Battery going flat after 8 days...still lights up dash but starter not getting enough juice

[bluehighway]

Im thinking I need a battery with more plates in it...standard battery is going flat after car sitting for 8 days likely its the alarm system draining it . I work away often and leave car parked up for about 8 days and now with the colder weather its not got enough oomph to start the car. In warmer weather it used to just start the car. If I use it every day or every 3 or 4 days there is no problem. I dont want to disconnect the negative terminal everytime I go because im thinking sooner or later the cars ecu will throw a wobbly from being connected disconnected all the time. Im wondering if i fitted a solar trickle charger and mounted the panel on the parcel shelf in the rear window if thats my best option otherwise im thinking I need to fit a battery with more plates which will be a problem given the battery tray on the vx has very little room for 'oversize' and im not keen on a boot mount running cables to engine.... any ideas... other than getting a job that keeps me home....lol

 

[07GTS]

something is draining it and alarms are designed to be on with minimal draw, better battery won't help that unless yours is on way out any battery should last longer sitting then 8 days

 

[Lex]

Im thinking I need a battery with more plates in it...standard battery is going flat after car sitting for 8 days likely its the alarm system draining it . I work away often and leave car parked up for about 8 days and now with the colder weather its not got enough oomph to start the car. In warmer weather it used to just start the car. If I use it every day or every 3 or 4 days there is no problem. I dont want to disconnect the negative terminal everytime I go because im thinking sooner or later the cars ecu will throw a wobbly from being connected disconnected all the time. Im wondering if i fitted a solar trickle charger and mounted the panel on the parcel shelf in the rear window if thats my best option otherwise im thinking I need to fit a battery with more plates which will be a problem given the battery tray on the vx has very little room for 'oversize' and im not keen on a boot mount running cables to engine.... any ideas... other than getting a job that keeps me home....lol

I've got a exide 750 cca sitting in my vt.

Get a load test on your battery. If thats ok, then you'll have fault find, find what is using the power?

 

[bluehighway]

Maybe it is the battery (typical colder weather ) its Exide 580cca and 2 years old ... will fork out for a heavier duty and see how it goes.

 

[Lex]

Maybe it is the battery (typical colder weather ) its Exide 580cca and 2 years old ... will fork out for a heavier duty and see how it goes.

I would think the battery you already have, should be ok? Get it tested.

 

[bluehighway]

Im a bit wary of letting someone poke around checking electrics...I have this if it aint broke dont fix it belief ...Car goes fine if i park it for a few days...no error codes no abs faults no issues in years...lol What im not into is opening up a can of worms and ending up with a car that wont even run....I will swap out the battery...that way I will have a spare to jump it if the new battery goes flat . Car has never given me any serious grief and im not looking to mess with it too much. Last thing I want to attract is ecu problems .... Im gonna tread very lightly ...getting another job is an easier fix ....lol

 

[figjam]

So you are not in a position to connect to a 240V Ctek or similar, float charger to it while you are away ?
Top up the charge in the battery (driving or charging) , then get an auto sparky to put a load test on it. That will tell if the battery is on the way out.

 

[vc commodore]

The cheap test, which someone put me onto on this forum was this current draw test....Costs you your time and maybe $30 for a tester

This will help you determine whether some electrical gremlin is causing the battery drain..I'll also admit, I'm stupid when it comes to electrics, but this video helped me out a lot with my VY

From that, I'd personally go to a place and get the battery load tested...Again, free...Just the cost of fuel to get the car there...And if the car battery is on it's last legs, which would be highly unlikely after 2 years, you can buy your new battery at the place that load tests it...

Should everything test fine, by all means put it on a trickle charger.....

All these suggestions would be cheaper than buying a new battery....

 

[BlackVXGTS]

How old is the alarm system? Alarm systems incorporate a rechargeable battery that maintains the alarm if the car battery is disconnected (for example, by a thief). When this alarm battery gets old it can fail and create a drain on the car battery. You can probably test it by disconnecting the car battery and seeing how long it takes before the siren goes quiet (muffle the siren with a blanket or similar).