Thread: A couple of battery questions...

Originally Posted by drivesafe

Hi again Muppet and please ignore that video, the guy hasn’t got a clew what he is doing and to suggest that you need to cool the solder joint down with a wet rag is actually the very opposite if what you should do.

By rapid cooling a solder joint, particularly a large joint like that, you cause the solder to crystallise, which destroys the joint and then, even just a slight increase in temperature while in use, the joint can fail and the cable can be easily pulled out of the terminal.

There is a half-witted salesman in Brisbane who uses this very same video when he “instructs” people on how to solder Anderson terminals. So also be on your guard when getting advice from self-proclaimed sales “experts”


Hi alien and applying a load to any DC circuit will not stop or dampen spikes. Spikes are voltage by origin and an increase in current flow will not effect high voltage spikes.

Furthermore, there are loads of devices in your vehicle that regularly cause spikes but you don’t have electronic failures when they occur, and the reason for this is that every single ELECTRONIC device has spike protection built in and I mean every electronic device, not just those in vehicles.


Hi Michelle and how old is your battery, how often do you drive your vehicle and how long do you drive it when it is driven?

Also, it sounds like you disconnected everything. Was this to charge the battery?

Hi, have only owned a month and apart from the several hundred kms to get it home from Sydney its only had 3 short runs to address issues to get its road worthy otherwise it sits in garage. Forgive me for I have sinned, it was over 7 days between the last two times I started it..
Yes I disconnected everything so I could charge the battery last night (I could have just waited till today and got the racv man out to jump us but the registration doesnt take place until Wednesday, and though I have a transfer permit for getting to and from places required to do work for RWC, I didn't want to take it out for a minimum half hour jaunt to charge a battery up after a jump start
Should I have done it another way?

Originally Posted by 1976_michelle

petrol V8, having a juicier batterywon't do it harm anyway will it?

NO harm in having a bigger capacity battery, as when it gets old / degrades, it should have enough umphh to get you going, whereas one of a smaller capacity may not. Just make certain it's the right type and size, terminal locations etc.

yep it is the wrong size, some supercheapa uto battery the caryard dropped in it, already known that it is too small and that might explain the connectors for the terminals not being good fit either, and the damn thing has water caps on it, Ithought al the batteries went to self maintaining now shows how cheap this one must have been

Hi Michelle and don’t blame the battery.

You need to either drive a lot more, or use the battery charger as much as possible till you do start driving more.

You do not need to disconnect anything from the battery before connecting a battery charger.

Just remember to connect the charger’s positive lead to the battery’s positive terminal first.

Then the charger’s negative lead MUST BE connected to an earth point AWAY FROM THE BATTERY.

Then, if it’s a multi stage charger, you just leave it connected till you need to drive it.

Come wednesday the driving wont be an issue, 95km daily (or on the days its my turn to drive not the better half in his xr5) I just had to put off the registration until I could rake up the dosh again after spending so much the last 4 weeks on patio, flights, car RWC items etc etc

Might go buy a battery tomorrow anyway (would only be able to get a hold of century batteries today, unless anyone thinks those are good enough anyway)

Figured out why it screamed at me too, supposed to disarm it completely before disconnecting battery, but I couldnt disconnect it because the battery was flat already

Land Rover Melbourne Car Batteries, Buy a Land Rover Car Battery online in Melbourne.

Interesting... they consider a lesser battery required for the D3 than the D2 for the petrol v8 (730 CCA/135RC versus 950 CCA / 200 RC)
The one in the car is only 420cca/85rc) :/, that and the fact the clips are tightened to max and still have to be tapped on and off as there is no room for further tightening (potential for fluctuations when driving over corrugations which could fry something and also interfere with its ability to be recharged?) and the clamp doesnt fit over it properly as it is so small there isn't room between the water fill caps to nestle it down properly - now I'm pretty cheap, and always happy to get out of having to buy something, but in this case I think replacement is warranted ? even though the battery is still good (assuming I didnt kill it by it going flat)

Hi michelle. In regards to your battery draining Im not sure but my radio turns off after maybe 1.5-2 hours if the ignition isn't on. I know because when I work on the car I have the radio on. I'm not sure if maybe there is a setting you can change with a nanocom that can make the radio turn off after a certain amount of time. I haven't done this but perhaps the previous owner did.
That's all I've got on this topic, FYI I run an optima red top and yellow top with a colmbia overland dual batt tray that removes the jack (but requires a bit of modification to fit the ECU in a td5) and those have done me quite well over the years, has 750 CCA if required to jump start.

Originally Posted by trevor

I'm not sure if maybe there is a setting you can change with a nanocom that can make the radio turn off after a certain amount of time. I haven't done this but perhaps the previous owner did.

FWIW the Nanocom doesn't do anything with the entertainment system or climate control. These systems aren't connected to the can-bus is any way.