Has lockdown killed your car's battery?

[Dups!]

My battery is 4 years old and I left the car for exactly 32 days without driving and it started without any problem.

Have driven it about three times since then, yesterday being the last time, everything is fine. Car is a BMW with a tracker.

 

[TheChamp]

Can we have a meaningful discussion about the tracker current draw? How much is it supposed to draw?

 

[bwana]

Can we have a meaningful discussion about the tracker current draw? How much is it supposed to draw?

Which brand, which model?

 

[TheChamp]

Which brand, which model?

No model or brand in mind, I was hoping for a typical current draw range, I take it there shouldn't be any major difference.

 

[bwana]

No model or brand in mind, I was hoping for a typical current draw range, I take it there shouldn't be any major difference.

If this thread has demonstrated anything it's that we know precious little about something as simple as a maintaining a car battery. Best not to muddy the waters with the "typical current draw range" of a tracker when most people would have difficulty locating in their own car.

 

[Sinbad]

Myth bust: It’s not the tracker

There is a misconception that a tracking device is most often the reason for the drain on a vehicle’s battery power and for the vehicle not starting.

www.crown.co.za

According to Ron Knott-Craig, executive: Operational Services at Tracker, Tracker’s units use one mA or less. They do this through engaging ultra-low power mode for most of the day. The units will only draw more current under certain circumstances, for instance when detecting unauthorised movement of the vehicle or when transmitting during a stolen vehicle recovery activation

 

[RedViking]

Car batteries are a money making scheme. There is no reason for the battery to be dead just after a week or two. They taking us for a ride.

 

[rietrot]

Idle you car once a week for 20 min and it should be fine.

 

[TheChamp]

Car batteries are a money making scheme. There is no reason for the battery to be dead just after a week or two. They taking us for a ride.

Actually there is, don't blame the car battery, blame the owner. Many people would drain the battery by either forgetting lights or radio, a quick jump start and everything looks fine so life goes on, meanwhile the battery is not fully charged, they assume just because it can start the car then it should be fine, which is not necessarily the case.

The extra electronics that never completely switch of does not help the situation, plus many of us would tend to go for the cheapest battery we can find that can work, even though it's not the recommended one.

 

[Craig_]

Myth bust: It’s not the tracker

There is a misconception that a tracking device is most often the reason for the drain on a vehicle’s battery power and for the vehicle not starting.

www.crown.co.za

According to Ron Knott-Craig, executive: Operational Services at Tracker, Tracker’s units use one mA or less. They do this through engaging ultra-low power mode for most of the day. The units will only draw more current under certain circumstances, for instance when detecting unauthorised movement of the vehicle or when transmitting during a stolen vehicle recovery activation

This is crap. Our fleet at work got trackers a few years ago, immediately we started having battery issues.

Actually there is, don't blame the car battery, blame the owner. Many people would drain the battery by either forgetting lights or radio, a quick jump start and everything looks fine so life goes on, meanwhile the battery is not fully charged, they assume just because it can start the car then it should be fine, which is not necessarily the case.

The extra electronics that never completely switch of does not help the situation, plus many of us would tend to go for the cheapest battery we can find that can work, even though it's not the recommended one.

New cars manage that actually, anything you leave on switches of after some time. That's if it doesn't switch off when taking the key out.

 

[karnuffel]

Not sure yet. Ill have to check...

Edit: She is alive!!! I hate letting a car idle, but I guess its not a bad idea after starting her for the first time in 6 weeks. Its a VW UP! (999cc)

 

[TheChamp]

This is crap. Our fleet at work got trackers a few years ago, immediately we started having battery issues.


New cars manage that actually, anything you leave on switches of after some time. That's if it doesn't switch off when taking the key out.

Never trust anything that comes out of a mouth of a Knott-Craig.

Coming to intelligent cars that switches of things, I think many new cars out there don't have those nice features, they are just a bunch of overpriced mediocrity.

 

[karnuffel]

Can we have a meaningful discussion about the tracker current draw? How much is it supposed to draw?

We have a Bidtrack unit in my wife's car. They were supposed to remove it when the previous owner sold the car, but they never did... Maybe its time I take the car somewhere to have it removed

 

[RedViking]

Actually there is, don't blame the car battery, blame the owner. Many people would drain the battery by either forgetting lights or radio, a quick jump start and everything looks fine so life goes on, meanwhile the battery is not fully charged, they assume just because it can start the car then it should be fine, which is not necessarily the case.

The extra electronics that never completely switch of does not help the situation, plus many of us would tend to go for the cheapest battery we can find that can work, even though it's not the recommended one.

I was actually joking in a way.
Although my car is in excellent condition, lights switches off so can't be forgotten on, and the only thing that might probably draw battery is the Digital Clock memory. There should be no reason for the battery to be going flat.

 

[Barbarian Conan]

My BMW was fine, the Atos I usually only start to move it away from behind the BMW died after driving the 3km to the shops and back.
The longest my BMW has stood was 6 weeks, and it started without any hassles, even though it has a tracker installed. The battery finally had to be replaced this year after almost 12 years of not missing a beat.

 

[Gaz{M}]

2 things:

1) Cold greatly affects battery capacity and performance.
2) Lower cost Car batteries (at least the normal flooded lead acid ones) have low capacity and generally will die very quickly if drained even a couple of times.

Get a gel/AGM battery if you want 8+ years and want to drain the battery before using your car (e.g. if your car stands for long periods without being used).

 

[Geoff.D]

Batteries generally die at the onset of the first cold snap. Couple that with extended periods of standing and the outcome is certain.

 

[TheMightyQuinn]

Never trust anything that comes out of a mouth of a Knott-Craig.

Coming to intelligent cars that switches of things, I think many new cars out there don't have those nice features, they are just a bunch of overpriced mediocrity.

 

[TheMightyQuinn]

There are many reasons batteries in cars die.

Parasitic drain is one of them but a lot of people forget that a faulty alternator could be the biggest cause.

 

[cr@zydude]

My Tata has a less than 1 year old battery in it and is going strong. I start my car about twice a week and drive it 2 or 3km around the neighbourhood and then park it again.