P38A Fixed- Battery going flat again

Datatek · Oct 14, 2022

Andy Burrell said:
Doing it now.
This is the battery.
https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/varta/g8/

I have 2 Varta batteries that, from new, would happily go flat with no load. The one in my tractor I have to keep on charge with a solar panel or it will not start. The other one has been demoted to driving a small irrigation pump and is also constantly on charge.

kermit_rr · Oct 14, 2022

It's varta I've just put on my 2A. Appreciate the load is nil on my landy when the ignition is off, but i bought it earlier in the year with great intentions, prior to fitting yesterday, is been in my living room and not had any measurable self discharge

Datatek · Oct 14, 2022

kermit_rr said:
It's varta I've just put on my 2A. Appreciate the load is nil on my landy when the ignition is off, but i bought it earlier in the year with great intentions, prior to fitting yesterday, is been in my living room and not had any measurable self discharge

Maybe I was just unlucky. See if it holds a charge when the weather turns cold.

Andy Burrell · Oct 14, 2022

Datatek said:
I have 2 Varta batteries that, from new, would happily go flat with no load. The one in my tractor I have to keep on charge with a solar panel or it will not start. The other one has been demoted to driving a small irrigation pump and is also constantly on charge.

I'm now beginning to wonder about the battery, it's still under warranty until next month but again hard to prove a fault to claim.

kermit_rr · Oct 14, 2022

Andy Burrell said:
I'm now beginning to wonder about the battery, it's still under warranty until next month but again hard to prove a fault to claim.

This is why you monitor the resting voltage and the fully loaded voltage (cranking the engine)

Datatek · Oct 14, 2022

Andy Burrell said:
I'm now beginning to wonder about the battery, it's still under warranty until next month but again hard to prove a fault to claim.

I would leave your LPG ECU disconnected and see if it still goes flat. The BECM as has been said should draw between 30 & 50ma when asleep which should not cause the battery to go flat in less than a week.

pwood999 · Oct 14, 2022

Andy Burrell said:
I'm now beginning to wonder about the battery, it's still under warranty until next month but again hard to prove a fault to claim.

Get a CCA test done on it. If it doesn't measure close to the stated capacity, they should exchange it.

kermit_rr · Oct 14, 2022

pwood999 said:
Get a CCA test done on it. If it doesn't measure close to the stated capacity, they should exchange it.

Most folks now only seem to get out the digital tester which 'determines' CCA and doesn't actually measure it

Mark Piercy · Oct 14, 2022

It needs a load test to rule it out, then go fit an mf31-1000 hankook

wakes the whole car up

Andy Burrell · Oct 15, 2022

kermit_rr said:
Have you taken the battery off to charge it? Leave it for 24h after a full charge and see what the resting voltage is

Battery fully charged yesterday its now been off charge on the bench for 12hrs voltage has dropped from 13.25 to 12.7 v and as its raining won't be putting it back until tomorrow so another 24hrs sitting on the bench.

Andy Burrell · Oct 16, 2022

12.69 v this morning so looks like battery might be OK. Am going to reconnect it tomorrow and see how low it drops when cranking.

Datatek · Oct 16, 2022

Andy Burrell said:
12.69 v this morning so looks like battery might be OK. Am going to reconnect it tomorrow and see how low it drops when cranking.

Unfortunately, holding voltage does not mean that the battery is OK, it may well have lost capacity. Crank then immediately stop the engine and see what voltage the battery recovers to, that will give some indication of capacity.

brianp38dse · Oct 16, 2022

If you need to trace a drain then this is a handy tool

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/311684520868?hash=item4891d85ba4:g:AlYAAOSwdzVXwD8N&amdata=enc:AQAHAAAAoMAiVmWJLg7tNsK9Z7h8zkAYnBa9cNv+ljzD57ksoGCf7UOeA2h7aRRoa7ipJM/b5MhloMzML+ftuGeJV8VWDO9YWtNH0Sy64LVRUM60s5nRE469DOT57jlSxlgqO3BM16C29OfSeeDNQpPh97yTYSYgG85/XmkCy+IO9m+1BZmIFAkBiRpTEO0xXzABMXIuWR/Vj10DL/UKxb2sjuAk0lY=|tkp:Bk9SR_CDhYD8YA

dubbleRR · Oct 16, 2022

Iv had alternators flattening battery's,,Internal short ,Was fine for a week or so then flattened the battery in 20 minutes , jump start and fine for days again 325 bmw and i got the alternator tested ,guy said it was good ,only found it ,cause there was a bit of a big spark when reconnecting the battery .Changed the offending articular for a recon ,all good ,long long time ago

..

Andy Burrell · Oct 17, 2022

So this morning with my glamorous assistant did the voltage drop test on start.
Before the battery was connected it read 12.57 after four days disconnected. Connected up and neither starter motor or alternator causes the little spark you get when connecting. Something else does but its tiny.
Once connected the volts drop to 12.30 and on start up drops momentarily to 9.4v and then back up to alternator voltage of 14.5v. After that it is sitting at 12.4 v.

kermit_rr · Oct 17, 2022

Andy Burrell said:
So this morning with my glamorous assistant did the voltage drop test on start.
Before the battery was connected it read 12.57 after four days disconnected. Connected up and neither starter motor or alternator causes the little spark you get when connecting. Something else does but its tiny.
Once connected the volts drop to 12.30 and on start up drops momentarily to 9.4v and then back up to alternator voltage of 14.5v. After that it is sitting at 12.4 v.

If 9.4 is accurate, that's very low indeed and I'd suggest your battery has had it, on its last legs, but.. what is the CCA? I would dare to say it shouldn't get much lower than 10.8.. maybe 10.5 at a push (while cranking)

Andy Burrell · Oct 17, 2022

kermit_rr said:
If 9.4 is accurate, that's very low indeed and I'd suggest your battery has had it, on its last legs, but.. what is the CCA? I would dare to say it shouldn't get much lower than 10.8.. maybe 10.5 at a push (while cranking)

This is the spec of the battery.

kermit_rr · Oct 17, 2022

Ok, not bad but there's better out there. The MF31-1000 fits nicely and has a lot more power/capacity.
I wouldn't be surprised if dropping below 10v is the cause for spurious error messages that 'go away'.
I'd also be surprised if that battery sees you through the winter

Andy Burrell · Oct 17, 2022

kermit_rr said:
Ok, not bad but there's better out there. The MF31-1000 fits nicely and has a lot more power/capacity.
I wouldn't be surprised if dropping below 10v is the cause for spurious error messages that 'go away'.
I'd also be surprised if that battery sees you through the winter

I was just looking at that very battery online.

DanClarke · Oct 17, 2022

kermit_rr said:
Ok, not bad but there's better out there. The MF31-1000 fits nicely and has a lot more power/capacity.
I wouldn't be surprised if dropping below 10v is the cause for spurious error messages that 'go away'.
I'd also be surprised if that battery sees you through the winter

+1 I had a Duracell battery in mine and it kept dropping to low volts.
I put the MF31-1000 in and it seems much better.
I couldn't afford a LR Mk3 RF receiver so I fitted the fix that MartyUK on here developed (<£80).
Plus, I connected a small solar panel that fits on the drivers sun-visor and is connected to the battery.
When I park up I put the sun-visor down and it keeps the battery topped up and able to cope with any residual parasitic draw amounts. Sorted!

P38A Fixed- Battery going flat again

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