He's right on one count, there should be a way to stop the vehicle coming to life just because you opened a door. A "camping" or "overlanding" button maybe. So you'd turn it off and then the vehicle wouldn't come to life until you actually pressed the "start" button.

 

Out of the factory...I can't think of many vehicles that are 100% ready for remote travel.

Duel battery set up with a starting battery isolator, paired with a hood mounted solar trickle charger...battery problem solved...basic overlanding set up really...ugh.

Also, it takes a bit of time to find the weak points in any new adventure vehicle, learn your vehicle and what it takes to make a field repairs on the common items, all have their own quarks...and we adapt to them.

Like Warn says "Go Prepared."

 

I love my Defender but here are some numbers to go with this battery issue.

I'm on Pivi 3.3.2. with a new 2 month old battery on a 22 month old truck with 17k miles on it.

3.3.3 downloaded and I attempted several times to install. Each failed due to "battery not charged enough to attempt". 3.3.3 eventually disappeared and I remained on 3.3.2

4.0.0 downloaded and the same thing happened. I tried at least 4 times to initiate the install after fully charging the battery. Failed each time. Still on 3.3.2.

I get a low battery warning at least every other day.

When you manually charge, it completes at 14.1V. When the charger is removed, it settles at 13.1V. After a day or so without opening the truck, it drops to 12.9V.

I can drive the truck starting at 13.1V or 12.9V, whatever, and it's always back to 12.6V when the drive is over. Regardless of starting voltage, it wants to maintain at 12.6V.

At 12.4V, I get a low battery warning.

Opening a door and waking up the truck draws an initial 14A for at least 2 minutes. It drops to 12A for a minute, 9A for another couple of minutes, 4A for another, and finally settles with a resting draw of .6A.

That's high. A normal vehicle draws somewhere closer to .03A at rest.

I've heard people with 4.0.0 don't have this issue anymore. Did they increase normal battery voltage from 12.6V? Lower the warning trigger at 12.4V? Decrease the heavy draw for each wake-up cycle or during rest? Idk. Still trying to figure it out.

 

l've never had a low battery warning. And l often sit in the vehicle to have my lunch when on a job, with the systems all running (so l can use my phone and listen to the radio) but the engine off.

This is in Summer and Winter. l am on the 4.0 software.

We've also used the vehicle when camping and in the caravan

l've used the accessory 12 socket to run a compressor to inflate a dinghy, without starting the engine for days, and still never had a "low battery" warning.

lt's a 2022 3.0 90 MHEV Diesel in pretty much base specification

When l open one of the doors, the screen says "good morning" or "good evening" etc but nothing else happens unless l put the key in the centre console and then it wakes up.

l don't have keyless entry.

 

Steering back to the guy on the video, someone defined perfectly above: Pathetic. A while ago (thanks to YT Algo) I watched a video of him complaining that LR did not invite him to the Defender launching trip to Africa (or wherever they went for the press trip) because he would be the only one pointing out flaws of the vehicle. Again, pathetic.

 

He's got a history with Land Rover, l don't think they particularly like him.

 

Ooo, I really hope so! I'm having a real time getting 4.0 or 4.0.1 to show up for update... still in the 3's. But heading out in a week or so to Moab and across Colorado to live in and out of my D110 for 10 days and would love to not deal with battery warnings while camping. LMK if you learn anymore about this!

 

I have had the low battery warning a few times while camping. It's annoying. So I start it up and let it idle for about 15 minutes. It has already left me once on the side of the road with a failed alternator, so I am super cautious about the battery now.

While I agree the video is clickbaity, there needs to be a camping function to allow you to open doors, etc and not wake everything. And while I appreciate that the rear door doesn't wake the system up, it isn't really a solution.

 

the "camping" button seems like an excellent idea! I speculate about "snow birds" that winter in one state and leave their car in a parking lot for 2-3 months - if the battery is likely to be depleted, can an after-market camping solution be beneficial to them too?! In terms of what JLR would do, I wonder if they can solve it with a program option? For example, when you set other things in the Defender to make it customized, you would set the "wake" feature on Pivi to *only* happen when the driver's door opens!? Opening the other doors - if you select such option in the configurations - doesn't wake anything in the Defender. My LR, for example, has a "winter" setting for windshield wipers: when I select that feature, the wipers are off of the windshield when the car is stopped (so they don't freeze to the windshield). I don't have to select the feature, so it's an option I may select if I expect a huge snowstorm. Can't Pivi be configured to have a more limited "wake" mode? I also program my auto lock to unlock all four door with one click (not the standard two clicks). For me, I prefer one, so the feature is nice. But if JLR can offer me that feature, can they do something similar with Pivi to keep it sleeping when any door except the driver's is opened temporarily, or left open for an extended period of time? Another way to tweak Pivi and prevent battery drain may be to have Pivi go back to sleep quicker if the engine is not turned on within a minute or two. Maybe someone that knows car programming (which I don't) may know if this is a realistic solution...

 

It would be very easy to put an option in Pivi to select where the car could be in camping mode and NOT wake up the systems except when the start button is pressed.