Is my battery tired?

[graham1]

Hi guys,

Im having some issues with my battery keeping charge it seems.

Some quick background - I bought the vehicle from a member in Cape Town, it was trucked to DBN, which meant about two weeks of the vehicle sitting in the truck depot, and then being started only to move on and off the truck, so the battery probably took a hammering there.
Then when I collected it here, it needed to be jumpstarted - they let it idle for 15mins apparently, then switched off. when I tried to start it it was dead again, so jump started and off I went.
About 5kms on it died on me, totally dead, with not even enough power to make a light come on the dash.

An auto elec came out and said it was a faulty connection between the alternator and the battery, and installed a new cable straight from the alt to the bat, this seems to have sorted things out.

So anyway, on Monday I moved the vehicle from one side of the driveway to the other and then back again and that was it.
When fiddling yesterday evening I noticed the dash voltmeter only showed around 6volts! She JUST managed to start and I took her for a drive to charge.

So my question is, is my battery on its way out? Or is it that these vehicles just don't like these short start and moves, ie, move up the driveway and then off for a week?
Or is there something more complex wrong with things here?

Sorry for the long story guys!!

Cheers,

Graham

[bogeyman]

The symptoms look like it could be a dead cell in the battery or there is something drawing a small current when the car is switched off. Possible Radio or alarm fault.
Also a good idea to check and clean the terminals on the battery and all negative (earth) bonding straps ect.

[Tinus lotz]

I agree with Chris
Thake battery out of car put on charge until full
Take to reputable battery centre put on load test
Then you will know .you can also first charge battery full from charger then drive it there so they can check it

[Wilkie]

Hi Graham,just something to bear in mind....everytime you start a vehicle ,you need to drive for at least 7kms to replace the battery power you have drained from the battery when starting the vehicle, especially if the vehicle stood for a while


like Chris and Tinus said,slow charge that battery for at least two days,and maybe put a c-tek charger on if you don't use it often

[Herrie]

A place like Battery Centre should be able to test it properly and it should not cost you.

[graham1]

Thanks everyone for the comments, I guess I must get it to Battery centre to check out for me, but I am thinking maybe I should just buy a new one and start a fresh. I see this one is three years old now. I don't want to be left in the lurch in the sticks somewhere with it.

There shouldn't be anything drawing charge - theres no imob, and I take the face of the radio off, so that's properly off too.

[Tinus lotz]

You cannot test a half charged battery make sure its fully charged then go test it. Remove negitive pole and measure current flow only way to check.

[graham1]

Took the patrol out this afternoon. Dash voltmeter showed just over 6v when I switched on ignition, it only just started again. Went for a drive where the voltmeter sat at just over 13. Switched off and the meter showed 12.
Bugger it, im going to buy a new battery and start from fresh tomorrow I think.

[Tinus lotz]

Dive it for a bit test it if not correct change it for the biggest one you can fit and afford. ....more battery is always better

[Peter Connan]

Just to make sure (since batteries are quite expensive), take it for a good long drive, and when you get home, disconnect the battery negative.

If the voltage drops overnight, you know the battery is on the way out. if not, something is taking power...