CLS left for 2 days and now dead as a dodo

[philnewmerc]

So my excellent superior ICE car has shamed itself by being as dead as an EV on a long trip towing a speedboat in the middle of an electricity shut down It's been left for 2 days and it is completely drained. It has been left for full weeks previously without issue though so I don't think the battery is suddenly worn out (it's about 1.5 year old). The only change I've made recently is cheap Chinese parking sensors... surely the power to them is disabled when the ignition is off though and that's just coincidence? I will open the boot and charge the battery but what I wanted to ask was is a drain like this something that will show up in icarsoft code reader and are there any other checks anyone recommends?

Cheers
Phil

(a 7 year Kia warranty is looking very attractive right now)

 

[philnewmerc]

I think this is karma for teasing EV owners

The only other change (in use) was it was used very briskly for a few days in the Lakes where there was a lot of gear changes in the 1,2,3,2,1 sort of range... hard accelerations and g force... wonder if that has loosened something??

 

[Ted]

Despite the battery being fairly new, you need to get it charged and tested.
If ok, check for a parasitic discharge - usual culprit is the alarm unit - possibly under the nearside wheelarch

 

[philnewmerc]

It's been jump started and seems to work fine now, only thing that was different in the car was that I had left it in the sports suspension setting. No side lights or parking lights on. Voltage is now at 12.5v which doesn't seem super low. Very odd. But will have to get it tested

 

[philnewmerc]

It's been jump started and seems to work fine now, only thing that was different in the car was that I had left it in the sports suspension setting. No side lights or parking lights on. Voltage is now at 12.5v which doesn't seem super low. Very odd. But will have to get it tested

10 mins later the voltage is down from 12.5 ton12.3... I'm guessing this means the battery is in poor health

 

[Ted]

10 mins later the voltage is down from 12.5 ton12.3... I'm guessing this means the battery is in poor health

That means nothing on its own. You need to get the battery load tested.
Might be worth checking for a parasitic drain before the battery test, but battery test is simpler and some places (that sell batteries) will do it for free.
The other thing is, I’m guessing from the time of your first post that it has only been on charge for a few hours.
As a guideline, you shouldn’t charge a battery at more than 10% of its rated capacity, so a (say) 90 amp/hour battery should be charged at a max imum of 9 amps for at least 10 hours at least to get back to full charge - say 24 hours if you have a 4 amp charger.
Don’t load test a fully charged battery straight off the charger!

 

[philnewmerc]

Good points but it was started by a recovery guy with a jump pack then driven for 40 mins at highish revs... Probably the opposite of advised I'll get it test asap. Cheers

 

[markjay]

A 1.5 years old battery will still be covered by warranty, surely?

 

[philnewmerc]

A 1.5 years old battery will still be covered by warranty, surely?

Unfortunately I didn't own it then and no receipt... Maybe the seller forgot that it was 5 years old and not one? It is a proper varta though. Oh well i think I'll just replace it but does seem odd its suddenly gone weak as it has been left before for much longer. But maybe batteries do degrade quickly after a sharp cold spell or something or being jiggled around or both???
Cheers all

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Unfortunately I didn't own it then and no receipt... Maybe the seller forgot that it was 5 years old and not one? It is a proper varta though. Oh well i think I'll just replace it but does seem odd its suddenly gone weak as it has been left before for much longer. But maybe batteries do degrade quickly after a sharp cold spell or something or being jiggled around or both???
Cheers all

This is peak period for batteries “becoming flat”. It may be a goner, but it may just be that the starts have taken more out of the battery than the journeys can put back in.

In winter, many of us e do more short journeys, fewer longer jour eys and drive with lots of consumers on like aircon, heating, heated rear window, wipers, etc.

Personally I’d charge it with a battery conditioner. The CTEK MXS 5.0 is good but others would do the job too - Lidl and Aldi chargers are very well regarded.

 

[Teego]

Someone like Formula One Autocentres will do a free and unbiased test.

 

[philnewmerc]

This is peak period for batteries “becoming flat”. It may be a goner, but it may just be that the starts have taken more out of the battery than the journeys can put back in.

In winter, many of us e do more short journeys, fewer longer jour eys and drive with lots of consumers on like aircon, heating, heated rear window, wipers, etc.

Personally I’d charge it with a battery conditioner. The CTEK MXS 5.0 is good but others would do the job too - Lidl and Aldi chargers are very well regarded.

Actually that may be it. Just recently it's been pressed into short 5-10 mile slow cross town drives... Good thinking, I'll just replace it. (I knew it wouldn't be my communist rear parking sensors, they're great )

 

[markjay]

Unfortunately I didn't own it then and no receipt... Maybe the seller forgot that it was 5 years old and not one? It is a proper varta though. Oh well i think I'll just replace it but does seem odd its suddenly gone weak as it has been left before for much longer. But maybe batteries do degrade quickly after a sharp cold spell or something or being jiggled around or both???
Cheers all

The battery's manufacturer date should be stamped on one of the poles.

 

[philnewmerc]

The battery's manufacturer date should be stamped on one of the poles.

Great tip, will check.

Does it have to be Varta? There is a similar priced Halfords one with a little more cranking amps and a slightly cheaper Bosch one, and a very cheap Exide... all of same spec

 

[philnewmerc]

Deleted

 

[Smiley]

I had a one off completely dead car on my 211 one day last year; car was fine, both batteries under a year old, used for a 200 mile journey one day then the next day completely dead, so dead that the remote locking would not unlock the car. Charged both batteries, looked for drain found nothing and guess what, it has been fine ever since. Before condemning a potentially good Varta battery and replacing with an (inferior) Halfords own brand I would check for drains and see if it happens again.
BTW the first sign of a weakening battery is usually the convenience items disabled warning in the dash

 

[Smiley]

ps assume that you have checked the alternator?

 

[Smiley]

pps the places that test batteries for free are not unbiased in my experience...... I was not deliberately trying to catch them out but I found that two local places had given me incorrect info - both declared the battery dead when it was actually OK.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Why are people so obsessed with throwing away batteries rather than just occasionally charging them when they’re been misused and flattened?

Ok, no one wants to repeat the inconvenience of a flat battery, but it takes little effort to charge up a couple of times a year, and new battery is going to go just as flat after a series of short runs in winter.

Now, replacing a windscreen in winter after it gets greasy both in and out - that I understand. A greasy windscreen is such a pain in the neck to clean and then reseal.

 

[philnewmerc]

I had a one off completely dead car on my 211 one day last year; car was fine, both batteries under a year old, used for a 200 mile journey one day then the next day completely dead, so dead that the remote locking would not unlock the car. Charged both batteries, looked for drain found nothing and guess what, it has been fine ever since. Before condemning a potentially good Varta battery and replacing with an (inferior) Halfords own brand I would check for drains and see if it happens again.
BTW the first sign of a weakening battery is usually the convenience items disabled warning in the dash

Good points. So was it a drain on yours or not?

One thing that does make me suspicious it may not be the battery (or weak battery and some other issue) is it was 100000% dead after just 2 days and I've left it a week before now. But on the other hand the resting battery voltage is just under 12.5 so not in rude health and as said its been pressed into short trips in the past couple of months just as the temps plummeted. The breakdown chap tested the alternator and said it was charging. How can i check, just see if it's at >14v i presume?

Thanks again