20240416 minivan not turning the power on

[130s]

• 4/11 morning might have been the last time it was used.
• Today 4/16, a family member noticed the dashcam on the minivan spoke when the vehicle was touched (that's how this person perceived, doesn't have to be exactly what happened).
• Later I noticed sliding door wasn't automatically opening/closing. Found engine not starting.
• Using Durlast DL-800 jumpstarter that has not been re-charged probably since 1/27 (2.5 months ago), the minivan once started. Then I turned off the engine and tried again with and without the jumpstarter but it no longer starts.
• Charged durlast for a few hours then tried but it still doesn't start. Front panel's light shows red or yellow when its cables are connected to car's battery.
  • I noticed I was plugging the black cable on the car's battery's black pole. Did it do anything bad?

[130s]

https://carfromjapan.com/article/car-maintenance/why-dont-you-connect-the-negative-when-jumping-a-car/

Why Don’t You Connect The Negative When Jumping A Car?

According to auto experts, when connecting the battery, the negative terminal of the cable must be connected to the metal part of the vehicle, not directly to the negative terminal of the dead battery. So why shouldn’t you connect the negative terminal? Connecting like this to avoid the occurrence of specific risks as follows:

Avoid short-circuiting, causing battery explosion:

When jumping, the battery produces hydrogen gas, if it encounters an electric spark, it will easily cause an explosion. Therefore, if you connect directly to the negative battery terminal, it can damage the battery and electrical components of the vehicle. And we also know that battery explosions can cause serious injury…

Prevent voltage drop (reduce vol), and make your car easier to start:

Weak batteries have a very low voltage (below 12V) compared to fine batteries. Directly attaching the negative terminal to the cathode will reduce the voltage of the good battery. If you connect the negative terminal to the side of the car, this will be avoided because of the fact that the ground wire between the battery and the side of the car (dead battery) has a certain resistance value.

Avoid lack of mass (stops the starting current):

In fact, the negative terminal of your battery, the chassis, and the mass of the starter are connection blocks. But the battery and the side of the car are connected through the ground wire, the cross-section of the mass wire is much smaller than the side of the car, so it will prevent the starting current, making the rescued car difficult to start. Note: the cable must be firmly clamped to the unpainted metal bar. Do not clamp on plastic, rubber, and paint.

Hmmm...So is the battery on the car damaged after the first jumpstart (which successfully turned the car's engine on)??

[130s]

This time I confirmed that the durlast is fully charged (according to manual, when fully charged during charging the device goes into maintenance mode that is indicated by green blink)). Car again doesn't turn the power on, in fact no electronics are lighted this time (previously I saw some electronics were still working). While the power of the durlast on, its light was green.

[130s]

Battery issue has been a headache for this vehicle almost every year since 2021, and while we have never known the root cause of it, potential causes have been discussed https://github.com/kinu-garage/30y-130s_life/issues/198#issuecomment-1044336575.

I do suspect Blackvue dashcam https://github.com/kinu-garage/hut_10sqft/issues/484#issuecomment-1047408371 that I know its parking mode has been in use. Maybe try this (helpcenter.blackvue.com).

[130s]

Escalated to https://github.com/kinu-garage/30y-130s_life/issues/1970