Battery not charging / holding charge
Discussion
My car has been running fine, and has been a delight for the past 18 months/16k miles. I had a good 3 hour run out yesterday with no problems. Set off today for a jolly with some fellow PHers, and after driving for 30 minutes or so i stoppped and turned off the engine. When i tried starting it literally a couple of minutes later - nothing! The battery was almost dead.
The car did start with jump leads, but despite two hours of enthusiastic driving, once switched off it would not start without jump leads.
Now, i suspect that this could be either:
Alternator kaput, Battery kaput ot dodgy 100Amp fuse.
Anyone else had this, and how do i eliminate potential problems to resolve this? I have plugged the Accumate in for an over-night charge, and will try to get a spare 100 Amp fuse, but i will be a bit dithery about driving it until i can identify the problem, and confirm it is resolved.
All help and ideas will be greatly appreciated.
Cheers, David
The car did start with jump leads, but despite two hours of enthusiastic driving, once switched off it would not start without jump leads.
Now, i suspect that this could be either:
Alternator kaput, Battery kaput ot dodgy 100Amp fuse.
Anyone else had this, and how do i eliminate potential problems to resolve this? I have plugged the Accumate in for an over-night charge, and will try to get a spare 100 Amp fuse, but i will be a bit dithery about driving it until i can identify the problem, and confirm it is resolved.
All help and ideas will be greatly appreciated.
Cheers, David
There is something coming out of your alt then 
Looks like you may have the defective alt fuse or a loose battery terminal / earth clamp otherwise. Your battery is now flat & will need recharging (or poss replacing if it is foobarred).
Having broken the good news ~~ defective alt would have been easier to replace
Dave
Looks like you may have the defective alt fuse or a loose battery terminal / earth clamp otherwise. Your battery is now flat & will need recharging (or poss replacing if it is foobarred).Having broken the good news ~~ defective alt would have been easier to replace
Dave
spend said:
There is something coming out of your alt then Looks like you may have the defective alt fuse or a loose battery terminal / earth clamp otherwise. Your battery is now flat & will need recharging (or poss replacing if it is foobarred).
Having broken the good news ~~ defective alt would have been easier to replace
Dave
Many thanks for the good news Dave Looks like you may have the defective alt fuse or a loose battery terminal / earth clamp otherwise. Your battery is now flat & will need recharging (or poss replacing if it is foobarred).Having broken the good news ~~ defective alt would have been easier to replace
Dave
I did wonder how the devil you change the battery, so lets hope its the fuse and i don't have to find out. I'm off to have a look under there now, so fingers crossed.
The Accumate is no good for charging a flat battery - simply doesn't have enough oomph. Great at conditioning the battery though. If the battery is flat then using it overnight won't do much good. A good battery charger is really needed.
For info on changing the battery, there is a chapter on it in the bible. You can also download the chapter from www.tvrbooks.co.uk
For info on changing the battery, there is a chapter on it in the bible. You can also download the chapter from www.tvrbooks.co.uk
shpub said:
The Accumate is no good for charging a flat battery - simply doesn't have enough oomph. Great at conditioning the battery though. If the battery is flat then using it overnight won't do much good. A good battery charger is really needed.
For info on changing the battery, there is a chapter on it in the bible. You can also download the chapter from www.tvrbooks.co.uk
Oh, thanks for that, i thought it charged and conditioned.For info on changing the battery, there is a chapter on it in the bible. You can also download the chapter from www.tvrbooks.co.uk
I have the bible, and will get a new battery too - i suspect that i am still on the orginal, which would make it 9 years.
E2DJH said:
spend said:
There is something coming out of your alt then Looks like you may have the defective alt fuse or a loose battery terminal / earth clamp otherwise. Your battery is now flat & will need recharging (or poss replacing if it is foobarred).
Having broken the good news ~~ defective alt would have been easier to replace
Dave
Many thanks for the good news Dave Looks like you may have the defective alt fuse or a loose battery terminal / earth clamp otherwise. Your battery is now flat & will need recharging (or poss replacing if it is foobarred).Having broken the good news ~~ defective alt would have been easier to replace
Dave
I did wonder how the devil you change the battery, so lets hope its the fuse and i don't have to find out. I'm off to have a look under there now, so fingers crossed.
Here is all the encouragement you'll need - I changed mine!
Observations were; batteries are heavy particularly at that angle. If you don't draw a line on the floorpan along the front edge of the battery before undoing the two bolts which hold it in, you might get a bit cross and uncomfortable lying on the ground trying to get the bolts back in when the new battery is in place!!
(Although I use a laughing smiley - I was not!)
amazon said:
Here is all the encouragement you'll need - I changed mine!
Observations were; batteries are heavy particularly at that angle. If you don't draw a line on the floorpan along the front edge of the battery before undoing the two bolts which hold it in, you might get a bit cross and uncomfortable lying on the ground trying to get the bolts back in when the new battery is in place!!
(Although I use a laughing smiley - I was not!)
I'm lucky enough in that the former owner of my Chim had to replace the battery. At least my early example really seems to have the battery location from Hell... Observations were; batteries are heavy particularly at that angle. If you don't draw a line on the floorpan along the front edge of the battery before undoing the two bolts which hold it in, you might get a bit cross and uncomfortable lying on the ground trying to get the bolts back in when the new battery is in place!!
(Although I use a laughing smiley - I was not!)
900T-R said:
amazon said:
Here is all the encouragement you'll need - I changed mine!
Observations were; batteries are heavy particularly at that angle. If you don't draw a line on the floorpan along the front edge of the battery before undoing the two bolts which hold it in, you might get a bit cross and uncomfortable lying on the ground trying to get the bolts back in when the new battery is in place!!
(Although I use a laughing smiley - I was not!)
I'm lucky enough in that the former owner of my Chim had to replace the battery. At least my early example really seems to have the battery location from Hell... Observations were; batteries are heavy particularly at that angle. If you don't draw a line on the floorpan along the front edge of the battery before undoing the two bolts which hold it in, you might get a bit cross and uncomfortable lying on the ground trying to get the bolts back in when the new battery is in place!!
(Although I use a laughing smiley - I was not!)
900T-R said:
I'm lucky enough in that the former owner of my Chim had to replace the battery. At least my early example really seems to have the battery location from Hell...
First time you have to get access to that area, and see how the fusebox is in the puddle, what a pain it is to get to the battery leads, and how the step is worn by the tyre.... You will have a grinder / saw moment 
if not to upgrade - to take to the all folks who tell you its not so hard 'just draw a line on the floor'. Dave
spend said:
900T-R said:
I'm lucky enough in that the former owner of my Chim had to replace the battery. At least my early example really seems to have the battery location from Hell...
First time you have to get access to that area, and see how the fusebox is in the puddle, what a pain it is to get to the battery leads, and how the step is worn by the tyre.... You will have a grinder / saw moment if not to upgrade - to take to the all folks who tell you its not so hard 'just draw a line on the floor'. Dave
Let's just say the days of the Lucas ECU and associated gubbins in that location are kind of numbered - although for now I would be elated just to have an engine plugging the gaping hole under the bonnet again. 
spend said:
900T-R said:
I'm lucky enough in that the former owner of my Chim had to replace the battery. At least my early example really seems to have the battery location from Hell...
- to take to the all folks who tell you its not so hard 'just draw a line on the floor'. Dave
Or maybe I was just plain lucky! amazon said:
Maybe it's a womans touch that does it Dave Or maybe I was just plain lucky!
Err... a line on the floor does'nt help when the battery is in a box high up in the footwell. Early Chims/Griffs had a completely different battery/fusebox arrangement, with the battery on top & extending into the wheelarch. Box on the floor is a piece of p in comparison...... Or maybe I was just plain lucky! The modification TVR made moving the battery to the floor probably rates as the most beneficial development they ever made to these cars IMHO.
Dave
Dear All,
The AccuMate is designed to maintain a battery, yes it can be used to charge a battery if you let it become discharged and contrary to what some people have said it does have the oomph to do the job. Fast charging is likely to damage a battery as starter batteries use lots of thin plates to generate large amounts of current, these can distort when you heat them by passing large amounts of charging current into them, if they distort too much then they can break or even make contact with each other. if the positive an negative plate contact then you have a dead cell. 5 cells is only 10V nominal and not enough to run the electrics. So a slow steady charge is better long term, but if you have an AccuMate then leave it connected. Once the battery is recharged it only draws as much current as is required, typically it takes 3-4 Watts to power the charger and maintain the battery at 13.6V - thats about the same as your TV consumes in standby.
if you choose not to maintain your battery then you can expect to come out to your car after a couple of weeks (somethimes a lot less) and not be able to go out for a hoon. but then you could always jumpstart the car and go play only to find the battery is kaputt and wait at the roadside for the AA to come and start you.
Starter batteries aren't designed to be deep cycled - the plates are too thin - and doing so is a good way to kill one. Lead Acid batteries (whether flooded cell, AGM or those nasty gel cells) all suffer the same problems, discharge creates Lead Sulphate (a natural part of discharge process) when you recharge a battery the lead sulphate is converted back as the sulphur is absorbed back into the electrolyte. If sulphation becomes too heavy then this can crack the plates, distort the cells or even cause the plates to shed material - all of which are irrevesible.
regards
'parker
The AccuMate is designed to maintain a battery, yes it can be used to charge a battery if you let it become discharged and contrary to what some people have said it does have the oomph to do the job. Fast charging is likely to damage a battery as starter batteries use lots of thin plates to generate large amounts of current, these can distort when you heat them by passing large amounts of charging current into them, if they distort too much then they can break or even make contact with each other. if the positive an negative plate contact then you have a dead cell. 5 cells is only 10V nominal and not enough to run the electrics. So a slow steady charge is better long term, but if you have an AccuMate then leave it connected. Once the battery is recharged it only draws as much current as is required, typically it takes 3-4 Watts to power the charger and maintain the battery at 13.6V - thats about the same as your TV consumes in standby.
if you choose not to maintain your battery then you can expect to come out to your car after a couple of weeks (somethimes a lot less) and not be able to go out for a hoon. but then you could always jumpstart the car and go play only to find the battery is kaputt and wait at the roadside for the AA to come and start you.
Starter batteries aren't designed to be deep cycled - the plates are too thin - and doing so is a good way to kill one. Lead Acid batteries (whether flooded cell, AGM or those nasty gel cells) all suffer the same problems, discharge creates Lead Sulphate (a natural part of discharge process) when you recharge a battery the lead sulphate is converted back as the sulphur is absorbed back into the electrolyte. If sulphation becomes too heavy then this can crack the plates, distort the cells or even cause the plates to shed material - all of which are irrevesible.
regards
'parker
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