battery issue driving me insane

[nielsonp]

just had my Holden Berlina 2006 for 12 months. loving it except for the battery going flat on me once every (approx) 3 months which really aggrivates me as i traded up from my old VS commodore for better reliability and the fact that i have a much newer car.

The only mod so far i have done is upgrade all the speakers to alpine s types and install my 600watt sony 4ch amp and i really wanna put a 12" sub in but am worried its going to make my current problems worse.

sent the car into the local holden dealer who blamed the upgraded stereo on the battery drain and they updated some software and scanned the system and wouldn't admit there is a design fault here.

The local battery world guy told me the VE commodores don't constantly charge the battery while driving (like an older car does) and only starts charging when the battery gets low which to me seems to be when the battery is under 12 volts. Then i asked him if a new battery would help (seeing the battery is 4 years old) and he said the battery was just flat when he tested it and said its not worth buying a new one.

Browsing these forums i see guys putting awesome sound systems that dwarf what i currently have and it makes me wonder how do they do it? or are they quietly jumpstarting the vehicle everytime they need to start it?

has anyone managed to fix their battery issues? or is it just these short distances im doing that is killing it?

[Ripper_017]

i had a similar problem, the theory is the ve ecu drains every last bit out of the battery overnight. another factor is it doesnt charge to well on short trips. i found mine wouldnt turn over too well at times , thought it was time for a new battery since the previous owner hadnt changed it since purchase.

i also read that people were driving straight out of the holden dealership with a new car only to find the battery would be dead, but in saying that it was said that holden would update the firmware to remedy this problem.

my battery shit it self on me the the other week when my car went into limp mode , $300 later with nrma, i got a bigger battery . 600 cca i think , but something bigger to be safe , i also run a sub in the boot. i think if you have anything around 300 cca you should change and go higher .

[carcollector]

If your battery is four years old, it's about at the end of its life. Buy a new one. From memory, most battery places will list for the VE range a standard battery, then a police and taxi pack battery, and then a bigger battery than that one. When I bought a new battery from Exide recently, I bought the police spec one, as the dealer wsan't sure if all of the original battery clamps would fit with the largest battery listed.

[BigBoss]

If I were you I would turn my car off, grab a multimeter rip off the positive terminal of the battery set the multimeter in the Amp mode and put one of its electrodes on the positive terminal and the other on the positive battery lead witch you have removed. That will then make the multimeter part of the circuit and any current will need to run through it. See what ampage you are getting (should be nil) and you can then see if it is your cars fault or the battery.

[kyone]

Yes you should confirm that you have not wired the AMP directly to 12v supply without it going via the ignition control. The last thing you want is to have your amp drawing power while your car is off and parked.

I was told when I bought my VE Calais V that because of all the accessories I should lock the doors at night. He said I would totally drain the battery if left unlocked for about a week.

I've owned my car now for just a couple of weeks and already I've had a "Battery Low" warning.

[UFO]

I've owned my car now for just a couple of weeks and already I've had a "Battery Low" warning.

Mine did that when I first bought it home. It's because its been sitting around at the dealer and on transport trucks. Perfectly normal. Take it for a nice long drive (as in a couple of hours) and she'll be fine.

[kyone]

Take it for a nice long drive (as in a couple of hours) and she'll be fine.

With the price of fuel it would be cheaper to buy a good quality battery charger then to drive around for 2 hours

[Lumps of cheese]

I have a ctek charger in the boot. I just chuck the charger on when it hits battery saver mode, once every 3-4 months.

[Pickle']

With the price of fuel it would be cheaper to buy a good quality battery charger then to drive around for 2 hours

But you get to drive!

[nielsonp]

I was thinking of wiring up a volt meter on the dash so when i saw it starting to get too close to the 12v mark i would be able to charge the battery overnight.

I'm not getting any battery low warning or power saving mode- although sometimes i turn my car on and get abs warning up on the lcd (and warning light on) and yesterday had that along with the brake warning come up (and warning light on)- i know i should probably talk to Holden but they will just waste my time again...

anyway i will grab the multimeter and test battery and connector tomorrow if i get a chance.....

my amp is wired to the ignition as far as i can tell (i got the system professionally installed) because the lights on the amp are off when the stereo is off and i cant hear any fans.

i looked into getting a bigger battery when i got the first flat battery problem. local battery world guy connected his tester up to the battery and told me the batteries flat and to go for a 20km drive. he also told me (also backed up by Holden) that its pointless putting a bigger battery in as the charging of the battery is completely computer controlled and the battery wouldn't charge completely so it would be wasted (i was considering a battery worth almost $400 before i was told this information)

I was also thinking its all good to have a bigger battery but wouldnt that just delay my problem and make it happen less frequently?

have any of you guys with the bigger batteries noticed improvements by doing so?

[BigBoss]

Wiring up a volts indicator will probably not help you that much, i have done it in the past and have been informed that for example when the voltage drops below 11v there is stuff all charge left in it. if you really want to do something get an OBD2 read out of battery charge

[RiCeY]

Early VEs have heaps of battery draining issues but if your battery is 4 years old Id definately replace it as thats about the maximum life you get on average.

[pjdm1980]

Had some issues with my car and I replaced with this-
Optima Battery D34/78 Yellow Top 750cca | eBay
Never had a flat battery again!

[nielsonp]

ripper,

that battery sounds good, might have to look at getting one over here.
are you able to leave your car stereo running for a while (say an hour while you wash your car) without causing battery to go flat?

atm i dont have the stereo going while the engine is off for fear of the battery going flat i hate it this is something i could do no worries with the old vs.

[BigBoss]

When my battery is getting low (when i am the playing stereo wile the engine is not running) i get a message on my dash telling me to save the battery, so you are probably safe.

[Luke V8]

Had the same issue. Turns out that holden had put in a battery for a V6 and not the V8... new correct battery - sorted