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Ubique
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Some are permanently live some not, some have voltage monitoring, some have a 20min timer, some stay on until a door is opened or the car is locked but a Ford KA 16MY is a fairly simple beast and should be directly switched by the BCM. Generally, the larger cars with bigger batteries tend to leave the accessory sockets on for longer, not always - there is no hard & fast functionality across manufacturers, and if the car has been previously owned, then a relay may have been bridged, CCF edited or wiring hacked around to give the previous owner the functionality they wanted.
Very old cars generally had the 'cigar lighter' sockets permanently powered so they could be used without having to start the engine, this was before the proliferation of electrical accessories designed to use the socket and it's main purpose was to light your cigar or cigarette...
Very old cars generally had the 'cigar lighter' sockets permanently powered so they could be used without having to start the engine, this was before the proliferation of electrical accessories designed to use the socket and it's main purpose was to light your cigar or cigarette...
Having the accessory socket permanently live means someone can sit in their car charging their mobile phone, or whatever, without having to turn on the ignition, or run the engine.
It also means the risk of needing a jump start increases, which then impacts on the manufacturer's breakdown figures/customer perception, which is why lots of 12V sockets are now switched.
dobbslc
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My Combo van has a cigarette lighter that will stay on for about 15 minutes then turns off with a warning on the display saying something like function disabled for environmental reasons so I then have to turn the diesel engine on to get more power for my work gear
Still it's not my DPF ....
That's just rubbish French battery management.My Combo van has a cigarette lighter that will stay on for about 15 minutes then turns off with a warning on the display saying something like function disabled for environmental reasons so I then have to turn the diesel engine on to get more power for my work gear
Still it's not my DPF ....
Just wait until you breakdown with the windows down and the vehicle goes into battery saving mode
Morrisman
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My mates EV had an electrical hiccup a few weeks ago, windows started opening and closing at random. Eventually ended up with passenger side window wide open, on the M1, when it was 2°c and he had 80 miles to drive home….That's just rubbish French battery management.
Just wait until you breakdown with the windows down and the vehicle goes into battery saving mode
dobbslc
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That's just rubbish French battery management.
Just wait until you breakdown with the windows down and the vehicle goes into battery saving mode
My colleague has a 2024 Peugeot variant and yesterday it wouldn't start until he completed an update!
It took 11 minutes! What if he needed to get to hospital or something?
Fxxxxing ridiculous situation.
Ubique
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What if they're not?
'What if's' are usually a mind game, rather than a reality. At least he didn't say it 'literally wouldn't start'....
There's usually an option to defer the updates unless deemed to be safety related (not withstanding an unscheduled need to use the car to escape an axe murderer / hormonal partner or get to hospital) and even safety related updates have some form of warning before accepting the download.
'What if's' are usually a mind game, rather than a reality. At least he didn't say it 'literally wouldn't start'....
There's usually an option to defer the updates unless deemed to be safety related (not withstanding an unscheduled need to use the car to escape an axe murderer / hormonal partner or get to hospital) and even safety related updates have some form of warning before accepting the download.
dobbslc
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But it didn't, for 11 minutes
Stellantis OTA update system is rubbish.
They will download an update, then update whenever it sees fits, unlike other manufacturers where you can set what time any updates should be applied (usually defaults to the early hours), trigger them manually when convenient, and/or at least get some kind of warning an update is going to be applied.
Ubique
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That sounds.... irritating, I mean what if you literally had to use the car?
Thankfully, I've not had much to do with Stellantis-era products, M-B dealers have to wrestle with Geely produced 'Smart' cars, the diagnostics are (very loosely) based on Volvo Vida software, when I was there it took three attempts to get tow electrics working, which should have been a simple config. change. We ended up having to wait for a new lighting module on a (very) slow boat from China, Why someone wanted a tow kit is another imponderable question...
Thankfully, I've not had much to do with Stellantis-era products, M-B dealers have to wrestle with Geely produced 'Smart' cars, the diagnostics are (very loosely) based on Volvo Vida software, when I was there it took three attempts to get tow electrics working, which should have been a simple config. change. We ended up having to wait for a new lighting module on a (very) slow boat from China, Why someone wanted a tow kit is another imponderable question...
