Battery Management System software upgrade

Touch wood i've not had any major problems with mine yet. its left unused for 3 weeks at a time while i go offshore but i have noticed that when i get home for the first week or so the eco stop/start does not work unless i attach the trickle charger over night to top it up. you would think that it would be able to hold a charge for 3 weeks.

I tried a solar charger for my first trip away but then found out that the rear socket in a MY13 switches off so i gave the solar one to my dad for his caravan.

If the battery drainage is an issue, would this be termed as a design fault? Would the replacement of the battery be under warranty? And what would be the solution to this problem?
Touchwood, this has not been an issue for me, but it is of concern if i leave the car for a few weeks whilst on holiday...

If it hasn't been a problem up to now and your car has had it's first service then you might be lucky. Today I have been advised that there s a possibility that the tracker could be causing a drain, however my question then is why wasn't it causing a drain from day one, why did it only start to do this after after the first service? I had 14 months of almost perfect driving and ownership before this problem of very rapid battery drain started

(20-02-2013 03:05pm)XFullFatTim Wrote:  If it hasn't been a problem up to now and your car has had it's first service then you might be lucky. Today I have been advised that there s a possibility that the tracker could be causing a drain, however my question then is why wasn't it causing a drain from day one, why did it only start to do this after after the first service? I had 14 months of almost perfect driving and ownership before this problem of very rapid battery drain started

I put a vehicle tracker on a car back in 2005 when I bought it: Lojack to be exact. It has its own battery BUT once that internal battery dies it is set up to leach off the car battery. FWIW.

(20-02-2013 04:32pm)scrannel Wrote:  BUT once that internal battery dies it is set up to leach off the car battery

Sounds a bit like the relationship between my wife's purse and my wallet !

(20-02-2013 04:41pm)cjfp Wrote:  Sounds a bit like the relationship between my wife's purse and my wallet !

Reminds me of this little ditty from a few months ago, with a change to the "E"...

WIFE... Washing, Ironing, Fornication, Expense...

Got the car in yesterday. Checked to see if I had latest software (yes). Load tested battery. No good. New battery; in and out in 45 minutes.

(21-02-2013 03:53pm)scrannel Wrote:  Got the car in yesterday. Checked to see if I had latest software (yes). Load tested battery. No good. New battery; in and out in 45 minutes.

How do you load test the battery and what concludes no good? Waiting for my car too but want to make sure it'll be ok. Thanks.

(22-02-2013 12:40am)onionbobo Wrote:  How do you load test the battery and what concludes no good? Waiting for my car too but want to make sure it'll be ok. Thanks.

From here: http://carbatteryonline.net/car-battery-tester.html

"Performance load testing is used to measure battery's ability to produce current. Capacity load testing is for determining the reserve capacity or amp hour capacity of a battery. (Note, that state of charge alone doesn't say anything about the battery storage capacity.) The primarily purpose of a car battery is to start an engine, so the battery's performance (or ability to produce high current) is an important test. In the load test you measure car battery voltage under load similar to what happens when starting the car"

Indeed, a battery will tell you 12V while static, but put it under load (e.g try to use the batteries power) and if the voltage drops too far the battery is incapable of providing the power you will require.

Also charging your battery with everything connected "should" be fine, but there are circumstances of very low charge that could cause your charger to raise the charging voltage which "may" cause damage to units, use a decent charger if you intend to do this regularly. Recommended technique is to disconenct the negative terminal first to remove any devices from being given too high a voltage supply, trouble with modern cars is disconnecting the supply can be as much a pain as risking charging it connected (alarms, radio codes, immobilisers...).

Ideally you would transfer your terminals to another battery without disconnecting them completely from a supply at any time... which is also a real pain to actually do, I have a clip on Battery booster which I can use to keep car system alive while the battery is disconnected.

I have not had to charge my Evoque battery though, always starts on the button.