My battery woes..

iwantone · Oct 28, 2014

Long story short. Original battery replaced after 18 months; replacement sent out and I'm now starting to have the same problem after about a year. Needs a jump start now the weather is turning and I can't be ar**ed doing this every time I want to drive it; it's not my daily.

Took a reading to test for drain, think it's called 'parity' test? Anyway the reading was 0.12 amps. Is this enough to cause it not to start the next day? My dad said that a 5 mile run after jump start wasn't enough to get the battery back up to speed?

Littelwill · Oct 28, 2014

If your batterys fooked after a year take it back!!

And 5 miles isnt anywhere near enough try 50 maybe.

trax · Oct 28, 2014

also check the battery spec is correct and that your alt is working

and do you use it often, etc. if not you might want a maintenance charger.

iwantone · Oct 28, 2014

It's got a 5 year warranty. Not used much and it's the right size. Will probably have to bring it inside and put it on a proper charger to get it back to normal. Pain bringing it in and ut every time I use it though. Something's not right..

Datatek · Oct 28, 2014

iwantone said:
Long story short. Original battery replaced after 18 months; replacement sent out and I'm now starting to have the same problem after about a year. Needs a jump start now the weather is turning and I can't be ar**ed doing this every time I want to drive it; it's not my daily.

Took a reading to test for drain, think it's called 'parity' test? Anyway the reading was 0.12 amps. Is this enough to cause it not to start the next day? My dad said that a 5 mile run after jump start wasn't enough to get the battery back up to speed?

0.12 amps drain will certainly flatten your battery especially if the battery is not fully charged to start with, that's about 4 time what I would expect to see. What voltage do you have at the battery with the engine at 2K rpm? If it's less than about 14.2 volts, your battery will never fully charge.
You would have to run for several hours to fully charge a flat battery, a decent battery charger would be a better idea.

iwantone · Oct 28, 2014

Datatek said:
0.12 amps drain will certainly flatten your battery especially if the battery is not fully charged to start with, that's about 4 time what I would expect to see. What voltage do you have at the battery with the engine at 2K rpm? If it's less than about 14.2 volts, your battery will never fully charge.
You would have to run for several hours to fully charge a flat battery, a decent battery charger would be a better idea.

Any ideas as to what could be causing the drain? I honestly thought that that amount of drain would not cause the battery to go flat over night.

Kwakerman · Oct 28, 2014

iwantone said:
Any ideas as to what could be causing the drain? I honestly thought that that amount of drain would not cause the battery to go flat over night.

0.12 A (120 milliamps) wont cause a good condition charged battery to go flat overnight. That equates to a capacity drop of less than 3 Amp/hours in a 24 hour period, assuming a 100Ah battery that would take two weeks to drop the battery to 50% charge. One way to find identify what is drawing the current is to pull one fuse at a time and see what causes a drop and then investigate what that fuse feeds. If you have an alarm that will always draw a little same as the memory for the radio. Once you have been all round the fuses if you don't find the cause try disconnecting the alternator as sometimes they play up.

Datatek · Oct 30, 2014

Kwakerman said:
0.12 A (120 milliamps) wont cause a good condition charged battery to go flat overnight. That equates to a capacity drop of less than 3 Amp/hours in a 24 hour period, assuming a 100Ah battery that would take two weeks to drop the battery to 50% charge. One way to find identify what is drawing the current is to pull one fuse at a time and see what causes a drop and then investigate what that fuse feeds. If you have an alarm that will always draw a little same as the memory for the radio. Once you have been all round the fuses if you don't find the cause try disconnecting the alternator as sometimes they play up.

True, but vehicle battery charge state and residual capacity is rarely 100%. If the alternator is not charging properly, 0.12A may well be the straw that breaks the camels back.

Kwakerman · Oct 30, 2014

Agreed, but if 3Ah battery capacity makes the difference between starting or not then that's a very fine margin and there is certainly another issue causing this.

brianp38dse · Oct 31, 2014

you can get a tester that plugs in instead of a fuse an gives you a reading of current draw through that fuse quicker than pulling fuses and waiting to see in the morning serch fleebay 12v fuse tester or motorfactors should have them maplins do.

Iann · Oct 31, 2014

If you dont use it very often then you could fit a battery isolator switch
Or as said get one of them plug in battery top up chargers
Or if not near a plug you can get solar trickle chargers

I know a good battery should hold charge ,these are just suggestions

Turboman · Oct 31, 2014

Iann said:
If you dont use it very often then you could fit a battery isolator switch
Or as said get one of them plug in battery top up chargers
Or if not near a plug you can get solar trickle chargers

I know a good battery should hold charge ,these are just suggestions

Battery isolator is a good fire precaution as well.

And the solar tricklers are supposed to be quite good, my mate has one on his boat.

Kwakerman · Oct 31, 2014

brianp38dse said:
you can get a tester that plugs in instead of a fuse an gives you a reading of current draw through that fuse quicker than pulling fuses and waiting to see in the morning serch fleebay 12v fuse tester or motorfactors should have them maplins do.

That's what I was meaning, if you pull the fuse you can put a meter (set to mA) on both fuse contacts and that will give you the current drain on that circuit, no need to wait one day per fuse.

iwantone · Oct 31, 2014

Thanks for the tips. First off I'm borrowing my fathers charger to make sure it's full charged. Will test the fuses using Kwakermans' tip. Solar trickle charger looks like the way forward.
Now, the idiot question.. Would I be able to use a solar charger ok if I use a battery isolator?

trax · Oct 31, 2014

if you bypass the isolator

iwantone · Oct 31, 2014

Just had a :whoosh: moment.

gemsdad · Oct 31, 2014

iwantone said:
Just had a :whoosh: moment.

wire the solar charger direct to the battery,it will have a diode in built to stop it discharging,that way if you have an isolator switch it will not affect it.

Turboman · Oct 31, 2014

gemsdad said:
wire the solar charger direct to the battery

+1

iwantone · Oct 31, 2014

What about an isolator switch? Where/how is this done? If it's a common upgrade then I'll do a search. Cheers

Turboman · Oct 31, 2014

iwantone said:
What about an isolator switch? Where/how is this done? If it's a common upgrade then I'll do a search. Cheers

Any auto electrical supplier should have them. Mine is mounted in the passenger footwell, on the front of the battery box. Two big terminals on the back, you just cut one of the battery leads, crimp on connectors, and connect to isolator.
No idea if they are common on landies, but they are often found on tractors and plant

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