Weekend car- battery keeps dying

Weekend car- battery keeps dying

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Discussion

Patch888

Original Poster:

701 posts

128 months

Friday 25th July 2014
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Cheers for advice and input, along with the new battery I shall order a CTEK 5.0. At £60 seems like a good buy.

Alucidnation

16,810 posts

170 months

Friday 25th July 2014
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For now, just order the ctek 5.0

It will totally recondition the battery (if it isn't beyond it).

It will tell you if it is or not during the process.

If it is beyond 'repair', buy the new battery and use the ctek when you know the car will be stood for a while.

Good luck!

996TT02

3,308 posts

140 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
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Patch888 said:
Cheers for advice and input, along with the new battery I shall order a CTEK 5.0. At £60 seems like a good buy.
And if you have a parasitic drain you will not have solved much, so you are just gambling.

Check on relevant forums re your car, whether this battery draining is a common thing.

As others have mentioned disconnect the battery and check whether it still goes flat. Only then start spending money. If it does not go flat then you have a drain and the charger may be a good idea. If it does just buy the battery.

Also, generally it is much better to lock the car with the remote, activating the alarm, than not. Most cars "sleep" in this way reducing drain. My 996's battery will go flat in no more than 3 days if I leave the car unlocked, and around 2-3 weeks when locked.

Hol

8,412 posts

200 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
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I have had two problems that caused this.

One was a tracker 15 years back that would not stop looking for satellites when the car was in my garage.
I never solved the drain, but the problem was solved with a trickle charger.


The most recent was a window closure unit that kept drawing power when the alarm was on.
That car battery now lasts a couple of months undriven, but still being opened and closed for servicing.


juliethotel

255 posts

149 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
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You could get someone to watch a voltmeter while you unplug fuses, if there is a change in voltage then you'll know it's a drain on the battery, and you'll also know what it is that's draining it.

V88Dicky

7,305 posts

183 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
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Alucidnation said:
Another c-tek here.

Was just about to buy a new battery (current one around 3 years old with little use) and it was suggested i bought the 5.0

Reconditioned the battery and it was like brand new again.

It can also be connected and left for weeks as it monitors the battery voltage and squirts a bit of charge when it falls below a certain level. The kit comes with a quick connect lead that can be left permanently fixed to the battery so its plug and play!

Bloody brilliant.
This^^^

My Monaro is plugged into one at the minute, and it's on it's original AC Delco battery from build (Dec 2004)

arguti

1,774 posts

186 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
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Alucidnation said:
Another c-tek here.

Was just about to buy a new battery (current one around 3 years old with little use) and it was suggested i bought the 5.0

Reconditioned the battery and it was like brand new again.

It can also be connected and left for weeks as it monitors the battery voltage and squirts a bit of charge when it falls below a certain level. The kit comes with a quick connect lead that can be left permanently fixed to the battery so its plug and play!

Bloody brilliant.
Wise words indeed the CTEK 5.0 or 7.0 are brilliant

NumberoftheBeast

442 posts

181 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
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Had the same on two cars.

I am no mechanic so put in my vague terms:

1) My Westfield's alternator bracket had snapped. Alternator
Wasn't charging the battery.

2) On my Porsche, the tracker was draining the battery. Mechanic located the source and have me a new battery (repeated charging had knackered it). Job done.

HTH

SilverWraith

463 posts

175 months

Saturday 26th July 2014
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Well, everyone is in fervent agreement. Just get a trickle charger and keep it plugged. All my cars sit plugged in except the Aston Martin. My wife drove off in it the other day without unplugging the charger! When she got to her destination the guy asked her what the cable hanging out the back was. She then had panics about the garage and all my lovely cars burning down so backtracked.

Fortunately, it had just unplugged itself and trailed along behind the car until it finally fell off never to be seen again. The garage was in tact, all cars fine and I am owed one more trickle charge (she still hasn't replaced it so the Aston will be dead soon.)

Her excuse was that she didn't know that car was plugged in. Funny that, as all the cars are plugged in and always have been!