Battery Drainage
#11
02-22-2013 | 04:37 AM
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Latest update: The battery's flat even with the wiper relays out!
The battery is only a 60AMP one it came with the car so have put it back on charge and put the brand new spare on which I think is either 70 or 80amp.
The old one which is apparently only about 12months old has sightly 'bowed' sides I don't know if this is normal or whether one of the cells is defective causing it not to keep its charge ?
Initially it was only going flat about once a month but now its only a matter of days.
So the newer more powerful one is on at the moment so not sure if something is draining the battery or it's just faulty, will have to wait and see !
The battery is only a 60AMP one it came with the car so have put it back on charge and put the brand new spare on which I think is either 70 or 80amp.
The old one which is apparently only about 12months old has sightly 'bowed' sides I don't know if this is normal or whether one of the cells is defective causing it not to keep its charge ?
Initially it was only going flat about once a month but now its only a matter of days.
So the newer more powerful one is on at the moment so not sure if something is draining the battery or it's just faulty, will have to wait and see !
#13
02-22-2013 | 03:47 PM
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Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 1,611
From: UK
Latest update: The battery's flat even with the wiper relays out!
The battery is only a 60AMP one it came with the car so have put it back on charge and put the brand new spare on which I think is either 70 or 80amp.
The old one which is apparently only about 12months old has sightly 'bowed' sides I don't know if this is normal or whether one of the cells is defective causing it not to keep its charge ?
Initially it was only going flat about once a month but now its only a matter of days.
So the newer more powerful one is on at the moment so not sure if something is draining the battery or it's just faulty, will have to wait and see !
The battery is only a 60AMP one it came with the car so have put it back on charge and put the brand new spare on which I think is either 70 or 80amp.
The old one which is apparently only about 12months old has sightly 'bowed' sides I don't know if this is normal or whether one of the cells is defective causing it not to keep its charge ?
Initially it was only going flat about once a month but now its only a matter of days.
So the newer more powerful one is on at the moment so not sure if something is draining the battery or it's just faulty, will have to wait and see !
CCA counts, the 60/70ah is irrelevant to the problem. On your batteries will be a (1) date (2) CCA and (3) ah rating, what are they on the newer one, in particular what is the CCA of the newer one ?. Without being techie the cold cranking amps [CCA] is what's needed for these cold starting days. The ah is irrelevant to your problem.
As tfb says if you have a bowed battery its goosed, sling it, its goosed and dangerous.
Simplistic and non techie answer - CCA is how much it your battery can supply in a short burst to start your car - ah is the total time it can supply it for until its dead.
#14
02-23-2013 | 08:40 AM
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Speedo needle sweeps left to right - do short journeys in it and you are doomed - I assume you meant 60/70ah not 60/70AMP
CCA counts, the 60/70ah is irrelevant to the problem. On your batteries will be a (1) date (2) CCA and (3) ah rating, what are they on the newer one, in particular what is the CCA of the newer one ?. Without being techie the cold cranking amps [CCA] is what's needed for these cold starting days. The ah is irrelevant to your problem.
As tfb says if you have a bowed battery its goosed, sling it, its goosed and dangerous.
Simplistic and non techie answer - CCA is how much it your battery can supply in a short burst to start your car - ah is the total time it can supply it for until its dead.
CCA counts, the 60/70ah is irrelevant to the problem. On your batteries will be a (1) date (2) CCA and (3) ah rating, what are they on the newer one, in particular what is the CCA of the newer one ?. Without being techie the cold cranking amps [CCA] is what's needed for these cold starting days. The ah is irrelevant to your problem.
As tfb says if you have a bowed battery its goosed, sling it, its goosed and dangerous.
Simplistic and non techie answer - CCA is how much it your battery can supply in a short burst to start your car - ah is the total time it can supply it for until its dead.
As above I'm taking the old battery back as it's still under gaurantee but as I'm not the purchaser of the battery I may not have grounds for a refund here's hoping I do !
#15
02-23-2013 | 12:26 PM
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Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 1,611
From: UK
Cheers, Just gone through all the comprehensive paper work and reciepts that came with the car and have found the purchase reciept for the 60AH battery along with a 3yr warranty so am going to try taking it back ! Nothing to lose the whole car only cost 500€ so 96€ back for the battery makes the car cheaper !
Checked the new battery, (bought in Dunkirk France) all it has on it is 12V 70AH 640A
As above I'm taking the old battery back as it's still under guarantee but as I'm not the purchaser of the battery I may not have grounds for a refund here's hoping I do !
Checked the new battery, (bought in Dunkirk France) all it has on it is 12V 70AH 640A
As above I'm taking the old battery back as it's still under guarantee but as I'm not the purchaser of the battery I may not have grounds for a refund here's hoping I do !
- the battery spec, charging rate and even its tray is inadequately sized for a bigger more capable battery for the UK and other similar 0°C countries
- 99% of the problems are, it, the battery is on its limits at 0°C, add lifestyle infrequent use, and your problems start
- add to that mix the very specific to the Voyager parasitic drain and you begin to see the combination of events coming together
- a 640CCA battery is absolutely useless in a 2.8 lump in these vans as soon as the weather cools or gets 0°C cold
- being forced to buy a new battery means anything less than a 800CCA is madness - but an 800CCA [ish] won't fit the battery tray
There are plenty of UK threads on the subject in this forum, different people have different outcomes, opinions and lifestyles but all agree that a good battery in good nick is an absolute in the UK. Batteries have an amazingly short lifespan, stick an undersized battery on an oversized job and it will shorten its lifespan correspondingly.
#16
02-23-2013 | 01:50 PM
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Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 705
From: UK
- everyone has a view, mine is that America [Fiat] sold a perfectly good petrol car with a diesel engine all over Europe
- the battery spec, charging rate and even its tray is inadequately sized for a bigger more capable battery for the UK and other similar 0°C countries
- 99% of the problems are, it, the battery is on its limits at 0°C, add lifestyle infrequent use, and your problems start
- add to that mix the very specific to the Voyager parasitic drain and you begin to see the combination of events coming together
- a 640CCA battery is absolutely useless in a 2.8 lump in these vans as soon as the weather cools or gets 0°C cold
- being forced to buy a new battery means anything less than a 800CCA is madness - but an 800CCA [ish] won't fit the battery tray
There are plenty of UK threads on the subject in this forum, different people have different outcomes, opinions and lifestyles but all agree that a good battery in good nick is an absolute in the UK. Batteries have an amazingly short lifespan, stick an undersized battery on an oversized job and it will shorten its lifespan correspondingly.
- the battery spec, charging rate and even its tray is inadequately sized for a bigger more capable battery for the UK and other similar 0°C countries
- 99% of the problems are, it, the battery is on its limits at 0°C, add lifestyle infrequent use, and your problems start
- add to that mix the very specific to the Voyager parasitic drain and you begin to see the combination of events coming together
- a 640CCA battery is absolutely useless in a 2.8 lump in these vans as soon as the weather cools or gets 0°C cold
- being forced to buy a new battery means anything less than a 800CCA is madness - but an 800CCA [ish] won't fit the battery tray
There are plenty of UK threads on the subject in this forum, different people have different outcomes, opinions and lifestyles but all agree that a good battery in good nick is an absolute in the UK. Batteries have an amazingly short lifespan, stick an undersized battery on an oversized job and it will shorten its lifespan correspondingly.
Richard
#17
02-26-2013 | 04:44 PM
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Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 34
I fitted the higher rated battery on Friday as previously posted and refitted the relays, checked the position of the wipers from my balcony window every morning since and they've not moved.
Used the car for the first time today it took 3 attempts to start (minus temperatures here !) but fired up, did a very short trip 2km! then did 2 further trips of 22km each each time the car started first time.
Fingers crossed !
Used the car for the first time today it took 3 attempts to start (minus temperatures here !) but fired up, did a very short trip 2km! then did 2 further trips of 22km each each time the car started first time.
Fingers crossed !
#18
02-26-2013 | 06:49 PM
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Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 1,611
From: UK
frizzby5, pleased its working for you.
Lifestyles as I said in #4 are critical to this car, anyone regardless of brand new megga battery with a lifestyle that does not use the car for enough hours to charge a battery will never win. It takes a lot longer than people realise to charge a battery and a start stop start again journey won't charge it either. I decided that the least I could do was stop the drain, parasitic or otherwise, I wasted a whole £11 quid delivered on precisely this N05HN from everyone's favourite high street robber and thus far its delivered to me what I expected.
NOTE : I'm guilty of that lifestyle problem apart from 5 minutes here and there is goes 15 minutes each way once a week, with radio, heater, lights etc on the return journey.
Lifestyles as I said in #4 are critical to this car, anyone regardless of brand new megga battery with a lifestyle that does not use the car for enough hours to charge a battery will never win. It takes a lot longer than people realise to charge a battery and a start stop start again journey won't charge it either. I decided that the least I could do was stop the drain, parasitic or otherwise, I wasted a whole £11 quid delivered on precisely this N05HN from everyone's favourite high street robber and thus far its delivered to me what I expected.
NOTE : I'm guilty of that lifestyle problem apart from 5 minutes here and there is goes 15 minutes each way once a week, with radio, heater, lights etc on the return journey.
#19
03-03-2013 | 03:17 PM
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Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 34
Well I'm back again, mixed news this time I took the battery back and they replaced it without question but it's still not pwerful enough for the chrysler so will probably use it on my VW polo.
So I now have the more powerful 70ah battery on the vehicle, it's been on the car since 22nd Feb all was fine until I WOKE UP yesterday saturday 2nd looked out the window and the wipers were at 45 degrees, flat battery again !
I went down to the car and heard a loud clicking noise from under the bonnet (is that something to do with a solenoid or relays ?)
I've not heard it before so it could be a new developement. any further ideas guys ?
So I now have the more powerful 70ah battery on the vehicle, it's been on the car since 22nd Feb all was fine until I WOKE UP yesterday saturday 2nd looked out the window and the wipers were at 45 degrees, flat battery again !
I went down to the car and heard a loud clicking noise from under the bonnet (is that something to do with a solenoid or relays ?)
I've not heard it before so it could be a new developement. any further ideas guys ?
#20
03-03-2013 | 06:15 PM
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 1,611
From: UK
Here amongst others is / was my recent experience and musings on battery's.
frizzby5, 70ah means absolutely zero in terms of your problem and possible solution, how many [CCA] Cold Cranking Amps is your new battery ?
I don't get the window wiper bit but there is a post here about wipers coming on themselves. Just pull the wiper fuse, that'll isolate it completely even if there are 'grounding' issues on the Solenoid.
You can get a crude CCA reading from a bog standard multi-meter, when cold and after an overnight stand with a fully charged battery
- black to black red to red should give about 12.5v for a half charged battery
- if you then try to start the car and the meter reads less than 10v that's the CCA buggered
- if it reads less than 5v its probably a cell down and the whole battery buggered
My point is you can have a battery that looks good, appearers to charge ok, gives a good reading on a multimeter but is useless at CCA. These Voyager battery trays won't take a decent size CCA battery, the sellers will sell you anything, most of which have a lousy CCA. I've just put my VIN number into 5 different e-sites and they all offered me what I know will fit the battery tray, but at £160 to £200+ I know none of them will start my car in the bad weather, so don't trust the internet and don't trust sellers.
What's the CCA on your new battery frizzby5 ?
frizzby5, 70ah means absolutely zero in terms of your problem and possible solution, how many [CCA] Cold Cranking Amps is your new battery ?
I don't get the window wiper bit but there is a post here about wipers coming on themselves. Just pull the wiper fuse, that'll isolate it completely even if there are 'grounding' issues on the Solenoid.
You can get a crude CCA reading from a bog standard multi-meter, when cold and after an overnight stand with a fully charged battery
- black to black red to red should give about 12.5v for a half charged battery
- if you then try to start the car and the meter reads less than 10v that's the CCA buggered
- if it reads less than 5v its probably a cell down and the whole battery buggered
My point is you can have a battery that looks good, appearers to charge ok, gives a good reading on a multimeter but is useless at CCA. These Voyager battery trays won't take a decent size CCA battery, the sellers will sell you anything, most of which have a lousy CCA. I've just put my VIN number into 5 different e-sites and they all offered me what I know will fit the battery tray, but at £160 to £200+ I know none of them will start my car in the bad weather, so don't trust the internet and don't trust sellers.
What's the CCA on your new battery frizzby5 ?