Flat Battery - Again

(18-01-2013 02:23pm)Alex Wrote:  Well it's happened to me! Car won't start my battery is flat, and I only had a full service last month complaining about this issue (kept getting the warning message on the screen but they said to ignore that).

It's annoying as there is heavy snow today and I'm now stuck at work awaiting Land Rover assistance to come out to me, but as its probably the worst day for weather I'm on some waiting list and have to wait about 4 hours.

Just to add my wife is expecting and it's this weekend that she is due so I hope I don't get a phone call from her!!

I'm guessing the cold weather has probably added to the battery problem, but I called up my dealer and spoke to the service department asking if they were aware of this problem and they said no. They told me as soon as LR assistance comes out and starts the car just ensure I take the car out for a lengthy drive to charge the battery.

Update: Land Rover Assistance showed up - didn't realise its an actual branded Land Rover customer support vehicle (thought they outsourced it to AA or Greenflag etc). But he said there was only 8 volts charge left and there is a software update that corrects the problem!! Which he is currently installing! Why on earth the dealer didn't do this a few weeks back! Going to complain!

I told the LR assistance guy that I thought there was an update as I got that from this forum but he told me I shouldn't use this forum as my source of information and laughed, my dealer/service department did the same when I called.

However I think the opposite, as its this forum and thread that has prepared me for this instance.

Update was only available from 3/1/2013 so unless your car was serviced after that they couldn't have installed it.

Anyway just had the update installed this morning took about 1hour. The dealer did say that the battery should have been put on charge for 12 hrs as recommended by LR, so I took it for a decent drive instead. Did get the low battery warning though, will keep my eye on it and see if it settles down.

Booked car in for service beginning of March so if I do encounter any probs they can sort it then.

Mark

Hi all

Can anyone confirm if you have to unplug the conditioners before you start the engine?
I'm leaving my car with valet parking whilst I'm away for a week and they deliver it back to my hotel on return. I was wondering if I could plug it in on leaving the car and not have to worry about the valet unplugging it before they start the car.

Thanks

Anyone?

Personally I would unplug it to prevent any voltage spikes shooting back through the charger.

I don't unplug (cos I forget!) and it seems ok.

(22-01-2013 10:16pm)cjfp Wrote:  I don't unplug (cos I forget!) and it seems ok.

Gulp, is it worth a try or not? that is the question.

Well, my trickle solar conditioner was £9.99 from Maplin so not too fussed if it did pop - however, looking at how the Evoque starts up, I kinda think that it cuts power to most things during that 'peak' stage and then puts it back.

(23-01-2013 05:47pm)cjfp Wrote:  Well, my trickle solar conditioner was £9.99 from Maplin so not too fussed if it did pop - however, looking at how the Evoque starts up, I kinda think that it cuts power to most things during that 'peak' stage and then puts it back.

Including the starter motor, in some cases

(23-01-2013 05:50pm)doug Wrote:  Including the starter motor, in some cases

Ah, well I am not too bothered if the solar conditioner went pop, I was more concerned about the Evoque, as its electrical system does seem to be a delicate flower!

So am I right in that starting the engine with th esolar conditioner plugged in may break the solar conditioner but the car should be fine?

Mine was serviced last week - having done 250 miles in 2 trips over the weekend so you'd think it would be charged

Went to start the car on Saturday and it was dead - I'd had a couple of low battery warnings previously but this was waay dead (oddly enough, just before the trip on the Sunday I'd had a stability control warning that would not clear - I shut the car down and restarted it and the message went away)

So the car is now on my battery conditioner - has been for a couple of days. I did wonder whether the service -doors open, stop start etc contributed to the low battery (even if the software was updated at the same time) and so I'll see what happens over the coming weeks