New car battery required

Conanius · 4 Mar 2014 at 20:12

Hi All,

The battery in my Discovery 3 has just decided it would be a great idea to die. Assistance has just popped out and confirmed it was however the original battery from early 2004, so that is pretty impressive really.

I'm looking at replacements, and whilst I'll call Land Rover tomorrow and see if they have anything available to get then, I've seen the Bosch Silver 5 year guarantee batteries that are available through ECP.

Just curious if anyone has given these a go, and whether they are a better bet than the standard battery - My car is the HSE spec, so heated screens/windows/seats/dual zone climate/etc and according to the Bosch Silver sales ~~propaganda~~ information it seems to suggest these are a better option. Any thoughts?

(as a side note, I've currently got the car idling on the drive after the assistance team said leaving it idle it *might* start tomorrow, with slightly more possibility if I quickly nip it up and down the dual carriageway... I'm sure I read somewhere that putting the alternator under more load (turning everything on like lights etc) helped to charge the battery better... true or false?)

Luke · 4 Mar 2014 at 20:24

Conanius said:
I'm sure I read somewhere that putting the alternator under more load (turning everything on like lights etc) helped to charge the battery better... true or false?)

This makes no sense to me at all. :confused:

Take it for a drive and the alternator will put more charge into the battery. Switch all electrics on and the alternator will have to feed them and there will be less going into the battery for storage.

Conanius · 4 Mar 2014 at 20:27

I appreciate it sounds obscene, but I was just confirming the madness :-)

bazzabear · 4 Mar 2014 at 20:32

As long as you get a decent make of battery with the same Ah rating (and make sure it will physically fit into the same space) you'll be fine.

tigerstyle · 4 Mar 2014 at 20:45

Luke said:
This makes no sense to me at all.
Take it for a drive and the alternator will put more charge into the battery. Switch all electrics on and the alternator will have to feed them and there will be less going into the battery for storage.

It does make sense.

At idle the revs might not be sufficient to get the voltage up into the high 14.4V+ charging range that the battery needs to charge, at idle it'll be 13.xxV

Stick on the lights and rear heater you'll here the revs drop as the alternator starts kicking out more volts.

Conanius · 4 Mar 2014 at 20:49

I decided to take it for a quick run round the local dual carriageways and did about 12-14 miles.

It didn't seem to be totally happy (Parking sensor system wouldn't turn on) but I've turned it off now and hope there is enough after that drive and 20-25 minutes idling to result in a start tomorrow morning to go and grab a new battery. No panic if not.

mattyfez · 4 Mar 2014 at 20:51

bazzabear said:
As long as you get a decent make of battery with the same Ah rating (and make sure it will physically fit into the same space) you'll be fine.

This, actually get a higher amperage batt if you can.

bazzabear · 4 Mar 2014 at 21:38

True enough, can't hurt!

bazzabear · 4 Mar 2014 at 21:38

From your description, I'm not holding out hope for your car starting in the morning!

Luke · 4 Mar 2014 at 21:50

tigerstyle said:
It does make sense.

At idle the revs might not be sufficient to get the voltage up into the high 14.4V+ charging range that the battery needs to charge, at idle it'll be 13.xxV

Stick on the lights and rear heater you'll here the revs drop as the alternator starts kicking out more volts.

I'll try this myself as it sounds wrong, but potentially plausible!
Next time I'm out with the multimeter and a spare few minutes I will test the theory..

tigerstyle · 4 Mar 2014 at 22:29

Will do the same! Multimeter and OBD Torque app

Be good to compare!

bainbridge · 4 Mar 2014 at 22:58

Local independent spares shop should sell you one with a warranty. My local shop tested the new battery after taking it off the shelf, then took my address etc and wrote out a warranty for me.

Only a 3 year warranty but that was 4 years ago and it is still going strong!