Is this normal or a problem with the battery?

[Chris_Music]

Hey guys

So I think there might be a problem with my battery, or is this normal, hopefully someone can shed light on it.

So I've not really noticed any 'problems' with my battery until recently.

So when I installed my new speakers in the car about two months ago, I stupidly listened to them with the engine off during testing. Probably for about 10-15mins, and then the car wouldn't start. I still thought this was pretty quick for the battery to drain, as I remember doing the same on my old civic by mistake, and it took over an hour for the battery to drain!
I left it for about an hour and I then tried again, and the car had just enough juice to start, so I ran it for a bit until it was fine.

I made very sure that I didn't do something stupid like that again.

Fast forward to last Saturday. Car was due an MOT, so that day, I tested all the lights, made sure everything was working, couldn't have been more than 5mins, and the car wouldn't start. I waited for about 30mins, and tried again, and the car had just enough juice to start. I thought this was very odd, as it wasn't even on for that long, and the battery was drained so much!

I looked online, and did a multimeter test to check the voltage.
Stationary, with nothing on, the battery read 12.32V, I then started the engine, turned everything on, All lights, AC, radio etc. And it was about 14.36V, dipping to 13.86V when the fans kicked in. Which looks about right.

Then yesterday, I was parked in a car park, and got in my car, turned on the ignition, and I got a message on my phone, I replied to it and messaged for a bit, couldn't have been more than 4-5mins, then went to start the car, and it wouldn't start. I, turned off the ignition, waited 10mins and then it started.

But this doesn't seem normal to me that the battery could drain in 5mins?

I generally do around 35 miles a day of driving, around 1hr 30mins (45min commute to work), so it's not short journeys where the battery doesn't have enough time to charge.

The battery in the car is the Varta battery that came with it from factory. The car is 4 years old and on just over 20,000miles.

Something else to mention is that I originally bought the car from a Copart auction. The battery was flat when I went to collect it, and I don't know how long it was sitting for on the lot, but that was back in November 2018, and any problems have been only happening recently.


Is this normal? Or should I look at replacing the battery?
If so, any recommendations for good batteries?

Thanks

[trebor1652]

I had a car with similar problem.
Partly due to a battery on the way out.
The other being a boot light that didn't turn off when the boot was closed, so meaning a continuous drain.
Rare but give it a check.

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[olduser1]

First off does your Jazz have the battery condition 'window' alongside the neg terminal?
Indicator green when fully charged, black when 1/2 and whote when flat.
I would get a loan of a battery charger 5-8amps and charge overnight, then recheck .
Also check the neg cable at the earthing point for corrosion.

[Johncb500]

I had a similar issue.
Does your Jazz have climate control?
Occasionally the air conditioning relay sticks closed and can drain the battery.


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[culzean]

The battery condition window only shows condition of one cell, as all the cells are sealed from each other. The window leads to a tube with a hydrometer float in it that measures specific gravity of electrolyte.  I had a Varta battery on a motor bike that failed just of of warranty - will not buy another ( it was on a new bike when I bought it ) I only get yuasa for many years and never had an issue, present battery on our cars is yuasa silver HSB154 ( From Halfords so that is Halfords number on a Yuasa branded battery )  with 5 year warranty.  If a battery has stood in a flat condition for a time it is damaged - at four years old it may be on way out anyway. 

https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/yuasa/ybx5054/?msclkid=542e2f36fb92173ed54272259fcd6b5b

Yuasa designation is YBX5054

There are relays on pretty much every high power equipment on the car, any of which can stick closed, this includes cooling fans, headlights, heated Windows, and airconditioning clutch.  It will be obvious if a fan or head light relay sticks, not so obvious if heated window or aircon clutch is stuck, you could try turning aircon off and see if the compressor is still turning ( almost the lowest pulley on serpentine belt towards front of car, with solenoid not powered the centre part of pulley should not turn with the belt pulley).

[Jocko]

I'd get a new battery. If you continue to have issues I'd start checking relays and such then, but I think the new battery will solve the problem.
A car that doesn't want to stop can still be driven (carefully and illegally), but a car that won't start is only good for keeping chickens in (Jocko's second law).

[SuperCNJ]

^^ Agree with that advice. I have only ever replaced batteries with Halfords own brand batteries after noting they were repeated won the best car battery for many years in the AutoExpress annual tests and they have been great in our experience too.

Two other things that may be worth getting.

1. A car battery conditioner/charger. As we do mostly short journeys (less than 15mins) drive there has been times when the battery depletes quite quickly. We've found that occasionally re-charging/reconditioning it helps prolong the battery life and tops up the juice!

2. Emergency jump start power bank. These have come a long way since the days when they were literally a 5kg second battery in the boot. They are lithium ion batteries now based on 18650 cells which are not much bigger than a smart phone but packs enough power to jump start a car many times over. In fact, about 5 years ago I used one to power a car for a short test drive without a battery. There has been times when we would have been stranded without one - highly recommended.

[Brian_I]

Same situation with me yesterday - ended up just buying a new batter from Halfords a Yausa Silver, since the car is a 2013 (63 plate) the original battery was probably on it's way out anyway... Fitted it myself, and 99p for a radio unlock code from Ebay (since no unlock code was with the car handbook or documentation).

fingers crossed, that's it all sorted now!

[culzean]

Halfords used to have their Halfords brand batteries supplied by Yuasa factory in Wales up until 5 or 10 years ago IRRC so buying Halfords battery meant getting a Yuasa one ( the Yuasa name and made in Ebbw Vale Wales was on a small label on battery ) nowadays Halfords supply Yuasa batteries with a Yuasa label but a Halfords battery number - don't ask me, I don't know 

[Chris_Music]

Thank you for everyone's replies

I visited Halfords today, as they have a battery testing service, to see what they said.

This was the result from the test.


They said the battery seemed healthy.
I had driven it that morning for about 40mins, so it would've been fully charged by the time I got to work, and then it sat at work until 6:30pm, so that might explain the 31A of battery drain.

There are relays on pretty much every high power equipment on the car, any of which can stick closed, this includes cooling fans, headlights, heated Windows, and airconditioning clutch.  It will be obvious if a fan or head light relay sticks, not so obvious if heated window or aircon clutch is stuck, you could try turning aircon off and see if the compressor is still turning ( almost the lowest pulley on serpentine belt towards front of car, with solenoid not powered the centre part of pulley should not turn with the belt pulley).

I had a look and the compressor doesn't turn when the aircon is off. So that all seems fine.

I have the climate control set to Auto, as it's the setting that seems to work best I find.
But when I turn the key in the ignition, the climate control fires up, and I think this is why I've probably been getting such a rapid battery drain, as 5-10 minutes of this being on seems to be a big drain on the battery, especially if it's trying to run the Aircon with no engine on.

The guy at Halfords said that the fact that the battery recovers after 10mins means the battery is still healthy.

So maybe I just need to be careful when running on battery alone, and maybe ket one of those starter packs just in case!

Thanks again for everyones help !