Battery Dead

ollie240585

ollie240585

Ex. Club Member
This is the 3rd time it has happened. Came out to my car to find a dead battery. It had been left for about 17 hours. Which should not really kill a battery, lol.

1st time it happened I changed the battery and all was good. The Alternator is running fine (about 14V accross the terminals with engine running).

My amplifier is now disconnected and this is the only electrical addition to the car.

Any ideas peeps? Getting quite anoying now!!!

Thanks in advance

Oz
 
Battery was changed about a month or two ago. After the 1st time it happened i thought it best to change the battery.

The battery that was on there was only about 2 years old.
 
sounds like a parasitic drain coming from somewhere, is there a blue spark when you touch the earth terminal to the battery?
 
Dead Batts.

Hi Ollie 240585
sounds to me like it's the alternater, that's usually the case. if the battery is good, a new one usually is, then it isn'nt being charged up!! get it cheched out. Halfords, somewher like that. You can chek it yourself if you can start the car, when you rev the engine if the headlights go britter then the alty is ok. if not then it's duff, yeh?
 
Yes boot light is switching off, interior light is switching off. The only thing showing any sign of power is the RED led immobiliser light.

Alternator is fine, I had it checked when I fitted the new battery. As previously posted (14 Volts across the battery termnials with engine running)

I'll see how it starts, or doesn't in the morning.
 
Dead Beat.

ollie240585 said:
Yes boot light is switching off, interior light is switching off. The only thing showing any sign of power is the RED led immobiliser light.

Alternator is fine, I had it checked when I fitted the new battery. As previously posted (14 Volts across the battery termnials with engine running)

I'll see how it starts, or doesn't in the morning.
Click to expand...

Hi ollie240585,
sorry to harp on but with a new battery the voltage will be good. if the alty is nakerd it wount recharge the battery so after time battery will die.
 
you want to know if the alternator is giving amps,

but like daz said, you need to check for a drain with a amp clamp
 
Hey Fordy.

Whats an amp clamp? (my face is quite blank)

Just went for a little drive, all seems well. Started fine, drove 3 miles, left car idling for about 5 minutes, drove round the corner, turned the ignition off, came back about half hour later, started fine.

Drove it back home.

Just see what happens tomorrow.
 
Arnold said:
Still dodgey mate or is it all good now?
Click to expand...

Basically running the engine every day and not leaving it for more than 20 hours and all appears to be OK, although if I leave it for this amount of time the starter motor doesn't sound amazingly forceful.

I know there's a drain somewhere, but don't know where, was going to start by removing fuses (on items which are powered constantly) one by one, leave it over night and see if it seems more responsive in the morning.

Fordy, if i got one of them Amp clamps I wouldn't have a clue what to do with it!!!
 
I know I started this back in March but still haven't solved this problem.

If I leave the battery un plugged for a week i put it back on and it's all good, alive and kicking!!! So I know the alternator is putting charge in, and that the battery is holding charge. SO i have a drain somewhere, any idea where to start???
 
Don't have a radio!! I have a car-puter, I had the problem before this was installed.

I was just going to remove fuses 1 by 1 over night. see if i can find out which circuit the drain is on. Would that work?

I've got the orion now, so can keep the micra off road to test all this.
 
I've recently had the same problem on mine, it turned out one of the power leads to the amps in the boot was slightly chafed and earthing causing a constant drain, even with the HU turned off, I disconnected the amp power lead from the battery and the problem stopped.
 
I wouold try taking it to an auto electrician. Someone who does nothing else but auto electrics. Even then ask around as there are always some who are better than others.

The other thing to remeber is that you will not charge a flat battery with an alternator. I know it sounds odd, and I didn't beleive it when I was told it. But the alternator will not charge a flat battery at all. An almost flat battery (one which will just satrt the car) will only get charged about half way. To fully charge it you have to use a battery charger.
 
If a bulb isnt on, surely it's not draining power!! Unfortunatly, well for the K10 anyway, many electrical systems share the same same fuse, so not always the best way to identify a problem. Might also be applicable with the K11.
 
I don't think it would be anything that runs on switched live power. What about relay being stuck open or something? Headlamp etc
 
14v across the alternator? isn't that a bit low?
Have you tried beating your car with a hammer?
Get an ammeter and measure the drain across the battery terminals whilst the engine is off, it should be very low if any, then try with the engine running it should be +80ish amps I think.
 
Should be 14Vish when idling, around 14.2-14.4 at 2-3k rpm.

If you measure current then dont do it with the engine running, most multimeters cant handle loads of amps.

With the engine off, put the ammeter in between the positive battery terminal and the terminal (taken off of the battery) and measure the current, if it's ~100mA or something then you have a problem.
 
I just got a multimeter off ebay for £7.99 inc postage, it's well worth it cos I use them for so many things, my last one got left next to the wheel :(
If you have a good sound system you should get one, saves a lot of time when probs occur.
 

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