MG ZS EV 12V Battery

Tom Hartley

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MGZSEV now 4 years old and a message`, "12V battery charge may be limited please start vehicle" has appeared when the drivers door and boot are open before the vehicle.

When the car is started the dash information indicates that battery is three quarters full just as it always has been.

Nothing new has been added to the vehicle in the last year that might drain the 12V battery, Is it just a sign that the 12V battery is on the way out?
 
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When the car is started the dash information indicates that battery is three quarters full just as it always has been.
Where on the dash are you seeing 'three quarters full' for the 12V battery.

It shows the current present voltage from what I can remember...
 
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It should show about 14.5v when running, and 13v when not running.
I would suggest Tom's battery probably is on the way out.
 
To see the actual voltage, start the car without pressing the brake - this will show the battery without the high voltage battery charging it.
 
12v Batt indicate.jpg
Batt Warn.jpg
 
This is the ready mode - if you just press the START button and don’t put your foot on the brake, you go into ‘Accessory’ mode and you’ll see a lower charge state for the 12V - if it’s complaint, it’ll usually not go past 12…
Other than that, you could always pop the bonnet and stick a meter on the battery connections and read the DC voltage…
 
Rather a bit of a puzzle as in my opening text : ...... "please start vehicle" has appeared when the drivers door and boot are open . The second photo shows what appeared before the start button had been touched.
 
I have found the gets confused if you try to drive with the driver door open, or even not closed properly. But try what Spineynorman suggests. In accessory mode, if the battery voltage is below 13V; that sounds like a poor battery.
 
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MG do fit a small battery in the ZS. Mine died 2 weeks ago and had to buy a replacement. I have the face-lift ZS. The original battery lasted 2.5 years since ownership and I've covered 21k miles. I got the battery alert for about 2 weeks and then finally died.
 
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Nothing new has been added to the vehicle in the last year that might drain the 12V battery, Is it just a sign that the 12V battery is on the way out?
Quite probably. Four years plus an unknown time in storage (2020 was the height of COVID after all) is a reasonable lifespan for a "nothing special" lead acid battery. In winter, lead acid batteries perform less well, and are more likely to die in winter. Though this is more visible with ICE cars, as cranking a cold engine is harder, and cranking is a very heavy electrical load to start with.

On top of that, I have a suspicion that the Mark 1 (pre facelift) ZS EVs don't charge the 12 V automatically when it gets low in voltage (and hence charge).

Your photo shows the auxiliary (12V) battery between 13 and 14 volts (it's an incredibly crude "voltmeter"). That says nothing at all about the health of the battery. The DC-DC can slam well over 100 amps into the auxiliary battery (needed for some 12 V loads like power steering), so even the strongest battery will jump up to this voltage range immediately. Weaker batteries will change voltage (under more moderate charge current or under load) more quickly.

You can get a feel for the state of health (SoH) of the auxiliary battery by letting it stand with no load (preferably remove a battery cable to ensure this) for at least an hour, then note the resting voltage with a multimeter. A good battery will measure about 12.6 V or higher (assuming it's been fully charged). A very poor battery might drop below about 12.0 V due to self-discharge.

You might get a few months more life out of it by giving it a good (e.g. overnight) charge from an ordinary 12 V car battery charger. Being winter, you might not be using the car as much, so it might just not be recharging fully on each drive, and as I said I suspect that it's never charging the 12 V battery unless the car is in ready mode, or the main battery is being charged (this will also charge the 12 V battery).
 
Thank you for your comprehensive comments.
I had the 12V battery tested by an independent electrician without cost .... it read 12.6 which increased after a 1.5 mile drive.
The car hopefully lives another day without spending .... a national supplier with a local outlet quoted £238 for a replacement battery.
Many thanks.
 
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Thank you for your comprehensive comments.
I had the 12V battery tested by an independent electrician without cost .... it read 12.6 which increased after a 1.5 mile drive.
The car hopefully lives another day without spending .... a national supplier with a local outlet quoted £238 for a replacement battery.
Many thanks.
Honestly, get a Yuasa battery from Halfords a 16 pound for a set of tools. Takes 5 mins to replace the battery yourself. I'm not expert and a short youtube video explained the process. It will cost you half the quote you got
 
Thank you apzs .

Halfords site for the appropriate battery showed:

Without fitting
£166.99
£30 more with fitting

So at least a bit of a saving if needed.
 
Thank you apzs .

Halfords site for the appropriate battery showed:

Without fitting
£166.99
£30 more with fitting

So at least a bit of a saving if needed.
Ahh my bad. I got mine in the black Friday sale so it was closer to 110 workout fitting
 
I recently had the same low voltage message come up on my car (also 4 years old) A search for a replacement battery using the reg no. came up with AGM batteries with stop/start capabilities whereas the original is the basic lead acid type.

The replacement lead/acid type that I fitted cost around £50 from Tanya Batteries and is working well in that the message np longer comes up (the resting voltage on the old battery was 12.1V so well past it's sell-by date1)

More info in this thread:
12 volt battery replacement query
 
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Thanks Steptoe.
I went on the Tanya site and the cheapest appropriate battery for my ZS Exclusive was a Powerline at £90.17.

 
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