I have been photographing barn owls under license for the past 6 months using my Yeti as a hide.

 

whilst sat in it last night with the radio on and the ignition switched off -  the warning   "switch engine on"   flashed up on the maxi dot - never noticed it before.

 

Has anyone seen this ? and what does it mean ?

 

 

Regards

 

Mike

 

 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/55985722@N08/

My guess would be a low voltage warning - mine simply switches everything off to avoid a battery too low in voltage to restart.

Some exceptional photos there Mike!

My Yeti allows the the radio to run with the ignition off for 30 mins before that message appears, then automatically switches the radio off after another 15 secs.

My Yeti allows the the radio to run with the ignition off for 30 mins before that message appears, then automatically switches the radio off after another 15 secs.

Yes I have noticed that

 

My guess would be a low voltage warning - mine simply switches everything off to avoid a battery too low in voltage to restart.

 

That had occured to me but wasn't sure

Some exceptional photos there Mike!

Thank you

It's been a common feature on many/all cars for many years I think.

Shouldn't be allowed - making people waste all their spare time looking through dozens and dozens of brilliant photos!! Bet you've spent more than a couple of quid on your photo equipment 

 

I came back off holiday recently to a totally flat battery. Charged it up again and it's been OK ever since. I decided in the end that it was my dash cam that had caused it. Although it was switched off at the camera it must still have been drawing power through the 'cigarette lighter socket' (for want of a better term) which is a pain being always live.

 

At least for you, the car was preventing battery drainage to the point of not being able to re-start. Good to know it does that although I haven't experienced it yet.

Love the Hoopoe, I saw one in the UK 50 odd years ago,

and one in Spain.

My guess would be a low voltage warning - mine simply switches everything off to avoid a battery too low in voltage to restart.

 

Correct!!

Had it a few times when my battery was going and I was doing radio on a rally.

Goes with a "BONG" noise when you open the door.

Shouldn't be allowed - making people waste all their spare time looking through dozens and dozens of brilliant photos!! Bet you've spent more than a couple of quid on your photo equipment 

 

I came back off holiday recently to a totally flat battery. Charged it up again and it's been OK ever since. I decided in the end that it was my dash cam that had caused it. Although it was switched off at the camera it must still have been drawing power through the 'cigarette lighter socket' (for want of a better term) which is a pain being always live.

 

At least for you, the car was preventing battery drainage to the point of not being able to re-start. Good to know it does that although I haven't experienced it yet.

 

Even if the camera is OFF the charger is still taking the 12v supply and reducing it to 5v.

The answer is to unplug everything.

And a solution is to fit an additional battery (or an upgraded one)

and a switch over system and continue using the vehicle as you want, even come winter time.

 

As done by some 4x4 Responders , Motorsport Marshals etc.

Even if the camera is OFF the charger is still taking the 12v supply and reducing it to 5v.

The answer is to unplug everything.

Yeh.... know that now -hohum.

I will be delving deeper into how much power a 12v to 5v adapter uses when not connected to anything or something switched off.

Apart from parasitic losses if there is no output there will be next to no input draining the battery from such adapter.

I would have thought a car battery in good condition would run a radio for at least a week so why it's putting up that warning after 30 mins seems strange.

When fitting a towbar 4 yrs ago to the 1st car had the radio playing, flattened the battery(ostensibly new) in about 2.5 hours as I recall!

I would have thought a car battery in good condition would run a radio for at least a week so why it's putting up that warning after 30 mins seems strange.

It isn't just the radio that's running, all the cars control units are awake awaiting to respond to a command.

You want to own a Merc, I know of 2 that eat batteries because of their electronic systems running when the ignition is OFF.

I read somewhere that some high end BMWs have a new battery fitted annually due to voltage issues making their vehicles unreliable beyond one year!!

Of course if you can afford servicing it's probably not that much and may ONLY add 10% to servicing costs, if you're lucky.

Since the inception of alternators being fitted in place of dynamos their increased efficiency has encouraged manufacture to fit smaller batteries. Nowadays there is little spare capacity as in previous as smaller battery equals less weight so is attractive in these days of increasing emmision controls.

 

Fred

While away on holidays for the month of June my Yeti's battery voltage dropped by only 0.4 of a volt, because I used a 2.4W solar panel maintenance charger, which can either be connected to the battery with alligator clamps or fed via the power socket (cigarette lighter). I was very happy to find how well this solar trickle maintenance charger performed. I bought two; one for each vehicle when on special for A$26 instead of A$32. The battery on my other vehicle had lost 0.9 of a volt.

 

I've just checked the U.K ebay site and find they are a tad more expensive in the U.K.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=solar+charger&_osacat=9800&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.X2.4W+solar+charger.TRS0&_nkw=2.4W+solar+charger&_sacat=9800

 

Happy motoring,

Banjobach