What are "Stored Codes?"

[BetteInSCW]

I took my 2015 Spark EV to the dealer yesterday having gotten "Unable to Charge," "Propulsion Power is Reduced," and Service Soon light. OF COURSE the alarms were gone by the time I got it into the dealership. They found nothing wrong with the car, but said "It had a lot of codes stored, and we cleared them." They charged me 0.00 (nice!), but I want to know:
1 What are the codes?
2 Where are they stored?
3 Is clearing them going to help with heading off future alarms?

Back Story: I've been through a year of having these 2 alarms pop up and usually clear. To get the Service Light to go off, I disconnect the Neg lead from the 12V battery. I have put in 2 new AGM 12V batteries (one a year ago, one a month ago. I'm in a super-hot climate and worried I'd wrecked the first one somehow). A dealer in Phoenix looked at it last December and also could find nothing wrong, but they didn't seem to know much about Spark EV's. The dealer I have now is in Palm Springs, CA. I have gotten in the habit of checking the 12V battery voltage, and putting a charger on it if it is +12.5 or lower. This SEEMS to help, but I still get occasional alarms.

Notably I'm selling the car to Carvana this weekend for $10.300. The Spark EV an "around town" car and I need more of a "travel car." I don't want to deliver them an alarm-prone car.

 

[NORTON]

Some of these codes are set if there is a dip in the grid voltage while the car is charging.
Don't know it that is the one you are dealing with. It clears itself after a charge cycle or two.

Dang, two 12V battery replacements?
Who told you they were DOA?
Mine is still going strong from when I bought the car in Aug. '15, and we have all the weather extremes.
I do put it in a BatteyMinder anti-sulfation charger once every two months or so, if I remember...

Sounds like you are getting a good price! Say bye bye. Here in America it is written: Buyer beware.

 

[BetteInSCW]

Thanks, NORTON, for your reply. The alarms usually do clear, but it's a bother. I did a little web research on codes, wondering if I could look at them and clear them myself. By buying an OBD scanner (On Board Diagnostics) I could look at the codes. Clearing them might be a different matter, and it's more trouble/expense than I want to go to. It's all interesting to read about, but I'm tired of messing around with this car, since I hardly drive it.

Yes! I'm pleased with the selling price of $10,331.00. I paid $11,000 for it in June 2018 so it's like I drove it almost for free. Charged it at home for very little and it hasn't needed that much. Except the batteries (ouch!). I probably did needlessly replace the newish battery, but I was freakin' out with the intense summer heat in Arizona and knew I was going to sell the car soon, and supposed having a new battery was the best thing. Plus it is easy to put in.

In general I miss the old days when you could just go to work and ask co-workers what they did about various car problems: "What did you finally do about that water pump/carburetor/overheating problem" ? etc. Now it seems like you have to take the car in to get any insight on it.

I'm sick of cars. Am going car-less until the Tesla Model 2 comes out. Then I'll see.