Batteries and TVR - a match made in hell
Discussion
why do batteries flatten on TVR's so easily? Unless you plug in a conditioner (not really an option for those who park outside or dont have power in their garage) it seems all TVR's suffer from flat batteries if left for poxy amounts of time.
If you are using Tiv everyday its not a problem, but for anyone who uses it as a second car its a problem. The sh*tty weather this week has meant my chim hasnt been used. result this morning - surprise surprise. :angry:
No doubt there are exceptions to this rule, and i wanted the thread more to try and explain why, rather than hundreds of people replying saying theirs is ok ;-)
I have spoken to loads of people who say their Griff/Chim/Tuscan was the same, couldnt be left for longer than a couple of days unless the alarm was disconnected.
Why is battery life so shocking?
If you are using Tiv everyday its not a problem, but for anyone who uses it as a second car its a problem. The sh*tty weather this week has meant my chim hasnt been used. result this morning - surprise surprise. :angry:
No doubt there are exceptions to this rule, and i wanted the thread more to try and explain why, rather than hundreds of people replying saying theirs is ok ;-)
I have spoken to loads of people who say their Griff/Chim/Tuscan was the same, couldnt be left for longer than a couple of days unless the alarm was disconnected.
Why is battery life so shocking?
Generally it seems down to the high ammount of current drawn by the alarm/imobliser/ECU when I had the Chimaera was around 265ma which worked out about 10 days worth of charge before the battery did not have enough life in it to turn the engine over.Problem is once a battery has been in a discharged state it seldom recovers it's full capacity so next time it will loose charge even quicker.I had three batterys in the Chimeera in six years although in the Tuscan have always used an Optimate and still have the orignal battery after more than three years.A solar charger can be useful if there is no mains supply, but make sure it has a reasonable chages rate.
Nick
Nick
shnozz said:
hmm, might get a new battery for it and see how it lasts. Even a solar charger isnt much good if its covered with either a car cover or in the garage without a power supply...
Phil I have an account with maccess, I will get a price from them. Halfwits give a 3 yr guarantee with batteries (they replaced the one on the corolla last month)
Alan
keirangrogan said:
There is an item I read this morning in the classifieds in Sprint which disconnects your battery if it detects a drain.
Apparently just press the brake pedal again to reconnect around £65 IRC
Can also upset the alarm unit so that when the power comes back on it doesn't recognise the fobs. It also resets the ECU everytime so that it looses all the adaption it has done and runs on its defaults.
There is also the slight problem that there is no alarm operational on the vehicle so the insurers might get a little upset.
I've got one of the Priority Start units on the V8S after a couple of battery problems. This is despite the car being used every day and having a 'lights on' alarm. When it disconnects, the impact on the car is the same as if the battery has gone flat - alarm stops working until reconnected, ECU is reset. These are the things that would have happened anyway if I hadn't had the unit and the battery had actually gone flat. But it avoids the massive inconvenience of having to get the car jump started, and the damage that the battery suffers when it is deep discharged. I haven't had any problems from the radio, alarm or ECU. I don't see how the insurers could have any issue with this, unless they also stop covering your car when the battery has gone flat.
On mine, the unit reconnects when I unlock the car, because this triggers the central locking. If there's any remote possibility of the battery going flat, I think these gadgets are a good idea.
>> Edited by GreenV8S on Monday 24th November 13:35
On mine, the unit reconnects when I unlock the car, because this triggers the central locking. If there's any remote possibility of the battery going flat, I think these gadgets are a good idea.
>> Edited by GreenV8S on Monday 24th November 13:35
Look in the small print and you have to have a functioning alarm system or something similar. It is a gray area though. I know when the Griff alarm was playing up that while it was being sorted, I had no effective theft cover.
Some alarms do get fussy when batteries are disconnected as this is/was a way of getting round them. The alarm manufacturers got wise to this PDQ and treat it as a potential attack.
Just need to be very very careful.
Some alarms do get fussy when batteries are disconnected as this is/was a way of getting round them. The alarm manufacturers got wise to this PDQ and treat it as a potential attack.
Just need to be very very careful.
) - if your garage doesn't have power and you can't get it, bung a solar panel on the roof!Mine is kept in a garage without power. I just bought a cheap solar charger from Maplins (aprox £20). Dont bother buying an expensive one for outdoor use, this one says on the packaging you can use it outside provided you run a bead of silicon sealant around the solar panel. Even has little bracket on the back to attach to garage roof.
I drilled a hole in the garage near the roof, took off the charger's connector, fed the wires thru the hole and re-connected the adapter and hey presto. Never had a flat battery since. Left it for 2 1/2 weeks once and still ok whereas before it would be flat after about 5 days. No one has nicked the charger off the roof yet either!
I drilled a hole in the garage near the roof, took off the charger's connector, fed the wires thru the hole and re-connected the adapter and hey presto. Never had a flat battery since. Left it for 2 1/2 weeks once and still ok whereas before it would be flat after about 5 days. No one has nicked the charger off the roof yet either!
shnozz said:
Phil
Fiamm 072FS Heavy duty, 4 yr guar
£30 + VAT
yes please mate. let me know if you want me to drop the cash around. feel like a little blast tonight.(so long as I get her started..)
If you take her out, pop round the Griff could do with a blast as well.
Alan
simpo two said:
I really don't get the point of the Priority Start device. You might as well just get a battery isolator switch.
You don't need to remember to disconnect anything when you leave the car (if I could remember to do that, I wouldn't ever leave the lights on either!). And you only get the inconvenience of the clock stopping, alarm (central locking etc when you leave the car and when you come back to it) not working, and ECU reset, when the battery would otherwise have gone flat.
alans said:
alans said:
Phil
Fiamm 072FS Heavy duty, 4 yr guar
£30 + VAT
yes please mate. let me know if you want me to drop the cash around. feel like a little blast tonight.
If you take her out, pop round the Griff could do with a blast as well.
Alan
Alan - didnt get her going until 8 or so and by the time i had been up and down the M27 it was a bit late to wake the neighbours. am around all week though if you are free....
BTW - had a report from a rather "background" PHer that you were giving it some on the roundabout by Halfords at 3pm...
he is a big car nut with a couple of v nice lotuses but was in a silver scoobie forrester waiting to pull out...Gassing Station | General TVR Stuff & Gossip | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff