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Author: Subject: Battery is goosed ... again!
chrisbmxr

posted on 17/7/19 at 05:01 PM Reply With Quote
Battery is goosed ... again!

So I connected my optimiser up to the car at the weekend to check it would be OK for its MOT next week and it appears the battery has failed ... again! The Optimiser gives up trying to charge it after a while.

I've put a multimeter across the battery and it's reading 2.59v.

I only used the car 3 weeks ago and it was fine then!!! The battery is an 063 car type, and is less than a year old!

What could be causing this? I presume there is no way of recovering the battery? I know it hasn't been overcharged as I have a voltmeter on the dash now and it hasn't swollen/no acid leak at all.

Thanks.

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r1_pete

posted on 17/7/19 at 05:15 PM Reply With Quote
You should have a years warranty on the battery...

If it wasn’t a faulty battery, either there is a significant load on the battery when parked up and switched off, or the alternator is over charging and cooking the battery.

What voltage do you get with the engine running, it shouldn't exceed 14.5v, check with a decent meter not the in dash gauge.

Also check the current flow with the engine off, ammeter setting on meter, probes between +ve battery terminal and battery lead, should be zero to minute if you have an alarm or radio with memory.

When you know which is the case you can investigate further...

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gremlin1234

posted on 17/7/19 at 05:27 PM Reply With Quote
its incredibly unusual for a modern lead acid battery to die within a year, they usually manage to outlast any guarantee by about a week.

my only guess is that you left something* 'on' for those 3 weeks or so.
ie side lights

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rusty nuts

posted on 17/7/19 at 06:20 PM Reply With Quote
Could be a faulty battery ,some like the Lion range of batteries tend to fail well within a year as well as other makes . I would replace it and then use an amps clamp or failing that use an amps shunt between the battery lead and terminal, any leakage will show up.
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steve m

posted on 17/7/19 at 08:11 PM Reply With Quote
Could the problem be your battery charger? as ive thrown out my electronic one, as it would not charge a battery properly!!!

Yet my Fathers old charger, that must date mid 1960's works fine 12v and humms in a rhythmic fashion, when its on

steve





Thats was probably spelt wrong, or had some grammer, that the "grammer police have to have a moan at




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Charlie_Zetec

posted on 18/7/19 at 09:24 AM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by steve m
Could the problem be your battery charger? as ive thrown out my electronic one, as it would not charge a battery properly!!!

Yet my Fathers old charger, that must date mid 1960's works fine 12v and humms in a rhythmic fashion, when its on

steve


I've found this - battery optimisers and trickle chargers (I've got two reasonably hi-spec Ctek units) only tend to work when the battery has a reasonable charge in it. When the voltage drops too low, it just won't work. I use an old style charger, and just let it do it's thing - nothing "smart" about it!





Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity!

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40inches

posted on 18/7/19 at 09:40 AM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Charlie_Zetec
quote:
Originally posted by steve m
Could the problem be your battery charger? as ive thrown out my electronic one, as it would not charge a battery properly!!!

Yet my Fathers old charger, that must date mid 1960's works fine 12v and humms in a rhythmic fashion, when its on

steve


I've found this - battery optimisers and trickle chargers (I've got two reasonably hi-spec Ctek units) only tend to work when the battery has a reasonable charge in it. When the voltage drops too low, it just won't work. I use an old style charger, and just let it do it's thing - nothing "smart" about it!

I have fooled a not so Smart Charger by temporally connecting a fully charged battery to the dead one to get the charger charging

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SJ

posted on 18/7/19 at 12:03 PM Reply With Quote
The Lidl ones are the same - bit of a design flaw in my opinion when a battery charger only works when the battery is charged, and not when flat

If you put 12v across the battery when the charger is connected it will recognise a battery is there and do it's stuff. Bit of a pain though.

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gremlin1234

posted on 18/7/19 at 12:39 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by SJ
The Lidl ones are the same - bit of a design flaw in my opinion when a battery charger only works when the battery is charged, and not when flat

If you put 12v across the battery when the charger is connected it will recognise a battery is there and do it's stuff. Bit of a pain though.

they do this so it won't charge if you get the leads the wrong way round
another common problem, is if the power is switched off, then back on, you have to press a button to turn it on again.

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Angel Acevedo

posted on 18/7/19 at 03:47 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by 40inches
quote:
Originally posted by Charlie_Zetec
quote:
Originally posted by steve m
Could the problem be your battery charger? as ive thrown out my electronic one, as it would not charge a battery properly!!!

Yet my Fathers old charger, that must date mid 1960's works fine 12v and humms in a rhythmic fashion, when its on

steve


I've found this - battery optimisers and trickle chargers (I've got two reasonably hi-spec Ctek units) only tend to work when the battery has a reasonable charge in it. When the voltage drops too low, it just won't work. I use an old style charger, and just let it do it's thing - nothing "smart" about it!

I have fooled a not so Smart Charger by temporally connecting a fully charged battery to the dead one to get the charger charging



If you fooled it then it may not be that smart...





Beware of what you wish.. for it may come true....

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40inches

posted on 18/7/19 at 04:53 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Angel Acevedo
quote:
Originally posted by 40inches
quote:
Originally posted by Charlie_Zetec
quote:
Originally posted by steve m
Could the problem be your battery charger? as ive thrown out my electronic one, as it would not charge a battery properly!!!

Yet my Fathers old charger, that must date mid 1960's works fine 12v and humms in a rhythmic fashion, when its on

steve


I've found this - battery optimisers and trickle chargers (I've got two reasonably hi-spec Ctek units) only tend to work when the battery has a reasonable charge in it. When the voltage drops too low, it just won't work. I use an old style charger, and just let it do it's thing - nothing "smart" about it!

I have fooled a not so Smart Charger by temporally connecting a fully charged battery to the dead one to get the charger charging



If you fooled it then it may not be that smart...


That's why I referred to it as a "not so Smart Charger"

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CTLeeds

posted on 20/7/19 at 04:36 PM Reply With Quote
My ECU causes a parasitic drain on the battery which kills my odyssey battery after a couple of days. I've since fitted a master kill switch to avoid the problem. As others have stated the small smart chargers won't pull this battery back. Mine was down at 6v and connecting a good battery in parallel for a couple of days got it to a point where the smart charger would do it's thing. It can take upto a week to get the original dead battery back to a voltage that a smart charger will start working.

Worth a punt though to save forking out for a new battery although you do need access to another preferably big battery.

Chris

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