Dead Karma, unable to start

[Axel16]

Hi guys,

I need professional help: My Karma does not react to the fob. I opened the right door with the key. The alarm came up. I did 2 - 3 resets. That did not work. The car did not show any reaction. You could only hear the software booting, but did not fully bring the Karma to life. FOB was still not working.

After performing reset No 4 and 5, no booting of the software could be noticed. The car is almost dead now. I have no idea, how to handle this problem. So signs of defects or so have shown up before. Battery is 70% full. The Karma went pretty well until now. I have No 16 of the signature series, delivered in May 2012 in Germany, 35.000 Kilometers on the clock.

Any idea how i can get the Karma back on the road?

Thanks!

Axel

[smoothoperator]

Do you have a Multimeter? Take the DMM and check the 12v voltage. This can be accomplished by removing the fuse box cover and placing the positive lead of your multimeter on the positive fusebox lead and placing the negative lead on a suitable ground (engine block) If this voltage is low the symptoms you have described may occur.

If a low 12V battery is the culprit you will want to charge the battery for a few hours using these same leads. Chances are your 12V battery is dead and needs to be replaced. If that is the case, there are several previous threads that describe the process.

[Sigurd]

Are the batteries in the fob dead?

[Harleyguy]

The most inportant thing is the instrument cluster light up when you open the door or put the car in ACC mode ?

[Axel16]

Thanks guys for your great help! My Fisker Karma is back to life, the reason for the "blackout" is pretty much mysterious:

I have also thought, that the batterie of the FOB might be empty. I could not check this out, because i did not have the reserve FOB with me.

The other issues you have brought up, were problably pretty close to what has happend to my Karma. I think that I have had a problem with my 12 V battery.

So what i did was, I threatened my Karma to bring in a tender and a jumper cable to kick him into his electric ass, if he did not come back to live and start the booting process.

Yesterday morning I approached my Fisker, that has been disconnected the whole night. I connected the car and started the booting process. Some kind of wonder: everything was fine! Booting performed all the way through and i could start of. No need for the fender or the jumper cable.

Maybe my Fisker wanted to stay the night out on his own without me; I have been on vacation last week, leaving the Fisker alone at home !

In order to be serious: does i make sense to use a fender, if you don't drive the car for some time ( 1 or 2 weeks )?
During the week I very often drive very short tracks in the city between 4 - 8 kilometers - one way -. Maximum 5 - 10 Minutes. Does it make sense to use the engine and drive in sports mode in order to recharge the 12 V battery?

Thanks a lot again!

[asulil]

Originally Posted by Axel16

In order to be serious: does i make sense to use a fender, if you don't drive the car for some time ( 1 or 2 weeks )?
During the week I very often drive very short tracks in the city between 4 - 8 kilometers - one way -. Maximum 5 - 10 Minutes. Does it make sense to use the engine and drive in sports mode in order to recharge the 12 V battery?

Thanks a lot again!

I think a lot of people have issues with the 12V battery - especially leaving the car alone for a while and then having issues with the car/battery upon returning. In a different thread concerning replacing the 12V battery with a Lithium Iron Phosphate battery - I asked what the parasitic draw of the car was - I believe HArleyGuy answered - and while I don't remember exactly the number - it was high and led me to forget about replacing the heavy 12V with a 5Lb lithium Iron Phospate - as not enough AMPS - I calculated and thought to myself I would not leave the car alone for more than 7 - 10 days max. The parasitic draw is high.

[Harleyguy]

Just Install a AGM battery the same CCA as the factory one use a battery tender which cycles as needed . Hook it up when the car is left for more then four weeks inside and you won't have a problem .A $45.00 battery maintainer is a lot cheaper then the 12 volt battery and the pain in the ass that comes with it .

[eero]

12v is a big problem. I had a similar issue. If the 12v dies, you need to replace it as soon as possible. 1 or 2 jumps. and then you could lose the signal from the VCM. Then the command console and the dash are dead. You then need to reset the software, and rebuild. You need a tech for this. If this doesn't work or there's a problem, the entire VCM needs to be removed and sent to Fisker.

[flying dutchman]

Originally Posted by eero

12v is a big problem. I had a similar issue. If the 12v dies, you need to replace it as soon as possible. 1 or 2 jumps. and then you could lose the signal from the VCM. Then the command console and the dash are dead. You then need to reset the software, and rebuild. You need a tech for this. If this doesn't work or there's a problem, the entire VCM needs to be removed and sent to Fisker.

I had exactly this two weeks ago. Even though I use the car everyday and parked outside so that the solar panel keeps things going. My VCM was replaced.