are rarer as the market is flooded with cheap and nasty powerbank chargers.

The problem is passthrough charging puts more strain on the components and creates a lot more heat which has to be kept away from the lithium cells, so they can't get away with using half-ubikd designs or cheap second-rate components like most powerbanks do.

A page with some examples and details of the pitfalls: https://www.powerbankexpert.com/power-bank-with-pass-through-charging/

I didn't think they were so expensive tho' - I guess that's why my colleague puts up with the switch-a-roo instead!!

[baxuz]

On 9/17/2021 at 11:25 PM, CPN said:

The problem with the batteries used by Toyota in all its HSD vehicles is that if you just leave an interior light on accidently (5W bulb) you'll drain the battery in hours; much quicker than a normal car with a normal size battery

As far as I could find, the stock Yaris Hybrid battery has a capacity of 35Ah.

A 5W bulb should be draining 0.4A. Even after 24h it should have drained 10Ah at most.

My Hyundai Atos has a 40Ah Battery and I've had times where I haven't driven the car for 3 weeks. 

Not sure what else the car should be doing while it's off. A smartphone Battery has an average capacity of 4Ah, and the Battery can last for days on idle, while actually having open network connections, doing background processing and a ton of other stuff that a car which is off shouldn't be doing. The radio communication with the keyless entry shouldn't cause that much parasitic drain, since it's low frequency and close range. Not sure what else could cause the drain except the system clock and the multimedia center RAM if it's sleeping the system instead of booting it up.

[Roy124]

My Corolla has two 5W interior lamps that you might accidentally leave on so your 24 hr drain might just tip the balance and 48 hours would scupper it.

The other well know culprit on many cars is a faulty boot lamp.  Again 24 hr should not be a problem but over a few days it might.

[flash22]

What camera is that seems a bit on the high side, Most dash cams drop the voltage down to 5v my blackvue sits at 15ma in standby 200ma while in record

a timer with Battery cut off will stop it draining the Battery, I do NOT recommend the Power magic as i have had 5 fail in 2 cars Inc the warranty replacements,

[Cyker]

The hardwire kit he is using has a user-selectable cut-off that should cut power to the Dashcam when the Battery voltage drops too low, but it doesn't seem to be working properly by the sound of it.

I think the OP should get a multimeter and check the Battery voltage when the car is off - If it's less than the 12.4v cut-off that's been set, and the Dashcam is still recording, it may be the hardwire kit is faulty!

 

[TonyHSD]

All interior lights including the boot one should go off automatically after an hour if left ON, Battery drain comes from something else I believe., or perhaps if you leave interior lights always on one hour every time you lock the car. 

[Roy124]

Tony, thank you for that, one of the many things on Toyota I didn't know, though the operative word is should. 

[Biomecanoid]

On 9/17/2021 at 9:55 PM, CPN said:

Not true if you buy a Solar Charger that has an OBDII connector option. It then plugs directly into the OBDII connector which gives direct access to the 12V battery. No need to mess about under the rear seats...

Like this one...

You should never change or apply any kind of power to the OBDII port. The OBDII port has direct access to the ECU you can fry the ECU and bye bye car

[Biomecanoid]

On 8/31/2021 at 8:19 PM, Knitswithbeer said:

Please forgive me if this is the wrong place to ask.

I bought a new Yaris Hybrid on 27 May this year and I love it. Trouble is the car has failed to start twice now (11/8 and today) after only a few days not being used.

Both times the AA said battery is fine. Car was in for a Recall on 12/8 and the dealer said the battery was fine.

AA man today wonders if something is not switching off properly and draining the battery. Only thing I can think of is I sometimes (not every time) get a warning to check the back seat (always empty) when I switch off.

I've got it booked in for 15/16 August but is this a known issue?

My car was sat in the showroom when I first went to arrange a test drive (not my car) and the salesman had to jump-start it so he could open the doors.

Brassed off tbh

* You should get a Battery/Alternator tester so you can test the Battery yourself

* You should get a multimeter to test for parasitic drain

* You can also get a Battery changer to charge the Battery at home over night to make sure its properly and 100% charged so you can have a  "clean" start and then monitor you battery from there

* There are also battery meters that plug in the cigarette lighter and show you the voltage

[CPN]

18 minutes ago, Biomecanoid said:

You should never change or apply any kind of power to the OBDII port. The OBDII port has direct access to the ECU you can fry the ECU and bye bye car

That would only be true if you go feeding pins other than 16 & 4 and this charger does not. Pin 16 is a fused connection directly back to the 12v +ve of the 12v Battery and Pin 4 is directly connected to the car's chassis ground and those are the only pins the solar charger is connected to. Secondly, this particular solar charger at maximum exposure to sunlight, is only capable of a maximum charge current of 171mA. So, it is really only of any use when the car is not being used for an extended period of time because you could argue that it is even less than a trickle charge since it is only designed to maintain the current level of the 12v battery's charge state.

[CPN]

7 hours ago, baxuz said:

As far as I could find, the stock Yaris Hybrid battery has a capacity of 35Ah.

A 5W bulb should be draining 0.4A. Even after 24h it should have drained 10Ah at most.

My Hyundai Atos has a 40Ah battery and I've had times where I haven't driven the car for 3 weeks. 

Not sure what else the car should be doing while it's off. A smartphone battery has an average capacity of 4Ah, and the battery can last for days on idle, while actually having open network connections, doing background processing and a ton of other stuff that a car which is off shouldn't be doing. The radio communication with the keyless entry shouldn't cause that much parasitic drain, since it's low frequency and close range. Not sure what else could cause the drain except the system clock and the multimedia center RAM if it's sleeping the system instead of booting it up.

You are not taking into account the quiescent current drain of the car when it is "off" and parked up. Why else do you think that Toyota themselves were recommending during lockdown, that you should run the hybrids at least once a week for an hour at "Ready" in order to keep the 12v Battery in reasonable health?

[Cyker]

Yeah that's one thing that people don't think about/realize when comparing new cars and old cars - New cars have the equivalent of a small laptop running even when they are 'off' whereas on an old car, when it's off it's properly off!

 

[Biomecanoid]

52 minutes ago, CPN said:

That would only be true if you go feeding pins other than 16 & 4 and this charger does not. Pin 16 is a fused connection directly back to the 12v +ve of the 12v battery and Pin 4 is directly connected to the car's chassis ground and those are the only pins the solar charger is connected to. Secondly, this particular solar charger at maximum exposure to sunlight, is only capable of a maximum charge current of 171mA. So, it is really only of any use when the car is not being used for an extended period of time because you could argue that it is even less than a trickle charge since it is only designed to maintain the current level of the 12v battery's charge state.

Today everything is made in China, so you are in the mercy of an underage worked in a sweat shop to make everything according to the blueprints. Your theory is right but in the real world its too dangerous to charge the Battery with the OBDII port connected to the ECU.  The port is for On-Board Diagnostics not charging.

[Cyker]

Don't worry, CPN knows what he's doing  

 

[Dala]

Connecting to Toyota servers and exchanging current data can also be associated with higher power consumption

[TonyHSD]

1 hour ago, Cyker said:

Yeah that's one thing that people don't think about/realize when comparing new cars and old cars - New cars have the equivalent of a small laptop running even when they are 'off' whereas on an old car, when it's off it's properly off!

 

Agreed, older hybrids has no additional connected services or large infotainment screens but ironically new one that has all extras has the same small Battery like older cars and the results are obvious. 

[CPN]

1 hour ago, Biomecanoid said:

Today everything is made in China, so you are in the mercy of an underage worked in a sweat shop to make everything according to the blueprints. Your theory is right but in the real world its too dangerous to charge the battery with the OBDII port connected to the ECU.  The port is for On-Board Diagnostics not charging.

I don't think you completely understand how the OBDII port works? The various signal lines for input/output of diagnostics sit across various PANs (private area networks) within the vehicles loom and the various ECUs that do specific things feed their signals onto that same loom/PAN. To assert that the OBDII port is connected to "the" ECU is completely false. Did you know (for example) that there are 40+ distinct ECUs "talking" with each other across that network in a Toyota Yaris Hybrid?

[CPN]

1 hour ago, Biomecanoid said:

Today everything is made in China,

In relation to Toyota automotive manufacturing, I think that Toyota would be pretty insulted if you threw that phrase at them!! Most of the ECUs are built in Japan or in the various plants around Europe, mainly the one in France (where our cars in the UK get built)

[CPN]

1 hour ago, Cyker said:

Yeah that's one thing that people don't think about/realize when comparing new cars and old cars - New cars have the equivalent of a small laptop running even when they are 'off' whereas on an old car, when it's off it's properly off!

 

Precisely!! 😁

[Biomecanoid]

21 minutes ago, CPN said:

In relation to Toyota automotive manufacturing, I think that Toyota would be pretty insulted if you threw that phrase at them!! Most of the ECUs are built in Japan or in the various plants around Europe, mainly the one in France (where our cars in the UK get built)

The made in CHINA was about the solar panel NOT the car

[Biomecanoid]

27 minutes ago, CPN said:

I don't think you completely understand how the OBDII port works? The various signal lines for input/output of diagnostics sit across various PANs (private area networks) within the vehicles loom and the various ECUs that do specific things feed their signals onto that same loom/PAN. To assert that the OBDII port is connected to "the" ECU is completely false. Did you know (for example) that there are 40+ distinct ECUs "talking" with each other across that network in a Toyota Yaris Hybrid?

Yes cars today are a network of small independent computers dedicated to a specific task talking to each other. Nothing new there. 

It does not mater if the input/output of diagnostics sit across various PANs (private area networks) or if you have 1 or 40 computes in the car. If your solar panel comes out of the factory not properly wired providing power to the wrong pins of the OBDII port it can fry things and it will be an expensive fix.

It is better to leave it alone and only use it for connecting a OBDII Reader not charging.

It is the same with Power Over Ethernet (POE) in ethernet cables if you provide power to the wrong pins you will fry the network card or a port on the switch.