We have a Kodiaq which is a couple of months old. My wife went to Bath (110 miles away) and parked the car overnight in the hotel car park. First thing in the morning she started it, moved it forward an inch to open the tail gate to get something out and then closed the car. She locked it. 6 hours later the battery was flat. AA man got the car going and the battery was fine but we do not trust that the problem will not recur. Back to dealer for 2 day check. There were no alarm messages or any faults logged. No evidence of tampering.

Incidentally and coincidentally I could not get into skoda connect nor could my wife though she can now as main user. (Problem, skoda working on it)

How can a car almost fully discharge its new and healthy battery in 6 hours when it is locked up and closed down? AA man (who has a Kodiaq!) suggested something did not shutdown properly but what? Fear it will happen again unless an explanation is found. Anyone with similar experiences?

I can't really help and I hope your dealer finds the cause of the problem.

I had to jump start my Kodiaq a couple of times during lockdown, but that was due to lack of use. I do note however that modern batteries seem to run down faster than they did in days of yore. Your car is using power all of the time e.g. for the alarm system.

Do you have a dash cam ? They shouldn't flatten the battery overnight, but they will flatten an already depleted battery if connected to a permanent live feed.

Try rebooting your infotainment system. If something is sticking, a reboot might free it up. To reboot, keep your finger on the on/off icon until you hear a loud pop (could be 20 secs or more). This won't do any damage or reset any parameters that you've personalised.

 

Just thoughts - good luck.

 

46 minutes ago, Practicaldriver said:

something did not shutdown properly

No idea. It would help if you listed all permanent consumers fitted to this vehicle, things like PratNav, dash cams, alarm systems, stereos where you rely on the ignition switch...

There are no consumer items added to the car other than those supplied as standard by Skoda. I have to trust the dealer to find the problem or cause but I know as a former electrician intermittent faults are the worst to identify. This scenario is no different from any other so why it should happen on one particular day I do not know.

Possibly the tailgate was not properly closed?

 

I cannot explain why that may have caused the discharge other than the interior lights being on but my vehicles body control module sensibly shuts them down after 30 minutes or so, given all the rubbish software on newer vehicles its quite possible that common sense has been thrown out like the baby with the bathwater.

 

I understand your fear that it might recur and desire for an explanation, I totally get that and am the same way myself, I would take a battery voltage reading, partially close the tailgate & try locking the vehicle to see what happens then after 6 hours test the voltage again, you might be lucky (unlucky?) and see that the interior lights remain on, I suspect its the canbus systems not going into sleep mode due to the anomoly.

Apparently, when the car was left the Nextbase dashcam was left running - it is connected to the 12V supply (the old cigar socket!). Duff gen from my wife.

Our excellent local dealer has carried out all the tests over 24 hours and even checked the battery and has found nothing wrong. The battery is fine. They suggested the dashcam drained the battery. However, the battery is new, had been fully charged on a long run down to Bath and the dash cam takes just 200mA. The car when standing alone without the dash cam takes 200mA. Therefore, a sound 70Ah 12V battery supplying 400mA should therefore last 175 hours before discharging. Unless something else happened.

Of note, the car logs battery output and going through the log, the battery was fine until the very moment my wife tried to start it!

It is all rather odd. (Note we regularly run a cool box and/or dash cam for longer periods and have never had a problem with the battery and as I said, the sums do not add up.)

We will keep our fingers crossed. Thanks for the responses.

Edited 6 December, 20214 yr by Practicaldriver
Pressed enter by mistake.

Glad you got it sorted, quite often the current draw sums don't add up with aftermarket accessories i.e dash cams. They do seem to be a common cause of unwanted and unexpected battery drain issues. One to watch I guess.

 

Might be worth considering a hard wire set-up, relatively simple to do if you've got a few hours to spare using a few cheap and easily sourced parts. Take a look at this guide in case it might be of help...

 

 

You can also power a dashcam from a usb c socket. This has the advantage that it switches off shortly after the ignition is switched off. The downside is that on mine (a Mio), when connected it tries to connect data from the camera to the car. The way I got round this was a short data blocking usb cable, which sorted the issue.

Worth noting that with modern smart alternator/ micro hybrid charging systems, the battery is normally only charged to around 80% to allow space for the alternator to dump charge on the overrun.

2 hours ago, Practicaldriver said:

The car when standing alone without the dash cam takes 200mA. Therefore, a sound 70Ah 12V battery supplying 400mA should therefore last 175 hours before discharging.

 

The vehicle will consume less than 30ma, probably less than 20ma once it has gone into sleep mode.

 

What probably happened is that the current drawn by the dashcam prevented the other systems from shutting down and the current draw would have been even more than you think.

 

You cannot use the entire theoretical battery ampere hour capacity, using only 15-20% of it will drop the voltage so low (10.5v) that if the vehicle were even to start (unlikely) the battery would be permanently damaged.

 

I thought you said there were no accessories on the vehicle?

 

Glad that you got to the bottom of it though.

 

 

2 hours ago, Routemaster1461 said:

You can also power a dashcam from a usb c socket. This has the advantage that it switches off shortly after the ignition is switched off. The downside is that on mine (a Mio), when connected it tries to connect data from the camera to the car. The way I got round this was a short data blocking usb cable, which sorted the issue.

 

For what it's worth... anyone who is ordering a new Kodiaq (or other car that has the option) and wants to use a dash cam really should get the USB-C socket in the mirror housing. It's charge only, ignition switched, and solves all these issues and more in one go. Can't recommend it enough.

 

Now they just need to provide a similar socket at the top of the tailgate for rear cameras...

Does beg a question. You go going a walking trip and take a packed lunch in a cool box. Can you leave the cool box running for 3 hours say without fattening the battery?

There is supposedly an inbuilt voltage meter, once the battery level reaches a certain threshold power to the internal 12V sockets is removed, the idea being sufficient charge is left in the battery to allow the engine to be started.

 

Although as others have experienced it either isn't true, doesn't work or isn't built into all versions of the Kodiaq.

On 06/12/2021 at 19:10, J.R. said:

 

The vehicle will consume less than 30ma, probably less than 20ma once it has gone into sleep mode.

 

What probably happened is that the current drawn by the dashcam prevented the other systems from shutting down and the current draw would have been even more than you think.

 

You cannot use the entire theoretical battery ampere hour capacity, using only 15-20% of it will drop the voltage so low (10.5v) that if the vehicle were even to start (unlikely) the battery would be permanently damaged.

 

I thought you said there were no accessories on the vehicle?

 

Glad that you got to the bottom of it though.

 

 

^^^^ 2nd this.

Mrs PD decided to order Nextbase Dash Cam. Top of range, fitted by dealer. What management decrees, you shall follow. Works brilliantly. Delighted with it she was. Except....

I too drive the car and when the car recognises my key (another subject I posted on) I would like to think I can connect to the dash cam with my phone as opposed to my wife's as she is not around. Apparently you cannot even though blurb and manual suggests you can. It is incredible how many manufacturers of cars and no dash cams assume the principle user is the only user and make it impossible for the second user to take advantage of the benefits available to the main or primary user. 

So if ever you want to have professionally fitted a dash cam to avoid possible battery drain, you may wish to widen your research to check that second users i.e. second drivers, have ready access to the dashcam. Check that you can actually pair multiple phones.

58 minutes ago, Practicaldriver said:

So if ever you want to have professionally fitted a dash cam to avoid possible battery drain

 

Or, dare I say it again, specify the USB-C port in the mirror housing and just plug it in yourself. Not an option for an existing car, obviously!

 

As for dash cams that support multiple phones - Garmin. Also better than Nextbase for many other reasons IMHO.

I blame the missus! I have read that Nextbase have licensing issues preventing multiple phone use, some thing to do with Alexa?

Just out of curiosity, what is behind the need to connect your phone to the dash cam?

 

Mine records whilst driving, and in the event I need the footage I pop out the SD card to take inside.

 

Do some dash cams allow you to view the files directly on your phone?

8 minutes ago, silver1011 said:

Just out of curiosity, what is behind the need to connect your phone to the dash cam?

 

Mine records whilst driving, and in the event I need the footage I pop out the SD card to take inside.

 

Do some dash cams allow you to view the files directly on your phone?

Yes. I've got a Nextbase 512gw (current version would be the 522gw) which has its own WiFi capability; I can view all the footage, delete and download from my phone via the Cam Viewer app without the need to remove the SD card

Handy, thanks 👍

6 hours ago, silver1011 said:

Do some dash cams allow you to view the files directly on your phone?

Yes… but in the case of my Garmin cams, I still take the SD card out (or plug the entire cam into my laptop) as transfer to the app is painfully slow.