Bizarre low battery issue

[david.stark]

Noticed that the car was locked today but that the immobiliser light was not flashing.

Opened the car and the interior lights did NOT illuminate. Fired the car up just fine and left it a minute. Switched engine off and discovered a message on the radio display that said 12v battery is low.

Now, the rear facing dashcam has its own built in battery which is charged on the move and works on a motion sensor when the engine is off.

The front facing camera works off the car battery but is programmed to power down when the charge drops to a certain level.

The car was last used yesterday evening for a short drive to the chippy and no such messages. I’ve left the car without use for longer periods than this and no such problems.

I can confirm that the interior lights were all off and the headlights were in the auto position. I’m sat in the car now and engine running in a bid to rectify this.

Any thoughts?

[david.stark]

I’ve been sat in the car for about 20 minutes until full temperature reached and the error has cleared and immobiliser activated again. I’ve also adjusted the settings on the front camera so that it cuts off earlier.

I’ll keep an eye on this...

[RUM4MO]

Hum, this might be a situation where having smart and regenerative charging is causing owners who have fitted aftermarket ancillaries issues, all in the name of reducing emissions.

Altering some of the programmed parameters in the car's controller could reduce this effect - but leave the emissions being a bit higher, so I'd doubt if your VW dealer would alter these programmed values.

[monkeyhanger]

What setting do you have for dashcam power cut-off? For most it is recommended to be set to a minimum voltage of 12.1v which doesn't leave much time at all when parked up in the colder months.

[david.stark]

What setting do you have for dashcam power cut-off? For most it is recommended to be set to a minimum voltage of 12.1v which doesn't leave much time at all when parked up in the colder months.

Good point. It was set to 11.6v cut off but I’ve upped it to
12v just to see if it occurs again. It was frosty overnight before it occurred.

[Dark_cze]

Almost depletet battery should have around 11.5V. Iam not sure if that is 100% true

[RUM4MO]

Almost depletet battery should have around 11.5V. Iam not sure if that is 100% true

And a very good reason for the red flashing light to go off!