Battery Saver Active Issue

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dfresh

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I'm the original owner on a 2010 Equinox 2.4L. Having issues with the Battery Saver Active message coming on. Just replaced the alternator thinking it was the voltage regulator, but that didn't do it. Battery is less than 1 year old. Below are details of the issue. Feel like it's probably some connection issue somewhere, but not sure where to look. Anyone have any suggestions on where to begin?
  • Multimeter shows battery having 12.6V when car is off with no major drain
  • Start the car and meter shows it going to about 10V when starting then shoots up to over 14V as engine starts
  • Letting car idle shows battery staying around the 14.5V range
  • Putting load on system (headlights, radio, AC, etc.) never show an immediate drain
  • Seeing a somewhat random drop in voltage at the battery when car is running to under 13V
  • Can't find a single item that causes the issue. Just turning on the HVAC fan (with no AC) can see the issue happen
  • When I see battery drop below 13V it slowly starts climbing back up to over 14V within a couple minutes. It feels like the alternator is asleep on the job and suddenly realizes it needs to start working
  • After waiting a couple minutes the battery gets back up to around 15V and stays there. Have seen it stay as high as 15.3V when giving it throttle.
  • Youtube video of the issue can be seen below
 

tcave44

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Having similar issue. 2010 Equinox 4cyl. was dead. Battery is 5 years old so replaced it. Starts right up... but after a few minutes NOW I get the Battery Saver Active warning sporadically. Garage checked everything, including alternator, and says it seems to be fine but they too get the BSA warning. Nice mechanic said he's happy to replace alternator but not sure that will make it go away since it seems to be charging fine. Did you ever get any resolution to your issue?
 

dfresh

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I previously had some corrosion issues on the battery connections when I had replaced the battery several months prior. I cleaned them up back then, but in trying to sort out this issue I thought it might've been the battery current sensor. When I took apart the battery connections and box to try and get to that I looked closer at the single small cable coming off the negative battery cable. Found more corrosion deeper in there. Ended up cleaning up that as best I could and that seems to have resolved the issue for me. I can't say that was the root cause for sure, but I haven't had that issue since.
 

tcave44

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Thank you so much for replying. It got me thinking that there must be something wrong with the cable or battery current sensor since both the bigger and smaller cables have to go through that sensor. Went to look at at the negative terminal again and discovered my small/ground wire was broken! Not sure how the garage didn't notice this. I just snipped below where the connector corroded away, stripped the wire, and wrapped it around the nut/bolt where the connector was fastened. So far so good and no Battery Saver Active alert after a half hour of driving. Sprayed some battery terminal protector all over the terminals and hoping this'll last a while.

IMG_8447.jpegIMG_8449.jpeg
 

dfresh

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Awesome. That's great confirmation for me to know that single wire was my issue then too. Never seen a battery connection designed like this with another separate cable off the negative. Wish it was better documented so I could understand its function. Glad you didn't waste money on replacing the alternator like I did.
 

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