Thread: Battery draining

Originally Posted by drivesafe

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Once the voltage drops below 12.7v and the isolator has turned off, ....

This part was my point. Depending on ambient temps and condition of (main)battery .. and it's type! ... the click that jx2mad may have heard is the isolator switching off.

I get this all the time in my D1.
When the Century battery was new(roughly up to about 3 months or so) it would hold 12.7 all night and into the next morning. I would never hear the click(off) at any point except maybe first thing, unlock(central locking) and open the door a small load, but just enough to get the main battery under the 12.7v threshold .. and click! .. isolator off, I have a small green led on the dash for it .. light off.

Very quickly tho, the main battery started to not hold as much charge as it first did, and also the colder weather may have had a bit to do with it too.

In brothers D2, he got two Optima batteries(one red one yellow).
For a good year or maybe more the red top(main/starter) would hold 12.7v all night very easily.
I had his D2 here at my place for a good 2 or so months and without fail it would operate like that. redtop would hold it's 12.7 all night .. obviously with the assistance of the yellow top to tho.

But it sat for a good 4 or more weeks not used at all, but battery drained a little bit in this time. One of the jobs it needed was to fix the pass door, window and locking was iffy.
Testing obviously drained the redtop a little.

In that 4 weeks the redtop must have got a bit damaged tho. I never drained it too low this much I know. I have a charger to keep it topped up.
But since that time and sitting for a good 4 weeks with zero use .. the redtop now loses charge very quickly(compared to previously holding it so well).
I doubt it will hold down to 11.9v for longer than 2 or 3 days now.

I've tested them as best as I could .. yellowtop hold a good 12.6 or more for a while, no problem tho.
I have read that recent builds of some Optimas have known to be less reliable than they used too, so it's a bit disapointing to have got one of them.


So for jx2mad ... don't assume that a battery is good, even tho you only recently got it, and it was working well in that time .. they can die, or begin the process of it, at any time .. as they see fit too.

With my Century, which is a replacement for the original one that lasted 9-10 months .. after looking good for 3(maybe 4) months .. can't remember exactly .. it started to feel sluggish again when the weather got colder(here inMelb).
Autumn brings cooler nights/mornings. Battery hasn't failed again .. but it certainly doesn't feel like a 670CCA type battery .. more like a 400CCA type. It feels like it's draining out.
I have volt meters, which I reckon drain about 10mA/h so not enough to kill it. But where it used to hold a good 12.5-12.7 overnight, now I see 12.2 on really cold mornings(less than 5 or so degrees) and haven't seen more than 12.4v for a long time now.

ps. sorry to hear of the misfortune too. Get well soon.

I agree with those who said it is better to have the solar charge the starting battery, as you always want to be able to start the vehicle.

Once the starting battery is charged, modern dual battery systems would connect the starting and secondary batteries and run the fridge.

Are there any electronic systems in the vehicle which could drain the starting battery? Is the vehicle left locked to shut down the electronics? If it is unlocked the system could start up regularly to run tests, draining power.

If the vehicle is only getting short runs you could consider leaving the charger plugged in all the time, assuming it is a modern multi-stage charger which charges and then rests.

More information about the isolator and charger would be helpful.

Cracked ribs are very painful, as I know from experience, so I sympathise.