I left my car at my moms house as i have had an operation on my shoulder. After 4 weeks the battery was flat and wouldn't start the car. The battery is 9 months old with a 5 year warranty. Anyway i left it untill i was allowed to drive again, so it had now been sitting for 6 weeks. Got the AA to come and jump start it, and got it home. Charged the battery the next day, but 2 days later when i started it up, i had the special programs unavailable message. I get this if the battery is low, so i checked and it was at 11.7v. It has happened a couple of mornings now, so i got a clamp meter and followed this. https://www.disco3.co.uk/forum/robbies-gui...19574.html
Now the car is shutting down to 4ma draw when sleeping. But the main cable to the alternator / starter is also showing 4ma. Its recently had a cam belt done, so is it possible that when the starter was removed the power cable wasn't tightened up properly and can cause this drain. Or am i barking up the wrong tree. Alternator was replaced with a denso unit 7 years ago and has only covered 15000 miles. Car is a 55 plate 2.7. Really hoping it can last me a bit as i am not recovered enough yet to go crawling around the engine bay.
Any input or thoughts are welcome.
Thanks

That doesn't sound like much current draw when shut down, if you think a good RRS battery will have in the region of 50,000mAh of practical available power then it should take a fairly long time to drain (approx 50% rule of thumb practical power from battery Ah rating).

You say you had a new battery 9 month ago, but how has it been treated since? Have you allowed it to go 'flat' much, as this kills a battery pretty quick.
Also how good was the battery when you got it, how was it stored? My Dad replaced his van battery at a local garage and within a few months was coming to me to see why it kept going flat. Once he told me where he got it I was suspicious right away as I get fuel there and see the batteries sitting on the shelf, but I've never seen a charger on them. I'm talking a few years of storage where I doubt very much they've ever been charged, which made sense with my Dad's 'new' but dead battery. A repalcement from elsewhere sorted everything (shipped home from a fast moving stock outlet).
I've a battery analyser which is very helpful to indicate battery condition, so if you can find someone who can do this then it will let you know (I'd avoid anyone doing a drop test). 13MY Range Rover Sport Autobiography SDV6 - mine
14MY Range Rover Evoque Dynamic SD4 Black Pack - wife's
99MY Defender 90 TD5, Soft Top Conversion - my toy, and bairns favourite

It's a YUASA battery with 5 year warranty from halfords. The only time it has gone flat is when it was left at moms for the 6 weeks. I will try and get a test done on the battery, i don't want halfords to test it first i want it done by an independant. Can i ask why to not do a drop test.

Sounds fine to me.

Check passenger emergency key lock works and oil.
Open bonnet and lock car.
Disconnect battery earth terminal
Charge battery
Leave battery disconnected and shut Bonnet

Leave it like that until you are fit to drive.
Then reconnect battery

Passenger emergency lock had seized, took me 1/2 hour to get into the car.
I am driving now, but very limited with working on the car. Have been told i won't be back to normal for up to 9 months.
The battery has been niggling at the back of my mind, as it was a bit milder last night and it started ok this morning.
Why would a battery analyzer be better than a drop tester to check the battery. I have been looking to get one, it wont go to waste with 3 cars in the family. Just need to know what to go for.

squizzel wrote:

It's a YUASA battery with 5 year warranty from halfords. The only time it has gone flat is when it was left at moms for the 6 weeks. I will try and get a test done on the battery, i don't want halfords to test it first i want it done by an independant. Can i ask why to not do a drop test.

A battery charger
Or solar charger to diagnostic port it what you need

battery was completely flat, couldn't unlock it. When i did there was nothing, completely dead. I have a 120A car starter and that wouldn't start it. The AA put a 400A booster on and it just turned it over enough to start it. But up to me parking it up there were no problems, but it discharged in 4 weeks, to the point it wouldn't turn over.
I will get the battery checked to rule it out if nothing else.

Take the battery back to Halfords. I bought one 12 months ago from Halfords and within 3 months it was goosed. Seams YUASA had a bad bunch, HSB090 I think mine was. I did post on the forum about it, I’ll do a search. 2019 5.0 SC SVA (Current)
2012 5.0 SC AB. Sadly written off by a campervan
23 plate Focus ST (Current)
1942 VEP Ford GPW Jeep (Willys) (Current)
1943 Whites M16 Halftrack (Current)
16 plate Eurofighter Typhoon, 2 x Eurojet engines with 20,000lbs thrust each. 1380mph

Couldn’t find my post but the battery for my car was the 019 but I fitted the better 020. Quite a few owners have reported problems with these, mainly bad cells. 2019 5.0 SC SVA (Current)
2012 5.0 SC AB. Sadly written off by a campervan
23 plate Focus ST (Current)
1942 VEP Ford GPW Jeep (Willys) (Current)
1943 Whites M16 Halftrack (Current)
16 plate Eurofighter Typhoon, 2 x Eurojet engines with 20,000lbs thrust each. 1380mph

I had two YUASA batteries fail in quick succession so scrapped them and fitted a VARTA AGM G14 (019) instead and never had a problem since.

Cheers
Col

Mine is an 019. Went back to halfords yesterday and had it tested. They said all it's coming up with that it needs a good charge. I had it on charge for 12 hours 4 days before, and as soon as we had a frost it was low again. As their tester just says it needs charging they won't replace it.

If you are not using the car much, buy a CTEK battery conditioner (they don't like calling them chargers). You can leave it connected for ever as it continually maintains the battery level. My F type has been on CTEK since October as it isn't used during the winter & won't be used till April. Always starts first time (well it has up till now ) Range Rover also gets CTEK treatment as I have installed the CTEK comfort connector to the under bonnet posts & it protrudes down by the opening below the number plate so I don't have to lift the bonnet. Have recently added a fag lighter socket in the boot so that whatever way the car is in the garage the CTEK is an easy connect

squizzel wrote:

Mine is an 019. Went back to halfords yesterday and had it tested. They said all it's coming up with that it needs a good charge. I had it on charge for 12 hours 4 days before, and as soon as we had a frost it was low again. As their tester just says it needs charging they won't replace it.