The Usual - Battery problem!

[miteequinn]

Hi All

firstly a Very merry Christmas and A happy, healthy, successful and sunny (for driving) New Year

I have been suffering Battery problems for the last 4-5 months. Despite having the car on optimate when not used (never not driven for longer than a week). Each time i come to start the car - no power . I've boosted, jumed, trickled and its now driving me nuts. ive had the wheel off more than hot dinners ive eaten recently.

I bought a new battery recently, the old one had no number on it so the guys in the shop tried to match it by size and power but it just doesnt seem to be juicy enough.

Can somebody tell me a battery make/number that will cure the problem.

Reading previous threads i am going to check the 100 amp Alternator fuse later.

When I do manage to start he dash never reads more than 9.5.

Thanks for any help

Q

[miteequinn]

Forgot to mention - Tuscan 2001.

[kevin63]

For one, new batteries can fail early on, i have had two on other cars that have dropped a cell and had to be replaced under garantee, second, when the battery was fitted was all the connections clean, they need to be spotless for a good connection, i would check the battery connections and the earth connection to the chassis as well as connections to the alternator.

[miteequinn]

Hi kevin

This is actually the 2nd replacement battery I have had now in 7-8 months - it was exactly the same with the previous one, the whole problem started when i took the original battery out (looked like the one that came with the car and ultimately died). I now have 3 earth connections around the battery (thanks to original, TVR garage and the AA man), so should be earthed alright.

Battery connections were wire brushed - I will certainly be checking the alternator connections ++ as soon as light breaks.

Hell I just want to jump in and enjoy it again like the good old days - instead of jacking it each time or having to jump in the other car

Cheers Q

[kevin63]

This will be of no help as far as the fault is concerned but, i bought a power pack for situations like yours, got it from netto for £20, it has jump leads, a 12v lighter/power point socket, a light and a compressor all built in, for that price i thought why not, it did come in useful for one of my other cars, so to me it has now payed for it's self.
Saved me a lot of trouble.

[miteequinn]

Hey Kevin - I got a voltage checker so i guess thats similar. You sound like me in the fact that when a situation like this arises we end up buying all sorts of contraptions to desparately solve it and prevent it happening again.

On another note I took a look at your car.....V nice! - I love a Cerb, I did the London Thunder and hadn't reaised until then the awesome grumble the 4.5 makes. You mention neon lights in the roof in the description - what are these, I know what neons are but where have you put them on the car.

Cheers and HNY

Q

[basil brush]

When I needed a new battery the dealers were actually as cheap as anyone else as it´s a not a commonly stocked size. I could get one with the same capacity from halfords but the clamp fittings were different.

It does sound like it may be a charging issue from the dash voltage and definitely worth checking the 100 amp fuse. It caused me grief for a while a couple of years back.

[miteequinn]

I've had the battery on charge overnight and it reads between 12.8-13.5 so power in battery we're alright now. But the test is how long it holds it....so i'm gonna keep my eyes on it - but yes for the new year of motoring Im going to shoot to the dealer to pick up a new one.

[kevin63]

miteequinn said:

Hey Kevin - I got a voltage checker so i guess thats similar. You sound like me in the fact that when a situation like this arises we end up buying all sorts of contraptions to desparately solve it and prevent it happening again.

On another note I took a look at your car.....V nice! - I love a Cerb, I did the London Thunder and hadn't reaised until then the awesome grumble the 4.5 makes. You mention neon lights in the roof in the description - what are these, I know what neons are but where have you put them on the car.

Cheers and HNY

Q

Yes the neon light, my brother bought me a neon wire thingy, i didn't know where to put it, so i ended up putting it between the roof and roll cage, at night it lights the whole roof up a light blue, only comes on when interior light is on, some may say it looks naff but they are more people that have seen it say how good it looks, all down to personal choice i say. Oh and Cerbera's are great, and that's my personal view.

[miteequinn]

kevin63 said:

Yes the neon light, my brother bought me a neon wire thingy, i didn't know where to put it, so i ended up putting it between the roof and roll cage, at night it lights the whole roof up a light blue, only comes on when interior light is on, some may say it looks naff but they are more people that have seen it say how good it looks, all down to personal choice i say. Oh and Cerbera's are great, and that's my personal view.

Im totally in favour of a bit of personalisation, if i had more garage space i'd get a Cerb - about a year after having my tuscan, i thought i love this car, it looks aweome BUT they all look the same really. So I bought another boot lid (whole back end of tuscan off ebay for 50 quid), had the lid resprayed, bought a huge carbon spoiler which i had sprayed the reflex paint to match the car and stuck it on. one guy at the tvr garage said he hated it, the other guy said he loved it - as you say each to their own.

i've also had the spider wheels black enamelled and the calipers sprayed orange - think it looks great!

Check it out on my blog (spoiler not on there unfortunately) - www.mustanged.blogspot.com/

[kevin63]

That Mustang is brill, looks like a lot of work has been done on it, but i love that cat, i have two that walk all over the car, the little buggers, one sits on each wing when i come back from a run (hot air comes through there) can't get a photo though, as soon as they see me they jump off.
You will have to get a current photo of your car on your web site or profile.

[nismohks]

Would it be possible to use one of those in-car solar panel cigarette light charger to keep the battery charged if the car was kept outside ??