Battery flat. Need help

[Paco Anton]

Today I have come back from a month long trip to Brazil.
After recovering from the jet lag the first thing I did was going for a ride in the SC but the battery was completely flat.

I checked voltage and the result was 0,30 Volts. Then I tried to charge it using the battery from my other car and it charged but at a very slow pace. The battery was brand new when I left last month and the car was running OK.

I guess I need to start chasing shorts or other problems but before that I need to get the car running. Can I just take the battery somewhere to get it charged? Will an auto parts shop do this? Is it better to get a new battery?

Thanks

[Rot 911]

Paco, the battery should survive one time running completely flat. Either use a battery charger or take it to the parts shop and have them charge it. Once you have done that you need to get a voltage meter and try chasing down whatever is draining the battery.

[RickM]

Paco,

When leaving my car for extended periods of time you may want to use a product like the "Battery Tender". I realize that you have a different electrical votage and frequency in Spain but I believe they make a unit to accomodate you. http://batterytender.com/deltran_europe.php

There are also a couple of battery shutoff switches that you can easily install to prevent a total drain from occuring. With this method and without the fuse link (See below) the car's subsystems will have to be reprogrammed...radio station memory, clock etc. With the fuse link those subsystems are maintained. http://www.jcwhitney.com/product.jhtml?CATID=189539&BQ=vw

Kurt gives good advice in suggesting that you should track the cause down. Also, a Service Station should have the capability to Trickle Charge (Slow charge) your battery.

Good Luck.

BTW, I have many relatives all over Spain...Beautiful country!

Below is the switch I use....

[Paco Anton]

Thanks for the help guys.

I am off to charge the battery. Also I will get one of those switches to be able to use the car until I chase off the electrical gremlins. However I cannot buy the "Battery tender" because I live in a flat and do not have a private garage.

If you ever come to Spain stop for a beer!!!

[RickM]

Paco,

I have to apologize to Pelican here....my initial search didn't show the switch. On another try I realize they do have it. Although there is no photo it looks to be the same item.

Battery Cut-Off Switch w/bypass fuse PEL-GE-BCOS-01 $14.99
Battery Cut-Off Switch w/o bypass fuse PEL-GE-BCOS-02 $9.00

[Paco Anton]

Rick,

Thanks. Anyway it would not make sense for me to order just that part from the US. I guess Wayne won't mind if I buy it locally, after all Spain is not his primary market

Now the bad news. Today I visited several auto parts shops and none would charge my battery I got a nice collection of looks from "you mean batteries can be charged?" to "we do not charge batteries, we sell them"

So, tommorrow I will be buying a new one and start chasing the gremlins!!!

[agabriel]

How much is a battery charger? They are cheap at sears around here. It may just be better to have one, a charger, around.....

Good Luck,
Anthony

[RoninLB]

you might want to check the current drain when parked..

and I'm sure the battery on/off sw will help.. I use the marine battery ground lug.. with the wing nut.. I don't need another electrical connecter to be a PIA.. the starter sol wiring fills my boat with BS ............Ron

[McDaniel]

Battery chargers here in the States are less then $50 and offer
trickle charge and higher levels of charging including a heavy
charge for "starting".
I don't know about your model, but the electric clock in mine
draws current all the time, and might be enough to drain the
battery over an extended period of time such as you had.
Good Luck!

[Paco Anton]

I bought a $20 battery charger, left the battery charging overnight and today the car started like a champ.

Thanks everybody for the good advice!!!

One more question. How do I measure current drain while the car is off? I have a multimeter.

[Rot 911]

Paco, with the car turned off, disconnect the battery and see if you have a voltage of around 12.5. Reconnect the battery and see if the voltage drops. If so, you have enough of a current drain that you should be able to find the problem just by pulling fuses one at a time. Keep the battery connected and the voltage meter on the battery. Disconnect fuses one at a time until you see the voltage increase. Once you see the voltage increase you will have found the culprit. If you see no change in voltage when disconnecting and reconnecting the battery, you will have a harder time finding the drain. You can start by checking the voltage of the wires that run from the output side of the fuses to the various components. Only certain circuits should be hot when the car is turned off. If you find a hot wire (voltage where there should be none) you will know where to start checking.

[ruf-porsche]

Not sure if a multi meter will work, but if you have an ammeter you just connect it in series with the battery, that is remove the positive cable and hook up the positive cable to one terminal of the ammeter and connect a wire from the other terminal of the ammeter to the positive terminal of the battery.

Without the engine running you will see if you have a discharge. If you have a plus it just means that you have the wires backward on the ammeter.

[RoninLB]

I think I'm running about 50-75ma.. a hung up relay primary will draw about 400ma.............Ron

[justinbaldwin]

i think i read once that you can buy solar powered battery chargers. if this is correct, with a bit of tinkering you should be able to feed the wires through to your battery and leave the charger on the dash or on a seat. that way you can go away for long periods of time and your battery will be charging while you are away!

my experience of battery drain came in the winter during wet spells, for some reason this causes something to run down the battery over a week or so, but in the summer i have no problems.

good luck