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Old Battery, Flat Battery. New Battery, Flat Battrey 

 

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 Post subject: Old Battery, Flat Battery. New Battery, Flat Battrey
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 3:55 am 
Stock as a Rock
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Age: 82

Posts: 107

Joined: 2nd Feb 2010

Ride: Ford LTD DA 1989

Location: Sydney
NSW, Australia

My LTD DA gets driven once or twice a week. The old battery got flat twice, got a new one from Rpco in May 20012, last Saturday I had a flat battery. The alternator is charging well and the battery holding charge, but something is draining the charge. Would the computer, smart lock, or clock be doing it? (I don't think so) I disconnected the battery terminals and tested continuity / resistance across the terminals, it shows 5.5 on the digital tester. Tested the voltage in the coolant, it shows 0.3V. I think the voltage in the coolant is too high.

If resistance across disconnected battery terminals exists once connected there would be consumption (discharge), I think.

Can anyone tell me if any of this info is telling me anything bad is going on?

Thanks
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 Post subject: Re: Old Battery, Flat Battery. New Battery, Flat Battrey
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 4:49 pm 
Stock as a Rock
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Age: 82

Posts: 107

Joined: 2nd Feb 2010

Ride: Ford LTD DA 1989

Location: Sydney
NSW, Australia

Anyone?
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 Post subject: Re: Old Battery, Flat Battery. New Battery, Flat Battrey
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 5:30 pm 
Getting Side Ways
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Age: 39

Posts: 1832

Joined: 3rd May 2007

Gallery: 8 images

Ride: AUII XR6 Uterus

Location: South Coast
NSW, Australia

It could just need a good charge. I own a few cars and obviously can't drive them all at once so the only way to keep batteries, brand new or old, is give them a good charge on a charger for about 4 hours once a month. Otherwise what happens is the acid in the battery always wants to turn to sulphate, the sulphate fouls the plates, this makes it harder to pass charge etc etc. regular charging helps prevent this though the alternator only basically trickle charges the battery, it's not strong enough to clear the sulphate unless it's charged/driven everyday.

Also having said that I drive mine weekly at least 150kms and it's still not enough to keep brand new batteries charged! Still needs a good charge at about 6amps for around 4 hours once every 4 weeks.

And once they do sulphate up, you can kiss them goodbye, no matter how expensive.

Also I would still work on the charged coolant issue because that creates electrolysis which is a different kettle of fish.

 

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 Post subject: Re: Old Battery, Flat Battery. New Battery, Flat Battrey
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 6:18 pm 
Getting Side Ways
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Age: 30

Posts: 1006

Joined: 1st Oct 2010

Gallery: 14 images

Ride: EF XR8

Location: Richmond,
NSW, Australia

Bootlight?

 

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 Post subject: Re: Old Battery, Flat Battery. New Battery, Flat Battrey
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 9:49 pm 
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Posts: 258

Joined: 30th Dec 2007

Location: cairns
QLD, Australia

If you're not driving very much then you should think about buying one of those charge and maintain battery chargers.So you just leave it on and keeps the battery charged up until you need to use the car.If it is a calcium battery then you would need a calcium battery charger.Kevman.
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 Post subject: Re: Old Battery, Flat Battery. New Battery, Flat Battrey
Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 2:41 am 
Stock as a Rock
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Age: 82

Posts: 107

Joined: 2nd Feb 2010

Ride: Ford LTD DA 1989

Location: Sydney
NSW, Australia

kevman wrote:
If you're not driving very much then you should think about buying one of those charge and maintain battery chargers.So you just leave it on and keeps the battery charged up until you need to use the car.If it is a calcium battery then you would need a calcium battery charger.Kevman.


I live in an apartment and the car is parked in common underground car park, so, battery charger is out of the question.

I found a dodgy ground connection, I fixed and cleaned all the other ones now the coolant reading is 0.01V. I'm happy with that.

I did some Google and found an amperage test. Disconnect Neg terminal, set the meter to 10 amps. and measure the amperage across the two terminals, it should be 0.05 Amps. I'll do that Tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.
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 Post subject: Re: Old Battery, Flat Battery. New Battery, Flat Battrey
Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 2:56 am 
Getting Side Ways
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Age: 44

Posts: 1275

Joined: 30th Sep 2007

Ride: g6e 2009

Location: hiding in the bushes
WA, Australia

are your interior lights staying on and you have a blown globe so dont notice? same with boot light also?
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