ceeps

anybody have any ideas. Had a new top of the line battery put in which died after 10 months. Took it back to vendor who replaced and tested it..said it was defective. Today, 5 months later the second new one died. I have only driven the car a few miles every weekend or every other weekend so wondering if something is draining it since I don't drive it a lot in the winter. Or could it be the alternator or something else? I was able to jump it off. Any ideas are appreciated!

barncat

I had a Saab which had a slow drain in the clock. If I didn't drive it every 4 or 5 days it would drain the battery. It can be a pain trying to trace this type of thing and even worse fixing it. I ended up putting a blade switch connection on the battery and cutting power when I knew the car would be sitting a few days. This worked for me.

ceeps

how does the blade swith connection work, how would i get one. thanks

barncat

They sell them at Advanced Auto and such. It disconnects the negative terminal when you throw the switch. The only thing is, you have to reset the clock..It's a pretty simple device to put on; just make sure you have enough room with the hood etc. You have to lift the hood to disconnect.

ceeps

thanks for the info...i will take it in for a check and have battery recharged or replaced and let them see if they can id the drain...if they can't id and repair the drain at a reasonable price, i will install the blade switch connection. thanks again!

FLYCT

Your not driving it often enough or long enough to replace the parasitic drain on the battery when it's parked.

I use a Battery Tender Jr on all my cars that sit in the garage for more than a few days.


If you have your car garaged, where power is available this $23 investment is highly recommended.

JR

FLYCT

If you disconnect the battery for any length of time you'll have to reset the clock, initialize and reset the memory seats and reset the GPS region, toll roads and other GPS presets. It's a pain to do every time.

JR

ceeps

thanks FLYCT, this may be the way to go...won't have to do all the resets! appreciate it

mrblister

I bought a device at auto zone that plugs into your on board obd connector then you plug the cable it comes with into a outside 12 volt cigar socket . I have a seperate power station that is portable. Has a start ing battery with jumper cables and compressor and a built in 12 volt cigar socket. This device when attached will keep your ecu powered so you wont lose your settings if you discconenct the main battery.

fj40ih8mud

Let's get back to the cause of this though. That is a lot of drain. I am thinking too much.

Here is a slick trick. take off the negative battery terminal then get your test light (harbor freight for $2) and connect one side to the battery negaive terminal, and the other side to the negative wire. The light will light up if you have something drawing power. The more power draw, the brighter the light. Start pulling fuses to determine what circuit is drawing power, then work backwards to determine the real problem.

mrblister

This will work but you will have to tape the door light switchs down so the door lights stay out while you pull fuses in the passenger side as well as the drivers side.

FLYCT

Starting up a SC430 and driving it just a few miles 2 or 3 times a month is not enough running time to fully recharge a battery that has been drained due to parasitic drain and cranking the starter motor. All that the few miles of driving will do is provide a surface charge. Eventually the battery will fail.

Keeping it fully charged with a smart charger such as a Battery Tender Plus or Battery Tender JR will extend the battery life significantly.

The only way to accurately check parasitic drain is with an ammeter. These cars draw about 50 ma of current when parked and turned off. I've measured current provided by my battery tender JR to maintain battery after fully charged. It puts out 47 ma to maintain voltage by providing current necessary to replace parasitic drain.

A battery tender JR will slowly (0.75 amps or 750 ma) bring voltage up to 14.2 vdc or so and then switch to float mode to maintain voltage at about 13.0-13.1 vdc. It can take a few days at 0.75 ma to top a battery off and for the charger to go to float mode. It took me 3 full days to get a previously fully charged battery that was sitting for 6 weeks to go to float mode. When I initially measured the resting voltage after 6 weeks it indicated the battery had lost 75% of its charge.

A Battery Tender Plus will do the same thing but time to fully charge will be reduced by about 1/2.

I've used smart chargers on my cars, motorcycles and aircraft that are not used frequently. They work very well to extend battery life.

JR

ceeps

Man, lot of great ideas...got a battery tender plus Sunday and 30 hrs latter the battery is fully charged. Plan to keep it hooked up and will be good to go. You guys are great...thanks FLYCT & others for the assistance.