Heuer

A 12V battery will have around 12.6V when fully charged. It needs to drop down to around 10.5 volts to be considered fully discharged. If it drops down below that, the battery will become damaged due to excessive sulfation. So 11.4V is not a problem.

All measurements taken from outside the locked car. The SoC on the BM200 is a calculation based on voltage and battery temp (the device is stuck to the top of the battery with doubled sided tape) so not convinced it is accurate. I checked the voltage with a Fluke test meter and it corresponds with the BM200. Only downside to the device is it makes you slightly paranoid as I never worried before 😱

Not sure about that. I have left the LBX on the drive in 'ready' mode for an hour and it has taken the SoC from 21% to 98%.

Another measurement from the BM200. Put the LBX in the garage on Monday in anticipation of a cold and snowy few days. This morning I saw the lowest voltage reading so far: Car started without problem so these batteries must be pretty resilient!

The 12V battery is a 100 year+ legacy from ICE cars and manufacturers are now adopting 48V systems for ancillaries as it means the cables can be thinner and lighter so big cost and weight savings. They will still need a 'starter' battery though.

All hybrids and EV's use a 12V battery: "It’s worth noting that the 12-volt batteries used for EVs have a lower output than those used to start combustion engines. When cranking a combustion engine, the battery needs to provide a burst of power quickly—between 200 and 600 amps—while in an EV, the requirement is many times lower. EVs use their DC-to-DC converter to step down the voltage to 12 volts to power all auxiliary systems without passing the current through the 12-volt battery. The most important function served by the 12-volt battery in these vehicles is to wake them up and keep some systems online while the vehicle is off. What the 12-volt battery is used for and when it’s used varies from EV to EV. When an electric vehicle is turned off, its traction battery is disconnected from its electrical system using special contactors, which are electronically controlled switches. The 12-volt system also powers these in an EV, and the battery needs to be disconnected to prevent power leakage through the system as well as to make EVs safer when parked by having its high-voltage system de-energized. It therefore needs an additional power source for the electrical contactors that connect the traction battery and turn on the EV. That’s where the 12-volt battery comes in, and in this role, it performs a task similar to providing power for an ICE car’s electrical starter."

Having recently fitted the BM200 battery monitor I took the car for a good run and then left it for 5 days. These are the reported results: later: I am not sure the State of Charge measure is correct for a hybrid, the voltage appears to be key. At no time has the voltage dipped below 12V and the LBX starts without problem. Car first registered March 2024 and now has 4,014 miles on the clock.

You need to hold it in the middle of each seat. If you lift the squab up you can run your finger along to find the clip. Do not try lifting at a point any distance from it as the seat will just flex. Once you have the correct position just give it a sharp tug. It is a metal in nylon plug/socket so nothing you can damage really.

Yes, there is certainly a continuous bonging when my wife takes the keys to open the house whilst I park. Never really noticed a visual warning but I guess there will be

Some additional points to help: 1. Prop up seat squab with a piece of wood to give you plenty of room to work 2. There is a felt covering over the battery with white retainers holding it in place. Use a sharp knife to pull the centre plug out which will allow you to remove the retainer. Only need to remove two 3. For better access remove the lower plastic panel held on by two black retainers. Again lift out their centres before removing them entirely. 4. Disconnect the -ve battery cable using a 10mm socket 5. There is a red plastic cap over the +ve terminal. Remove by squeezing the hinge end plastic tabs to release the hinge pins - it is a bit of a bugger to get out. 6. I found the best connection to be via the larger 14mm (IIRC) nuts on each wiring assembly rather than the smaller 10mm nuts used to secure the clamps to the battery posts. 7. Refit in reverse order, connecting the -ve last. Job takes about an hour. In my case I fitted the Ancel BM200 battery monitor (£16.19 off eBay). First test showed battery at 12.13V and 30% charge but car started several times no problem. I left the car in Ready mode for 45 minutes and it showed the battery at 12.31V and 95% charge: I should add we have never had any starting issues with the car even after a two week stay at an airport in October. Only did this for a bit of fun and interest

Pull up front edge of rear seat - there are two clips retaining it and they are quite stiff. You can remove the squab completely by pushing the rear of the squab over the two rear retaining hooks or just angle it upwards and use a suitable sized prop to hold it. Front of squab retaining piece (one on each side): Front retaining socket: Rear hook and loop:

Plus two at the rear, charging only. Can't have been too much work or expense to make both front USB-C sockets for data! I bought a s/h 32Gb iPod Touch 8th Gen off eBay and connected it to the LBX via Bluetooth. I have it in the central arm rest storage with a cable running back to one of the rear USB-C sockets to keep it charged. Works flawlessly and picks up from the track playing when I turned the car off. This leaves the front media USB free to connect my phone for Android Auto or high quality playback from stored files. Bluetooth on the LBX is limited to 320kbps - thanks Apple!

If you are having difficulty with FAT32 formatting try downloading Rufus (free) and use it to format FAT32: https://rufus.ie/en/

The Lithium drop in lead/acid replacements have onboard battery management so appear to the car as standard. They are becoming popular replacements and cost about £100.

Given the dealers seem to attribute the bad battery problem as "user error" or "no fault found" I think they will look for any excuse to blame the owner for fitting a 'bigger' one regardless of the fault! Not sure I want to take the chance. Having said that there are now replacement Lithium 12v batteries which are light and small. Should be able to get a 60aH in there.