Done it again! Battery was 11.7v after starting the car/turning it off an hour ago and was 13.7v while running. Less than an hour later of leaving the negative terminal attached again and on trickle charge the battery reads 5.11v, totally dead. So its back on charge again now with the neg terminal lead off.
Well that reading was correct I think, tried on two different meters.
The shine of buying this car has quickly drained away i can tell you, i have no confidence in it when it is running despite its great condition and history, if someone wanted it now i would snap their hands off! So much for luxury motoring, thinking i should have kept my Forester as it didn't miss a beat!
Well it was charged up again last night to 12.81v, at 9am this morning it is reading 12.41v and i left the negative terminal disconnected all night. I assume the car couldn't have taken the power with only positive connected could it?
So although it hasn't dropped drastically am i right in thinking the new battery should have maintained at least 12.7v overnight? If so I'll have to go and swap it .
Just put the negative lead back on without waking the car up so will see if it starts to drain more in the next hour. Noticed key code lockout message on the dash but not tried opening it up yet.
It's impossible to determine the amount of drain from the spark but as it's considerable that tells me it's quite a large drain and therefore a 10A meter would not be a good starting point, you will get a spark from almost every car when the battery is connected but if it's with quite an audible "crack" that would suggets quite a large drain, before you go any further do you have breakdown cover?There was a considerable spark but don't know about an arc. There is a 10A setting on the meter.
Just having EKA troubles and had to disconnect it again to shut the alarm off (sunday morning noise!) .
I do have cover but got an elec lined up to have it tomorrow night. I was going to get it going and go up to Halfords for a quick check over the battery.
Personally I'd avoid Halfords on the diagnosis side of things, if you have breakdown cover with either RAC or AA I'd be calling them out because a battery will drain for one of three reasons.
1, Knackered battery and they have good battery testing equipment.
2, Battery being insufficiently charged either by alternator or just lack of use. They can test alternator.
3, The battery is being drained, they carry amp clamps and amp meters and should be able to carry out an amp drain test.
You need to point out to the patrol (once you've made him a coffee) that the battery has been replaced due to this fault and it also goes completly flat in a very short time and this should set him off thinking theres a drain on this!
If you have cover with Green Flag etc I'd let the leccy look at it as most(not all before I'm shot down) don't have the equipment or knowledge to carry out the above tests and will just want to tow it away!
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