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773 Posts
No. Nothing needs to be done. Just disconnect, remove, reconnect.
At least, nothing was needed when I replaced my own.
12v agm battery died
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At least, nothing was needed when I replaced my own.
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761 Posts
We have a 2017, and it's beginning to need some maintaince - change brake fluid, new tires, and now I expect to be replacing the battery. No big deal considering the years of hassle-free service from the car....
My 2017 battery is five years old now since I bought the car new. I know that it's been regularly used and that the car hadn't sat on the dealer lot for ages before I bought it. I do a load test every couple of months watching for signs of an imminent death spiral - so far so good. I keep a 12V Li-Ion jump pack in the car just in case.
Ok, so nothing here was left on. I think maybe because I quickly moved the car only about 20ft and then quickly shut it off and locked something didn't power off-- something stayed energized. In 3 hours it had killed the 12v battery. The 12v battery was recharged and all is well now. Not sure about the killing of a AGM battery is good for it or not but as of now its doing just fine again. Those booster batteries thingys are something I might look into, but where do I keep it in subzero northern climates, the car? and if so which car? My Bolt or Volt... Ha!
I've done a bunch of loading and unloading with the doors open in the last 3 months. During one of my hours long loading sessions, the doors started to randomly lock on me. Since that time, the car has repeatedly locked the doors on me when they're programmed not to. Doesn't always do it. But annoying when it does. Try to make sure I always have my keys with me. With my five year old Bolt's original AGM battery, I'm wondering if this is a symptom of the 12V battery getting weak. Ironically, one of the items I picked up, was a battery tester. But it appears to be broke as the analog panel meter isn't registering.
That means the battery is dead.
Granted, I only tried it on my tractor's 6V battery. But I expected the needle to move a little. Hopefully there's a fuse that can be replaced. Haven't taken the time to diagnose it yet.
That's similar to my incident. I drove the car for about 30 minutes in the morning. When I returned home, I put it in the garage but did not plug it in. When I returned about 5 hours later, the 12V battery was dead. Actually, the first thing I noticed was that the blue accent lights were on as I approached the car. This seemed rather curious. When I tried to turn it on, the power up sequence failed at "conditions not ready to shift" followed by the lights fading away and various fault messages occurring.
I disconnected the -12V connection and reconnected it with much the same results. I then pulled out my meter and the battery was at about 7.6V. Arg... I put it on a charger for a while and the car then powered up normally. I did my own testing and could not see anything wrong. I took it to the dealer, and they repeated checking it out. The only thing they found were numerous codes set that were consistent with a dead battery.
I was at a loss as to what might have run it dead in 5 hours. It's been about 3 months since and all still seems fine. I had planned to run a more extensive load test but I never got around to it. I also started carrying a Lithium-Ion booster battery just in case.
Yup there's an electronic gremlin in thar somewhere. I'll just keep my analog jumper cables nearby.
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8 Posts
No, the vehicle 12V system is not maintained 24/7. If the vehicle sits and is OFF, it is affected by the normal parasitic loads from the on board computers just like an ICE vehicle. The DC to DC converter does not receive high voltage from the drive battery unless the vehicle is in the READY to drive mode. So it cannot maintain the 12V battery if the vehicle remains off for extended periods of time.
You might want to read post #14 above:
12v agm battery died
5 yrs of ownership. 89k miles. Replaced original 12v agm battery this past June-2022. No issues ever with 12v systems. Drove for a few errands around town. Returned home and parked. Moved the car about 10 minutes later to position it out of the way (about 20 ft) to drive my ice vehicle...
www.chevybolt.org
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456 Posts
By any chance: Have either of you replaced the reverse lights with led’s?
Not me.
That's actually not true - the car does do 12V battery maintenance on a periodic schedule, checking its voltage and using the high voltage battery to recharge it through the Auxillary Power Module.
BUT - this is dependent on the high voltage battery being well charged AND it's only done on a preset schedule, it does not react dynamically and extend charging if the 12V battery is not being sufficiently recharged.
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456 Posts
Are you sure? I ask because the main battery solenoid is internal to the battery, so you would hear a substantial click when that happened.
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456 Posts
It's actually the service manual, and the link in my post (#34) which EP questioned points to the same thing.
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3 Posts
2018 bolt, 78k miles, garaged
My second 12v battery died yesterday after 1.5 years in service. A Delco oem battery bought online in 2021, it had a two year warranty.
The auto parts company sent me a return FedEx label and offered to refund.
So, I bought a new diehard ev battery from advance auto. 3 year warranty.
Interesting thing, the dead battery tested good on my battery tester with plenty of cca's.
Yet after I charged it all night it had only a 6v charge.
Chevy bolts seem to eat 12v batteries.
My second 12v battery died yesterday after 1.5 years in service. A Delco oem battery bought online in 2021, it had a two year warranty.
The auto parts company sent me a return FedEx label and offered to refund.
So, I bought a new diehard ev battery from advance auto. 3 year warranty.
Interesting thing, the dead battery tested good on my battery tester with plenty of cca's.
Yet after I charged it all night it had only a 6v charge.
Chevy bolts seem to eat 12v batteries.
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340 Posts
I still think the problem is batteries that ran low while sitting a long time during the stop sale. That would be all or at least most current model Bolts.
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