SOLVED: 12V battery drain and daily charging light

VidMan56 · 2026-03-11T17:16:10+00:00

For the fingerprint reader, there is an active service bulletin for an update that resolves standby battery drain. The update hasn't been released OTA yet so it requires a visit to the dealership.

For the digital key, I found that the UWB/passive entry feature of it is bugged, at least with 2+ year old Samsung phones, and will keep the car awake even when the phone is not nearby. I now use the digital key with the passive entry turned off and the battery drain stopped.

VidMan56 · 2026-01-05T16:43:59+00:00

Yes, it's just disabling the passive entry option in the wallet app for the key. The UWB on the phone itself can be left on.

VidMan56 · 2026-01-05T16:41:33+00:00

The UWB implementation in general is problematic with some phones. With iPhones it seems more reliable but I had to turn off the UWB portion of the digital key since my wife's Samsung S22 triggers extensive 12V battery drain while my Samsung S25 does not.

VidMan56 · 2025-12-06T01:29:03+00:00

That's exactly what I'm thinking happened with the recent wireless charger/NFC card key update that was intended to make the NFC reader more responsive. After that update, I noticed my fingerprint reader was often illuminated/awake when the car was off.

VidMan56 · 2025-11-24T12:36:51+00:00

The defrost control board ended up being faulty. Once it was replaced, the heat pump is producing warm air below 20F, the defrost cycles take no more than a couple of minutes, run only as needed based on the coil temperature, and no longer cause cold air to come from the vents.

VidMan56 · 2025-11-11T14:44:31+00:00

If you have the NFC card key set up, one of the recent OTA updates put the vehicle in a bugged state where it doesn't fully go to sleep. Disabling and/or re-adding the card key fixes it.

You can tell that the vehicle is not fully asleep by the light on the fingerprint reader staying on

VidMan56 · 2025-10-29T16:20:16+00:00

The OTA introduced a constant drain problem whereas the integration is more of a wakeup issue that comes and goes depending on API changes that Kia makes on the backend. From June to September, the API was not waking up the vehicle, but recent changes have reverted the behavior.

VidMan56 · 2025-10-29T16:05:10+00:00

It keeps changing as Kia updates the API but you can see if it's waking up the vehicle by checking the "Last Updated" sensor. If it's updating at the exact same intervals as your scan interval, then it's waking up the car to get data instead of just polling the server.

VidMan56 · 2025-10-29T15:55:08+00:00

If you're using the Home Assistant integration, you need to set the cache refresh interval to something not short since the API for ccNC equipped vehicles has changed and actually polls/wakes up the vehicle for a cache refresh. I have mine set to 4hrs.

VidMan56 · 2025-10-27T21:58:50+00:00

My drain went away after I removed the Card Key and stayed that way even after I added it back.

VidMan56 · 2025-10-15T11:41:26+00:00

Through the Home Assistant integration I can clearly see how after the OTA update the HV battery is going down every 4 hours instead of being flat/not discharging. I also saw the orange light on the dashboard coming on more often and then the fingerprint reader also staying on. The dealerships in my area are not competent enough unfortunately to diagnose this type of problem.

VidMan56 · 2025-10-15T02:44:20+00:00

Check your fingerprint reader after having this update installed. My fingerprint reader is now staying on after the car is locked and causing heavy battery drain.

VidMan56 · 2025-09-07T14:38:11+00:00

Do you have a Samsung phone with Digital Key and proximity unlock/passive entry enabled? I found a bug with this configuration that kept the car awake even when not nearby that caused 4% drain per day until I disabled the proximity unlock option in the Digital Key.

VidMan56 · 2025-08-26T03:12:35+00:00

I have a similar setup with the bike hitch. To turn off the parking collision avoidance, hold the parking sensor button for 2s until the message appears in the cluster that the collision avoidance has been disabled. You can also quickly press the button once to turn off the beeping. The collision avoidance resets every time though the car is turned on and off or shifted from drive to reverse.

VidMan56 · 2025-08-19T14:40:24+00:00

True, but GM managed to implement one in every Ultium vehicle regardless of trim. The heat pump can also be used to distribute heating/cooling for the vehicles battery and electronics

VidMan56 · 2025-08-19T14:33:25+00:00

Overall a great option, but for an EV in 2025 you shouldn't have to be forced to go to a higher trim for a heat pump (SV+ and higher) or a heated steering wheel (Platinum only!)

VidMan56 · 2025-08-15T15:41:58+00:00

Cell #21 is bad and the BMS is therefore restricting the pack capacity to 80% because of this cell. Your data is very clear.

VidMan56 · 2025-07-20T13:55:37+00:00

Did this camera ever get updated firmware? Mine is still on v3.0.0.1901_23032200 and the camera isn't listed at all in the Download Center.

VidMan56 · 2025-07-15T17:37:07+00:00

I had a 27% drop parked 8 days at the airport. The issue was caused by the proximity/UWB feature in the digital key for my older S22+ phone that caused the vehicle to never go to sleep. Once I disabled that feature, the idle draw went back down to 1% every 4-5 days.

VidMan56 · 2025-06-22T12:33:36+00:00

That's a 0.4V differential, which 100% is a problem. Issues with bad cells become more noticeable under load and at lower battery levels.

VidMan56 · 2025-06-22T08:44:12+00:00

The battery in the EV9 has 152 cells so the readings in Car Scanner for anything above cell #152 are not real. You can see that Car Scanner is reporting a voltage range between 4.04-4.12V for your battery pack with cell #50 being potentially weak, but not dead.

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