I left the air conditioning running as it was soooo hot outside. After only 4 or 5 minutes a yellow warning sign flashed up saying that the high voltage battery was disconnected (i think).
I get that message very soon after going to "on" mode (two presses of the start button without my foot on the brake pedal). Was the air cold? If you weren't in Ready mode (Ready displays in green near the bottom of the instrument LC Display), then it would have just been circulating air that was cooled earlier when driving.
Is this normal? I decided to turn off the car as it worried me a bit. I then restarted the car and took the children for a drive instead. So is it not possible to run the air conditioning whilst stationary?
I'm pretty sure it's fine, no different to waiting a long time at lights or for road works etc, IF you are in Ready mode. In ready mode, the battery contactors are closed, ready for driving off once you are in Drive. The air conditioning compressor is a high power item, so it operates on the main (big) battery, but has to be in Ready mode.
When Ready, the DC-DC converter is also topping up the auxiliary (12V) battery, which runs all the small loads, like lights and the air conditioner blower fan. The ZS is a bit paranoid about not leaving the car in auxiliary or "on" states (one or two presses respectively of the start button without the brake pedal pressed). I found this when mucking about with various apps using the OBD2 port: the car would keep changing to "off" mode after about 5 minutes, presumably to save the auxiliary battery from going flat. My guess is that is similar to what happened to you. If so, the remedy is to go to Ready mode instead.
In short, I think that the message about the HV battery being disconnected is just reminding you that the auxiliary battery isn't being charged.
