Flat battery after four days without use

[NorwichCanary]

My Yetis battery goes flat after being stood 3 to 4 days. Anyone had similar problems with battery drain? if so any clues as to what might be the problem?

[CicaYeti]

change the battery with a better one.....sometime they die without a reason!

 

 I'm on my 3rd battery in five years!

[Llanigraham]

My Yetis battery goes flat after being stood 3 to 4 days. Anyone had similar problems with battery drain? if so any clues as to what might be the problem?

 

How old is the battery?

4 or 5 years appears to be their life.

[NorwichCanary]

I changed the original factory fit at just over 3 years and now have a well known good quality NEW one but that went flat after I left the car standing for four days about 3 months after fitting . I have noticed when I turn on the ignition before starting the wiper arms twitch as if going back to park, maybe park switch could be faulty?

[Ryeman]

I changed the original factory fit at just over 3 years and now have a well known good quality NEW one but that went flat after I left the car standing for four days about 3 months after fitting . I have noticed when I turn on the ignition before starting the wiper arms twitch as if going back to park, maybe park switch could be faulty?

I think it's the 'cold climate' designed twitch.

[CicaYeti]

Try an higher ampere battery or capacity, the same box size can accomodate it, I have more capacity battery and in my opinion factory battery is pretty poor!

[Chriswright03]

Also check to make sure your boot or glovebox light isn't staying on.  That will kill a battery in no time.

[Ryeman]

I leave the rear hatch up for days - it goes off after 5 mins or so.

The voltage protection system shuts everything down AFAIK.

[Llanigraham]

I changed the original factory fit at just over 3 years and now have a well known good quality NEW one but that went flat after I left the car standing for four days about 3 months after fitting . I have noticed when I turn on the ignition before starting the wiper arms twitch as if going back to park, maybe park switch could be faulty?

 

No, they are designed to do that.

[Urrell]

The wipers keep changing the park position so as not to put a "set" into the rubber blades.

[NorwichCanary]

Thanks Guys. Will take these comments on board.

[NorwichCanary]

Also check to make sure your boot or glovebox light isn't staying on.  That will kill a battery in no time.

Thanks Chriswright03  -  glovebox light , problem with switch need to replace it. Anyone done this as DIY?

[Chriswright03]

Or just take bulb out for now.

[rustic]

My Bolero CD player sometimes does a shuffle, even though the ignition key isn't in, and I haven't touched any buttons near the radio either.

Question.

If I fit a couple of low wattage solar panels on the rear parcel shelf, to maintain the battery, if say left for two weeks outside,

then will this set the alarm off, ie is there voltage sensing on the car?

I guess I could try it on a sunny day, then place a blanket over the rear window, to see if the alarm goes off as the voltage drops.

Has anybody used solar panels in this way? At least wiring them in could be done through the accessory socket in the boot, as it's always live.

I would think a solar panel with a few watts ( with a voltage limiting regulator) should keep the battery fully charged and overcome the parasitic losses...

For my Ford Maverick, (Nissan Terrano in disguise) when we leave it for two weeks or more in my locked garage, I disconnect the battery.

Otherwise it drains the battery. In this case the parasitic losses are the alarm, the radio, on board digital clock, and CPU, no where near the complex wiring of the yeti. For the Maverick, I only have to reset the radio code, and reprogramme the stations.

EDIT Re boot light,

on our SE Greenline, there is a removeable LED torch on the right hand side, that if you leave the boot lid open, stays on until it's battery runs down, I'm not sure if there is a live feed to it, if the ignition is off.

But this might be a cause of a drain with the boot lid open.

Edited 26 August, 2015 by rustic

[Llanigraham]

I put a solar panel on the dash of ours when we were away for 3 weeks recently and had no problems with the alarm. I tried panels flat on the hatch cover but they produced very little power, I suspect because they were too flat and the darker glass stopped too much light.

 

From what I have seen the boot torch only charges when the ignition is on.

[rustic]

I put a solar panel on the dash of ours when we were away for 3 weeks recently and had no problems with the alarm. I tried panels flat on the hatch cover but they produced very little power, I suspect because they were too flat and the darker glass stopped too much light.

 

From what I have seen the boot torch only charges when the ignition is on.

Thanks for the information, hadn't considered the effect of the darker glass, but makes sense. I will test out a small panel on the dash.

We have parked several cars at airports for two or three weeks at a time, and you could tell the battery was sluggish, but never failed to start the car, but these were fairly new company cars, hence good batteries, but my concern is battery life, and leaving batteries with say half a charge for weeks on end affects the life of the battery.

[killy]

This is not normal - if the battery is in good condition then you have a fault - the can bus system is constantly checking for a fault when you switch off the ignition it will check all systems for a fault and initially will draw up to 1.8 amps this should gradually drop to .02 of an amp if all is correct and this can take up to ten minuets.

 

It is possible to check the battery drain with an amp meter but care is needed if you disconnect the battery this can lose the radio code and trigger warning lights to come on.

 

I had the same problem on a vw caddy maxi life and the fault turned out to be an after market fitment drawing .8 of an amp - I disconnected this and the problem disappeared.

 

The procedure is tricky but basicly it involves feeding  a 12v supply to the cigar lighter socket  to keep everything powered while disconnecting the battery until you have the amp meter connected between the battery and the disconnected terminal.

 

Once the meter is connected you can trace the drain by pulling out a fuse one at a time - do not take out more than one fuse at a time - you will get them mixed up if you try it - its not a bad idea to take a photo of the fuse box just in case :yes:

 

If you are not sure how to do it then do not try it. :think:

[Chriswright03]

He has already come back to us and said the glovebox light was staying on so I am assuming no matter what the Canbus was doing it wasn't doing it properly.

[freedie]

My Bolero CD player sometimes does a shuffle, even though the ignition key isn't in, and I haven't touched any buttons near the radio either

 

 

 

What you may be hearing are the ventilation flaps adjusting?

[killy]

He has already come back to us and said the glovebox light was staying on so I am assuming no matter what the Canbus was doing it wasn't doing it properly.

The canbus would be looking for the light to go out plus the drain from the light.

[Sad555]

My fridge light is always on when I open the door?

[rustic]

My Bolero CD player sometimes does a shuffle, even though the ignition key isn't in, and I haven't touched any buttons near the radio either

 

What you may be hearing are the ventilation flaps adjusting?

Why would they want to adjust?

The sound does seem to come from that area, ie near the vents and radio/cd player.

What else does this car do automatically?

If you leave it parked in one place for too long, does it creep forward a few inches every week, to save putting flats on the tyres?

lol...

I learn something new every week about "German Engineering"

[Llanigraham]

This is not normal - if the battery is in good condition then you have a fault - the can bus system is constantly checking for a fault when you switch off the ignition it will check all systems for a fault and initially will draw up to 1.8 amps this should gradually drop to .02 of an amp if all is correct and this can take up to ten minuets.

 

It is possible to check the battery drain with an amp meter but care is needed if you disconnect the battery this can lose the radio code and trigger warning lights to come on.

 

I had the same problem on a vw caddy maxi life and the fault turned out to be an after market fitment drawing .8 of an amp - I disconnected this and the problem disappeared.

 

The procedure is tricky but basicly it involves feeding  a 12v supply to the cigar lighter socket  to keep everything powered while disconnecting the battery until you have the amp meter connected between the battery and the disconnected terminal.

 

Once the meter is connected you can trace the drain by pulling out a fuse one at a time - do not take out more than one fuse at a time - you will get them mixed up if you try it - its not a bad idea to take a photo of the fuse box just in case :yes:

 

If you are not sure how to do it then do not try it. :think:

 

Sorry but you are wrong. The radio does not have a code you have to input. It has an internal code that "talks" to the ECU and automatically recognises if it is in the correct car. Yes the warning lights will all come on when you reconnect the battery but they also all extinguish after you have driven for about 20 metres as the "system" resets itself. 

 

Sorry, but it isn't tricky at all. You just plug in either the solar panel or a specifically designed device called a "Code saver", but as said this is not required on the Yeti.

[rustic]

My fridge light is always on when I open the door?

These days, you can test that, put your phone onto video record, put the phone in the fridge, close the door, then open it, then watch the footage.

TIP:-

If you think your infrared remote control for the TV, CD or DVD player are not working, then, aim the controller at the camera lens of your phone, even though you can't see infrared, the camera will pick it up, and it will shine like a white LED on the phone screen.

This way you can test individual buttons, as sometimes crud gets in there.

It will be interesting to know, how many of you are aiming your infrared controller at your mobile phone within two minutes of reading this post lol...

Oh and don't forget... you may have left your phone in the fridge from the previous experiment.

Edited 27 August, 2015 by rustic

[Llanigraham]

These days, you can test that, put your phone onto video record, put the phone in the fridge, close the door, then open it, then watch the footage.

TIP:-

If you think your infrared remote control for the TV, CD or DVD player are not working, then, aim the controller at the camera lens of your phone, even though you can't see infrared, the camera will pick it up, and it will shine like a white LED on the phone screen.

This way you can test individual buttons, as sometimes crud gets in there.

It will be interesting to know, how many of you are aiming your infrared controller at your mobile phone within two minutes of reading this post lol...

Oh and don't forget... you may have left your phone in the fridge from the previous experiment.

 

Nah, nah!! Not me!