BYD Seal tips, tricks and help

[Melpomene]

I bought a new phone yesterday.  I've always been a bit tight when it comes buying phones, so just buy the cheapest that will allow me to make calls and download the odd app.  Anyway I've got the Samsung A05s, just setting it up now and when I try to install the BYD app, it says the app is not compatible with this device ?  I thought once these apps were compatible with Android then they'd work on any Android device, I had no problems using it on my previous cheapo Nokia that I'm replacing.  Anybody got any ideas ? 

[Andrew Dwyer]

21 minutes ago, Melpomene said:

 

I'm unable to turn this on, don't have an option anywhere within settings and AVAS is not on the swipe down from the top menu.  Like you, I'm a bit sad to not be able to sound like a spaceship whilst cruising thru the moobaan, I'd been hoping to feel all futuristic and all that! 

 

Did open up vehicle control page by clicking here ?

 

 

should then see this

 

 

This is my software version, but as it is currently downloading an update maybe it will all change ?

 

[Melpomene]

1 hour ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

 

Did open up vehicle control page by clicking here ?

 

 

should then see this

 

 

This is my software version, but as it is currently downloading an update maybe it will all change ?

 

 

I did not ! I have, however, done that now and low and behold it's there!  So many thanks...

 

Thanks also for pre-emptively answering my next question of "how do I turn on the wireless charging" !

[Melpomene]

1 hour ago, Melpomene said:

I bought a new phone yesterday.  I've always been a bit tight when it comes buying phones, so just buy the cheapest that will allow me to make calls and download the odd app.  Anyway I've got the Samsung A05s, just setting it up now and when I try to install the BYD app, it says the app is not compatible with this device ?  I thought once these apps were compatible with Android then they'd work on any Android device, I had no problems using it on my previous cheapo Nokia that I'm replacing.  Anybody got any ideas ? 

 

Managed to sort this now, so please ignore the question!

[Andrew Dwyer]

Well, it appears OTA updates are being handed out to even those unworthy !!

52 minutes apparently.

 

 

Hope you are getting yours 

@macahoom

@Bandersnatch

 

Cannot wait to delete the karaoke before the wife sees it !!

 

 

EDIT: apparently you cannot charge and update at the same time.

[Andrew Dwyer]

Okay, well some might be wondering what is different after this update, well from what i see is.

 

Synthetic sounds now can be turned on and off ( see photos in my post a few posts back )

There is a built in manual !!

A store with karaoke and a browser with legitimate access to Google and YouTube etc !!

 

look familiar ?

 

 

and my navigation now has audio !!

 

Oh, and daytime driving lights can be turned off , for those camping, drive in movie fans or any other obscure reason.

 

Winner winner chicken dinner 😃

[macahoom]

14 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Okay, well some might be wondering what is different after this update, well from what i see is.

 

Synthetic sounds now can be turned on and off ( see photos in my post a few posts back )

There is a built in manual !!

A store with karaoke and a browser with legitimate access to Google and YouTube etc !!

 

look familiar ?

 

 

and my navigation now has audio !!

 

Oh, and daytime driving lights can be turned off , for those camping, drive in movie fans or any other obscure reason.

 

Winner winner chicken dinner 😃

 

Someone on the Seal FB is reporting a significant drop in range since updating.

 

Anyone here see any drop?

[macahoom]

4 minutes ago, macahoom said:

 

Someone on the Seal FB is reporting a significant drop in range since updating.

 

Anyone here see any drop?

 

Sorry, I meant to add:

 

They're also reporting louder fan noise. And the fan continuing to work for quite a while after the car has been switched off.

 

Note: I may be misunderstanding as the translate feature on FB is not perfect.

[Andrew Dwyer]

7 minutes ago, macahoom said:

 

Sorry, I meant to add:

 

They're also reporting louder fan noise. And the fan continuing to work for quite a while after the car has been switched off.

 

Note: I may be misunderstanding as the translate feature on FB is not perfect.

Not had the update long enough to notice, but at 1000km should see if the accumulated power consumption changes quickly.

 

The fan running on for a while has been reported for a while now, especially on Atto 3.

 

But, some things to keep an eye on.

 

Were you able to update @macahoom, @Bandersnatch ??

[macahoom]

5 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Were you able to update @macahoom,

 

No, I haven't even tried.

 

Two reasons:

1) We're staying in a hotel at the moment and I prefer to be at home and near the dealership if I have problems.

 

2) I want to use you as a guinea pig regarding range and fan!

[Andrew Dwyer]

2 minutes ago, macahoom said:

 

No, I haven't even tried.

 

Two reasons:

1) We're staying in a hotel at the moment and I prefer to be at home and near the dealership if I have problems.

 

2) I want to use you as a guinea pig regarding range and fan!

Thanks 🤨

 

Yes, I admit I jumped in with both feet when I saw the update am usually more restrained.

[Bandersnatch]

21 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Were you able to update @macahoom, @Bandersnatch ??

 

Just checked. My car is connected to my house wifi with a ubiquiti wireless access point sitting directly above the car.

 

No Red Dot and no update. Rest assured I will post here when I have it.

[macahoom]

32 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

My car is connected to my house wifi with a ubiquiti wireless access point sitting directly above the car.

 

Ha! My car is not connected to anything that I am aware of. I wouldn't even know how to connect it to anything. But last night when I went to the car (parked in the hotel car park), the update announcement page appeared as soon as I turned it on.

 

I also had the little red alert dot in the right hand corner.

 

 

[Andrew Dwyer]

35 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

 

Just checked. My car is connected to my house wifi with a ubiquiti wireless access point sitting directly above the car.

 

No Red Dot and no update. Rest assured I will post here when I have it.

Okay, I got the little red dot on the bell icon top centre of screen when I was driving, opened that page to reveal the update was downloading. This took some hours and when i went to check it had finished the red dot now appeared on the car icon bottom right which lead to the actual OTA page.

Said it would take 52 minutes but when i checked on it later it had stopped because i was granny charging …. d’oh !

Stopped charging and restarted the update from the beginning, it was all done in around 35/40 minutes.

[Andrew Dwyer]

The browser and manual seem great, both accessible by swiping left twice from Home Screen.

The browser retains the last webpage you looked at and you can add tabs and sign in like any browser, eradicating the need for sideloading or installing APK’s etc.

 

 

The manual is in a great format with quick search function to get to your info very quickly.

 

 

[Andrew Dwyer]

One thing I’m not sure about is the SIM card that is installed with 2gb a month ?

Where do i see status on that ?

 

At home it is connecting to my home wi-fi but on the road it connected to something to download the update but i am not sure what or where to find that info.

 

I don’t really understand this Personal hotspot ??

 

 

any ideas on the hotspot and SIM card data ??

[macahoom]

3 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

At home it is connecting to my home wi-fi but on the road it connected to something to download the update but i am not sure what or where to find that info.

 

Any idea how mine appears to be connected without any input from me?

 

I got both the red dot and the announcement that the OTA is available and the option to start downloading or postpone.

[Andrew Dwyer]

Just now, macahoom said:

 

Any idea how mine appears to be connected without any input from me?

That is my question also, unless it is taking data from my phone via Bluetooth I am not sure how it downloaded the update.

 

The Atto 3 has a SIM card with 500 mb for the 1st month and then 2 gb for the next 2 or 3 years, I imagine that the Seal is the same but don’t see any way to access that data.

[Pib]

Just as nice to know, the Seal's poor cousin Atto 3 got an OTA update (V1.7) yesterday (my Atto did...but apparently it been out for a few days to a week based on some Facebook posts/Youtubes).  I had manually checked for an update yesterday morning...no update; but a little later around 1pm a little red dot appeared in the Vehicle icon in the lower right hand of the display.  I'm at home partked so I started the update which said it would take 39 minutes to complete and that's about exactly how long it took. 

 

The update now allows the turning off of the daytime running lights but if you do so it only lasts for the current ignition cycle and then the lights are turned back on...you must turn off again on the next ignition cycle if you don't want the lights on. 

 

It also now allows you to turn off and on the Acoustic Vehicle Alert System (AVAS) (i.e., makes the sound when driving below 30Kmh to warn people/animals of an EV close by) and added an off/on AVAS icon to do such....and it stays off (or on) if you set as such after the current ignition cycle unlike the daytime running lights on/off setting.   And the two AVAS sounds have changed....both different than before....more pleasing sounds than the previoius...one kinda like a clicking and one kinda like an ice cream truck.  I had previously unhooked the AVAS sound box under the hood right behind the radiator because I hated the previous sounds (one like a spaceship hovering above you)...too loud and annoying.   I hooked the sound box back up this morning to check the new AVAS capability, sounds, etc.,...and for now I have turned the AVAS off to continue my silent running.  I'll experiment more with the new AVAS over the coming days to determine if might want to start using it....or continue my silent running.

 

Added an electronic manual.

 

Added Karaoke and Browser apps.

 

Then the update got vague is saying it did some feature optimization of the user experience, improvement of driving comfort, optimization of the A/C system, etc.  BYD's way of saying did some tweaks and fixed some software bugs/glitches, etc.  

 

Now yesterday morning I also noticed a little red dot next to Notifications Bell at the top center of the screen....I looked around for a notification but couldn't find anything...and the there was no red dot in the Vehicle icon in the lower right of the screen at that time.  After the OTA update yesterday I noticed the Notification Bell red dot was still there and I looked again and this time I found a notification there was an Update available for the Thai language Voice Commands....I clicked the update/install button and about two minutes later the update finished installing and the Notification Bell red dot went away.

 

I will note that after the OTA V1.7 update completed and I drove the car for the first time the wife noticed the Ambient lights on the both right hand side doors was on but not on the left hand doors.  I had turned the lights off before the update...and there is no setting before or after the update just to have the lights on the right or left side.  So I go into the Ambient light settings which are still off...turn them on...adjust the brightness up and down....turn the settings off again and now all the light are off like they are suppose to be.    

 

And one final OTA V1.7 oddly was right after the update I could adjust individual temperature settings for the A/C right and left side temp settings....before the update where you adjusted the left or right side it would always change both sides.  But when I checked again about 10 minutes later it was back to where the individual A/C temp settings for left or right were once again locked to changing in sync....could not say set the left side to 21C and the right side to 23C....if you set either side to 21C it would automatically change the other side to be the same temp....just as how it operated before the OTA update.

 

I guess the ambient lights and A/C situations "right after  the update was temporary until the software updated configuration files associated with those settings.  Just kinda weird....was beginning to think I had a corrupted OTA update.   And this was the first time ever I went thru a vehicle OTA of the operating system as my 2009 Fortuner and previous vehicles didn't have such fancy stuff.

 

Oh yea, I got my registration book and white tags yesterday/14 Dec...I originally picked up the car on 25 Oct.....took about 7 weeks for me here in Bangkok.   However, I would have probably went faster if I was a Thai because even through my registration paperwork included a copy of my passport, my Yellow Book, my Pink ID card, and a letter from immigration saying I was a resident and could by a car, the DLT still had to see/physically touch my passport but didn't ask to do so until weeks later.  They called my BYD dealership around 3 weeks after BYD initially submitted the registration paperwork in late Oct saying they wanted to see/touch my passport.  My BYD dealership took me and my passport to the DLT so they could see the passport in mid Nov...after the DLT rep(s) saw/touched the passport they were happy.  My registration book says it was generated on 16 Nov but it was only yesterday/14 Dec that BYD notified me I could come picked up the book, white plates, tax sticker for window, turn the red plates back in.    Regarding my Bt5K deposit for the red plates, BYD refunds that your bank acct either on the 15th or 30th of the month....they need a copy of your bank book main page to do the refund.  They said I will get my refund at the end of the month as I had just missed their mid month refund cycle.

 

 

 

[Pib]

54 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

One thing I’m not sure about is the SIM card that is installed with 2gb a month ?

Where do i see status on that ?

 

At home it is connecting to my home wi-fi but on the road it connected to something to download the update but i am not sure what or where to find that info.

 

I don’t really understand this Personal hotspot ??

 

 

any ideas on the hotspot and SIM card data ??

 

Any system updates "do not" count/reflect against your monthly GB allotment.   

 

And a Hotspot just allows others to connect to the Hotspot signal transmitting from your EV if you give them the Hotspot password...just like the Hotspot settings on a smartphone.

[Andrew Dwyer]

1 minute ago, Pib said:

 

Any system updates "do not" count/reflect against your monthly GB allotment.   

 

And a Hotspot just allows others to connect to the Hotspot signal transmitting from your EV if you give them the Hotspot password...just like the Hotspot settings on a smartphone.

Thanks, but where do you see your monthly allowance.

[Pib]

10 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Thanks, but where do you see your monthly allowance.

On main screen select the Utilities Tools folder and then the Data Monitor icon.

 

I think there is one more way but I forgot how.

 

 

[sathornlover]

A friendly hello to the Seal group and a big thank you for the great input! I'll have the seal delivered tomorrow afternoon, logging into the app seems to be working already.
 

I'm actually from the MEOW team, but when the prices and specifications of the big cat were known, I made my decision and placed my order from Germany two weeks ago and could have received the car with all my special requests on Wednesday!

 

Immediately after my arrival in Thailand I took a test drive under jet lag conditions. I think it will have been the right purchase decision for the next 2-3 years. ,-)…

 

 

 

[macahoom]

11 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Said it would take 52 minutes

 

More than 24 hours later, my car is still telling me the update is available and it will take 66 minutes.

 

I'm ignoring it until we get back home next week.

 

I'd love to know what my car is connected to. It's not my phone. It's not the hotel's wifi.

[Pib]

3 minutes ago, macahoom said:

 

More than 24 hours later, my car is still telling me the update is available and it will take 66 minutes.

 

I'm ignoring it until we get back home next week.

 

I'd love to know what my car is connected to. It's not my phone. It's not the hotel's wifi.

The BYD SIM that comes installed in the car.

[macahoom]

8 minutes ago, Pib said:

The BYD SIM that comes installed in the car.

 

Okay thank you for your answer.

 

I am a complete numpty when it comes to anything to do with internet, wifi, hotspots, smartphones and laptops etc. Are you saying that my Seal just needs the SIM and nothing else and this makes it possible for BYD in China (I assume) to connect to my car, detect what version of software is already installed in my car and then, OTA, update my car to the latest software version?

[Andrew Dwyer]

16 minutes ago, macahoom said:

 

Okay thank you for your answer.

 

I am a complete numpty when it comes to anything to do with internet, wifi, hotspots, smartphones and laptops etc. Are you saying that my Seal just needs the SIM and nothing else and this makes it possible for BYD in China (I assume) to connect to my car, detect what version of software is already installed in my car and then, OTA, update my car to the latest software version?

I knew there was a SIM card in there somewhere but couldn’t find the data, PiB kindly pointed me in the right direction.

 

On Home Screen swipe left to the Utility Tools folder and then click on the Data Monitor icon within that folder.

You should then see something like this:

 

 

Clicking on the Data usage button will give you a breakdown.

 

 

Navigation using most of my data so far, interesting to see what using YouTube or Google uses now we have a browser.

I think I read somewhere, probably for Atto 3 but suspect it will be the same for Seal, that the SIM card has 2 gb monthly for 2 or 3 years and after that you will need to buy a package.

[macahoom]

11 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

I knew there was a SIM card in there somewhere but couldn’t find the data, PiB kindly pointed me in the right direction.

 

On Home Screen swipe left to the Utility Tools folder and then click on the Data Monitor icon within that folder.

You should then see something like this:

 

 

Clicking on the Data usage button will give you a breakdown.

 

 

Navigation using most of my data so far, interesting to see what using YouTube or Google uses now we have a browser.

I think I read somewhere, probably for Atto 3 but suspect it will be the same for Seal, that the SIM card has 2 gb monthly for 2 or 3 years and after that you will need to buy a package.

 

I think I kinda understand. 

 

So, I don't need to connect the car to wifi? It just works by itself?

 

And after 2 or 3 years I will have to pay to continue to be connected.

 

It would be nice if buyers were informed about this when they buy the car. Seems strange to me.

 

 

[Andrew Dwyer]

12 minutes ago, macahoom said:

 

I think I kinda understand. 

 

So, I don't need to connect the car to wifi? It just works by itself?

 

And after 2 or 3 years I will have to pay to continue to be connected.

 

It would be nice if buyers were informed about this when they buy the car. Seems strange to me.

 

 

Yes, it is already in there and i guess is actuated by the showroom.

 

There is probably some info about it somewhere, I’ll have a look.

[macahoom]

17 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

i guess is actuated by the showroom.

 

Well I wish somebody in the showroom had told my salesman about it!