Just come back from a week away and tried to start the scoob (MY03 STi UK) and guess what......... flat as a witches tit. I have just had a new one fitted because of the same reason. If I go back to the dealer he will just bolt a new one on again and the same thing will happen all over again. Could someone please tell me (cos I'm sh!te with electrics) if I buy a battery with more grunt i.e the standard one puts out 390 Amps so if I increase to say 500 Amps will this light up the cars wiring or will it just draw the current it needs and be fine???? The dealer said it was the trackstar that draws off a lot of current but they fitted it before they sold the car to me and I find it quite unacceptable to leave a new car for a few days and come back to a goosed battery. Please can someone advise me????

 

i know just how you feel, i have had 2 batterys now and still have the flat battery syndrome, the tracker takes loads out of your battery and if you are like me dont get to drive the car everyday then we are never going to sort problem, on sidc i put same sort of question and someone said about running car with headlights on all the time, i have done this for the last 2 weeks and keep fingers crossed seems to have worked so far, but hoping when the warmer weather gets here it helps, but knowing these sti,s no it won,t make a bit of difference.

 

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It's fine to change a battery with one having a higher capacity, the Ah figure is the one you're looking for (Amp hours). The 390 / 500 figure you quote is the Cold Cranking current, the peak current which is safe to draw from the battery when you first turn the ignition key. The Ah figure will probably be in the range of 30 to 100, and is a more useful indicator of performance for the problem you are having.

A 100Ah battery should last twice as long as a 50Ah battery under drain conditions (i.e. no charge going into the battery). The starter motor and the rest of the car's electrics will still only take the current it needs so it won't fry anything.

 

Does anyone know the standard Ah rating for a 2002wrx battery. Mine goes flat after a week of no use, but according to my multimeter it is only draining 60milliamps with the alarm set. On that basis a recon a 30Ah battery should take three weeks to go fully flat.

 

The standard battery is a 48Ahr My dealer (Wilsons) replaced it with a 60Ahr Varta.
It's no use keep replacing it with another 48Ahr - it simply hasn't got enough capacity.
JohnD (03 STi)

 

Guys,

i had a similar problem as i often work away for weeks on end, until i bought this little gadget

http://www.selectsolar.co.uk/gadget.html#vehiclecharger

it plugs into the cigarette lighter and trickle charges the battery, i havent had a problem starting since!

Cheers


James

 

This happens to my 03 STi as well, I've ended up buying a charger from Halfords. When your battery starts to go flat (but will still start the car) does the alarm sound briefly before the engine fires up? Have you had your batteries replaced under warranty?

 

im replying on behalf of ADY1, hes had the new coloured battery changed under warranty but it still flattens it (1 week), we are assuming its the trackstar??

 

Yes mine (MY00) did that just before the battery expired totally (when it was just over 3 years old.

I have Trackstar and I didn't have battery problems until the battery was on its last legs anyway. The new battery is fine - sounds like something is wrong somewhere.



Pete

 

Thanks for the replies Guys (and And Andy's help). I am going to wait a little longer and see what happens, I know it sounds odd but I have just fecked about and changed my back box so don't want to go to dealers yet in case they spot it and void the old 3 year warranty. Will try the battery charge idea first and see if it will keep going for me (probably not knowing my luck, if I fell into a barrel of **** I'd come up sucking me thumb). Anyway thanks again guys.

Flat Ady