Battery draining power?

[Foxy_787]

Hi
I have a 2009 vw scirocco and recently there has been a few days when the car would tick over and not start, but i would jump start the car and evertything would be okay for a few more days and it would need jumped again.

The vagcom brought up the following codes:

01598 battery voltage-open circuit-intermittent
02394 parking light left front-short circuit or open circuit-permanent
00109 left mirror turn signal lamp-circuit failure-intermittent
00131 driver door handle illumination-circuit failure-intermittent

The battery voltage code is the one i am most concerned with as that it obviously causing me my starting issue.

I am not sure if it is the alternator or not as when i took the car for a drive it didnt stall or i didnt notice any lights flickering so i suspect it is doing its job.

I did however put the fluke on battery terminals and read 9 volts so could the alternator be at fault?

New battery was installed 12 months ago

Battery cables seem fine but its hard to see the alternator cables due to very tight space

Any help would be appreciated so i could get this issue resolved asap lol

Thanks

[philipharmes]

Looks likely that your battery is in a poor state of charge.

You need to connect up a battery charger & give it a good charge.

The smaller the charger, the longer it will need charging.

The battery voltage needs to get above 14v while charging, or if a smart charger, when it reports fully charged.

[Foxy_787]

Thanks for the reply phillip

I will try that this evening, i might have a bettery charger lying around.

If not woukd giving it a good drive help with charging it?

Could it be the alternator possibly?

How could I test this using the multimeter as im not very savvy with multimeters lol

[philipharmes]

You could have a faulty alternator, but the battery light should show up if that is the case, but not always.

Check the battery voltage before starting.

Start the engine, & even at tickover the voltage should soon rise to over 14 volts.

Switch on high energy consumers like headlights, heated window & fast fan.

The battery voltage should still be around 13 volts.

If so, you can be prety sure your alternator is ok.

"
If not woukd giving it a good drive help with charging it? "


Driving will charge the battery, but it's an expensive battery charger.

Also it will charge at a high current, a low current from a charger is much better.

[Foxy_787]

Ok phillip thanks for your help

Il give this a try today and i will get back in touch with you later today about how i have got on

Chat soon

[Foxy_787]

Hi phil

Put the meter across the battery and the following was what i got:

Engine off was 12.6v

Engine idle was 13.7v but when revving engine it read 13.8v

Engine idle with high energy consumers running it read 13.2v

Is it safe to say that alternator is fine? It didnt get to over 14v like you said

[philipharmes]

All those readings look fine, I think your battery just need a long slow charge if possible.

Looks like your alternator is charging fine & those voltages will rise once the battery is fully charged.

[Foxy_787]

I was charging the battery yesterday with a 12 amp charger. I let it slow charge and monitored the voltage on the digital screen.
The highest it would go up to was 14.2v but the charger charging lamp did not extinguish whereas the fully charged lamp did not light up at all.
I left the charger to charge for another 15mins but it still did not go above 14.2v and still the fully charged lamp did not light up.

Do you think the battery would still be fully charged at 14.2 as the charger would not take it past that?

Reagrds

[philipharmes]

When the battery was at 9v in your 1st post, it was completely discharged.

It will need charging depending on its Ampere Hour Ah capacity which might be printed on the battery label.

If it was 70Ah it would need charging for 10 hours at 7 Amps or better still 20 hours at 3.5 Amps, plus about an extra 25% as the process isn't 100% efficient.

If it hasn't risen above 14.2v after a full charge, the battery is probably not in top condition.

You will have to keep an eye on the voltage
& give the battery some extra charges if the car isn't going to be used much.

One of those battery conditioners like Ctek are ideal & can be left connected 24/7.

[Foxy_787]

The battery was still reading 12.5v today so it does not seem to be loosing any more power, it was maybe becuase the battery just needed a full charge.

I checked all fueses and they are not drawing any current either so all seems good.

My battery is 66Ah and my battery charger is 12amp so i take it i would just leave that on for roughly 6 hours then?

I feel a bit hesitant to leave it on charge for that long, it wouldnt damage the cells would it?

Regards

[philipharmes]

Although your charger is rated at 12 Amps, it won't charge at that current once the battery voltage starts to rise.

But I would just monitor it for now & perhaps give it a few hours extra charge just before you want to use it next, just to be sure it won't let you down.

I think once you start using the car again regularly it will probably be ok.

[Foxy_787]

Cheers phil thanks for the help

Chat soon