Battery Dead!

[ColinC]

Due to the ridiculous amount of road salt that they seem to spray around my area I have only been using the car occasionally. last time I used it, after a seven day lay up period, it seemed a bit sluggish turning over but still fired up first time. With this in mind I purchased myself a Ctek MX3.6 charger and hooked the thing up!

After 48 hours, according to the charger the battery still hadn't reach charge and was not in pulse /maintenance mode. OK I thought the car has been sitting around for a lot of last year having only covered 400 miles or so (PO not me).......lets hook it back up and give it another 24 hours of deep cycling desulphtation treatment!

Still never reached max charge - it did register 13.4v when charger connected and just under 12v when disconnected, however today after 24hrs with no charger it only has 6.2 volts!

I am assuming battery is goosed............any thoughts? Has the charger killed it?

 

[T911UK]

Battery is fecked! I doubt its the chargers fault

 

[JB 3.2]

In my experience, trickle type condition chargers can take quite a few days before they get to maintenance mode.

 

[ColinC]

Indeed.......and they take even longer if you don't quite close the luggage compartment lid and the light stays on[]

All a bit embarrassing really......

 

[ColinC]

Thanks Maurice, sitting nicely in 'maintenance ' mode with plenty of ventilation and no lights!

 

[gm997_1]

Colin, get to the nub of the matter and get the battery checked.

If you AA or similar membership where they can come to your house, they'll do it for you in a matter of minutes and tell you if the battery can hold a charge sufficiently, giving you a %age capability within a certain range.

You then know if charging yor existing batery is worthwhile, or replacing it is the only option (then keeping the new one on charge if needed).

If you'd rather DIY it, it's been described how to do the same check on the 993 forum already - just search for 'battery test' or similar.

 

[eaurouge]

Colin,

I have the exact same situation with mine using the same charger. The battery never seems to reach full status. It does however provide enough charge to start the car first time after a couple of days charging.

As others have already mentioned, make sure the bonnet is closed to prevent the interior lights creating a drain while charging.

Regards

 

[Dekker]

Swap your under bonnet interrior light for a LED version.

 

[jdpef356]

If your battery is knacked Halfords do a good deal with five year guarantee[]

 

[ColinC]

Thanks Gents for all the input..........once I isolated the under bonnet light the battery charged to full in 12 hours. I disconnected the charger and have been checking the voltage over the last three days and no significant drop. All seems good! The initial drain was obviously because I never fully closed the bonnet...........doh!