Battery Management System software upgrade

As a follow up, when I was in having my battery changed, dealer had a Prestige on the floor open for customers to play. It had a trickle charger attached to the + battery terminal and negative to the "jump point" (really just grounded by not directly to the battery). They claim works fine.

Well the battery wasn't flat yesterday when my brother used the car to take the keys over to the dealers who will be colloecting from my home on the 8th March for investigation of why it was draining the battery so quickly. The LRA techy fitted a new battery when he called to get the car going, I wonder if it is one of the new style ones? So it held it's charge for 10 days so far and no more calls from the tracker people either

(26-02-2013 06:43am)XFullFatTim Wrote:  Well the battery wasn't flat yesterday when my brother used the car to take the keys over to the dealers who will be colloecting from my home on the 8th March for investigation of why it was draining the battery so quickly. The LRA techy fitted a new battery when he called to get the car going, I wonder if it is one of the new style ones? So it held it's charge for 10 days so far and no more calls from the tracker people either

I had my SD4 serviced for the first time last week at 12-months old. I'd recently started having the '3-minute' warning, having had no problems whatsoever before, although I had hitherto charged it several times using a C-Tek charger while away, so that may have disguised or delayed the onset of the problem.

Anyway, they upgraded the 'smart charge' software, and, as a result, say that the battery, which was only charging at 12.4v, is now charging at 13.8v. They charged the battery, but didn't replace it. Time will tell whether (a) this cures the problem and (b) whether the old battery is now any good as a result of not being charged properly for the last twelve months (although it's never been flat like yours was).

I had also reported the 'hesitancy' of the throttle when pulling away from a crawl (at roundabouts, for example). They attributed this to the low battery voltage, and I must say that. so far, the problem seems to have gone.

Personally I think they should have replaced your battery. If the battery has been recharged several times (depending how low it was) it's probably no good. As I mentioned, my car already had the software up grade but I was getting 3 min warning. Dealer just told me over the phone the battery was bad -- tested it when I took it in and replaced. Time will tell.

(10-03-2013 02:38pm)scrannel Wrote:  Personally I think they should have replaced your battery. If the battery has been recharged several times (depending how low it was) it's probably no good. As I mentioned, my car already had the software up grade but I was getting 3 min warning. Dealer just told me over the phone the battery was bad -- tested it when I took it in and replaced. Time will tell.

I agree, but no doubt it will take a few more problems and a few more visits to convince them. It will no doubt take a while for the problem to reoccur.

Land Rover dealers seem to live in separate bubbles and don't learn lessons from each other, so each 're-invents the (same) wheel'.

I have yet to find out what was done to mine when it made the service bay visit last Friday. It was collected from my drive at 0800 and the keys were returned by lunchtime.......... Allow 30 minutes each way to and from the garage and that wasn't long to "fix" the fault. LRA fitted a new battery when they attended at the last battery flattening episode so ay be that has helped cure the problem. I have to find out if the rear socket has been re-enabled

Just had to rescue a colleague with a 2 year old daily use Skoda Yeti with a dead battery!

As a 4 time member of the FBC (flat battery club) I returned to the dealer for Y1 service at 3k miles well 3002 miles to be exact. They obviously uploaded the software and gave me a new battery. So we'll see how we get on

Les

Not the same problem but definitely connected...

Not had a problem myself but just had a word with a few of our diagnostics guys. One of the problems being seen on diagnostics tests is failure or incorrect working of the battery management system. So far, so reasonably well known!

But increasingly the sensor being reported as faulty is the battery sensor, which is connected directly onto the battery negative terminal. I had him show me where this was and it's a little black encapsulated box, and is directly underneath the terminal connector, with a lead coming out from it.

He tells me that one of the ways that is known to contribute to/or directly cause failure of this particular sensor, is when anyone jump starts, recharges or uses a battery conditioning charger - AND - connects the negative lead directly onto the battery and not a chassis earthing point.

He told me the recommended way of connecting negative leads is directly to a chassis mounting bolt, just near the wheel arch near the battery compartment. Failing that, any solid fixing directly to chassis would suffice.

It's something to do with voltage spikes goosing the sensor and is not an a unknown problem with JLR! What is not fully understood, is why it may initially fail, although as he said to me, it may be linked to an initially flat battery being either reconditioned or "jump started" and thereafter the sensor maybe goosed, preventing correct recharging from the vehicles electrics.

May be worth looking into for anyone who recognizes that one of the above scenarios may be true for their vehicle?

Sounds like one explanation but it doesn't explain the many of us who have never jump started/used battery conditioners at all and still needed batteries replace.d due to the 3 min warning.