Pre-conditioning was interrupted.....

[Philip Fisher]

So, first frosty morning of the season.

Remembered to trigger the parking climate from my phone, hoping to defrost the car and feel very warm and smug infront of the neighbours.

It ran for about 2 mins and then gave the error "Pre-conditioning was interrupted to preserve a high battery charge level".

So I had to go and find the ice scraper in the garage and do it the old school way.

Any ideas? My 400v battery was quite low (in fact the engine started to reverse the car on the drive last night which is unusual) so I think it was very low, could this be why? Or any other reason?

Cheers

[neon]

Originally Posted by Philip Fisher

So, first frosty morning of the season.

Remembered to trigger the parking climate from my phone, hoping to defrost the car and feel very warm and smug infront of the neighbours.

It ran for about 2 mins and then gave the error "Pre-conditioning was interrupted to preserve a high battery charge level".

So I had to go and find the ice scraper in the garage and do it the old school way.

Any ideas? My 400v battery was quite low (in fact the engine started to reverse the car on the drive last night which is unusual) so I think it was very low, could this be why? Or any other reason?

Cheers

I think that low battery or low fuel levels can cause it not to operate. Also parking on a hill with the front facing up. For the D5 anyway, not sure about T8.

[Lexman8]

Originally Posted by Philip Fisher

Any ideas? My 400v battery was quite low (in fact the engine started to reverse the car on the drive last night which is unusual) so I think it was very low, could this be why? Or any other reason?

Yes, a low battery will prevent/stop pre-conditioning. I've had it switch off early because the fuel level fell too low.

You should see a message on the driver display (attached) but I don't know how long it remains visible.
_

[Philip Fisher]

I will try to keep more in the 400v battery tonight and see if it works tomorrow morning

[Considered1]

If you have the car plugged in overnight and the pre-conditioning set for a certain time in the morning and assuming it charges up overnight ie before warming the car for you would it automatically top up the charge again so that you always drive off with full charge..

[Philip Fisher]

I tried this over last two days.

First time I kept about 1/3rd in in the 400v battery. Parking climate worked fine.

Last night I kept just a little, maybe 1/16th in the 400v battery. Worked fine also.

It hasn't been quite as cold on these two occasions, but I can only assume that on the occasion of the fault I had drained the 400v battery to be just too low.

[aab203]

Originally Posted by Philip Fisher

I tried this over last two days.

First time I kept about 1/3rd in in the 400v battery. Parking climate worked fine.

Last night I kept just a little, maybe 1/16th in the 400v battery. Worked fine also.

It hasn't been quite as cold on these two occasions, but I can only assume that on the occasion of the fault I had drained the 400v battery to be just too low.

Sorry if this is a silly question but what do you mean by "I kept about xxx in in the 400v battery"? How do you control charge levels?

[Philip Fisher]

Originally Posted by aab203

Sorry if this is a silly question but what do you mean by "I kept about xxx in in the 400v battery"? How do you control charge levels?

The car usually ends a normal journey with a bit in the battery. The night before it failed I had done lots of very low speed manouvering. In these circumstances the car allowed the battery to drain to a lower level and then pre-conditioning failed the next day.

You can control how much is left by using the charge and hold tabs in the sensus screen. If you run in Hybrid all the time and do normal journeys it usually leaves something like 1/16 in the battery on turning off. If you run in pure it will pretty much suck the battery dry before starting the engine. In this circumstance I reckon pre-conditioning will then fail the next morning.

[aab203]

Thanks - and is this battery different to the 'main' battery, or are they one and the same thing?

If you leave the car plugged in overnight, wouldn't all the batteries get charged up sufficiently before the morning / time to start pre-conditioning the car?

[Philip Fisher]

Originally Posted by aab203

Thanks - and is this battery different to the 'main' battery, or are they one and the same thing?

If you leave the car plugged in overnight, wouldn't all the batteries get charged up sufficiently before the morning / time to start pre-conditioning the car?

The car has a normal 12v battery and a 400v "traction" battery. The 12v ones runs the systems and the 400v one powers the wheels. It is my understanding that a flat 400v battery means pre-conditioning wont work.

yes, plug it in and it will be full in the morning, but I don't plug it in at night....