Scoobyfan2012

Hey guys, so my battery was going flat and the car was almost not starting I was then told about leaving the sidelights on since then I thought it was problem solved.

Drove to work this morning heater and headlamps on as it was dark and cold, got to work sat in the car park for 20 mins with the radio on, at lunch I was sat in the car for 10 mins with the radio on when I pressed the button for the window to go up it was really slow and the radio cut out.

We have a very expensive battery tester here that says the batter is on 5 percent charge but is a good battery, I can't test the alternator right now but I don't believe that to be the problem.

Is it possible my RAC trackstar is draining the battery? I don't even have a sub or amp in the car yet!
What kind of power does the tracker draw, does anyone have any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance. D

Infected by sti

iTrader: (6)

I would not have thought the tracker would drain a battery over night if I leave mine for over a week or so then it will struggle to start, tracker also fitted to mine, judging by what your sayin then put the battery on a good charge cycle for it to recuperate and see how it goes if you know it to be a good battery, but its getting cold again now and that's not going to help a weak battery if that's to be the case.

Stick a volt meter on there and see what drain is coming off the battery when car is off, disconnect the earth cable to the battery, put one test lead of the meter to the earth terminal of the battery and the other to the earth strap that would normally be on the battery and see what it says.

JDM_Stig

iTrader: (3)

is this typical ?
Only your taking a lot out of the battery without any real recharge period for the alternator,
each time you start the car you take a large chunk out of the battery that would typically get replaced as you drive, with the heater,lights and probably the heated rear window on a short run its just not recharging enough.
hth

Scoobyfan2012

Yo stig, I don't think its typical. My civic had sub and amp installed I could listen to music full blast for 2 hours (engine off) without any problems even in the winter with all the extra drain.

While the civic required less cca to crank the engine it also had a battery with a much lower amp per hour rate and I can't believe the alternator on the Scooby is any worse than the one on the civic.

I just fitted a brand new battery, let's see how it goes.

I was planning to install a double din screen with a sub and amp but now I'm not so sure.

My route to work is 8 miles, an alternator is usually quite quick to recharge a battery.

I'll keep you posted.

Mid_Life_Crisis_NESF

That is exactly what happened to mine - I removed the RAC Trackstar tracker as it wasn't being used anyway (needed servicing but they told me it couldn't be serviced, would have had to buy a whole new unit and subscription - checked with insurance and insurance only went up by £25 a year so wasn't worth bothering with) - anyway I had the tracker removed (just a plug mine was under back seat - which the thieves would never have found NOT) and since then I have had no problems at all.

Hope that helps.

Scoobyfan2012

Sounds like a plan, when you say a plug under the back seat where abouts are we talking?

Thanks.

Mid_Life_Crisis_NESF

It was stuck to the chassis under the back seat base ... if yours is there lol - might be behind the glove box or anywhere.

It was a oblong shaped box with a plug - we just unplugged it and waited to see if anything sort of changed having unplugged the box but its been fine - the box contains mostly battery cells (we opened it to have a nose lol).

Turbotits

iTrader: (2)

Id say chuck the expensive battery tester as there pretty useless. Test the battery on the car using the cars starter motor. This will tell you whether the battery has enough volts and amps to turn your engine and starter.
To test all you need is a multi metre

Min of 12.2 volts in the battery to start the test. If its lower charge battery before testing.
Connect multimetre. Check voltage with ignition off. Disconnect crank sensor. Crank engine for 15 seconds while watching voltage. If at any point the voltage drops below 9volts during this 15 second period. Scrap the battery. If voltage stays above 9 volts look for other sources of battery drain

Mid_Life_Crisis_NESF

We had just bought a brand new battery for the Subaru and it still drained it if it had been left for longer than a day without use (even sometimes with use it still drained it) - had the alternator etc tested also at auto electricians and then someone told us about the tracker (same as we are passing the info on) and we had it removed - no more drain

HAGGY

iTrader: (1)

get yourself a cnet battery optimiser , it charges youre battery and discharges just like an alternater it keeps youre battery healthy !

BAD BOY V

iTrader: (1)

Hello mate the battery issues are very common with these cars, and It will be the case of the trackers, I've fitted a solar panel to charge my car battery when Im not using it, I can leave my car up to 5-7 days with the solar panel, and it struggle a little to start, but will start, now its upto you whether you wanna take the tracker out or try the solar panel route, but your not alone i know alot of scoobys that have this issue!

Scoobyfan2012

Out of interest do you have any links to the solar panel? I'm not sure if I want to go down that route but I am intrigued by the idea.

I may as well unplug the tracker if I can find it as I'm not paying a subscription for it anyway.

Insurance company asked if it had a tracker and I said yes, they didn't ask if I was paying a subscription for it lol.

BAD BOY V

iTrader: (1)

Hello mate I put up the same post as you as regarding my battery going flat last weeks here's a link on my post and the replies I got, also the links there as to where I got my solar panel from:


https://www.scoobynet.com/scoobynet-...ry-issues.html