flat battery

[wardlem]

hadnt drivent the Grancabrio for a week - left it covered in snow, went to start it and every single light inside started flashing like some cheap disco. was obviously a flat battery - fortunately RAC arrived within 5 mins to jump it

to say I was annoyed was an understatement - anyone measured the battery drain of the stupid red flashing door locks and tracker? seems to be enough to kill the battery if you dont drive the bloody thing

 

[lozcb]

hadnt drivent the Grancabrio for a week - left it covered in snow, went to start it and every single light inside started flashing like some cheap disco. was obviously a flat battery - fortunately RAC arrived within 5 mins to jump it

to say I was annoyed was an understatement - anyone measured the battery drain of the stupid red flashing door locks and tracker? seems to be enough to kill the battery if you dont drive the bloody thing

if its only been left a week , something isn't right ,how old is the car , the trackers own batteries are only good for around 2 years before they begin to drain the main battery , i would tend to get on to then tracker company and complain if its less than 2 years old , personally i would disconnect the tracker as i dont believe in the ethics and costs of having one , anyone stole and ragged my car i wouldn't want it back , i'd rather have the payout to go and buy another that hasn't been ragged up and own kerbs etc


regards loz

 

[Emtee]

I would just add that if it's been a week since your last journey, but that journey and the ones prior were only short, then you weren't starting from a fully charged battery in the first place.

 

[lozcb]

I would just add that if it's been a week since your last journey, but that journey and the ones prior were only short, then you weren't starting from a fully charged battery in the first place.

Totally agree Miles , winter occasional driving can take its toll , if every journey is half an hour or less , with the heater/lights/rear windscreen/heated seats all on because of extreme cold it will have had little time to recharge the power it took to start it , leaving a slight deficit until its not got enough power to start it


regards loz

 

[Emtee]

Demonstrates the value of a trickle charger if a garage is available Loz.

 

[NickP]

I had exactly this at the weekend, wish mine had the isolator switch for this time of year.

 

[lozcb]

Demonstrates the value of a trickle charger if a garage is available Loz.

For sure Miles , ive got a human one me , how can i pass them everday and not have a little play at least every other day , other wise they start fighting and getting jealous of each other, the 4200 even accused me of having a favourite the other day ...... absurd the thought of it cheeky cow , took her out and gave her right darn thrashing , that'll teach her


regards loz

 

[Yeti]

For sure Miles , ive got a human one me , how can i pass them everday and not have a little play at least every other day , other wise they start fighting and getting jealous of each other, the 4200 even accused me of having a favourite the other day ...... absurd the thought of it cheeky cow , took her out and gave her right darn thrashing , that'll teach her


regards loz

Bless

 

[Parisien]

Such a tart Loz....tut....tut......


P

 

[wardlem]

the car is brand new - sept reg. I think its my fault, ive had it 6 months and its only done 700 miles so you are right, the battery hasnt been getting fully charged. I was still annoyed though !

 

[bigbob]

Masers take a big drain on the battery when you start them. So short runs and a period idle in the cold will kill it. Did for mine - same registration date as yours - so I have a battery conditioner to use if the car is idle for a week or more. 5000 miles in six months for me BTW!

 

[Ebenezer]

In the spirit of Holy thread resurrection Batman! I've looked for the earliest flat battery thread for QPs/GTs.

I had to go to the post office depot to pay for and collect a letter that did not have sufficient postage this morning. Turns out it was a thank you card from my niece for our Christmas gift to her. She had used a 2nd class stamp which was a year out of date and therefore now worthless! As we havent yet received the equivalent from her brother, I've asked their mother to inform my nephew not to bother writing to me, as it will probabaly cost me even more money!

Anyway I digress. I've not used the car for 3 weeks. Got in the car and it took a little more cranking than normal to fire up, but did so. I noticed a wierd mechanical clicking noise, which I thought might be variator, but was coming from the centre of the dash board. I also noticed that my display had been reset as the time was showing 12 am and was also showing kmh.

Odd.



I deduced that the aforementioned mechanical clicking noise, had probably been my clock resetting itself to 12.
Off to the post office depot, a quick Italian tune up and then back to Costco, to refuel. Get home and as I'm parking

the car up, I get the Christmas light treatment. ABS, MSR, Drive slowing to dealer.

I whip out the Aldi/Lidl trickle charger which I have never used in anger before and google how to tell which is the positive and which is the negative on the battery, connect up and switch the charger on. It takes a while for the charger to figure out what's going on but shows that the battery, while 12.1V, is empty.



Finally coaxing it into car charge mode I leave it to do it's work.



Fingers crossed that this resolves the issues....!

Note to self. Car is a princess and doesn't like being ignored!

Eb

 

[CatmanV2]

Holy thread resurrection Batman

That is impressive!

and google how to tell which is the positive and which is the negative on the battery

Umm they are *always* labelled. And if not, the negative will have one large black cable, almost certainly straight to the chassis. The positive will probably have a chunk of stuff very near to the terminal.....

It takes a while for the charger to figure out what's going on but

Empty = I suspect toast.

C

 

[zagatoes30]

Fingers crossed the Aldi charger can resurrect the battery like you resurrected this thread

 

[Ebenezer]

And I know how annoying it is when the thread never gets closed..
After 24 hours the charger is reporting that the battery is now fully charged.

Do we think I need to replace it anyway?


Eb

 

[CatmanV2]

And I know how annoying it is when the thread never gets closed..
After 24 hours the charger is reporting that the battery is now fully charged.

Do we think I need to replace it anyway?

View attachment 123253
Eb

Only one way to find out, I'm afraid....

C

 

[spkennyuk]

And I know how annoying it is when the thread never gets closed..
After 24 hours the charger is reporting that the battery is now fully charged.

Do we think I need to replace it anyway?

View attachment 123253
Eb

If the battery is toast it wont hold the charge for more than a few days.

If you have a voltmeter check the voltage after you disconnect the battery charger and have somebody start the car while your checking the voltage drop. If it dips into single figures its knackered.

Its not the best way of testing as you really need a load test but it will point you in the right direction.

If you dont have a volt meter then you could use the battery charger for a very simple indication. If your not using your car for a couple of days then leave it off charge and then in a few days time plug the charger back in and see what the voltage says on the display. If its down to say 12.4 volts after 3 days your battery is tired and will drop below 12 volts in under a week.

Much below 12 volts on these cars = no start.

I keep a top don boost pack in my car which has a battery and alternator check built in to the terminal clamps.

 

[spkennyuk]

Having read again your original post. You hadnt used the car for 3 weeks = low battery. Im going to guess that the post office is less than 20 mins away from you so the battery wont have had a good enough run to recharge from the alternator so still low battery and probably below 12v after the start up.

The rest is as per my post above but you could be ok after the full recharge for months to come as long as you use the car weekly.

 

[zagatoes30]

Try it and see, resurrected batteries don't normally last too long but no harm in seeing how it goes for a few weeks, it will soon become apparent if its really dead

 

[Ebenezer]

Having read again your original post. You hadnt used the car for 3 weeks = low battery. Im going to guess that the post office is less than 20 mins away from you so the battery wont have had a good enough run to recharge from the alternator so still low battery and probably below 12v after the start up.

The rest is as per my post above but you could be ok after the full recharge for months to come as long as you use the car weekly.

I drove 18 miles and started the car 3 times. Will wait a day or two and reconnect the charger to see what's what.
Eb