Is this just because the Banner battery sucks or something else?

[MartinH]

I have a 2009 Duratec R300 that has only done a few thousand miles. I normally keep the far on a C-Tek battery conditioner. On Saturday I went out for a good blat with the Penn guys and put the car away afterwards - forgetting to put the charger on this time. Tonight I got the car out for a quick blat and the battery was flat.

 

I jump started off the tin top and went out for a few miles no problem. Battery seems charged now.

 

Is the battery dud or do I have an electrical issue?

 

If battery is dead - what is the right replacement to get? Doesn't need to be an ultra light racing battery, just one that will hold charge for a week or so and no go flat.

 

Cheers

 

Martin

[tbird]

the "normal" passive drain would not kill battery in 2 days if it was fully charged on Saturday, can you get a DVM in series with battery, with ignition off, but FIA isolator,if fitted, in on position, to measure passive current drain, would expect iro 250 - 300 mA which would take around 10+ days to flatten battery

Have you checked electrolyte is up to top of cells, has it ever been completely flattened in the past, is it original battery - so 3 years old

 

Tim

 

Edited by - tbird on 28 May 2012 22:50:53

[MartinH]

Hi Tim,

 

Will try and test drain tomorrow. Never checked electrolyte on a battery before so I'll have a look at that too. It has gone flat a few times before when I have forgotten to put it on the conditioner and not driven for a week or so. Yes it is the original battery.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[tbird]

Lead acid batteries do not respond well to being allowed to go Flat, so a 3 year old battery that has been flat a couple of times may be on its way to battery heaven, not something that is easy to test for other than by how long it can supply current for and at what rate, so if its full of electrolyte, fully charged and drain is the normal 250mA and it goes flat in a couple of days or so its FUBAR-ED (technical term) 😬

Don't have experience of other batteries for 7 but there have been lots of threads on that

example here

 

Tim

 

Edited by - tbird on 28 May 2012 23:23:44

[charlie_pank]

I've got a banner. The car probably gets driven every couple of weeks. I don't use a charger. I remove the FIA switch when I leave it in the garage. I've never suffered from a flat battery. Something is draining current when the ignition is off in your car.

[Paul Richards]

3 years old and never checked. My money is on the electrolyte being low.

[Myles]

Charlie - is the immob taken from the FIA feed?

 

Mine certainly is - but we saw a Scottingland locals' car a few years back where this certainly was *not* the case - so the FIA was *not* isolating everything.

 

The Westie clearly has no parasitic drain - it sat outside from September to this weekend just past and still had enough juice to spend Saturday evening and Sunday morning churning the engine over time and time again until it finally caught and started! That was a Powervamp - so excellent at keeping charge 'on the shelf' - but any parasitic load would have killed it months and months and months ago.

 

 

[charlie_pank]

NOTHING bypasses the FIA switch on my car, I built the loom!