Got my charging port replaced and now the yellow battery warning finally isn’t random anymore

[Geekice]

So I brought my car to an MG dealer because the charging port LEDs hadn’t been working for months. MG took 3 weeks just to authorize the replacement under warranty (during which the dealer completely stripped down the car, once I went there and the whole rear and back seats were removed). Then they updated every single module of the car (many were already updated by me, but luckily MG doesn’t seem to check if we update on our own with a VNCI). After those 3 weeks, they finally approved the replacement, which arrived the next day, was installed immediately, and the car was returned to me the same afternoon, fully working.

After all those updates, I noticed the yellow battery color on the infotainment now finally makes sense. (I already had R40 installed, so this must depend on some module updated via SIPS.) It only turns yellow when the battery drops below 17% and you get out of the car and lock it. On restart (if below 17%), the color switches to yellow, a new warning pops up saying “low battery level – please recharge,” and the battery icon on the dashboard also turns yellow. While driving, if the battery drops below 17%, I still don’t get any warning until the next restart.

I’ve also noticed that now, as soon as I open the charging port door, I get the HV battery shutdown warning. Before, I would only get it after connecting a CCS plug for DC charging during the handshake. I haven’t tried it yet, but I hope the CCS handshake is faster now, before it could take 2–3 minutes.

 

[siteguru]

My battery icon turns yellow when SoC drops below 10%, and turns red when below 5%. In both cases this happens whilst driving - no need to get out and lock/unlock/open.

 

[tsedge]

I don't think I have ever been below 10%, so mine has always been green.

 

[siteguru]

I don't think I have ever been below 10%, so mine has always been green.

So you've never done a <10% to 100% recalibration charge?

 

[deats01]

So you've never done a <10% to 100% recalibration charge?

What’s a recalibration charge and how often should it be done?

 

[siteguru]

It's a charge as stated, using an AC charge point and it is done (anecdotally) in one complete go - no stops in the middle. The purpose is to recalibrate the BMS so that the GOM (Guess-O-Meter) becomes more accurate.

It should be done at least once a year, preferably once every 6 months.

 

[Rolfe]

I've never seen the red bar, although I've been to 4% a couple of times.

 

[Martinonline]

23 Trophy, info r33, no non-service campaign updates: never seen any colour except green. Been below 10% a number of times.

 

[tsedge]

So you've never done a <10% to 100% recalibration charge?

I've always done it above 10%, eg 11-14%. I don't do everything by the book and I can't be bothered to drive around just to drop the charge to a set level - I don't think 10% is a magic figure, I think the battery just calibrates through the range and arguably going below 10% to calibrate would be even better but I guess they don't want people running out of battery and then complaining.

I have only done that recalibration process 3 or 4 times since I owned the car.

It seems to make no noticeable difference. Normally my range stays above 20% anyway. Might be different on LFP, of course.

 

[Rolfe]

I believe it's held to be more important for LFP, indeed. My GOM is always highly reliable, and I want it to stay that way.

 

[Wizard of Oz]

I've seen a couple of random orange bars, neither of which were below ten percent. Both times, the bar was green again after a brief stop.

 

[Rolfe]

That's the Easter Egg. I had it at 100% once.

 

[tsedge]

I believe it's held to be more important for LFP, indeed. My GOM is always highly reliable, and I want it to stay that way.

Yes, I can see that with the shorter range and needing to run closer to zero charge and the need LFP has for regular balancing and calibration, it is more important.

I have kind of let go of most of these practices with my LR car and just use it as I feel like. I don't need a perfectly accurate GOM as I very rarely go below 20% anyway and I have a good feel of the range available / when to charge.

I haven't noticed any particular loss of accuracy or range, but then I generally don't look at the GOM, just keep an eye on the SOC - plus NMC likes lots of small top up charges so a lot of the time it runs between 50-80% as I plug in every other day or so.

I suppose what I have noticed is that different MG EVs and different battery chemistries can behave quite differently, so advice for one type doesn't necessarily translate to all others.

Anyway, it remains true that I don't need the range of the LR and if they'd only let me have a SR Trophy model, that would have been ideal!

 

[Rolfe]

They do behave differently. I think it's probably a good idea to do a long charge maybe every year though, regardless of the chemistry.

I actually like the SE and could have been interested in an SE X-Power or ER!