BYD Seal tips, tricks and help

[JBChiangRai]

PPF needs removing before 8 years. It slowly goes yellow and the glue can crystallize and permanently bond and then you need to repaint.

 

It probably depends on whether it is left on the sun, I would replace it at 6 years.

[Andrew Dwyer]

Did you know that with the ABB wall charger app you can see your total or monthly/weekly/yearly or even a custom period usage in an Activity Report and have it sent to your email address !!

 

I am going to tell you how as it is not so obvious.

 

So, swiping left on the Dashboard brings up Statistics which, by default I think, shows you your last 7 days graph.

Click on Last Activity brings the itemized list for the last 7 days.

Click on Last 7 Days and you have the options of Time Period.

Click on your choice and OK gives you an itemized list of all your charging sessions for that time period.

Click on Export to choose what to send and in what format.

Click OK and your email address should be listed for you to Export.

 

Now, the question WHY ?? 
 

I don’t know, tax reasons !!

 

 

 

 

 

[JBChiangRai]

13 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Did you know that with the ABB wall charger app you can see your total or monthly/weekly/yearly or even a custom period usage in an Activity Report and have it sent to your email address !!

 

I am going to tell you how as it is not so obvious.

 

So, swiping left on the Dashboard brings up Statistics which, by default I think, shows you your last 7 days graph.

Click on Last Activity brings the itemized list for the last 7 days.

Click on Last 7 Days and you have the options of Time Period.

Click on your choice and OK gives you an itemized list of all your charging sessions for that time period.

Click on Export to choose what to send and in what format.

Click OK and your email address should be listed for you to Export.

 

Now, the question WHY ?? 
 

I don’t know, tax reasons !!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wasn't planning on unboxing my ABB wallbox, do you know if it has the ability to set the charge rate?  i.e. derate to 16 amp,24 amp etc

[sathornlover]

11 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

 

I wasn't planning on unboxing my ABB wallbox, do you know if it has the ability to set the charge rate?  i.e. derate to 16 amp,24 amp etc

I am not but under charger settings „load balancing‘ is the right answer?

 

[JBChiangRai]

16 minutes ago, sathornlover said:

I am not but under charger settings „load balancing‘ is the right answer?

 

 

Ues, perfect, that's exactly what I am looking for, I may well install it then.

[Andrew Dwyer]

30 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

 

I wasn't planning on unboxing my ABB wallbox, do you know if it has the ability to set the charge rate?  i.e. derate to 16 amp,24 amp etc

As said by @sathornlover , yes can derate down to 6A via the app.

16A will give you a max it 3.7 kw/h on single phase and 11 kw/h on 3 phase according to the spec sheet.

 

 

 

[JBChiangRai]

8 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

As said by @sathornlover , yes can derate down to 6A via the app.

16A will give you a max it 3.7 kw/h on single phase and 11 kw/h on 3 phase according to the spec sheet.

 

 

 

 

It's a well spec'd device.

[Andrew Dwyer]

Coming to a Seal near you !!

 

So, it has happened, some Chinese guy has developed an app to turn the 360° cameras into a Sentry mode and Thais are all over it !!

 

 

Obviously in its conception but could pave the way for something more professional.

 

Recording from all 4 cameras while running or parked is definitely something interesting, how much will it stretch the 12v battery is a big question ? ( the Sinjet recording only front and back is limited to 24 hrs for sake of the battery ).

 

Someone commented on another FB post about this subject that Deepal already has this option but i can’t find any info to confirm that.

[JBChiangRai]

Is there a voice command to restore the seat to the memory position one or two?

 

It’s a PITA having to wade through menus to get to it.

[macahoom]

1 hour ago, JBChiangRai said:

Is there a voice command to restore the seat to the memory position one or two?

 

No!

[JBChiangRai]

2 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

Is there a voice command to restore the seat to the memory position one or two?

 

It’s a PITA having to wade through menus to get to it.

 

42 minutes ago, macahoom said:

 

No!

Well that is a glaring omission 

[Andrew Dwyer]

So, today i tackled some Elastic Dipping, had bought the stuff for the previous car but when the Seal started to appear the project got shelved.

Anyhoo, had watched some YouTube videos about it and it was easier than I expected.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The front looks particularly good if i do say so myself !

How long it’ll last and if it will withstand a vigorous scrubbing or jet spraying at the car wash is another question.

 

[macahoom]

8 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

 

Well that is a glaring omission 

 

Yes, the Seal has a multitude of bells, whistles and tricks up its sleeve but they somehow failed to provide a simple way to change from seat position one to seat position two - like a simple two-way switch on the driver's door.  

 

Bewildering!

[motdaeng]

 

 

@muratremix  if i'm not mistaken, i believe that one of the members in this discussion have purchased the byd dolphin extended.

                           he can probably answer your question best ...

 

 

[macahoom]

 

Anyone have any ideas about this?

 

In view of the fact that, at even a 100% SOC, the Seal regeneration still works, this presumably means that the conventional mechanical brakes will only be triggered under extremely heavy braking. I have had my Seal for 3 months and I don’t believe I have ever braked heavily enough for the mechanical brakes to engage. So this means the brake pads/discs are gonna rust and pit because they are never, or rarely, used.

 

Any comments/solutions?

 

Do a high speed emergency brake once a week to keep the pads/discs clean?

[Gweiloman]

13 minutes ago, macahoom said:

 

Anyone have any ideas about this?

 

In view of the fact that, at even a 100% SOC, the Seal regeneration still works, this presumably means that the conventional mechanical brakes will only be triggered under extremely heavy braking. I have had my Seal for 3 months and I don’t believe I have ever braked heavily enough for the mechanical brakes to engage. So this means the brake pads/discs are gonna rust and pit because they are never, or rarely, used.

 

Any comments/solutions?

 

Do a high speed emergency brake once a week to keep the pads/discs clean?

I’m really wondering about this too. My PHEV has one pedal driving which means I hardly touch the brake pedal, relying instead on mostly regenerative braking to stop the car.

 

I’ve had the car serviced 3 times since I bought it but never thought to ask the technician to check. I assumed that they do anyway but it’s better to be sure. Must remember to ask them to check during my next service.

[macahoom]

22 minutes ago, Gweiloman said:

My PHEV has one pedal driving which means I hardly touch the brake pedal,

Yeh, but the Seal's mechanical brakes are blended with the regenerative braking, like many EVs. Even when you use the brake pedal, the mechanical brakes only activate when the regeneration can't cope, which seems to be only under extremely heavy braking.

[Andrew Dwyer]

44 minutes ago, macahoom said:

 

Anyone have any ideas about this?

 

In view of the fact that, at even a 100% SOC, the Seal regeneration still works, this presumably means that the conventional mechanical brakes will only be triggered under extremely heavy braking. I have had my Seal for 3 months and I don’t believe I have ever braked heavily enough for the mechanical brakes to engage. So this means the brake pads/discs are gonna rust and pit because they are never, or rarely, used.

 

Any comments/solutions?

 

Do a high speed emergency brake once a week to keep the pads/discs clean?

I had to brake sharply recently and heard a grating noise, so much so that I stopped and had a look to see if anything was obviously wrong, it wasn’t.

Tested my brakes a few times after that and the sound slowly disappeared.

 

I put it down to the fact I had had the car washed the previous day which can leave a layer of surface rust apparently.

[macahoom]

11 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

I put it down to the fact I had had the car washed the previous day which can leave a layer of surface rust apparently.

 

Or that the rust had been building up since the car was new and this was the first time the mechanical brakes had been triggered?

[Andrew Dwyer]

23 minutes ago, macahoom said:

 

Or that the rust had been building up since the car was new and this was the first time the mechanical brakes had been triggered?

Yes, quite possible, your idea to do a weekly heavy brake test makes sense.

[Pib]

2 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

I had to brake sharply recently and heard a grating noise, so much so that I stopped and had a look to see if anything was obviously wrong, it wasn’t.

Tested my brakes a few times after that and the sound slowly disappeared.

 

I put it down to the fact I had had the car washed the previous day which can leave a layer of surface rust apparently.

 

I bought my Atto (a Seal's cousin)in late Oct 2023 and in late Dec 2023 I had the 3 month/5000Km (whichever comes first) checkup. It was at the 4,600Km point and I wanted to get the checkup before the Christmas/New Years holiday period set in when I would have at least one long trip planned. Anyway, up until that point I never experienced any brake issues/noise.   

 

The day following the checkup at the BYD dealership I did a trip of approx 225Km round trip. About 40Km into the trip the wife and I could hear the "front" brakes squealing somewhat when lightly pressing the brake pedal.  A squeal exactly like you hear when brake pads have reached their wear limit and there is a little metal tab on brake pad that then starts making contact with the brake rotter to make a squeal.   Squeal would only occur when pressing the brake pedal and not when simply letting my foot off the fuel pedal. 

 

After driving/braking for another few kilometers the squeal continued whenever pressing the brakes..."only when pressing the brakes."  I thought to myself that maybe this is being caused by something the dealership mechanics did during the checkout the previous day.  However, I was able to watch the entire checkup through big picture windows in the waiting lounge......just like watching fish in a tank.  The mechanics never did any work on the brakes other than visually inspect without removing the wheel....pretty much just like you or I would do a quick visual inspection.   

 

I even briefly stopped the car to take a look and touch the back and front brake pads & rotors...no rust on rotors...not overheating/hot....just no visible issues.  Got back in the car and started driving again...squeal was still there only when pressing the brake.  So I decided to abort the trip and go back home....did a U-turn and headed back to home.  But now the brake squeal sound was gone....it had vanished....I could press the brakes lightly, medium, heavily, etc., and no brake squeal.  Drove at least another 5Km's while occasionally pressing the brakes--no squeal...it was gone.   So, I decided not to go back home and instead continue the trip...so, did another U-turn and completed the 225km round trip over the next several hours.   Squeal never came back.   

 

When getting home I once again visually inspected the back & front brake pads/rotors....no issues, they looked exactly as they did when I first noticed the squeal a couple hundred kilometers earlier.    It's now almost a month later with an additional 2,000km's driven getting up to around 6,600Km's...still no squeal.   

 

Don't know what caused the brake squeal that day.  And I didn't go back to the dealership later on to ask their opinion.   "Maybe" some kind of road dust/dirt/etc.,  got onto the front brake pads/rotors and doing that first U-turn to head back home cleared it....because the squeal just disappeared after doing that U-turn.

 

But one thing for sure it was not caused by rust on the brake rotors and my visual inspection before and after the squealing showed them to be rust free...just clean, smooth, and shiny.   My googling about EV brake squeal reveals many models (even Tesla's) can temporarily experience brake squeal even when the EV is only a few month's old/very low mileage.   When not caused by light rust on the rotors it just some weird occurrence that can occur when "regen braking and physical braking" (and maybe the right weather conditions) form just the right condition to cause the squeal.

 

[JBChiangRai]

I think you will find the brakesw are used to bring you to a complete stop, so you don't need to test them all the time.

 

That list 5-8 kmhr is when they're used.

[Breizh29]

In Europe, Byd Seal testers complain about the lack of regenerative braking. A simple test carried out with several EVs at 80km/h on a flat road shows that the Seal needs 235 meters to stop while some do so from 132 meters. So I believe that the story of rust appearing on the pads/discs because they have never or rarely been used is very unlikely.

[macahoom]

25 minutes ago, Breizh29 said:

In Europe, Byd Seal testers complain about the lack of regenerative braking. A simple test carried out with several EVs at 80km/h on a flat road shows that the Seal needs 235 meters to stop while some do so from 132 meters. So I believe that the story of rust appearing on the pads/discs because they have never or rarely been used is very unlikely.

 

Link to these tests, please.

[mistral53]

Charging the amphibian: The owners manual suggests to charge to 100% is preferred. I am using solar to charge, so charging is usually distributed over several days, or just a few hours on some days.

 

Are you guys following the instructions strictly?

Has anybody done some research - will this affect the battery longevity negatively?

[macahoom]

45 minutes ago, mistral53 said:

Are you guys following the instructions strictly?

 

Presumably BYD, as developer and manufacturer of the battery, know what they’re talking about and following their advice for battery longevity is probably a good idea. The charging instructions in the Seal manual are far from straightforward, but doable. My intention is to follow them quite strictly.

[Breizh29]

11 hours ago, macahoom said:

 

Link to these tests, please.

 

[JBChiangRai]

12 hours ago, Breizh29 said:

In Europe, Byd Seal testers complain about the lack of regenerative braking. A simple test carried out with several EVs at 80km/h on a flat road shows that the Seal needs 235 meters to stop while some do so from 132 meters. So I believe that the story of rust appearing on the pads/discs because they have never or rarely been used is very unlikely.

 

I watched the video but my schoolboy French is not up to snuff.

 

I am not sure what they were testing or how they tested it.  There are 2 statements made...

 

1. Seal testers complain about the lack of regenerative braking

 

2. A simple test carried out with several EVs at 80km/h on a flat road shows that the Seal needs 235 meters to stop while some do so from 132 meters

 

Are they saying the Seal needs 235 meters to stop using only regenerative braking? or are they saying the Seal needs 235 meters to stop from 80km/h? I suspect it's the former.

 

The Seal has 2 levels of regen, Standard & High.  High is not that high compared to MG4 or MG EP+, but the brake pedal increases regenerative braking to a much higher level than cars without blended braking (eg MG EV's where the brake pedal only works the brakes) and the brakes are only brought into play for the last few km/h to bring the vehicle to a final halt.

 

I did some googling, I can't find any other complaints about Seal regen braking, I think the testers probably didn't understand the function of the brake pedal as increasing regenerative braking.

 

 

 

[macahoom]

41 minutes ago, JBChiangRai said:

I think the testers probably didn't understand the function of the brake pedal as increasing regenerative braking.

 

Thanks for commenting on this JB. I'm too old and ugly to be bothered to explain.

 

Yes it looks like the testers, (and Breizh29) don't understand that the brake pedal triggers the regen and the mechanical brakes only come into play under very heavy braking or, as you say, to bring the car to a complete stop from about 5kph.

 

Many reviewers don't seem to understand regen blended braking.

[mistral53]

1 hour ago, macahoom said:

 

Thanks for commenting on this JB. I'm too old and ugly to be bothered to explain.

 

Yes it looks like the testers, (and Breizh29) don't understand that the brake pedal triggers the regen and the mechanical brakes only come into play under very heavy braking or, as you say, to bring the car to a complete stop from about 5kph.

 

Many reviewers don't seem to understand regen blended braking.

 

Completely agree with you and @JBChiangRai - lots of folks don't understand brake blending.

 

150 kW is the max regen I have seen flashing on the display, when breaking from high speed and putting the binders on hard - which just so happens to be the max charging power the vehicle is designed for. This is what matters to me most, because it indicates a lot of energy is recuperated and not wasted in heating up the brake disks.

 

Has anybody seen higher regen power?

 

BTW - comparing braking performance, the best test I have seen as it is run under identical conditions.........result might surprise you