Dead Battery
12-31-2014, 09:41 AM
#21
Had a bizare battery failure yesterday. Started the car from freezing cold to drive to visit my nan in hospital. Uneventful journey there parked up for an hour and a half and came back and the battery was stone cold dead. warm to touch but no output
Managed to get the car started on some jump leads but basically drove home with no battery and everything running off the alternator. Everytime i turned the wheel the lights all dimmed and then came back on again. Anyway got it home and done some quick testing.
With the battery connected and the alarm going off i was getting 5v's. With it disconnected i was getting 12.5vs across the terminals. I tried connected a load to the battery and it was struggling to put anything out. Swapped the battery out for a new one and luckily it appears all my issues have been fixed. I have never had a battery fail like that before.
Just incase anyone is interest it was a yellow top optima battery that failed and it was only 27 months old and never discharged or damaged. Its safe to say that POS is going in the nearest council tip! Lesson learned i opted for a normal battery thats got a 4 year warranty and was £54.
Managed to get the car started on some jump leads but basically drove home with no battery and everything running off the alternator. Everytime i turned the wheel the lights all dimmed and then came back on again. Anyway got it home and done some quick testing.
With the battery connected and the alarm going off i was getting 5v's. With it disconnected i was getting 12.5vs across the terminals. I tried connected a load to the battery and it was struggling to put anything out. Swapped the battery out for a new one and luckily it appears all my issues have been fixed. I have never had a battery fail like that before.
Just incase anyone is interest it was a yellow top optima battery that failed and it was only 27 months old and never discharged or damaged. Its safe to say that POS is going in the nearest council tip! Lesson learned i opted for a normal battery thats got a 4 year warranty and was £54.
12-31-2014, 11:42 AM
#22
I've had my S for an awfully long time now.. Anyhow the OEM battery failed after about 8 years. Thought I'd save a bit of money so I got a hellfrauds. The thing had to be flipped around to fit with stretched cabling... Anyway 2 years later the hellfrauds thing was dead. Went back to OEM, nemas problemas.
12-31-2014, 08:43 PM
#23
Well my Bosch was totally flat this week. Dunno whether my ctek is dead. Charged and seems ok. The H&P alarm seems to drink juice 
01-01-2015, 04:58 AM
#24
Well came back to my car last night at 2am and noticed a glowing from the dashboard. Poxy scangauge is switching itself on during the middle of the night in an attempt to destroy whatever battery i fit to the car. Luckily i saw it and switched it off quick enough so that this morning its not flat.
Hope that its just a random occurrence and that the scangauge hasn't died internally.
Hope that its just a random occurrence and that the scangauge hasn't died internally.
01-01-2015, 05:10 AM
#25
If you park a modern car for any length of time expect a dead battery. The tiny parasitic draws of things like the radio memory and remote locks add up over a couple of weeks and will deep discharge and damage the battery. Not even deep cycle batteries like to be deep discharged and automobile batteries are much less rugged internally.
The only ways to prevent this is to (1) disconnect the battery before storage or (2) use a trickle charger. No need for a constant trickle charge, just connect it overnight once every couple of weeks. Disconnecting the battery will require use of the radio code if you're stock but self-discharge is minimal in colder weather so a couple of months won't hurt.
-- Chuck
The only ways to prevent this is to (1) disconnect the battery before storage or (2) use a trickle charger. No need for a constant trickle charge, just connect it overnight once every couple of weeks. Disconnecting the battery will require use of the radio code if you're stock but self-discharge is minimal in colder weather so a couple of months won't hurt.
-- Chuck
01-01-2015, 05:19 AM
#26
My car is started at least once a week chuck and given a good run out. I put the multimeter across in series with the negative lead and was measuring 10ma discharge when i left it yesterday morning. Nothing excessive. Cant understand why the scangauge is randomly switching itself on during the middle of the night. Bloody thing.
Will keep checking it today and see what happens, whether it comes back on by itself again.
Will keep checking it today and see what happens, whether it comes back on by itself again.
01-01-2015, 05:28 AM
#27
Mine drains the battery in 3-4 days at a guess
01-01-2015, 11:42 PM
#29
I think the alarm is fooked but you're probably right. I think the oem was changed in 2008, the helfrauds in 2010/11..
Now its not a daily they dont last as well
Now its not a daily they dont last as well
01-02-2015, 07:46 AM
#30
Well i actually got some decent test leads for my multimeter today so i could test the current draw. Yet again the scangauge decided to switch itself on and with it on the low illumination setting it was drawing 0.1 amps. I would imagine thats my problem as when disconnected i was showing a drain of less than 10ma.
I have decided that in the near future i will be putting the battery in the boot. It will not be subjected to such a harsh environment and relocating it to the boot also means i can choose to have a higher capacity battery if i need in the future. Plus shifting some weight back to the rear of the car with a potential supercharger installation in the future wouldn't be a bad idea.
I have decided that in the near future i will be putting the battery in the boot. It will not be subjected to such a harsh environment and relocating it to the boot also means i can choose to have a higher capacity battery if i need in the future. Plus shifting some weight back to the rear of the car with a potential supercharger installation in the future wouldn't be a bad idea.