92 SL1 Battery draw in cold weather

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Erik - 27 Feb 2006 02:58 GMT

I'm in Canada (Ottawa) and in the winter I'm having quite a bit of problems with
the battery. The alternator is pretty new so this is not the problem. I had the
battery checked few days ago and at the store they said that it was ok (but I
still think it might be the cause).
The battery goes completly flat in 5 days and after a cold weekend, it doesn't
have enough power to start the car.
I measured the draw and there is 10ma static draw. This is still less than other
people reported. I looked more in details the source of the draw and 7ma comes
from "Chimes". This doesn't sound normal to me and I think the chime/temporal
module might be dead.
Did anyone else experience something similar?

Thanks

Erik.

Reply to this Message

SnoMan - 27 Feb 2006 12:34 GMT

How old is the battery? They do go bad but for some reason people tned
not to replace them when problem arise. In a cold climate, peak
performance is needed and it can loose it quicker in a cold climate.
Sound like battery has reached the end of its survice life and in
leaking current internally.

>I'm in Canada (Ottawa) and in the winter I'm having quite a bit of problems with
>the battery. The alternator is pretty new so this is not the problem. I had the
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>
>Erik.

Reply to this Message

shoppa@trailing-edge.com - 27 Feb 2006 13:52 GMT

> I'm in Canada (Ottawa) and in the winter I'm having quite a bit of problems with
> the battery. The alternator is pretty new so this is not the problem. I had the
> battery checked few days ago and at the store they said that it was ok (but I
> still think it might be the cause).
> The battery goes completly flat in 5 days and after a cold weekend, it doesn't
> have enough power to start the car.

Is that in 5 days with no driving done at all? Or maybe 5 days with
only really short trips (like under a few miles total?) I'm thinking
that your alternator isn't really charging it much if any.

> I measured the draw and there is 10ma static draw. This is still less than other
> people reported. I looked more in details the source of the draw and 7ma comes
> from "Chimes". This doesn't sound normal to me and I think the chime/temporal
> module might be dead.

A car battery has a capacity measured at around a hundred Amp-hours. It
should be able to provide that 10mA for most of a year before it goes
dead. (Self-discharge will be a much bigger factor.)

It's also possible that there's some much larger intermittent drain
that you never catch in action.

Tim.

Reply to this Message

SnoMan - 27 Feb 2006 18:55 GMT

>> I'm in Canada (Ottawa) and in the winter I'm having quite a bit of problems with
>> the battery. The alternator is pretty new so this is not the problem. I had the
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
>
>Tim.

Actauly a 10ma load would deplete the battery in about about 6 to 8
month assuming no internal leakage in battery but all batteies leake
at least a few ma's even when new so the time will likeys be less. I
suspect that battery is near the end of its life and time and energy
would be better spent replacing it rather than looking for gremlins.

Reply to this Message