Battery Losing Charge

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steveyorks

Well-Known Member
Posts
827
Location
west yorks
Being hopeless with electrics I am after ideas of what to check. Battery was flat yesterday morning when I came to start the car so I thought it was ok as car had been standing a few days without use, even though it will normally stand indefinitely and then start fine. So I charged battery all day and it started fine for a short drive with nothing switched on whereupon I parked it up. This morning same issue, not enough juice to turn it over so its now on charge again and has started easily after a couple of hours. So I have left it on charge having checked no lights left on, no interior lights are on etc. The battery is only about 12 months old so I am reluctant to think its that though of course I could be wrong. As I say I am useless with electrics, I do have a multi meter somewhere in the garage so am wondering ideas why its draining/not holding charge and how do I test the battery?
 
Its rare but not unheard of for a new battery fail within a year, You need a 'voltage drop test' to test your battery but u need a bit of kit to put a heavy load across the battery terminals to do that, so not exactly DIY.
Any battery supplier will or should be able to do the test for you Halfords for one. As u have a multi meter test the voltage on the battery and then start the engine, turn on head lights the voltage should increase to around 14.2 14.4 volts indicating the alternator is charging.
If your battery tests ok then you may have a faulty alternator as that can flatten a battery over night.
 
Checked and running just over 14.4---14.6v. does that mean something is draining it overnight or alternator? How long should it take to charge the battery fully on a battery charger?
 
steveyorks said:
Checked and running just over 14.4---14.6v. does that mean something is draining it overnight or alternator? How long should it take to charge the battery fully on a battery charger?
Click to expand...
As long as it takes, there's a few variables involved. Your battery charger should have a indicator to tell u when your battery is fully charged, I see modern chargers have an LED to tell you.. whatever next :D
 
Ooh no mines out of the ark! I have a gauge though I have no idea what it means. I will leave it on until bedtime which will mean its had 12 hours and then have a go tomorrow.
 
Like mine. If you have a charger with amp meter gauge then when the amperage, something around 1 or even 2amps remains constant for a couple hours or so that's a good indication that the battery is charged so time disconnect as you don't want to over charge, overnight is the norm with these chargers in charging so the vehicle can be used next morning.
I also have a CTEK maintenance charger that can sometimes take a couple of days to fully charge my battery indicated by an LED :).
 
just to update cos you know how much I hate people who don't, I left the battery on charge all day and its been fine ever since! Must have been a very very tired battery! having said that jump leads are saying in the car a while yet!
 
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