Battery woes

2012 TDV8 Vogue
I love this car despite the flaky electrics. Following alarm problems solved by reading this forum on purchase in May had new battery and doors reprogrammed. (Dealer had replaced bonnet catch and 2 door catches following diagnostics to no effect) Went fine for one week then battery flat after 4 days parked at airport (wet weather) battery recharged on run home and checks on alternator shows it good. No further problems TIL first week August then TOTALLY flat battery after leaving parked 3 days (including very wet day!). Remote didn’t unlock, no dashboard after key opening. (Getting alarm turned off totally fused old Halfords battery charger!) Disconnected battery and recharged for 18 hours using 6amp then new 12 amp charger to get half a charge. Original car supplier is specialist Landy dealer. Confirms alternator OK. Trying not to replace battery as he says he’s managed to recharge it after 3 attempts.
My issue - do I accept what I think is a duff battery?
Water pours into battery compartment on bonnet opening due to poor seal along top bonnet edge - dealer says this isn’t an issue and more likely flaky electronics. I’d like seal reglued, drain hole cleaned and replacement battery (original should still be under warranty under 3 months) Am I being unreasonable? Do these big batteries really take over 2 days to charge? Or is it some unidentifiable discharge as the dealer is implying?
Billyboy

Do auto parts stores over there have load testers? Over here, almost every auto parts store has a machine that you can hook up your battery to and itll tell you if its good or bad,almost instantly. Ive had batteries that have shown similar symptoms to yours, and it would show plenty of voltage also..Only to take it to the store and have them load test it; and have it fail.

Does the rain water pool on the battery leads and short the battery when its raining?!? If it does then that is a problem for sure.. If it only happens briefly when you open the hood, I wouldnt think that was the source of your problem.

Good Luck!

If you look for Eric the Car Guy on YouTube he's got a demo of how to look for a parasitic drain.

How many volts do you get across the battery at 2000rpm with absolutely everything electrical switched on (headlights, demister, radio etc)?

You can knacker a new battery quickly enough if not charging or draining it too low.

To charge a big capacity battery from nearly flat can take 3 days or more depending on the charger. Most battery chargers will indicate full charge when they get to about 80%. Completing that last 20% takes longer than the first 80%.
If the battery has been discharged completely a few times, it might not be saveable. Get yourself a good smart charger that charges in four stages. The AA do one for about thirty odd quid. A fast charge is a crap charge.

Col

You can knacker an alternator pretty quick the same way too

Colthebrummie said:

To charge a big capacity battery from nearly flat can take 3 days or more depending on the charger. Most battery chargers will indicate full charge when they get to about 80%. Completing that last 20% takes longer than the first 80%.
If the battery has been discharged completely a few times, it might not be saveable. Get yourself a good smart charger that charges in four stages. The AA do one for about thirty odd quid. A fast charge is a crap charge.

Col

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Lidl/Aldi do a good smart charger for about £18.
2 to 3 days to fully charge a flat battery from an L322 would be normal.
If the battery has gone flat several times, it's probably knackered, lead/calcium batteries do not suffer complete discharge well.
Sounds like the battery is being discharged by an electrical problem, not unusual on Range Rovers. Headlamp wipers not parking is one possibility if your car has them, there are many other possibilities.

If it’s always in the wet check passenger floor or boot for damp, could be setting something off when water gets in. Maybe it’s dried but left marks or green connections.

Halfords can do a drop test for you check battery is up to it, I’d look for parasitic drain (maybe only when wet) before changing battery.

Latest is dealer fully recharged battery and left overnight with no power drop. Showing 12.7v
Then connected up to car to get immediate voltage drop to 12.3v then stabilised at 12.4v. Left connected but unused Saturday and Sunday. This morning (Monday)the battery is totally flat. Dealer now installing a new battery and will check for voltage drop in the morning. If something is drawing current, any suggestions as to where to start looking? There’s no headlamp wipers. Weekend wasn’t particularly wet. Car was locked but no alarm issues as far as I’m aware.

Billyboy106 said:

Latest is dealer fully recharged battery and left overnight with no power drop. Showing 12.7v
Then connected up to car to get immediate voltage drop to 12.3v then stabilised at 12.4v. Left connected but unused Saturday and Sunday. This morning (Monday)the battery is totally flat. Dealer now installing a new battery and will check for voltage drop in the morning. If something is drawing current, any suggestions as to where to start looking? There’s no headlamp wipers. Weekend wasn’t particularly wet. Car was locked but no alarm issues as far as I’m aware.

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Hiya

Hope u didn’t mind me putting my two penth in

Had terrible issues with my D3 for battery drain, took me ages to find it, was a memory seat module , but that was on mine so not 100% familiar with urs

Found a video that explains it

As a side note CTEK battery chargers are very good

Hope that may help a little

Also a chart of what the battery drain should be

Didn’t think they did L322 HL wipers? Non off-roaders don’t need them.

I’m guessing dealer would check Vregulator/alternator is kicking out enough? Usually when battery starts dying they throw phantom faults and beep like crazy?

RangeRoller dt said:

Didn’t think they did L322 HL wipers? Non off-roaders don’t need them.

I’m guessing dealer would check Vregulator/alternator is kicking out enough? Usually when battery starts dying they throw phantom faults and beep like crazy?

I started unplugging fuses for things systematically to try narrowing it down. I knew my battery wouldn’t hold much, flat in 48hrs from full, after turning off int lights, RF receiver and fitting new belt it took 3weeks to go dead. Then I changed the battery, all fine since.
My RR Is different but principle is same.

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Hiya

They are good fun trying to find battery drains

Alas on my D3 u can’t unplug fuses etc or ur wake the the system up and have to wait another 30 x mins before u can start again

Had to link the bonnet switch out, then lock and alarm, wait 20-30 mins for it to go into sleep mode

However have to be careful whilst testing because every 6 x hours the system will wake up and do a suspension self level check

I made up leads and was a case of testing each and every one , J fuses we’re abit harder

Finally found it was the memory seat module , battery now lasts just under a month

Have dual batteries , Connected a battery monitor so can monitor them via my phone

This is what I started with and final read out

Apologises , didn’t mean to hi jack the thread , hope it helps with process of finding battery drain

gstuart said:

Hiya

They are good fun trying to find battery drains

Alas on my D3 u can’t unplug fuses etc or ur wake the the system up and have to wait another 30 x mins before u can start again

Had to link the bonnet switch out, then lock and alarm, wait 20-30 mins for it to go into sleep mode

However have to be careful whilst testing because every 6 x hours the system will wake up and do a suspension self level check

I made up leads and was a case of testing each and every one , J fuses we’re abit harder

Finally found it was the memory seat module , battery now lasts just under a month

Have dual batteries , Connected a battery monitor so can monitor them via my phone

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Battery monitor to phone?! Nice! How much battery does that use?!

2 of them!

Grrrrrr said:

Battery monitor to phone?! Nice! How much battery does that use?!

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Hi

Uses 1ma

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Battery-...886904&hash=item2134a54ee8:g:vnwAAOSw~vpaKPBT

RangeRoller dt said:

2 of them!

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Yes, but got to refit the other one for the aux as I had to disconnected doing some wiring

Sorry it’s, 1 x box per battery , apologises about that

This product is used to monitor the auto battery, cranking system and charging system. After install it to the battery, the mobile can connect it via Bluetooth 4.0. When some problems happen in battery, cranking and charging system, it can send notification alert to the user. Besides, the user also can test and review the rip record via app.

• Installed in the car battery Real-time Monitoring through
• Receive notification of battery conditions when enter Bluetooth range
• Alert users if charge is low
• Check vehicle cranking system automatically while engine is starting
• Check charging system (alternator)
• List the time of each driving
• Alert mobile phone if some data abnormal
• Short-circuit and reverse connection protection
• Data stored in battery monitor up to 35 days if out of sync
• Automatic synchronization when enter Bluetooth range
• Compatible with all 12-volt vehicle batteries
• Review historical data graphically
• Engine starting detect automatically
• Data stored in battery monitor up to 35 days if out of sync
• Protection of short-circuit and reverse connection
• Free app for both iOS & Android

Specification

• Input Voltage: 6~20V
• Average Current: 1mA
• Operating Temperature: -40ºC~90ºC
• Physical Dimensions: 55mm*35mm*16mm
• Voltage Accuracy(9-16V): +/-0.03V
• Short-circuit Protection：Built in
• Reverse Connection Protection: Built in
• Bluetooth: 4.0
• Bluetooth Name: Battery Monitor
• App Keyword: BM2
• Available: Android: 4.3 and later, IOS 7.1 and

I couldn’t cope with all that. I’ve seen people fit 2nd battery in a P38, there’s nice loom in boot that runs gadgetry only. D3 is whole new minefield

RangeRoller dt said:

I couldn’t cope with all that. I’ve seen people fit 2nd battery in a P38, there’s nice loom in boot that runs gadgetry only. D3 is whole new minefield

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Wasn’t too bad , also now fitted a dual dashboard gauge for the main and aux batteries , green gauge on the left is just for usb

Batteries need recharging , should be 12.6 Vdc with engine off and around 14.5. - 15.5 Vdc when running

That is one clean machine
Couple of gauges like that would be nice and green would look OE. Maybe one day you’ll show me how