[h8ten]

Looks as though I may now have the 12v dying on me. Drove to Stirling around 21 miles, shopped moved another couple of miles, more shopping, then headed home. 15 miles from home all hell broke loose on the dash, bongs, warning lights and messages. It transferred to engine power, with the messages (not in order of appearance 'Engine Not Available Service Soon', 'Service Power Steering', 'Propulsion Power Reduced', Service Brake Assist' and 'Service Stabilitrak'. Warning lights were - 'Electrical parking Brake fault', ' Electronic Stability Control off' and 'MIL. Distance remaining on petrol was -- instead of the 46 it was before, Trips A and B were blank, Oil life was --. Car was still moving and then the power source went back to electrical and I continued home with reduced power steering, reduced braking, no speedo reading, no air con (windscreen was steaming up and I put the fan on low, air con was working on the way down) and no regeneration as though I was driving in 'N' but you could tell the physical brakes were doing all the work although the power flow did show regeneration.
Fault codes are:-
P0700 Powertrain
P079C Powertrain
U0100 Network
Pending codes:-
B2AAA Body
P0AC4 Powertrain
P2534 Powertrain Ignition Switch Run/Start Position Circuit Low
U1839 Network
U186A Network
U1876 Network
U1879 Network
I've charged the car for an hour, powered it up, engine started immediately and ran for a minute or so then it switched off. Took the car for a quick run and all working as expected only thing is the MIL is still on but I know that could go with a couple of good charges.

 

[Peter Cittern]

Wow. Have you been monitoring your 12 v battery voltage at all?

 

[HandyAndy]

Does sound rather like a 12V failure. The symptoms come on very suddenly! Here's my saga:
Help! Ampera died this morning!
Here's a link to replacing the battery - it's a simple diy job:
Ampera 12V Battery Replacement Process
Here's a link to Donald's recommendation for a better-than-BoschS5-battery:
Ampera engine light on and unable to charge

Be very careful about plugging in to recharge the traction battery! You'll see from my saga that my 12V failed to operate the high voltage contactors properly as I started to charge; the resulting arcing etc blew them to bits & I ended up flatbedded.

Suggest you stick a meter on your 12V - 2 obvious terminals connectors under the bonnet are one way - and if it's below 12V, don't hesitate, replace the 12V at once, without recharging the traction battery. Once you have a decent 12V (I suppose you could connect up a battery-charger to boost it, maybe...) only then are you safe to recharge the traction battery. Most if not all the error messages should then go away with luck. If any remain, I'd suggest clear them with dongle, and see if any come back again.

 

[h8ten]

Wow. Have you been monitoring your 12 v battery voltage at all?

I have been with a plug in voltage display, the car has been parked up for two weeks whilst on holiday but plugged in. The car is due it's annual lifetime warranty inspection soon and also an MOT so will be booking it in.

@HandyAndy I had read all your post and the comments, it came up when I did a search for the first code and was kind of expecting it to be the 12 volt. I will start the process of looking for a replacement pronto, I might get a price from the dealership just out of curiosity.

 

[h8ten]

Well, the wee car has sorted itself out, no bongs or beeps, no warnings, no MIL so all fine. It's still booked in to get looked at, Lifetime Warranty check-up and it's MOT next Monday

 

[Spiny]

Have the battery tested or just replace for peace of mind. I have replaced mine just in case 3 years+possibly 2 in field

 

[h8ten]

I will make sure it is tested and coming into winter soon, although it doesn't need the cranking power, the cold could well kill it if left for a few days.

 

[Andy Briggs]

I bought a battery online from the RAC shop, the Bosch was about £105 if I remember correctly, I ordered it on Sunday morning about 0830 and opted to have it fitted at home - free if your an RAC member, £30 if not. When he turned up (same day 3 hours later) he spent 20 mins running lots of tests and giving me a full report on the electrics of the car (no issues) then when he started to fit the battery I noticed it was different from the one I ordered, there were 3 options on the website and the Bosch was cheapest, the guy told me they don't keep the Bosch on the vans so they fit the next best ones which are labelled as RAC brand (they're actually Varta) so I got one that should have been another £20 or so - bonus.

 

[h8ten]

Update, call from the garage. Car has passed the MOT, I knew that yesterday as I checked on the app. They have charged the 12 volt battery overnight and seems okay. Bad news is that there is a fault code stored regarding a clutch slipping in the transmission, P079C?. The mechanic has seen this before and a transmission fluid change should sort this out, I hope so as I only have 11,500 miles of warranty left. (can't recall the cost at the minute but will update post when I have paid the bill).