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Car battery completely drained


Mungler
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So, I put a new car battery on one of my old bangers a couple of months ago, and today whilst driving home I lost every drop of electricity in the car (the radio stopped working and the car just lost power and died - there wasn’t enough juice to operate the hazards) - yes, it looks like the alternator has gone and may have gone some time ago.

The battery was brand new at its last annual service in November.

I’ve had the battery on a decent intelligent battery charger for the thick end of 4 hours now and it’s not showing any signs of taking a charge.

Have I killed the battery? Any tips? I don’t need to use the car and so could leave it on charge until the weekend - will that make any difference and at what point should I call it a day?

I thought modern batteries were made of sterner stuff and will see if I can get it swapped for a new one.

Cheers all.

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If it's that deeply discharged intelligent chargers only give it the slightest trickle over a long time rather than a boost to try to bring it back to life. Leave it on charge for a couple of days. The battery should still be under warranty, but I doubt you've killed it. 

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Yep intelligent charger is probably not registering the battery, so things to try....

traditional battery charger 

jump leads onto another car to ‘boost’ the battery for a little while 

multimetter across the terminals to make sure the battery hasn’t collapsed internally.

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7 hours ago, Mungler said:

So, I put a new car battery on one of my old bangers a couple of months ago, and today whilst driving home I lost every drop of electricity in the car (the radio stopped working and the car just lost power and died - there wasn’t enough juice to operate the hazards) - yes, it looks like the alternator has gone and may have gone some time ago.

The battery was brand new at its last annual service in November.

I’ve had the battery on a decent intelligent battery charger for the thick end of 4 hours now and it’s not showing any signs of taking a charge.

Have I killed the battery? Any tips? I don’t need to use the car and so could leave it on charge until the weekend - will that make any difference and at what point should I call it a day?

I thought modern batteries were made of sterner stuff and will see if I can get it swapped for a new one.

Cheers all.

I presume you have checked the fan belt?

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9 hours ago, Mungler said:

So, I put a new car battery on one of my old bangers a couple of months ago, and today whilst driving home I lost every drop of electricity in the car (the radio stopped working and the car just lost power and died - there wasn’t enough juice to operate the hazards) - yes, it looks like the alternator has gone and may have gone some time ago.

The battery was brand new at its last annual service in November.

I’ve had the battery on a decent intelligent battery charger for the thick end of 4 hours now and it’s not showing any signs of taking a charge.

Have I killed the battery? Any tips? I don’t need to use the car and so could leave it on charge until the weekend - will that make any difference and at what point should I call it a day?

I thought modern batteries were made of sterner stuff and will see if I can get it swapped for a new one.

Cheers all.

How's it looking now?

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That’s a good question, but that battery is less than 3 months old and surely a modern battery can take a discharge and recharge?

The trickle charger says it’s half way recharged so I’m going to keep it on charge until Friday when it’s booked into the local garage for a look over.

I’m hoping that when the car went in for a service and a couple of bits in November someone at the garage just accidentally knocked a connector off the alternator - that’s maybe wishful thinking but the car’s done no more than 50 miles since November.

 

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Hey Mungler

Dont know if it’s any good or convenient for you, I’m on Cuffley now, but I can get my hands on an all singing and dancing Snap On charger if you want to drop the battery at mine. Happy to put it on that if you like. 

 

Cos 

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  • 4 months later...

Just an update - the car’s alternator (or rather dynamo) was replaced (exchange and fit was only £150) and I put the battery on an intelligent charger for about 5 days and the battery is happy and everything is back to normal.

I’m taking the car out to the Le Mans Classic next month for a decent run - it did it last year to the 24hr at a steady 65 mph and it was smooth as silk.

A 1000 miles round trip over one long weekend in a 1977 tax empt old Roller that owes me about £9k. Keep ‘em crossed.

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On 17/06/2018 at 12:09, Mungler said:

Just an update - the car’s alternator (or rather dynamo) was replaced (exchange and fit was only £150) and I put the battery on an intelligent charger for about 5 days and the battery is happy and everything is back to normal.

I’m taking the car out to the Le Mans Classic next month for a decent run - it did it last year to the 24hr at a steady 65 mph and it was smooth as silk.

A 1000 miles round trip over one long weekend in a 1977 tax empt old Roller that owes me about £9k. Keep ‘em crossed.

That sounds a nice trip ?

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