Every modern car has the so-called battery-saver mode. This is meant to avoid any battery draining if you accidentally forget to switch off some equipment. So, all modern-day Nissan models will cut off the power after some time if the engine is off and the battery is draining.
For different models and countries, there may be different sets of settings. If you use a good Nissan scanning tool, you can get access to the intervals for the battery-saver mode. But can you do something to bypass this feature and avoid seeing this “Power will turn off to save the battery” message?
Let’s see!
How does the battery-saver mode work in Nissan?
You may remember that battery drains were one of the most common reasons for car owners getting stranded unexpectedly in the middle of nowhere. They left the car door open, went to a roadside café to drink some coffee, and came back to find their batteries fully drained and engines not starting.
Manufacturers decided to tackle the problem by introducing battery-saver mode features. It may work in different ways and in some vehicles, you can even set the intervals through the infotainment settings menu. But not in Nissan vehicles.
Usually, the battery-saver mode will work as follows:
- the system will analyze the voltage of the battery;
- based on these measurements, it will decide whether it’s acceptable to let the accessories and lights work;
- if the battery is completely OK, your Nissan will cut power approximately 45 minutes after you switch off the engine;
- if the battery is weak, the feature may adjust the intervals to cut off the power supply earlier;
- with an almost dead battery, your accessories will likely refuse to work right after you turn off the engine.
So, if you want to listen to music or leave some light on in the car, you will likely get this annoying message saying that the Nissan will cut off all the power to save the battery charge.
There is a lot of chatter about this on the internet and the most common question Nissan owners ask is whether they can bypass this feature and let music play for hours after they park their vehicles. So, let’s see if this is possible.
By the way, in official sources, I only found this very scarce page that gives an unusually misleading explanation.
Can you bypass the battery-saver mode in your Nissan?
I spoke to two Nissan dealership mechanics who specialize in electronics. They gave the same answer to this question: you can leave the feature active or turn it off. There is no way you can change its settings without risking to damage the software in various electronic control modules.
Both mechanics said that physically you can change the time frame of cutting off the power in your Nissan. However, any changes will lead to the feature working incorrectly. Basically, it will just turn off.
So, there is no official way you can bypass the feature without risking your battery. You can turn it off completely and let your radio play music even if the battery is almost dead. But I strongly recommend you avoid this.
If you turn off the battery saver mode, the car won’t cut off the power supply when you accidentally forget to turn something off or leave your door open. And the battery will be quickly drained. After that, you will need to jump-start or charge the battery before starting your engine.
Why does the battery-saver mode glitch in my Nissan?
It’s quite common for modern vehicles to glitch if the battery has low voltage. This means that the 12V battery can’t supply all the control modules with proper power and these “brains” start glitching.
In this case, you may see all kinds of inappropriate and weird error messages and codes that will vanish after you restart the car. Like the Key ID Incorrect, for example, or No Key Detected.
So, if you see the “Power will turn off to save the battery” message in your Nissan when this message shouldn’t actually pop up, you need to check the voltage in your 12V battery. If it’s significantly lower than 12.5 volts, you may need to charge the battery.
Remember that jumping the battery from another vehicle doesn’t mean it will charge. Also, driving for an hour won’t charge the battery completely. You will need a proper battery charger to sort out the problem.
If the battery is older than 4 years and has started showing some issues, it will most likely need to be replaced.
Unfortunately, this is all I could find and gather about this problem. Do you have something that you can add? Please write in the comments below!