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Problem With Battery Holding Charge

sturb25

By sturb25,
in Four Door Family & Wagoneers

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sturb25 Proficient

sturb25

Posted
Posted (edited)

Can anyone help?

Ive a problem with my battery holding charge. Its a reasonably new battery and an expensive one, its about a year old and up until a couple of months ago. i could leave my portable fridge going all day without a problem running off the main battery supply but now i cant even leave it for 2 hours without it having trouble starting.

If i dont have the fridge in the car i have no trouble starting it day to day unless i leave it unstarted for 5 or 6 days +. The fridge isnt a real big one its only one of those ones that can heat and cool so it doesnt drain that much power.

Could my battery be stuffed already? or clould it be my alternator not providing enough charge but you wouldnt think so because it starts from day to day without any problem. Could it be anything else?

Any help would be good?

Edited by sturb25
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rx7gt Contributor

rx7gt

Posted
Posted
Just got a battery check done and its all good. This has got me baffled!!!!

Probably voltage regulator! they tend to charge intermitently when on the way out. I would personally run a dual battery system if you are running a fridge then your primary battery would remain with enough charge to always start the stag thats what I run in my hilux its good piece of mind, but dont know where you would put second battery boot/etc. I use the red arc microprocesser to control my battery's it works well and not to expensive.You could also just use one of those jump start/powerpacks to run fridge! :domokun:

DaveB Mentor

DaveB

Posted
Posted
Probably voltage regulator! they tend to charge intermitently when on the way out. I would personally run a dual battery system if you are running a fridge then your primary battery would remain with enough charge to always start the stag thats what I run in my hilux its good piece of mind, but dont know where you would put second battery boot/etc. I use the red arc microprocesser to control my battery's it works well and not to expensive.You could also just use one of those jump start/powerpacks to run fridge! :P

Second all this, could also be the alternator bushes; I've had similar symptoms/problems before. I don't know if the bushes on the nissan alternators are like the standard bosch ones that just swap out with a phillips-head screwdriver, but it's a pretty cheap (~$20-ish?) fix if they are.

For a second battery, you might be able to get up to an 18 amp say gel cel to fit under the spare tyre cover in the boot. Especially if it's rated to work on its side.

32TAXI Experienced

32TAXI

Posted
Posted
Can anyone help?

Ive a problem with my battery holding charge. Its a reasonably new battery and an expensive one, its about a year old and up until a couple of months ago. i could leave my portable fridge going all day without a problem running off the main battery supply but now i cant even leave it for 2 hours without it having trouble starting.

If i dont have the fridge in the car i have no trouble starting it day to day unless i leave it unstarted for 5 or 6 days +. The fridge isnt a real big one its only one of those ones that can heat and cool so it doesnt drain that much power.

Could my battery be stuffed already? or clould it be my alternator not providing enough charge but you wouldnt think so because it starts from day to day without any problem. Could it be anything else?

Any help would be good?

Sound's like what I hear all day - everyday! (I work in roadside assist!)

Closed Circuit + time = dead bty!!!

Dual battery setup or Good roadside assist plan!

I only had my ipod on for a few minutes + the kids in the back with the dvd's = whinge whinge whinge (Not even monday YET!)

pixel8r Mentor

pixel8r

Posted
Posted

Presumably you have checked that there is no load/drain on the battery when your car is "off"? Obviously any alarm/central locking circuitry etc will still be drawing current but it should only be minimal.

I had an issue where my fog lights were left on (my old stagea - s2) - which flattened the battery very quickly. Before that I had no idea they even worked or how to turn them on - but they must've been flicked on accidentally the night before.

I'm assuming you've checked all the obvious stuff like this but thought I'd mention it anyway...

sturb25 Proficient

sturb25

Posted
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Presumably you have checked that there is no load/drain on the battery when your car is "off"? Obviously any alarm/central locking circuitry etc will still be drawing current but it should only be minimal.

I had an issue where my fog lights were left on (my old stagea - s2) - which flattened the battery very quickly. Before that I had no idea they even worked or how to turn them on - but they must've been flicked on accidentally the night before.

I'm assuming you've checked all the obvious stuff like this but thought I'd mention it anyway...

yeah nothing has been left on. Its been happening for a while now!!!

DaveB Mentor

DaveB

Posted
Posted

Recommend removing the positive terminal from the battery and connecting it via an ammeter/multimeter (initially set to the 10 amp range) when the key is out and everything is off to check the current draw. If it's anything more than perhaps 100 milliamps, you're going to have flat battery problems sooner or later. Even then it should probably be less than 30 milliamps, not sure.

25stagea Explorer

25stagea

Posted
Posted

the quickest way to check your alternator and starter motor is to get a multimeter set to volts and put accros battery mesure the volts then get someone to statr the car while you watch the multimeter.

It should not drop below about 10.5 volts if none of the acc are on now with the car running the alternator should be putting out around 13.5v to 14.2v.

if the volts drop below 10.5 when starting you could have a problem with the starter motor polling out wich means it is earthing its self so therefore all of your power will just be going into the earth rather than into turning the starter.

As for the battery put a charger on it ( about 10 amps) and see if you can get rid of some of the sulfation off the plates , wich is what happens when a battery runs flat.

I'm running a small SLA (Sealed lead acid ) battery wich has around the 600 cca but it also can be used as a deep cycle battery i.e run accessories.

I use it to run lights off the plug in the back for when i do call out's ( i work for a battery shop)

If you have any more problems just ask.

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