[Kiesling]

I took two, this one was @ 91%. It was 96% at home but it took it whil at my office a couple of miles away.

If this 91% is what the charge percentage is showing on the dash, then it seems to match pretty closely to the SOC that the Alpha OBD log is reporting (91.76%). So at least at high SOC things look okay. It would be good to get another log at a low SOC - especially if you are only getting 50 to 60 miles out of a full charge. At the low SOC, those failed cells may indicate what is going on. It will also verify if your calibration is still good at low SOC.

 

[Michael91208]

Good idea. I will run it down to 10-15% and get another look at the log.

Thanks for the assist

 

[twinturboz]

I have enjoyed my 2017 fiat for over a year now (purchased used with only 6500miles). I have always registered an 84 mile range after a charge, rain or shine, hot or cold (I live in LA, it doesn’t get cold).

A month ago, the car would only charge to 62 miles and 94%. I tried recalibration the range by running it to zero and recharging, but no change. I took it to the dealer and they reset the range calculation after having it a few days. I picked up the car with a 100 mile range! In the 3.4 mile drive home, I shed 40 miles of range. Full charges sometime hit the 70’s, but actual range never got close to 60 miles.

Back to the dealer where they confirmed the rapid range loss but everything checked out fine. They talked to the fiat engineers, ran more tests and declared that it was perfectly normal.

Today, from a full charge to 2% I managed 52 miles.

So, I went from a rock solid, reliable 84 mile range with AC on in any conditions to barely 60 miles overnight and it’s normal. The car doesn’t yet have 17,000 miles.

Are there any Fiat 500e experts out here that can diagnose a sudden 20+ mile range drop on a car that, according to Fiat, is perfectly fine?

I am more than a little livid.

Lies.... I live in LA county and this is cold.

 

[Michael91208]

You must b in the hills!

To be fair, it “occasionally” dips under 40 in the wee hours and we are in a winter storm advisory right now.

And it’s still 60°!
🥶🥶🥶

 

[twinturboz]

You must b in the hills!

To be fair, it “occasionally” dips under 40 in the wee hours and we are in a winter storm advisory right now.

And it’s still 60°!
🥶🥶🥶

Todays high was 54 where i live. I stopped giving a s**t driving like a Prius owner i mash it all the way 80mph+ to work, my range is crud at 3.4mile/kw but since i plug in once i get to work i stopped caring. Nowadays instead of arriving to work with 69-70% after 34 miles i get to work with 56-57% lol.

 

[Electric Tire Shredder]

Michael:

• Please confirm that your regen shows blue, & negative kW motor power.
• Also check if your A/C pipes are cold (turned on by the POS humidity sensor).

If you take it to low % on the dash, & OBD %SOC reads significantly higher (like 10% or more) you probably should do the full discharge to reset it, because it means the dealer did not complete that process like this:

You discharge the battery to zero in dash, and keep the heat / fan / defroster / high beams running until the 12 V battery voltage drops to 12 something volts (meaning, the DC-DC converter is no longer on and the HV battery is flat)

A few more details (more reading now for less time/work later):

- You can drive around near a charger until the dash % shows as low as you dare. Then drive around VERY rear a charger until it's 1%, check OBD & IF it still shows higher, keep driving in very small circles or back & forth until the dash shows 0% & make sure it still drives, which will confirm the report that even when the dash shows 0%, the motor doesn't stop until OBD hits 0.00%. Then you can drive until OBD is 1% or maybe even 0.5%.

- Reports indicate that when the dash hits 0%, heat & A/C shut off, but you can still crank the fan motor & rear defog.

- Fiat hi-beams use the same power as lo-beams, so lo-beams with fogs on uses more power.

- Before OBD hits 0.00%, the 12V starter battery will show 14.X volts (charging from drive batt). You can monitor either of those two, or both as a double-check: You can stop discharging & start charging when OBD hits 0.00%, shortly after which the 12V starter battery will drop to 12.X volts or lower (stopped charging from the DC-DC converter).

 

[fiatatat]

13.x volts is too high. I had 13.8V when the DC-DC converter was still charging, just before HV battery went flat.

It will be 12.x something when it shuts off, a noticeable drop.

However before attempting this, @Michael91208 should check the OBD log on low charge and see what is happening with the cells that failed the under-voltage test.

 

[Michael91208]

Definitely regen is working, it shows blue in various shades depending upon how much brake I am using and the display goes negative

I do think its a faulty cell issue because nothing else makes sense. Nothing else has changed on the car in terms of how its used or what's on. I did swap the headlights to LED's which helps a LOT. I have to make a run today that will get the battery down to where I can retest it.

 

[Electric Tire Shredder]

"Faulty cell" is only suspect due to voltage difference, but all reports above indicate charging stops before 100.00%, so the cells will not have been balanced ever since that started happening. Others have reported issues like this with aftermarket charge-cords, so I would try topping it off with the OEM cord.

13.x volts is too high. I had 13.8V when the DC-DC converter was still charging, just before HV battery went flat.

Thanks. I edited it back to 12.x since either way it's a stronger confirmation:

Mine always shows over 14V when the HV batt is charging it, & right when I shut it off it shows 13.2 & it takes a while to drop to 12.9, but that would give a stronger confirmation that it has in fact stopped charging.

 

[Electric Tire Shredder]

HV drive BATTERY has an 8-year 100k warranty.

It would not surprise me at all if sudden actual range loss* is due to all these factors adding up:

1. A few cells finally going too far imbalanced due to long-term slight aftermarket charger incompatibility failing to ever balance their voltages.
2. Typical temporary capacity loss due to ambient temperature drop (I read that our batteries are most efficient around 125F).
3. Sudden need for a bit of 6kW cabin heat, with recirculation deactivated by the humidity sensor.
4. Humidity sensor suddenly activating the A/C compressor.

* not just a faulty gauge, which is less likely to be so sudden.

 

[fiatatat]

@Michael91208 any updates on this?

 

[Michael91208]

I spoke with Fiat again after escalating the case, about a 35 minute call. Unless the car is with the dealer for service they can't really do anything. Since the dealer already escalated it and the engineers at Chrysler said it was not "abnormal" based on all the testing they did, the rep said it was unlikely that anything would come of it right now. I am logging the rate of charge and range every morning after its on the charger and tracking trip data per Fiat's recommendation. They said its hard to fix something when they can't find a problem and to wait until it breaks with a bit more certainty.

the range in the morning after a charge is slowly creeping up, now to 77 miles, but have to log that against realized range since the guess-o-meter had been dropping wildly.

So I don't have a substantive solution. Perhaps the cells are starting to balance since I am showing it on the 110V charger now and again.

I will post any changes I see and certainly, as Fiat suggested, when it breaks and leaves me stranded.

🤣

 

[fiatatat]

Did you try to check the OBD at low state of charge?

 

[Electric Tire Shredder]

Right: At low % does OBD show higher than the dash?

Is the OEM cord now charging it to a fully balancing 100%? Has that now made the cell voltages more even?

Have you checked for cold A/C pipes, or does recirculate turn itself off? (either one indicates the humidity sensor is running the compressor, but the sensor is very easy to unplug)

The GUESS-o-meter is very well named, so we really can't use it for anything.

 

[Michael91208]

Yes, that’s when I found a few cells that didn’t pass. Before, it simply listed a range of cells that failed a minimum voltage.
Fiat didn’t seem moved too much by my finding cells that didn’t pass. I will keep tracking it and am leaving my android tablet in the car just for this.
Thanks!

 

[Electric Tire Shredder]

Thanks. IS it finally suddenly charging to 100% now?

Android won't give us dash %, or recirculate deactivation. I don't think it will even give us the % drop per mile. If not, those 4* will unfortunately have to come from physical observation & recording/reporting (you could just report each trip here as a record).

* % at start of drive, % at end of drive, miles driven, recirculate function.

 

[Kiesling]

Yes, that’s when I found a few cells that didn’t pass. Before, it simply listed a range of cells that failed a minimum voltage.
Fiat didn’t seem moved too much by my finding cells that didn’t pass. I will keep tracking it and am leaving my android tablet in the car just for this.
Thanks!

Out of curiosity, could you post an AlphaOBD log with a low SOC?
Thanks!

 

[Michael91208]

Sorry for the delay. The log files appear to over write themselves when uploaded. I will upload another log when I get the SOC down under 20%.

My maximum range on the GOM is currently 77 miles after charging overnight and it seems to be a little less than that IRL according to the miles driven and remaining range, about 65 miles.

 

[Kiesling]

I think the log files might append themselves, with the newest log at the end of the file. At least that is what I recall. . .

 

[Electric Tire Shredder]

Sorry Michael, but your GOM readings don't indicate anything*. We just need 3 simple data points for now:

1) Make sure it's balancing to 100%, or else any OBD voltage discrepancies could just mean it's not balancing.
If you aren't there to check when it stops charging, just unplug/plug to check.

2) Log OBD at low% & make sure to note the car's own % display, so we can see if its gauge is out of calibration.

3)Confirm that recirculate will stay on. If not, it means your humidity sensor is turning on your power-robbing A/C compressor.


* If I drive a fast 10 miles right before topping off, mine reads "80 miles" & then goes over 100 city miles. If I'm caught in slow traffic before topping off it reads "116 miles", which is of course equally meaningless.