Battery keeps dying

[ravstar13]

After getting the battery + alternator changed say 7 months ago, the battery keeps dying again, 2 weekends ago I done a 500 roundtrip and then a few drives in between, say 5 days of not driving at the battery dies again, what would i need to look at to establish if it is not a fault/drain causing this?

[Satan]

Do you have an alarm?

[ravstar13]

Yes i do a basic clifford (arrow 5.1) soesnt do a lot haha, is this the cause you reckon?

[martauto]

Yes i do a basic clifford (arrow 5.1) soesnt do a lot haha, is this the cause you reckon?

Could be mate, I have the same problem but just put a cable switch on the battery to isolate it if I dont use her each day, I dont know how to remove the alarm but the central locking from the key fob is too good to loose.lol

Mart.

[Satan]

I had a parasitic battery drain, over winter leave it a week it was dead in summer two weeks, in the end I ditched the alarm as the car is garaged. As Mart mentioned I need to wire in a unit so I can lock it from a fob but then again the key does dead lock the car.

Get one of these to test all the circuits with the ignition off to see where the current is being drawn from to help fault find.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sealey-TA120-C ... B001SBFZK0

[ChrisHC]

.................but the central locking from the key fob is too good to loose.lol

Mart.

You do not need an alarm to have central locking from the key fob, brianmoore recommends Rightclick and I have found them very good, a set with two remotes is about £20.

[arrisbmw]

do a parasitic draw test . to see what you drain is , then yyou have to check all circuits to find the draw.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF1gijj03_0

stick with it hope that helps

[Contours]

Hardly a loose fanbelt but check anyway.

[Brianmoooore]

Three possible reasons for a battery regularly going flat - either the battery is duff, it's not being charged properly, or it's being drained while the engine is off.

First thing to do is to establish which of the three is the problem, and the only specialist tool required is a basic electrical multimeter. A £5 one will do, but as with most tools, it's better to go for something a little more expensive, so reckon on spending around £20 for something a little better.
To check if the battery is being charged, connect the meter across the battery terminals on a DC voltage range, with the engine running. The voltage should be around 14 volts. Turn the headlamps on full and check the voltage is still around that kind of figure. Rev the engine a little as well.

If all is well there, stop the engine, open a window on the car (some remote locking systems will lock the car if the battery is disconnected and reconnected), loosen the negative clamp on the battery, set the meter to the highest current range that DOESN'T require you to move the red lead on the meter to a different socket (typically 2000mA or 2A), connect the black lead to a good body earth (such as where the negative battery lead connects to the body), push the pointed end of the red meter lead down on top of the middle of the negative battery pole, and lift the battery clamp just off of the pole. The meter will now read the current drain from the battery. If reading is nought point nought something, turn the meter selector switch to a more sensitive current range to get a reading of greater than one.
The expected reading depends on how much equipment the car has, but is typically between 25mA and 60mA.
Slide the clamp back down onto the battery pole, and you should have managed to take the readings without actually disconnecting the battery, and have avoided things like losing radio memory or causing meter damaging surges when a battery is reconnected.

To check the battery itself, disconnect the negative clamp again, measure the voltage across the battery, which should be about 12.8 volts, leave the battery disconnected for a week, then measure the voltage again. Should be almost the same.

[ChrisHC]

I am building up a file of Brian's wisdom.
Just added this one.

[martauto]

I am building up a file of Brian's wisdom.
Just added this one.

Do you have enough space ??
What a reply. !!

Mart.

[arrisbmw]

I am building up a file of Brian's wisdom.
Just added this one.
[yes this is on the money fron B the man.
where is the file ?
can we all view it . and learn more about cars /quote]

[ChrisHC]

Early days yet, so far I have servicing the instrument cluster, fuse 10 blowing, head gasket failure and this one. When I have a moment I will have a look for more items. It is on my computer, where else?