BYD Seal tips, tricks and help

[Andrew Dwyer]

51 minutes ago, motdaeng said:

the sim card (from singapore) in my sealion 7 seems useless ... i rarely get any signal! most  of the time the byd app won’t connect to the car, even when i'm standing right next to it. spotify and navigation usually don’t work either... unless i use android auto or a hotspot.

is there any way to improve the connection through settings?

 

i think all seal owners have received a thai sim card by now... surprisingly, i haven't heard of any other sealion 7 owners having this issue. maybe my sim card is the problem ... 

 

 

All good now 

 

 

 

That was a first for me and i use the remote start option often.

Have had it fail to start before but retrying immediately always succeeded but never for an extended period.

[carlyai]

@Andrew Dwyer Re SIM Card post and 'all good now'; what magic did you do?

AND did you see the posts on a Thai BYD site (sorry I keep forgetting to take the reference) about installing a spacer on the rear wheel hub...something about wheel not seating properly.

Also replacing the shocks.

These seem to be one off posts from owners not BYD.

I suppose if you are a teenager at heart you may want to harden up the ride and change the shocks.

Maybe the Sealion 7 will become a cult car like the Mustang or Sunbeam Alpine (my first sports car)?

I hear 'SHAME' coming from the ICE V8 brigade.

[Andrew Dwyer]

6 minutes ago, carlyai said:

@Andrew Dwyer Re SIM Card post and 'all good now'; what magic did you do?

AND did you see the posts on a Thai BYD site (sorry I keep forgetting to take the reference) about installing a spacer on the rear wheel hub...something about wheel not seating properly.

Also replacing the shocks.

These seem to be one off posts from owners not BYD.

I suppose if you are a teenager at heart you may want to harden up the ride and change the shocks.

Maybe the Sealion 7 will become a cult car like the Mustang or Sunbeam Alpine (my first sports car)?

I hear 'SHAME' coming from the ICE V8 brigade.

 Didn’t do anything, just checked if it was working again, by pulling down on the image, and it updated.

 

Haven’t seen the wheel spacer reference but the replacement of shocks, or just the springs, has been very common. I believe it started with Atto 3 ( ? ) as many don’t like the soft suspension.

 

Thai’s in general do like these modifications which “ apparently “ make improvements like the anti roll bars in a Honda Brio ! or rear spoilers which, imo, don’t give any advantage and are purely visual.

 

[Andrew Dwyer]

2 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

How do you turn off the voice prompt “you are exceeding the speed limit“
 

My Seal started doing it after the latest update and SIM card change

Wonder if it comes from the Navigation app, even if you don’t use it i believe it runs in the background, maybe can mute it there ?

I have seen messages about speed cameras pop up when not using any navigation, but those i don’t mind.

 

Some small changes appear after the latest update and SIM card change.

My wireless charging message doesn’t appear on the screen anymore and I still have the anomaly where when I turn on the A/C from the app the car doesn’t start and there is no indication anything has changed other than A/C sound.

If I want to start the car as well I press the seat ventilation button and the lights flash, mirrors pop out, screens come to life and car starts ! 
Bizarre indeed, have seen a few fb reports about this but no Seal owner on here reporting back.

Although I use remote A/C start frequency it still surprises me before i realise i have to press “ Start “ before driving off.

[JBChiangRai]

Navigation running in the background sounds about right, because I also get messages congestion ahead.

 

I have also noticed that it doesn’t start the car when you turn on the air-conditioning remotely anymore. The phone is wireless charging message still appears occasionally but it’s much much smaller and easy to miss, I think it’s at the bottom of the screen if I remember correctly

 

[mistral53]

16 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

Navigation running in the background sounds about right, because I also get messages congestion ahead.

 

I have also noticed that it doesn’t start the car when you turn on the air-conditioning remotely anymore. The phone is wireless charging message still appears occasionally but it’s much much smaller and easy to miss, I think it’s at the bottom of the screen if I remember correctly

 

I don't think that navigation is running in the background - the congestion message is just the lady babbling random nonsense, to keep herself relevant, or so she thinks.

 

How do I know? I ask BYD to navigate to a destination (from the root menu, without starting navigation first) and more often than not, her first reply is that she is not able to execute the request, its not in her scope of abilities. Next step is to ask for a weather forecast, and more often then not, she says she needs an Internet connection to comply with that. Ask again - she then will give me the weather forecast, ask again to navigate to a destination, she happily goes about it. (BTW, I am one of the very first that got the new SIM card installed)

[Andrew Dwyer]

10 minutes ago, mistral53 said:

I don't think that navigation is running in the background - the congestion message is just the lady babbling random nonsense, to keep herself relevant, or so she thinks.

 

How do I know? I ask BYD to navigate to a destination (from the root menu, without starting navigation first) and more often than not, her first reply is that she is not able to execute the request, its not in her scope of abilities. Next step is to ask for a weather forecast, and more often then not, she says she needs an Internet connection to comply with that. Ask again - she then will give me the weather forecast, ask again to navigate to a destination, she happily goes about it. (BTW, I am one of the very first that got the new SIM card installed)

The reason I think Navigation is running in the background is that the data used in “ data monitor “ increases without any any Navigation or voice command usage.( irrespective of when you got the SIM card 😬 ).

Typically i use Spotify only when local, starting tomorrow i will monitor how much data is being used by Navigation without any input from me.

[Andrew Dwyer]

Latest video from Bjørn, Xpeng G6 or BYD Sealion 7 comparison .

 

Like this comparison, ideal for those in the market for either of these EV’s.

 

[motdaeng]

7 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Latest video from Bjørn, Xpeng G6 or BYD Sealion 7 comparison .

 

Like this comparison, ideal for those in the market for either of these EV’s.

 

 

i chose the sealion 7 awd, and after watching the video and owning it for three weeks, i'm sure i made the right decision.

volvo, xpeng and zeekr were before also on my list, but since the nearest dealer is a 7-hour round trip away,

i decided to join the big byd family instead ...  

[jerrymahoney]

I know this is a serious topic but, for one who only knows BYD is an electric car that competes with Tesla, I kept wondering why there is an ongoing topic about the seals/gaskets going bad on the BYD cars.

Mea culpa.

[JBChiangRai]

1 hour ago, jerrymahoney said:

I know this is a serious topic but, for one who only knows BYD is an electric car that competes with Tesla, I kept wondering why there is an ongoing topic about the seals/gaskets going bad on the BYD cars.

Mea culpa.

I drive at BYD and that’s the first time I’ve heard that

[Andrew Dwyer]

Just now, JBChiangRai said:

I drive at BYD and that’s the first time I’ve heard that

 I think it is an attempt at humour …… with the emphasis on “ attempt “ 🙄

[carlyai]

I'm not sure, but the recent navigation of Chinese warships around Australia has bought out patriotic feelings in Australians that  could influence sales of BYD. Seems BYD is targeting Aus with many models.

Bad timing by the Chinese navy me thinks.

[Andrew Dwyer]

So, seems like the 2 year 2gb per month ( + additional 3 months ?? ) is coming to an end for some early Atto 3 adopters but no rumours about what comes after, anyone know ??

 

 

Note: apparently the poster of above photo has already changed to the True sim.

 

Several replies, to the fb group, suggesting just to fit your own but then there’s no access to the app and I like the remote A/C start. Not sure what else would be affected, OTA’s ??

[mistral53]

3 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

So, seems like the 2 year 2gb per month ( + additional 3 months ?? ) is coming to an end for some early Atto 3 adopters but no rumours about what comes after, anyone know ??

 

 

Note: apparently the poster of above photo has already changed to the True sim.

 

Several replies, to the fb group, suggesting just to fit your own but then there’s no access to the app and I like the remote A/C start. Not sure what else would be affected, OTA’s ??

 

While BYD marketing is an enigma, I would hope they have the good fortune to understand this is an easy revenue stream they can tap into....... it's just chicken sh$t of course, but a lot of chicken droppings will add up to a decent pile over time........lol

 

[Andrew Dwyer]

Originally my Dynamic range at 100% was around the 650+ km mark ( Seal Premium.

During the free charging ReverSharger period ( charged for 4 months solely on DC ) that range dropped down to around 629 km.

Now am back charging mainly AC ( TOU o/night ) and occasionally letting it get below 10% the range is back to around the 650+ km mark.

 

So that appears to be working as promised.

 

But is it telling us what we want to see ?

 

Why is it after 15 months usage the Dynamic figure is still 100 to 150 kms more than i actually get ??

It has not learnt anything !!

Might as well use Standard range.

 

Today i set off at 100% with 659 km range or 6.59 km every 1%
At 50% with 300 km range or 6.0 km every 1%
Back home at 14% with 83 km range or 5.9 km every 1%

So, okay it recalibrated as i drove as one would expect.

 

By the above readings today I drove 576 km but the odometer tells me I actually drove 428 km  ( 5 km every 1% ) …… so where did the 148 km shortfall go to ??

 

Makes the 100% range totally meaningless and only slightly less meaningless when it gets down to the lower percentages.

 

Obviously, those of us who have driven EV’s for a while know what range we actually get ( using % or km ) and use that figure in our heads but the car hasn’t learnt anything in the last 15 months ……. kinda like my step son at his vocational college !!

 

Rant over !!

[JBChiangRai]

Not my BYD, but my daughter's 2023 22,000km, MG4 X is supposed to have an NEDC range of 420km.  NEDC does stand for Not Even Damn Close.

 

When you charge it at home it reads 403km which is probably correct as the battery has lost 7% of its capacity.

 

However, as soon as you start the car it drops to 346km and taking it on a long run, that looks to be fairly accurate.

[Andrew Dwyer]

32 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

Not my BYD, but my daughter's 2023 22,000km, MG4 X is supposed to have an NEDC range of 420km.  NEDC does stand for Not Even Damn Close.

 

When you charge it at home it reads 403km which is probably correct as the battery has lost 7% of its capacity.

 

However, as soon as you start the car it drops to 346km and taking it on a long run, that looks to be fairly accurate.

I wouldn’t mind if mine did that, at least you have an accurate range.

When I first start mine up after fully charging it will drop around 4 km ( Pib did explain why it does this previously ).

 

The annoying thing is that the Dynamic range setting came in an OTA and it was assumed to be a great improvement from the NEDC setting, in reality it ain’t !!

[Pib]

It's my opinion/based on my experience with my BYD Atto Extended range 60.5KWH battery EV when comparing remaining range guesstimate when in Standard or Dynamic range modes that it does not really make any difference in remaining range guesstimate once your SOC of is approx 75% or less as there will just be a few kilometers difference between the two---or at least that's been my experience.

 

And once you get down to around 10% SOC (about 50Km range remaining for my Atto) both Standard and Dynamic range modes will both estimate almost exactly the same remaining range.    Every 3 to 4 months I take the SOC down to less than 10%...usually down to around 5%.....one time to 2%....and one time to a mere 1% and the remaining range estimate between Standard and Dynamic range mode were exactly the same.  

 

When I fully charge to 100% if in Standard mode I get a 480 NEDC estimate since my Atto Extended range has a 480Km NEDC rating (420 WLTP).   If will "always" be 480Km when in Standard mode....I've never seen anything other than 480.  It's like a 480Km estimate is triggered when the SOC reaches 100%....it would probably do this even if the battery was 20 years old and only had a real remaining range of 100Km.   But start driving a little bit the range estimate would drop like a lead weight. 

 

However, if in Dynamic range mode at 100% SOC the reading varies.....typically some where between 485-498Km (usually in the mid 490's)....my Atto is now 17 months old.  And once I saw 503 and a 505Km when the EV was only a couple months old.   But once I start driving say 5Km real world per the odometer the remaining range estimate can easily drop 10Km due to the the top charge capacity of not being very linear at all...for the first few percent the battery voltage will drop quite a bit before stabilizing and presenting a pretty flat voltage curve until you reach around 10% SOC when it will start dropping off pretty fast but not so fast the SOC and range meter can't give an accurate reading.  Yea, between around 98 to 100% it seems that's a tough area to get a good range estimate due to the battery voltage dropping pretty fast until the voltage drop flattens out....it's just the nature of lithium type batteries.  

 

Yea, I think when EV manufacturers give a person Standard and Dynamic range mode options it really just to satisfy customers who think the Dynamic mode gives a more accurate estimate which I'm doubtful it does.  But I leave my EV set to the Dynamic range estimate mode as I know once I get down to around 75% or less SOC the Standard and Dynamic modes are giving almost exactly the same remaining range and at around 10% or less that are jointed-at-the-hip in their estimates.   Plus, unless I'm intentionally discharging to less than 10% so I can then recharge to 100% to recalibrate the SOC/BMS electronics I never drop below 25% SOC whether just driving locally or on a long trip.  

[mistral53]

Is anybody else a bit stressed when seeing these kind of posts popping up on FB?

 

[Andrew Dwyer]

9 minutes ago, mistral53 said:

Is anybody else a bit stressed when seeing these kind of posts popping up on FB?

 

Must admit I have thought about getting a vacuum cleaner hose in there through the opening vents at the bottom front.

Not sure how to maintain them open though ??

 

Plenty of grills available on the online sites.

[Andrew Dwyer]

Thought about getting it down below 10% to do a full charge overnight at the weekend.

The opportunity arose on a little trip so drove it down from 17 - 5%, little scary when the kms disappear at 5% though !!, didn’t know that was going to happen 😳

 

 

Strangely, when i looked at the app a couple of hours later to see if it showed any kms i found it offline since i took the photo.

It wouldn’t react to my phone and had to get the key and press the door button 5 times to open.

Seems like it had gone to sleep at the moment i arrived home and locked it.

Got the “ turn steering wheel left and rIght “  message when i started it .

 

Strange going’s on !!

[Andrew Dwyer]

21 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Thought about getting it down below 10% to do a full charge overnight at the weekend.

The opportunity arose on a little trip so drove it down from 17 - 5%, little scary when the kms disappear at 5% though !!, didn’t know that was going to happen 😳

 

 

Strangely, when i looked at the app a couple of hours later to see if it showed any kms i found it offline since i took the photo.

It wouldn’t react to my phone and had to get the key and press the door button 5 times to open.

Seems like it had gone to sleep at the moment i arrived home and locked it.

Got the “ turn steering wheel left and rIght “  message when i started it .

 

Strange going’s on !!

Done it again, including app offline, when i locked it the second time ??

Going to charge up to around 8% to see what happens then !!

 

Hoping it is not the 12v ?, as i didn’t give it any reason to go to sleep other than the 5% battery !!

[carlyai]

Who knows what's going to happen when you discharge the battery to that extent. 

[Andrew Dwyer]

16 hours ago, carlyai said:

Who knows what's going to happen when you discharge the battery to that extent. 

Well i won’t be doing that again !!

 

While getting the range below 10% is recommended to do a slow charge ( < 10% to 100% ) for balancing the battery cells i wasn’t aware getting down to 5% would cause me so much anxiety !!

 

Just to recap:

 

At 5% the km’s disappeared, replaced with a line which i have seen before on YouTube videos but believed it to be at 3% or even 1%.

Out of curiosity later yesterday i looked at the app to see if it was the same and noticed no internet connection and it had apparently last updated when i had stopped the car at home.

 

 

This was my first indication something wasn’t right.

My phone wouldn’t open the car and had to use the key, a message “ simple mode running “ flashed on the main screen and got the “ turn steering wheel l/r “ message also.

 

Charged up to 8% to get out of the “ danger zone “ but it did exactly the same.
 

Checked the manual but got no definitive answer on “ simple mode running “ and recall that the “ turn steering wheel l/r “ is related to interrupted power of 12v battery “.

 

 

The manual recommends powering on the car for 1 hour to charge the 12v battery “ if smart charging fails “ although in my case running at 1 hour when SOC already low is not a good idea !!

 

 

So, set the car to charge to 100% overnight and this morning all is well.

 

A glitch or a problem waiting to happen ….. again ?

 

Will be taking the car for a 12v battery check at the dealership pronto !!

Just short of 16 months and > 25k driven would expect more from a 12v LFP battery as life expectancy is supposedly 3 x lead acid 12v.

 

 

[Pib]

From googling this it seems the pro

6 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Well i won’t be doing that again !!

 

While getting the range below 10% is recommended to do a slow charge ( < 10% to 100% ) for balancing the battery cells i wasn’t aware getting down to 5% would cause me so much anxiety !!

 

Just to recap:

 

Just doing the every 3-6 months discharge to at least 10% and then slow charging back 100% to recalibrate the SOC indicator and range guess-o-meter "as recommended by BYD (and even Tesla) for LFP traction batteries" is not the core case.   It's either some software glitch or 12V battery problem. 

 

From googling I came across lots of folks who ran into this issue even when their high voltage traction battery was at a high level SOC.  Some just came back to the car after being in the mall for a few hours and the Seal was dead/asleep.   Some figured out it was caused by the 12V battery running down/entering sleep mode when the hood, door, etc., was left open for an extended time like overnight or a few days.  But then others ruled out 12V battery drain as the problem but some software glitch telling the 12V battery to go night-night.   As with a lot of car issues, there can be more than one cause of a problem.

 

But yea, I would definitely have your 12V battery checked out....have a health/capacity check done....check for loose/corroded terminals, etc.   And I would recommend you install a Bluetooth 12V voltage monitor on your battery as this will allow you to easy see and track the 12V battery voltage/SOC/temp.....greatly help to spot issues well in advance and/or confirm whether the battery is asleep/dead without needing to access the battery as the mobile app used with the monitor will tell you what is going on 24/7.    

 

I installed Ancel BM200 Bluetooth 12V Battery Monitors on both my 2023 BYD Atto and 2009 Toyota Fortuner about a year ago....the monitor works like a charm....has a voltage measurement accuracy of 0.03V (30mv), only draws 1.5ma working current, and includes 30 days memory.   Cost is around Bt500 plus or minus Bt100 depending on promotions, discounts, etc.  I brought mine off Lazada for around Bt420 including shipping around a year ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Andrew Dwyer]

49 minutes ago, Pib said:

From googling this it seems the pro

 

Just doing the every 3-6 months discharge to at least 10% and then slow charging back 100% to recalibrate the SOC indicator and range guess-o-meter "as recommended by BYD (and even Tesla) for LFP traction batteries" is not the core case.   It's either some software glitch or 12V battery problem. 

 

From googling I came across lots of folks who ran into this issue even when their high voltage traction battery was at a high level SOC.  Some just came back to the car after being in the mall for a few hours and the Seal was dead/asleep.   Some figured out it was caused by the 12V battery running down/entering sleep mode when the hood, door, etc., was left open for an extended time like overnight or a few days.  But then others ruled out 12V battery drain as the problem but some software glitch telling the 12V battery to go night-night.   As with a lot of car issues, there can be more than one cause of a problem.

 

But yea, I would definitely have your 12V battery checked out....have a health/capacity check done....check for loose/corroded terminals, etc.   And I would recommend you install a Bluetooth 12V voltage monitor on your battery as this will allow you to easy see and track the 12V battery voltage/SOC/temp.....greatly help to spot issues well in advance and/or confirm whether the battery is asleep/dead without needing to access the battery as the mobile app used with the monitor will tell you what is going on 24/7.    

 

I installed Ancel BM200 Bluetooth 12V Battery Monitors on both my 2023 BYD Atto and 2009 Toyota Fortuner about a year ago....the monitor works like a charm....has a voltage measurement accuracy of 0.03V (30mv), only draws 1.5ma working current, and includes 30 days memory.   Cost is around Bt500 plus or minus Bt100 depending on promotions, discounts, etc.  I brought mine off Lazada for around Bt420 including shipping around a year ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Was a strange occurrence, apparently triggered by going to 5% on SOC but could have been a coincidence, charging to 8% didn’t work, no doubt needed a longer charge.

The app and digital key dropped out, thankfully the car could be opened and started via the normal key ( while i initially thought it had gone to sleep the first time i am not so sure it had as i pressed the door handle button a few times before checking it could open via the remote ).

 

The “ simple mode running “ and “ steering wheel “ messages point to low 12v voltage and as there are various modes which switch automatically it could have also been a simple glitch requiring a lengthy charge or hv battery energised to reset.

Went to the dealer and after their initial confusion as to why a message about the steering wheel and the app/digital key dropping out should require a 12v battery check they did a diagnostic check and also checked physical connections on 12v battery, all was good.

 

The battery monitor looks good and would have given me some concrete evidence if indeed the 12v battery was at fault.

Will look into buying one.

 

Car electronics, indeed any type of electronics, are way over my head but i would take a uneducated guess that the low SOC of hv battery caused the 12v battery to go into one of its safer modes.

 

 

Which, rightly or wrongly, caused the messages and stopped access to certain functions.

 

One thing is for sure, i won’t be letting the range get down to anywhere near that % again !