BYD Seal tips, tricks and help

[Andrew Dwyer]

So, had a little trip today ( 476 km to be exact ) mainly highway but a bit of small road and town driving in a sleepy little backwater near Nakhon Sawan.

The main reason so Mrs D’s favourite monk could desecrate the car with talcum powder and gold leaf, following with a showering of dubious consistency water to car and myself.

For the sake of the “ Happy Wife, Happy Life “ adage I gritted my teeth into a forced half smile.

 

 

[Andrew Dwyer]

Despite the Buddhist sacrilege I had a good day.

Tested the car at various speeds and modes, opting for High and Eco finally till i have a couple of k under my belt.

Stopped at a Bangchak pump to test the PEA Volta app and charging process ( apologies to the old hands but it was the first time for me and they say you never forget your first time ).

Pumped some 35 kw’s on a 50 kw charger ( obviously not the fastest but just a test to guarantee it works for me ), a seamless operation using the app and QR code topped up from her ladyship’s account, the simplest way for me.

 

After this decided to use the GPS and charger search button.

Again a great experience with a list of locations ( with number of chargers and speed also ) and their distance at my fingertips. A quick perusal of the list, choose a charger, click on it and the GPS starts to direct you …. perfect !!

 

But, then I noticed the list of chargers were a mixed bunch of chargers in front of you and chargers behind you !!

So as some km’s count down others count up !!, a strange situation indeed.

Thinking that as we approached the top of the list the charger would read 0 km then disappear but I was dismayed to see that the km reading then started to rise as we left it behind. Soon the list became a mixture of approaching and departing chargers.

 

Anyone using the Seal GPS and if so what is the solution to this confusion ??

It’s an excellent tool but spoilt by this anomaly, I had a look in GPS settings but couldn’t see anything especially while driving on a busy highway !!

[mistral53]

 

2 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

So, had a little trip today ( 476 km to be exact ) mainly highway but a bit of small road and town driving in a sleepy little backwater near Nakhon Sawan.

The main reason so Mrs D’s favourite monk could desecrate the car with talcum powder and gold leaf, following with a showering of dubious consistency water to car and myself.

For the sake of the “ Happy Wife, Happy Life “ adage I gritted my teeth into a forced half smile.

 

 

 

Did you calculate your range? Could you have done the complete journey without adding 'gas'?

We just did another BKK - HH round trip and I have to admit, I am a little shocked to not have been able to do it this time, I had to add 7% juice on the way, assuming the range indicator is linear. (added 16%  and had 9% remaining per attached pic) This would put the range to around 413 km - a bit disappointing.

The effective range could be a little higher, because the last 25 km I floored it a few times to make sure the SOC would be below 10% when we reached home - but the range is nowhere near mid 400's.

 

Now I am ready to do the mandatory 10 to 100% charging cycle to allow cell balancing if it is necessary.

 

As for the religious gobbledygook, do you think I should have driven around the block a couple more times to make the trip odometer tick over from the death tetraphobia multiple..........

[Andrew Dwyer]

8 hours ago, mistral53 said:

 

Did you calculate your range? Could you have done the complete journey without adding 'gas'?

We just did another BKK - HH round trip and I have to admit, I am a little shocked to not have been able to do it this time, I had to add 7% juice on the way, assuming the range indicator is linear. (added 16%  and had 9% remaining per attached pic) This would put the range to around 413 km - a bit disappointing.

The effective range could be a little higher, because the last 25 km I floored it a few times to make sure the SOC would be below 10% when we reached home - but the range is nowhere near mid 400's.

 

Now I am ready to do the mandatory 10 to 100% charging cycle to allow cell balancing if it is necessary.

 

As for the religious gobbledygook, do you think I should have driven around the block a couple more times to make the trip odometer tick over from the death tetraphobia multiple..........

I didn’t check the range other than mentally checking could make it back but then decided to make sure DC charging would work okay (plus not wanting to leave the car tied up granny charging all weekend), turns out would have arrived with 17%.

 

 

The guessometer ( dynamic ) gives me a range of 662 km !!

While yours is 380 km !!

But isn’t the range finder based on the last 50 km ??  which we spent in rush hour traffic while you might have been gunning it !!

It will become clearer over time I guess.

PTT would be the pump of choice but had an issue trying to register BKK Bank debit card on the app, stopped at a pump to see if could make it work with QR code, after a couple of minutes in the blazing sun 🥵 i remembered the booking policy and abandoned it.

PEA Volta at the Bangchak pump was so easy to use …… plus was shaded !!

[mistral53]

ABB monthly report for November - this is what the energy geek in me likes:

 

(I have to tweak the energy prices again, but since they yo-yo all over the place, why bother?)

[Andrew Dwyer]

So many well thought out actions.

Car is locked and granny charging in the car port, the small screen has turned off, approach the car with the key in hand and the screen pops back to life, no need to unlock.

 

Only 19 hours left !, what’s that saying “ a watched pot never boils “ 😃

[mistral53]

1 hour ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

I didn’t check the range other than mentally checking could make it back but then decided to make sure DC charging would work okay (plus not wanting to leave the car tied up granny charging all weekend), turns out would have arrived with 17%.

 

 

The guessometer ( dynamic ) gives me a range of 662 km !!

While yours is 380 km !!

But isn’t the range finder based on the last 50 km ??  which we spent in rush hour traffic while you might have been gunning it !!

It will become clearer over time I guess.

PTT would be the pump of choice but had an issue trying to register BKK Bank debit card on the app, stopped at a pump to see if could make it work with QR code, after a couple of minutes in the blazing sun 🥵 i remembered the booking policy and abandoned it.

PEA Volta at the Bangchak pump was so easy to use …… plus was shaded !!

 

Is yours also a 3.8s? I never even come close to seeing anything over 570 km of range on the dynamic GOM.

My calculation is actual, i.e. distance driven (from trip meter) and battery % indicator.

 

BTW - this is the last screenshot of the consumption indicator: 15.9 kWh/100 km for the last 50 km. This computes to almost the exact WLTP range - or 518.9 km. My actual consumption was 19.9 kWh/100 km. The consumption information on Chinese cars is one of the shortcomings compared to a Tesla - and it pains me to say this - hopefully someday BYD will copy the clear software leader of electrical cars!

 

[macahoom]

 

I must be missing something hiding in plain sight.

 

In several photos of the steering wheel display screen I have noticed in the bottom right corner either “ODO XXX km”, “TRIP A XXX km” or “TRIP B XXX km”.

 

How the heck do you get the TRIP figures to display? All I've got is "ODO".

 

I have looked everywhere and cannot find any access to a trip feature. It’s obviously something very simple but I’m damned if I can find it.

[Andrew Dwyer]

9 minutes ago, macahoom said:

 

I must be missing something hiding in plain sight.

 

In several photos of the steering wheel display screen I have noticed in the bottom right corner either “ODO XXX km”, “TRIP A XXX km” or “TRIP B XXX km”.

 

How the heck do you get the TRIP figures to display? All I've got is "ODO".

 

I have looked everywhere and cannot find any access to a trip feature. It’s obviously something very simple but I’m damned if I can find it.

I noticed that on Mistral’s post and realised I haven’t found that either .

[Andrew Dwyer]

21 minutes ago, mistral53 said:

 

Is yours also a 3.8s? I never even come close to seeing anything over 570 km of range on the dynamic GOM.

My calculation is actual, i.e. distance driven (from trip meter) and battery % indicator.

 

BTW - this is the last screenshot of the consumption indicator: 15.9 kWh/100 km for the last 50 km. This computes to almost the exact WLTP range - or 518.9 km. My actual consumption was 19.9 kWh/100 km. The consumption information on Chinese cars is one of the shortcomings compared to a Tesla - and it pains me to say this - hopefully someday BYD will copy the clear software leader of electrical cars!

 

I have the Premium so range should be higher than AWD but not by much.

Here’s my graph:

 

 

but as I was in heavy traffic my speed was well down.

 

Consumption figures:

 

 

 

Not sure where 38 hours driving time comes from !!, must have been a lot of time turned on sat doing nothing, reset those to zero .

[mistral53]

18 minutes ago, macahoom said:

 

I must be missing something hiding in plain sight.

 

In several photos of the steering wheel display screen I have noticed in the bottom right corner either “ODO XXX km”, “TRIP A XXX km” or “TRIP B XXX km”.

 

How the heck do you get the TRIP figures to display? All I've got is "ODO".

 

I have looked everywhere and cannot find any access to a trip feature. It’s obviously something very simple but I’m damned if I can find it.

You know - this made me crack up, so I was not the only one..........

 

I got the information how to access that little gem - from all places I despise the most! ...........FB! 

 

Its in the turn signal stalk: the button on the tip of the stalk, toggle through trip and odo..........gawd I was so relieved to have finally found it.

[macahoom]

38 minutes ago, mistral53 said:

You know - this made me crack up, so I was not the only one..........

 

I got the information how to access that little gem - from all places I despise the most! ...........FB! 

 

Its in the turn signal stalk: the button on the tip of the stalk, toggle through trip and odo..........gawd I was so relieved to have finally found it.

 

Hallelujah! Thanks so much for this. I thought I was going insane.

 

The funny thing is, I found that button about a week ago and pressed it several times but couldn’t see anything obvious happening. I was driving at the time and thought I should come back to that later and find out what it’s for. I forgot all about it.

[Andrew Dwyer]

Couple of things I forgot to mention:

Yesterday morning it was 29°c and very pleasant in the car, then the sun came out and it warmed up to 33°c and it became uncomfortable especially going home as the sun was all on my side .

Similar today as it hit 34°c , how Banders is living with no film I don’t know, must have some camel in his ancestry …… sorry .

 

Also, the front sensor that brings the camera on is a lot less sensitive than my previous cars, find myself getting way too close before the beeping shows any signs of urgency.

[macahoom]

9 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Similar today as it hit 34°c , how Banders is living with no film I don’t know, must have some camel in his ancestry

 

Agreed!

[macahoom]

11 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Also, the front sensor that brings the camera on is a lot less sensitive than my previous cars, find myself getting way too close before the beeping shows any signs of urgency.

 

Ha! I seem to have the opposite problem.

 

You know you can change the sensitivity level?

[Andrew Dwyer]

2 minutes ago, macahoom said:

 

Ha! I seem to have the opposite problem.

 

You know you can change the sensitivity level?

Interesting !!

I will have to look at that as I park the car close to the house and nearly hit it just now.

[Andrew Dwyer]

Regarding my obscure question about the GPS and nearby charging stations.

Was driving south on the highway and opened the nearby charger option, it showed me charger in front and behind.

Have since realised that if I don’t have a destination set it doesn’t really know which way I want to go and shows chargers nearby in any direction including behind me, makes perfect sense.

 

Set a destination, open the charger option and it lets you choose “ along the route “ or “ nearby “, excellent stuff.

[Andrew Dwyer]

16 minutes ago, macahoom said:

 

Ha! I seem to have the opposite problem.

 

You know you can change the sensitivity level?

okay point me in the direction where to find this, can only find on or off.

[macahoom]

13 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

okay point me in the direction where to find this, can only find on or off.

 

I'm afraid you'll have to wait until tomorrow morning for me to come back to you about this.

[Pib]

10 hours ago, macahoom said:

 

I must be missing something hiding in plain sight.

 

In several photos of the steering wheel display screen I have noticed in the bottom right corner either “ODO XXX km”, “TRIP A XXX km” or “TRIP B XXX km”.

 

How the heck do you get the TRIP figures to display? All I've got is "ODO".

 

I have looked everywhere and cannot find any access to a trip feature. It’s obviously something very simple but I’m damned if I can find it.

Isn't there a button on the end of the turn signal lever which when you press it switches between total kilometers/ODO, Trip A, and Trip B.....and to clear Trip A or B kilometers back to zero you press and hold the button for a few seconds when already switched to Trip A or B..  That how it works on the Atto.

[macahoom]

2 hours ago, Pib said:

Isn't there a button on the end of the turn signal lever which when you press it switches between total kilometers/ODO, Trip A, and Trip B.....and to clear Trip A or B kilometers back to zero you press and hold the button for a few seconds when already switched to Trip A or B..  That how it works on the Atto.

 

Thanks, but you mustn't have seen Mistral's quite amusing reply in which he already explained about the elusive button.

[macahoom]

15 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Also, the front sensor that brings the camera on is a lot less sensitive than my previous cars, find myself getting way too close before the beeping shows any signs of urgency.

 

Sorry, on re-reading your post, I may have understood it. I’m not sure if you’d like the camera to turn on earlier or the beeps to sound earlier.

 

Anyway, some of this may help:

 

You can turn the camera on using one of the buttons on the left of the steering wheel.

 

If you go to “Predictive Collision Warning” you can set it to Late, Moderate, Earlier or Off.

[Andrew Dwyer]

1 hour ago, macahoom said:

 

Sorry, on re-reading your post, I may have understood it. I’m not sure if you’d like the camera to turn on earlier or the beeps to sound earlier.

 

Anyway, some of this may help:

 

You can turn the camera on using one of the buttons on the left of the steering wheel.

 

If you go to “Predictive Collision Warning” you can set it to Late, Moderate, Earlier or Off.

Thanks, 

On my last 2 cars the beeping gets quicker until a constant note and then I still am a little way off the object in front.

Seal doesn’t do that, combined with the increased hp and torque i tend to creep forward quickly.

 

Just a question of me getting used to it i think.

 

Will take a look at “ Predictive collision warning “.

 

Just had a little look in the manual, PCW operates above 16 km/h and is more for in traffic emergency stop situations.

 

My “ issue “ is more “ Parking Assist System “ which only operates up to 10 km/h, maybe i am coming in too fast ?

 

According to the manual, the beeping does become continuous.

Will have to double check this and take more care.

[mistral53]

Am I the only one who has this recurring visit from a fat Tukai, especially when he has diarrhea???

 

Gawd I hate the bastard!! I already put mothballs in every nook and cranny under the carport roof and rafters - to no avail, he insist to use that particular spot for his almost daily 'gifts'....... truth is, he is one of the main reasons I got the car ceramic coated!

Recurring thoughts of murder are creeping into my tranquil existence.

[Andrew Dwyer]

2 minutes ago, mistral53 said:

Am I the only one who has this recurring visit from a fat Tukai, especially when he has diarrhea???

 

Gawd I hate the bastard!! I already put mothballs in every nook and cranny under the carport roof and rafters - to no avail, he insist to use that particular spot for his almost daily 'gifts'....... truth is, he is one of the main reasons I got the car ceramic coated!

Recurring thoughts of murder are creeping into my tranquil existence.

Used to hear a Tookai calling nearby but it never came close, get some Jingjok khrap on the car occasionally.

My problem is mostly cats , one was sitting on the roof this morning !!

But they will solve the rat problem i suppose 

[JBChiangRai]

5 minutes ago, mistral53 said:

Am I the only one who has this recurring visit from a fat Tukai, especially when he has diarrhea???

 

Gawd I hate the bastard!! I already put mothballs in every nook and cranny under the carport roof and rafters - to no avail, he insist to use that particular spot for his almost daily 'gifts'....... truth is, he is one of the main reasons I got the car ceramic coated!

Recurring thoughts of murder are creeping into my tranquil existence.

 

My cat kills gheko's and I assist with the Tookae's.

[macahoom]

47 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

On my last 2 cars the beeping gets quicker until a constant note and then I still am a little way off the object in front.

Seal doesn’t do that, combined with the increased hp and torque i tend to creep forward quickly.

 

I just reversed my Seal into the garage.

 

I deliberately drove close to a wall and, as I got close to it, the beeps were quite fast and then, when I got closer, the beeps changed to a constant tone.

 

Love that it's quadraphonic!

[Andrew Dwyer]

39 minutes ago, macahoom said:

 

I just reversed my Seal into the garage.

 

I deliberately drove close to a wall and, as I got close to it, the beeps were quite fast and then, when I got closer, the beeps changed to a constant tone.

 

Love that it's quadraphonic!

Reversing is no problem as there are 4 sensors at the rear ( 2 on the corners and 2 in the middle).

The front has only 2 sensors on the corners.

Would be okay if I reversed into the car port but it isn’t really possible due to some unreasonable neighbours.

 

So the problem I am having is kinda unique I suppose, but here goes.

 

Currently I have another car in the car port leaving about 60 cm either side ( between car and house ).

Pulling in the front corner sensors detect the other car or the house and beep slowly.

The 360° camera opens on either the other car or the house and fluctuates between the two as I pull in.

I change the view to front facing ( as I want to pull close to the wall in front ) but it reverts back to the corner view as is detecting house or other car , it doesn’t stay fixed front facing .

The warning changes from slow to fast and doesn’t go to constant even when millimetres from the wall in front.

 

This is the problem I face, between the fast warning alarm and the 360° camera changing from one corner to the other ( as I am pulling in on an angle ) it makes for a stressful time.

 

Now, under normal circumstances I.e. when the other car has gone or parallel parking etc the front facing camera will be okay as no interference from the side.
Whether the corner sensors will detect the wall in front or if I have to rely on the camera I am not sure. 
Does the car beep at the front when parallel parking ??

 

Unless the front corner sensors are not calibrated properly and not looking in a forward direction as well as sideways am not sure what my solution will be. ( did a test with my dustbin in the street, could drive up to touching it without camera opening or any warning sound, is this normal ? )

 

Seriously considering some tyre stops bolted to the garage floor to avoid this !!

 

 

 

[macahoom]

18 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Reversing is no problem as there are 4 sensors at the rear ( 2 on the corners and 2 in the middle).

The front has only 2 sensors on the corners.

Would be okay if I reversed into the car port but it isn’t really possible due to some unreasonable neighbours.

 

So the problem I am having is kinda unique I suppose, but here goes.

 

Currently I have another car in the car port leaving about 60 cm either side ( between car and house ).

Pulling in the front corner sensors detect the other car or the house and beep slowly.

The 360° camera opens on either the other car or the house and fluctuates between the two as I pull in.

I change the view to front facing ( as I want to pull close to the wall in front ) but it reverts back to the corner view as is detecting house or other car , it doesn’t stay fixed front facing .

The warning changes from slow to fast and doesn’t go to constant even when millimetres from the wall in front.

 

This is the problem I face, between the fast warning alarm and the 360° camera changing from one corner to the other ( as I am pulling in on an angle ) it makes for a stressful time.

 

Now, under normal circumstances I.e. when the other car has gone or parallel parking etc the front facing camera will be okay as no interference from the side.
Whether the corner sensors will detect the wall in front or if I have to rely on the camera I am not sure. 
Does the car beep at the front when parallel parking ??

 

Unless the front corner sensors are not calibrated properly and not looking in a forward direction as well as sideways am not sure what my solution will be. ( did a test with my dustbin in the street, could drive up to touching it without camera opening or any warning sound, is this normal ? )

 

Seriously considering some tyre stops bolted to the garage floor to avoid this !!

 

 

 

 

Sorry, but that's too much for my little brain!

 

All I can tell you is that my car's beeps change to constant when I get close (I think about 30cms?) to a wall and I get a red "STOP" on the screen. I'm not sure if this happens if the wall is directly in front of the car, but it definitely happens if it's at the side and I'm approaching it at an angle.

 

[macahoom]

On 11/30/2023 at 4:55 PM, Andrew Dwyer said:

On the small screen the tyre pressure monitor is on by default, is there any way to get anything else on there , there’s a lot of stuff on there already would prefer something simpler.

 

Sorry I've been so slow to come back to you about this.

 

I tried to change the tyre pressure default to something else, but it always reverted to tyre pressures. But then yesterday, with no input from me, it changed to "Last 50kms AEC" and stayed there. Even when I changed it back to tyre pressures, it reverted to "Last 50 kms AEC".

 

So it looks like you can change the default, but how to do it is a mystery to me.