Hello peeps...

My 494 RRS Dynamic 2014 has started suffering a continuing number of low battery warnings... originally if I left the car for three days or more parked on the drive I would get a low battery warning when returning to the car...

I put this down to my BlackVue camera which was set to 24 hour record...and thus would periodically give the car a top up with a battery charger...

However this problem has now got significantly worse over the last few weeks. This culminated in a journey at the weekend driving from Kent to Solihull. Got back into the vehicle 2 hours later and the dreaded low battery warning came up again...

Nothing obvious with any dash warnings or anything...can't believe it's the camera....

Anyone had anything similar on such a new car?

Do you lower the car to access height when you lock up and leave it? That shuts down all the electronics to a "sleep" mode to reduce battery drain, all RRS's since 2005 have that function and it is recommended in the manual IIRC, even if you are leaving the car for short periods. If you did the run from Kent to Solihull then could it be a Battery Management System or Alternator failure pending. Also if it was cold it is possible that your 2nd battery for the stop/start system is failing/ not charging which is throwing up the error message and not the car's main battery. 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

Modern batteries don't like being deep discharged, which is what your Blackvue camera may have done to it. Seen these issues before - is there a "battery saver" function you can adjust to a higher cutoff voltage?

It is entirely possible that your battery's capacity has been reduced and now the additional loads posed by winter driving and irregular use are taking their toll.

If you want to monitor the battery, try fitting a Cetek "Battery sense" module - Bluetooth connects to your smartphone and gives you a battery capacity and voltage graph etc. I have fitted one to the wife's Ewok as she does so many short journeys it can flatten the battery, now I know when to recharge it. MY2016 HSE D SDV6 - gone due to fuel dilution problems.

By the age of 50 you have the face you deserve - George Orwell.

Wilf,

The CTX Battery Sense is a great piece of kit for an Evoque, but will it work properly on a L494 with 2 X Batteries?

Cheers,

Old Jock 2018 (MY19) Jaguar F-Pace R-Sport 300PS Petrol in Caesium Blue with many bells and whistles.
2015 RRS HSE SDV6 Firenze Red with Santorini Panoramic Glass Roof, gone but not forgotten.

A good question, and since I don't know how the two batteries are interconnected, one I can't answer! The wife's Ewok is pre stop/start. MY2016 HSE D SDV6 - gone due to fuel dilution problems.

By the age of 50 you have the face you deserve - George Orwell.

Thanks gents for your responses...
I actually have fitted a BlackVue power plus device but clearly it doesn't appear to work as I have come out to a dead car!

The car is used for 120 mile round trips and is never used for short stop start journeys. In fact I switch the stop start device off if it ever activates as it drives me crazy!

Will certainly try to lower the car to see if it preserves its life a little longer. Just had it's 48,000 mile service and it's got to go back in next month for the rear bushes to be replaced....(this may have been what caused may high speed squirm)! Therefore am going to get dealer to look at this to see if they can download any issues.

I have the same model.

Fitted with a blackvue and a tracker.
- blackvue has power magic but not connected to an always live feed.

Often, the blackvue won't start on ignition. I believe because voltage is too low (given power magic ).

Anyway, have had a few warnings each winter. Mostly from Tracker and then on screen.

Have also had the car check by LR twice. To no avail.
- there is a gateway module update now that might help.

I do use the oil heater everyday; and short trips. So doesn't help.

Anyway, I use the ctek 5 smart charger perhaps once a month, at least in then winter. 2022 P440e AB

Thanks Paulo .... i can't believe it is the BlackVue as it draws such little current but didn't want to give LR a hard time as they would instantly blame the non standard equipment....I also have a Tracker fitted and again can't believe that would cause such a heavy draw on current to flatten a battery overnight...it is a Cat 5 version which is more convoluted but still....

It must be something in the car that just is not shutting down... but to send a low voltage message and close down the other circuits I.e boot opening 2 hours after a 150 mile drive is ridiculous!

In the meantime I will leave it in lowered position when parking and report back to you all after it's been to the dealers!

http://www.rrsport.co.uk/forum/topic46133.html
might help... 2022 P440e AB

JOCK55 wrote:

Wilf,

The CTX Battery Sense is a great piece of kit for an Evoque, but will it work properly on a L494 with 2 X Batteries?

Cheers,

Old Jock

Yep, I have a solution.

After some communications with CTEK I was assured that their Battery Sense product would work in an L494 RRS with the two batteries, so purchased one!

The biggest chore is actually unearthing the main battery that is hidden in the bowels of the boot of the car beneath the spare wheel. I too found the eyelets on the CTEK too small, however, having gone to the effort of getting to the battery, was not going to give up that easily. I decided that if I cut a wee split on the eyelet I could open it up by the 2mm or 3mm required to get it to fit. Did this, tightened the nuts on the clamps and voila, all done and Battery Sense has been working ever since.

I like this bit of kit as it not only gives you a "Traffic Light" reading of battery condition, if you switch views on the software package you can get a graph of battery performance over several days and a reading of actual battery condition (both under charge from the alternator, and at rest) which gives pretty accurate readings.

I was putting my car on the CTEK almost every day in the past. This has been reduced to once a week now, and will probably prolong periods when (if???) the weather warms up a little, later in the year. No matter how gentle the CTEK is, it can't do the battery any good being charged with frightening regularity, so the battery sense is an investment in prolonging the life of my battery.

Hope this helps.

Old Jock 2018 (MY19) Jaguar F-Pace R-Sport 300PS Petrol in Caesium Blue with many bells and whistles.
2015 RRS HSE SDV6 Firenze Red with Santorini Panoramic Glass Roof, gone but not forgotten.

Wow... thank you.

The second battery must have its earth disconnected?? 2022 P440e AB

Couldn't tell you Paulo,

I asked CTEK if the Battery Sense would work on an RRS L494 with two batteries. The response I got was yes, providing it was connected to the main battery beneath the spare wheel and NOT to the secondary battery behind the offside bulkhead in the boot.

Regards,

Old Jock 2018 (MY19) Jaguar F-Pace R-Sport 300PS Petrol in Caesium Blue with many bells and whistles.
2015 RRS HSE SDV6 Firenze Red with Santorini Panoramic Glass Roof, gone but not forgotten.

I have been thinking about this.

The two batteries cannot be wired directly in parallel or the Stop start system, could not work as it does - i.e. using the smaller battery to carry electrical loads while the engine is off, and the larger one to supply the starter.

So there has to be a degree of "electrical independence" between the two. Which begs the question - could you connect your dashcam (with parking mode on) to the smaller battery and therefore avoid running down the main one? MY2016 HSE D SDV6 - gone due to fuel dilution problems.

By the age of 50 you have the face you deserve - George Orwell.

Like your thinking.... don't know which battery sends the low warnings though....
It's going in on the 22 nd of February for a variety of things so will see what they say.... we have a JCW Mini with the same camera which I can leave for weeks at a time which gives no issue...battery on that car is 7 yrs old and it never misses a beat... somewhat frustrating that a number of us on here feel the need to place our cars on CTEK s and chargers just to get them to start after a couple of days!