Battery Reset & Dead Battery (HEV)

[pharaoh]

My ‘ThinkWare’ dash cam tended to record a ridiculous number of events while in ‘Parking’ mode until I stopped it recording parked events. It was a nuisance as it insisted on announcing the number of recorded events each time I started the car after being parked for any length of time.

As I need to park on a very busy road frequented by buses and lots of heavy lorries and farm tractors, I came to the conclusion that the sensitivity was such that the rumble or vibrations from so many large vehicles was sufficient to record an ‘event’. I was unable to set the sensitivity low enough to avoid these events so I switched off the feature in settings.

Theoretically, the parking feature seems like a good idea but on my previous vehicle, I experienced two separate (and very costly) events while parked; one to the front end and another to the rear of the car. On each of those occasions, both the forward-facing and rear-facing cameras failed to actually capture the offending vehicle.. That was with a pair of NextBase cameras.

Before switching off the ‘Parking’ mode, I used to get frequent resets of the aircon temperature setting to 22℃. However, since the switch off, that only occurs infrequently. I can’t recall noticing any other resets.

To record events in parking mode the dash cam would have been hard wired in to a permanent live feed, so yes, that would flatten the battery.

[PhilHornby]

Why don't you give some solid answers to problems instead of picking apart well meant experience and advice provided by others.

I have performed some technical investigations - albeit without getting to the bottom of the problem. That is no reason to resort to repeating Urban Myths , for which no proof is ever offered. I spent a lot of my working life troubleshooting technical problems...

The oft repeated statement that some modules "power themselves off" to save the battery, may make sense in layman's terms, but it is wrong. If they were truly off - i.e. totally disconnected from the power, how would they power themselves back on

The 12V Battery Reset system is conceptually , quite straight-forward - when the 12V battery voltage falls to a preset level, it (the battery) is completely disconnected from the car. Manual intervention is required to reconnect it (that dashboard switch).

What is not understood about this system, is why it is triggering so early for some people. As a system to prevent you coming back to a totally dead car - after you left the lights on all night - it is great. When it is triggering after 20 minutes for no apparent reason, it is not!

When the car is turned off by the driver, many modules will enter low-power 'sleep' mode, where they draw a negligible current (20µA maybe). This tiny current drain is just enough to keep the contents of their RAM refreshed and thus maintain any volatile data they hold (such as Aircon settings, Fuel consumption figures etc). Other modules (such as the 'mirror fold-out' system) will stay fully active, but can also enter low-power sleep mode to save power. They are still not "OFF", in the electrical sense of the word. (This is what your TV, Mobile phone, laptop, bathroom scales etc etc etc do, when you turn them "off").

There are two different issues (one of which the OP is not experiencing).

• Why does the 12V Cut-out trigger unnecessarily early on some cars
• Why do some modules lose their setting, even though the 12V cut-out module has not triggered

In the case of the latter, this could be software-related (i.e. just a bug), but it doesn't feel likely. IMO, the multiple 'droops' in the 12V supply line would seem a much more likely cause - but I haven't managed to prove it.

[pharaoh]

I'm sure it will now be as clear as day to Powlerdad why his car won't open or start !

[PhilHornby]

Just so long as he is clear, that this shouldn't be happening, without a clearly defined incident to justify it.

[Indalo1]

To record events in parking mode the dash cam would have been hard wired in to a permanent live feed, so yes, that would flatten the battery.

If your conjecture were based on fact, then I should have suffered badly from the dead battery syndrome some complain of. Happily, I have never incurred a flat battery in the Tucson, even when the the lady inside the unit appraised me of 20 or 30 ‘events’, after a busy day or night of traffic along my road.

[Powlerdad]

Hi pharaoh,

Its not that I can lock all doors except the drivers door. Under normal circumstances when I get out of the car and lock the doors they all lock. When the 'dead' car happens, any doors that are locked will not open.
I think it was just the rear doors that were locked when it happened (as they always seem to be locked when I get out of the car, as perhaps that is a child lock feature)?
The boot was also locked, and this, and the rear doors would not open.

I don't have a dash cam or any accessories other than a USB to play music, and can't imagine that's draining the battery.

I bought the car from a main Hyundai dealer, and emailed them today to tell them about the issue.

[pharaoh]

To record events in parking mode the dash cam would have been hard wired in to a permanent live feed, so yes, that would flatten the battery.

If your conjecture were based on fact, then I should have suffered badly from the dead battery syndrome some complain of. Happily, I have never incurred a flat battery in the Tucson, even when the the lady inside the unit appraised me of 20 or 30 ‘events’, after a busy day or night of traffic along my road.

It's not conjecture at all. Your dash cam either has a capacitor or a very small battery that holds just enough power to finish recording the last event before the ignition was switched off. To record events after that whilst the car ignition is switched off, the dash cam needs to be wired into a permanent live feed otherwise it won't record.
You obviously don't know how your dash cam was wired in, so go ask the person who fitted it.
The mistake I made in my statement was to use the word flatten rather than deplete.
As stated several times in this thread. our experiences with what happens when the 12V battery gets depleted vary.

[pharaoh]

Hi pharaoh,

Its not that I can lock all doors except the drivers door. Under normal circumstances when I get out of the car and lock the doors they all lock. When the 'dead' car happens, any doors that are locked will not open.
I think it was just the rear doors that were locked when it happened (as they always seem to be locked when I get out of the car, as perhaps that is a child lock feature)?
The boot was also locked, and this, and the rear doors would not open.

I don't have a dash cam or any accessories other than a USB to play music, and can't imagine that's draining the battery.

I bought the car from a main Hyundai dealer, and emailed them today to tell them about the issue.

USB to play music, and can't imagine that's draining the battery.

No that won't be the cause as power to that ceases when the ignition is turned off.

Child locks prevent nimble fingers from opening the rear doors from inside, but they should still open from outside.

I'm having a failure to understand this door lock thing. As I said, there might ba a setting in Settings that can change which doors lock and unlock when you press the key fob. In my experience though, when I press Lock all the doors and boot lock and the same in reverse when I press Unlock. I can't understand how you can still get in the drivers door when all other doors won't open. It just makes me wonder if you have an electrical gremlin that is flattening your battery and maybe the door locking is part of it. I would mention this to the dealer so they have all info to hand.
I also wonder if the previous owner has bastardised or broken something to cause your problem.

To help you understand better about resets on the dash etc, I'd advise reading through this whole thread and pay particular attention to page 12 where there's a photoshot from the handbook of possible resets needed.

[Indalo1]

You obviously don't know how your dash cam was wired in, so go ask the person who fitted it.

Your assumption is completely wrong as I was present and discussed the fitting arrangement with the auto electrician who installed it so I know exactly how it is connected.

Apart from that, I wouldn’t dream of trying to teach my granny how to suck eggs. Your unnecessary statement:

Your dash cam either has a capacitor or a very small battery that holds just enough power to finish recording the last event before the ignition was switched off. To record events after that whilst the car ignition is switched off, the dash cam needs to be wired into a permanent live feed otherwise it won't record.

suggests, therefore, that you seem to imagine that I’m unfamiliar with vehicles and all the bits and pieces that make them work, requiring you to put me straight about things, is just sheer arrogance.

Increasingly, I have witnessed in your posts, symptoms of Dunning-Kruger syndrome and while there is help for that, I politely suggest that you just moderate your tone a little. I finally hung up my spanners 21 years ago and ill-health and fading memory mean that I can no longer perform tasks that were meat and drink to me 60 years ago, even 20 years ago. It’s all still in my head but sometimes, it takes a while to locate what I want.

[EJH]

Gentlemen, can I suggest a truce be reached. What with the worlds issues at present, Its fair to say that the Tucson foibles are just not worth falling out for.
It also has to be said, you both have valid points of view for our forum. Cheers both