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KA Battery no charge ?

Roverowner

Roverowner

Accelerating Away
My Wife has 2015 KA 1.2. Last week she rang me with flat battery outside shop. She 'thinks' something may have been left on ?


Jump started fine, and I put battery on overnight trickle charge, just in case.


Has ran fine all week, then last night it refused to start outside work. Again a jump had it going. Though the text " Laura is going to give me a jump" was a bit concerning ! šŸ˜†


On her return, 15 miles, I checked the battery, it was 12.6 which seemed fine. But this did not change with engine running.


Charge light does not come on. Any ideas ?
 
How old is the battery? They tend to deteriorate after 3 years or so.
Best check if all the interior lights are going off too, especially if there's one in the boot.
Might also be an idea to check the raido and heater systems aren't drawing power when turned off.
And the alarm system will draw some power when the car is turned off.
If it's not used for much other than short journeys it might not be getting enough charge back into the battery.
 
If the voltage at the battery doesn't change with the engine running then that means its not charging.I would expect it to be at least 14.5v running.
Check the alternator wires are still all connected and then check the voltage at the thick wire on the back of it.
 
Roverowner said:
My Wife has 2015 KA 1.2. Last week she rang me with flat battery outside shop. She 'thinks' something may have been left on ?


Jump started fine, and I put battery on overnight trickle charge, just in case.


Has ran fine all week, then last night it refused to start outside work. Again a jump had it going. Though the text " Laura is going to give me a jump" was a bit concerning ! šŸ˜†


On her return, 15 miles, I checked the battery, it was 12.6 which seemed fine. But this did not change with engine running.


Charge light does not come on. Any ideas ?
Click to expand...
That 12.6 volts means your battery is about 95% charged.

With the engine running you should see around 14.5v at the battery terminals. So the fact you have no warning light and it's not charging suggests to me that the diode pack has gone in the alternator. But before replacing the alternator clean all the battery connections, earth's, and the plug on the alternator. Feel lucky!

A new alt will be about Ā£100-120 give or take. Probably on exchange. Can get them cheaper secondhand/eBay/autodoc etc.

Garage bill for fitting and change of same....probs about Ā£250.
 
Check the wire for the alternator control, maintaining 12.6V suggests the alternator is in 'unmanaged' mode, the warning light on the dash doesn't always illuminate if there is no signal from the alternator, if it wasn't charging, I'd expect the battery SoC to be much lower, sometimes the alternator can discharge the battery with a failed diode pack, check if the stator feels warm once the engine has cooled, if so, there's a good chance one or more diodes are passing current in both directions and the alternator is trying to be a motor.
 
Thanks all. I would have preferred to wait 'til I could check the Alternator but Mrs went to Halfords and had Battery checked this Am.
Their 'machine' said battery needed replacing. As I imagined it would šŸ¤”. It is 3 years old.
Battery cost Ā£103 with discount and 5 year guarantee.
I fitted this evening and it is now showing 14 V when running, which looks promising.
I will charge old battery and leave in car with leads for a while just in case.
Not the easiest to get under but I will try and check those alty connections.
 
Well I think I spoke too soon. :(
According to 'The nice man at Halfords' if the battery is dud then it would not take a full charge ?
Fitted new battery and Volts did rise to 14V when running and with headlights on. So I thought all was good.
But after reading some of the response here I thought I would check again after car left for few hours.
Volts had dropped to 12.4 whilst standing from 12.6.
Boot lock has been playing up so wonder if there could be a drain in there. Boot light does go off though.
At the moment she is carrying the recharged old battery as a spare until I can have a proper look.
 
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