Cargo Area Light - 2020 Bolt

[ElectricRunabout1946]

Does anyone know if the cargo light "times out" if the liftgate is left open for a period of time?
(My old Fiat 500 did that after about 10 minutes.)
The 2020 Bolt Owner's Manual does not mention the on/off function for this light. I do observe it switches
off when the liftgate is down. I'm guessing that this interior light is powered by the 12V battery.
I fly electric-powered RC aircraft and tend to leave the liftgate up while at the flying field
in order to access tools, models, etc.

I'm new to the forum, so thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[AyeJay]

Does anyone know if the cargo light "times out" if the liftgate is left open for a period of time?
(My old Fiat 500 did that after about 10 minutes.)
The 2020 Bolt Owner's Manual does not mention the on/off function for this light.

I'm new to the forum, so thanks in advance for any advice.

Hello ElectricRunabout1946 & welcome!

The only reference I could find in the owners manual is as follows ...

-- Battery Power Protection:

"The battery saver feature is designed to protect the vehicle's 12-volt battery.
If some interior lamps and/or the headlamps are left on and the vehicle is turned off, the battery
rundown protection system automatically turns the lamp off after some time".


This has been a concern for me as well but I haven't tested any of the interior lights for a time out feature.

AJ

 

[ElectricRunabout1946]

Thank you, AJ.

I have used the 12V battery in my gasoline-powered cars as an on-field charge source for charging my small LiPo batteries
- the ones used to power my model's electric motor. I need to investigate using the Bolt 12V battery for this in another post.

Steve (aka Tom Swift)

 

[trevmar]

I'd like to think "the battery rundown protection system automatically turns the lamp off after some time".

is actually "the battery rundown protection system automatically turns the lamp off when the closed circuit voltage reaches 12.XX volts, and the HV battery automatically kicks in to recharge the 12 v battery"

It's not rocket science.........

 

[BarfOMatic]

Ya know what else isn't rocket science?

Parking the Bolt in the garage, and at night opening the liftgate and then looking into the garage every 10 minutes to see if the light has gone out. If you *really* want to know exactly how long, then do it twice and the 2nd time go sit in the garage the 10 minutes between "the light was on when I checked" and "the light was off the next time I checked". :roll:

Really not rocket science at all.

 

[ElectricRunabout1946]

Well, BarfOMatic, you have correctly pointed to the way to a solution via inductive reasoning.
It's just too bitterly cold in my garage right now to do the observation. But it surely will warm
up someday soon. :shock:
Steve

 

[TheLondonBroiler]

Hi Runabout! It has also been my experience that the interior lights will automatically turn off after 10 or so minutes IF the "ignition"/car is off.

Some workarounds:
-EASY- I believe you can leave the car on with the rear hatch open without "the dinger" fussing at you, as it would with an open door. The car generally draws somewhere around 250 watts while on without anything else being powered, so you can expect to use about a kwh every 4 hours.
-EASY- Being that the trunk light isn't particularly bright and leaving the car on is wasteful, you could buy a rechargeable lantern or other type of light that would use less energy than leaving the car on and it would provide better lighting conditions.
-HARD/Costly- You can rewire the hatch light in a multitude of ways to keep it on, whether it be controlled by the hatch door switch out auxiliary type switch.

Good luck!

 

[ElectricRunabout1946]

Thank you TheLondonBroiler. If the cargo light times out while I'm at the flying field (and always in daylight) I'll have no problems there.