Battery issues?

tres

tres

tres

Soldato
Joined
16 Oct 2007
Posts
7,482
Location
UK
Had a car sat on the drive for a couple of months. Went to start it last week, and it was completely flat. Used a mains charger to charge the battery for a few hours, it started up and left it running for an hour. No problems.

Yesterday it was flat again - central locking worked, but just the dreaded 'click' when turning the key. I used the mains charger for 30 minutes, started it no problem, and left it running for about an hour. I went to check on it, and the car had stopped, and the battery was flat again. I thought that running it for an hour would have charged the battery a bit, but doesn't seem so. Also, is it normal for a car to cut out when it's running due to battery issue?

New battery time? Might it be anything else, like the alternator? Thanks!
 
Are you getting 14v+ at the battery with the engine running? If not then the alternator isn't working.
A few hours isn't really enough anyway, charge the battery for 24h and then see, but there's no possibility that a dodgy battery would cause the engine to die while running, you could disconnect the battery entirely and it would keep running.
 
Once running the car doesn't really use the battery, it gets changed and most of the cars electrical systems run from the Alternator. If the car won't start after sitting for a while it does indeed sound like the battery isn't holding charge.
 
I am not sure it sat for an hour on the drive will charge the battery. (wih a good battery this might be the case but no one that been flat for a while)

Something like 20min at above 2000 rpm might do it... on an a-road not round the streets.

What charge you put in with the mains charger will have been lost on starting it probably.
 
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