Thread: D4's charging / battery problem

Originally Posted by surfingooner

Where I only use my D4 at the weekends, my battery keeps getting flat. I replaced my battery about a year ago and I am now having same problem with a warning message coming up, when I turn the car off after use, and then the car won't start again.

I guess running the alarm and having a dash cam fitted, eat up the power during the week. So I bought one of those solar panels, that you plug into the lighter, which is supposed help, although my mate said they don’t work on all cars - do you happen to know if they work on LR s ?

I have a dual battery, but the stop start battery hasn’t worked for at least two years , which doesn’t really bother me, although I hadn’t considered if this might be a contributing factor, if anyone has had similar problems and knows what it might be, that would be hugely appreciated.

Cheers,

Matt.

The ciggie unit won’t work when the vehicle is off.

Did you reset the BMS when you replaced the main battery?

The solar Will only work if your lighter plug has power with key off. Most vehicles these plugs are ignition controlled. Best to go directly to battery.

Mine has a brand new OE battery and the car will run it down v quickly to warning message stage eg with the ign on or stereo on for over 45 mins.

These are power hungry cars!!

Originally Posted by INter674

Mine has a brand new OE battery and the car will run it down v quickly to warning message stage eg with the ign on or stereo on for over 45 mins.

These are power hungry cars!!

I’ve had the ammeter on it sitting there not running and you can see peaks of 40amps being drained at times across all the electronics. You’re not wrong.

When the vehicle is off,make sure it is locked,thats when it uses the least power,and goes to 'sleep'.

Do you have the traxide dual battery system?

Ours is often left all week as well,i regularly charge the battery,or it gets to low.I hook the charger directly to the battery.

For the solar connection,a plug either at rear of vehicle or poking out the front grill maybe convenient,wired directly to the start battery.

Originally Posted by scarry

When the vehicle is off,make sure it is locked,thats when it uses the least power,and goes to 'sleep'.

Do you have the traxide dual battery system?

Ours is often left all week as well,i regularly charge the battery,or it gets to low.I hook the charger directly to the battery.

For the solar connection,a plug either at rear of vehicle or poking out the front grill maybe convenient,wired directly to the start battery.

I had a low battery warning several times when camping at the weekend. We powered LED strip lights from the rear accessory point that’s always on - I think it’s connected to the Traxide system / aux battery not ignition like the front cigarette lighters.

The cranking battery is new ( less than year old ) and had driven 2 hours to the campsite.

The car still started a day later, short 15 min drive then again a few hours of camp lighting and phone charge that evening. Next day when opening the doors the Low Battery message comes on again.

So is the warning message just a spurious alarm ( ie just ignore it ) OR something to do with the car doors being open and shut sporadically ie the computers have not shut down completely.

Had left the Traxide switch in the “down” position. The camp lights always worked which was good and from the volt meter on my multiple usb and cig lighter adapter showing between 12v and 12.6 on the rear socket ( this is the aux battery? )

On the 2nd day the same volt meter was 11.9 before cranking the engine when it was plugged into the front cig lighter.

No further battery warnings when I got home after 100km drive.

I expect to get more warnings like OP’s if the car is parked and not driven for more than 2 weeks. Always have had this problem and when I’ve had the car in for service not had any issues reported.

With the Traxide system when away overseas I have plugged a charger in through the rear socket ( one on the left in the bumper ) with an adapter I got off disco3 forum. I think that has worked.

Overall just as puzzled by the Low battery message. Generally not been too concerned when it happens in your garage at home but if in the Outback or remote this would be a worry. That was the case a few years ago when I had the same Traxide system on my previous D4.

Not sure if the Aux battery would be good enough now to actually power a fridge? Being a 2014 yellow top. How can you check it’s strength?

Originally Posted by dukemasterpro

I had a low battery warning several times when camping at the weekend.
We powered LED strip lights from the rear accessory point that’s always on ....
..... day later, short 15 min drive then again a few hours of camp lighting and phone charge.....
Next day when opening the doors the Low Battery message comes on again.
Overall just as puzzled by the Low battery message.

This seems about right to me. When camping it's the opening of doors that really depletes the battery, in addition to the lights, fridge, etc.
The repeated waking of ECUs does it. We now have the habit of leaving one door ajar the whole time.

Plus if the starting SoC of your batteries was not 100% before you left you're already at a disadvantage.
For example if the SoC is say 75-80% the BMS will not top this up much, if it all. This is based on monitoring live values for a few weeks.
Then you get to camp, run fridge, run lights, open doors a few times, etc, etc.
The 15 minute drive doesn't help at all, probably makes it slightly worse if anything.
Starting the car loses depletes the battery and 15min is barely enough to get it back.
A portable solar panel is the go if stopped for more than 2 days, and fully charging batteries before the trip.

Originally Posted by dukemasterpro

Not sure if the Aux battery would be good enough now to actually power a fridge? Being a 2014 yellow top. How can you check it’s strength?

A 2014 Optima would be right at the limit of its typical life based on what I've experienced and quite a few other D4 owners I know.
It's likely to be well down on the 55ah nameplate. If so this would further hamper your situation.

You'd need to have it tested at a battery place to confirm but I don't think there's too many with 2014 yellowtops still going.

Regards,
Scott

Originally Posted by LRD414

This seems about right to me. When camping it's the opening of doors that really depletes the battery, in addition to the lights, fridge, etc.
The repeated waking of ECUs does it. We now have the habit of leaving one door ajar the whole time.

Plus if the starting SoC of your batteries was not 100% before you left you're already at a disadvantage.
For example if the SoC is say 75-80% the BMS will not top this up much, if it all. This is based on monitoring live values for a few weeks.
Then you get to camp, run fridge, run lights, open doors a few times, etc, etc.
The 15 minute drive doesn't help at all, probably makes it slightly worse if anything.
Starting the car loses depletes the battery and 15min is barely enough to get it back.
A portable solar panel is the go if stopped for more than 2 days, and fully charging batteries before the trip.


A 2014 Optima would be right at the limit of its typical life based on what I've experienced and quite a few other D4 owners I know.
It's likely to be well down on the 55ah nameplate. If so this would further hamper your situation.

You'd need to have it tested at a battery place to confirm but I don't think there's too many with 2014 yellowtops still going.

Regards,
Scott

I had the yellow top fitted as backup for the winch previously so I guess that was the priority then. Maybe now with a fridge purchase in mind I need to replace that battery with something more up to the task. The last time I had borrowed a fridge we also had solar panel connected to the Traxide Anderson plug. From memory it was ok, fridge and lights ran but the as per this recent trip the dashboard Low Battery Warning.

Will keep a door propped open next trip if that’s the best practice. I did actually think about bringing the ctek along as we were at a powered site. Next time!