Power steering warning light from a voltage drop??

[Andrew39]

We’ve a 72 Plate Yaris hybrid and recently the power steering warning light came on? Much consternation car returned for inspection and told that the only error code was a voltage drop (?) and that must have been the cause (don’t understand) . Remedy was to charge the 12v Battery overnight (wtf?). There’s been no signs of having a flat Battery that one normally expects (on an ICE) and there is a suggestion that we have some kind of trickle charger? An I being given a run round which although everyone is very nice it does feel that way; it’s 10 month old Battery at worst. Advice please would be appreciated

[Derek.w]

Power steering warning light coming on is this when you start up and its checking out that all systems are working it may be just the angle you left the wheels in.

Invest in a battey monitor or plug one into auxilary socket dont use radio if in AUX mode.

[bathtub tom]

What sort of use does the car get and where did you get this 10 month 0ld Battery from?

[FROSTYBALLS]

1 hour ago, Andrew39 said:

We’ve a 72 Plate Yaris hybrid

Please update your profile to include the Yaris.

[TonyHSD]

Hi, 

that’s normal when you have low 12v Battery voltage the car 12v system might throw some errors. The power steering is the greatest 12v consumer along with your brake booster pump. If the car been used infrequently and only on short trips less than 30 min each it is likely your 12v Battery is low and it will need external charging. Smart charger is good investment and recharge your car Battery every month to two. If you drive regularly and on longer time journeys you won’t need to worry about extra charging. 
Latest cars unfortunately are filled up with electronics that constantly drain your battery and the only way to keep them alive is to either drive a lot or to keep charging with external charger. Not only hybrids, or only Toyota are like that, but all makes and models. Toyota hybrids suffer more than other standard cars, because of the size of the battery vs the amount of electronic consumers fitted. Any additional trafficking cameras fitted only add to the problem. 

[Andrew39]

13 hours ago, bathtub tom said:

What sort of use does the car get and where did you get this 10 month 0ld battery from?

It’s a 10 month old car altogether👍 and very low use 

[Andrew39]

13 hours ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

Please update your profile to include the Yaris.

 

13 hours ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

Please update your profile to include the Yaris.

Hi there, struggling with the technology however I believe I’ve done that to show that we have a 22 plate Yaris and a 63 plate Auris👍

[Andrew39]

14 hours ago, Derek.w said:

Power steering warning light coming on is this when you start up and its checking out that all systems are working it may be just the angle you left the wheels in.

Invest in a battey monitor or plug one into auxilary socket dont use radio if in AUX mode.

It happened when my wife was driving - she noticed it on when turning left of the main road and it stayed on until she parked at the end of a short journey. When restarted the light was off. That advice about the radio in auxiliary mode - I vaguely remember that advice being around when car radios first came in👍 Battery monitors plugging into the auxiliary socket sounds a smart move. Thanks

[Andrew39]

31 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

Hi, 

that’s normal when you have low 12v battery voltage the car 12v system might throw some errors. The power steering is the greatest 12v consumer along with your brake booster pump. If the car been used infrequently and only on short trips less than 30 min each it is likely your 12v battery is low and it will need external charging. Smart charger is good investment and recharge your car battery every month to two. If you drive regularly and on longer time journeys you won’t need to worry about extra charging. 
Latest cars unfortunately are filled up with electronics that constantly drain your battery and the only way to keep them alive is to either drive a lot or to keep charging with external charger. Not only hybrids, or only Toyota are like that, but all makes and models. Toyota hybrids suffer more than other standard cars, because of the size of the battery vs the amount of electronic consumers fitted. Any additional trafficking cameras fitted only add to the problem. 

Thanks for all of this - the dealer have suggested they could for clips ( in the boot?) to make charging the Battery easier. Your description of our use is almost spot on? It’sa weekly drive of around 8 miles to and from and on top of that short trips. So your info is very reassuring. I’ll have to check out smart Battery chargers👍

[Andrew39]

36 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

Hi, 

that’s normal when you have low 12v battery voltage the car 12v system might throw some errors. The power steering is the greatest 12v consumer along with your brake booster pump. If the car been used infrequently and only on short trips less than 30 min each it is likely your 12v battery is low and it will need external charging. Smart charger is good investment and recharge your car battery every month to two. If you drive regularly and on longer time journeys you won’t need to worry about extra charging. 
Latest cars unfortunately are filled up with electronics that constantly drain your battery and the only way to keep them alive is to either drive a lot or to keep charging with external charger. Not only hybrids, or only Toyota are like that, but all makes and models. Toyota hybrids suffer more than other standard cars, because of the size of the battery vs the amount of electronic consumers fitted. Any additional trafficking cameras fitted only add to the problem. 

Thank you for all of this - the reply seems to have been swallowed by cyber space. Your description of our use is spot on as its only one drive a week really and perhaps some short ones. We’ll have to change that🫤. I’ll have to look into smart Battery chargers - the dealer has said they’ll look into fitting clips in the boot to make it easier to charge the Battery.

 Your explanation of “Why” Is very helpful - I honestly thought that the system was so smart it attended to its 12v Battery from the traction Battery. Thank you.

[TonyHSD]

3 minutes ago, Andrew39 said:

Thank you for all of this - the reply seems to have been swallowed by cyber space. Your description of our use is spot on as its only one drive a week really and perhaps some short ones. We’ll have to change that🫤. I’ll have to look into smart battery chargers - the dealer has said they’ll look into fitting clips in the boot to make it easier to charge the battery.

 Your explanation of “Why” Is very helpful - I honestly thought that the system was so smart it attended to its 12v Battery from the traction Battery. Thank you.

You are welcome. 
If you have a smart charger and if dealer make it easier to connect you can run once a month for overnight and you will be fine. If not possible the easiest way , then you can recharge from the emergency jump start connector located in the engine bay, fuse box to the left of shock absorber tower. Open box cover and you will see + red connector covered with black plastic, open this and connect positive lead from the charger then negative to any clear metal , shock absorber bolt or anything nearby for ground and connect negative lead there. 👍

[MikeSh]

1 minute ago, Andrew39 said:

I honestly thought that the system was so smart it attended to its 12v Battery from the traction Battery.

Only in Ready mode. This is often the case with pure EVs too, which can suffer the same issues, though I know some do periodically charge the 12V from the HV if unused for a time.

There are some safety concerns around having high voltage systems alive in a nominally off vehicle, which is why manufacturers are being cautious.

[Derek.w]

2 hours ago, Andrew39 said:

It happened when my wife was driving - she noticed it on when turning left of the main road and it stayed on until she parked at the end of a short journey. When restarted the light was off. That advice about the radio in auxiliary mode - I vaguely remember that advice being around when car radios first came in👍 Battery monitors plugging into the auxiliary socket sounds a smart move. Thanks

You can also fit a Battery monitor directly across the Battery via a fuse this type you can monitor when not in the car.        I have 1 ,7 & 15 days options  main screen shows voltage and percentage.

[Derek.w]

Once your Battery is charged with lets say a CTEK smart charger you wont see power steering light coming on except on start up as it caries out system checks.

[Andrew39]

2 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

You are welcome. 
If you have a smart charger and if dealer make it easier to connect you can run once a month for overnight and you will be fine. If not possible the easiest way , then you can recharge from the emergency jump start connector located in the engine bay, fuse box to the left of shock absorber tower. Open box cover and you will see + red connector covered with black plastic, open this and connect positive lead from the charger then negative to any clear metal , shock absorber bolt or anything nearby for ground and connect negative lead there. 👍

My goodness but you know your stuff! It’s actually very very helpful as we keep the Yaris in a garage ( we have to drive it in) and the power sockets are then near the front of the car and the box as you describe 👍. That arrangement would make very easy to connect up while Snowball (shes white) is under cover👍😃✅

[Dala]

27 minutes ago, Derek.w said:

You can also fit a battery monitor directly across the battery via a fuse this type you can monitor when not in the car.        I have 1 ,7 & 15 days options  main screen shows voltage and percentage.

Derek, your graph also shows that the Battery is only charges at night - when the headlights are on. During the day, the Battery is only maintained. Driving during the day cannot recharge the car Battery.

[Derek.w]

Dala car was used from 9:30 am to 10:30 pm spikes is car running with or without lights.

Its the voltage from the dc/dc converter last spike is with headlights on.

[Andrew39]

18 hours ago, Derek.w said:

Power steering warning light coming on is this when you start up and its checking out that all systems are working it may be just the angle you left the wheels in.

Invest in a battey monitor or plug one into auxilary socket dont use radio if in AUX mode.

I’ve just ordered a plug in monitor👍

[Derek.w]

Dala when you see a voltage of 13.7 or 13.8 its fully charged and the inverter has turned itself off.

[Andrew39]

On 9/18/2023 at 9:38 PM, Andrew39 said:

We’ve a 72 Plate Yaris hybrid and recently the power steering warning light came on? Much consternation car returned for inspection and told that the only error code was a voltage drop (?) and that must have been the cause (don’t understand) . Remedy was to charge the 12v battery overnight (wtf?). There’s been no signs of having a flat battery that one normally expects (on an ICE) and there is a suggestion that we have some kind of trickle charger? An I being given a run round which although everyone is very nice it does feel that way; it’s 10 month old Battery at worst. Advice please would be appreciated

Hopefully everyone will see this, especially the helpful ones who’ve come up with great comments . I checked with the dealer (belt and braces😅) Tony’s advice as to charging from the terminal in the fuse box; their workshop controller confirmed that’s how they did it. Five stars, Tony.

 They also explained to me that unless you lock the car the electronics don’t know they’ve to go to sleep (my words not theirs) - where it’s been in the garage I didn’t bother locking it and that increases the Battery drain from 0.001Amp to around 1 amp ( think I’ve got the figures accurate) and that makes a Battery problem more likely. Similarly the key shouldn’t be kept close to the car even on the other side of a wall - and inadvertently that’s what we’d been doing.

 Toyota have confirmed they’re able to supply a compatible competitively price smart Battery charger - thanks to everyone’s help it appears my ignorance and the problem have been resolved. Thank You All.

[MikeSh]

21 minutes ago, Andrew39 said:

Similarly the key shouldn’t be kept close to the car even on the other side of a wall

On my MK3 you can turn the key off. Prevents relay theft as well as saving batteries.

The locking applies to other cars too. If we don't lock our 2016 Smart the driver display stays lit for a long time (30, 60 mins or more) after shutting the door, though it does eventually go out. Locking kills it within a few seconds.