Dead Battery + Kill Switch = BIG ISSUE
Discussion
Turns out my CTEK MXS 5.0 charger was on a wall circuit that was part of a leg with a GFI. At some point that GFI tripped and thus the charger was no longer dong it's job. When I reset the GFI and tried to use the charger all I'd get was a flashing green power light on it which in theory means it's not connected to a battery. I'm using the accessory socket plug in the trunk next to the Battery Disconnect Switch.
My 2009 Vantage Roadster, which I replaced the battery in January of 2022 was "dead" Not enough juice to even show a dash light. I hooked up jumper cables and that gave me dash lights.
Here's where I'm sure I messed up. At that point, I thought I'd just hook up my trickle charger and complete the task of bringing my battery to life. However, when I went to do that I hit the Battery Disconnect Switch.
That in turn killed all the lights in the cabin even when I hooked up jumper cables. With jumper cables connected I then tried to reset the BDS per the manual by inserting the vehicle key into the Ignition Control but that didn't bring any lights back nor after repeated attempts, the vehicle would not start nor even make a sound. Even searched for a reset button behind my driver's seat like previous models had but saw nothing there either.
Not sure what to do next with my "dead" Vantage as it sits in my garage.
So here I am saying HELP !!! Any thoughts?
My 2009 Vantage Roadster, which I replaced the battery in January of 2022 was "dead" Not enough juice to even show a dash light. I hooked up jumper cables and that gave me dash lights.
Here's where I'm sure I messed up. At that point, I thought I'd just hook up my trickle charger and complete the task of bringing my battery to life. However, when I went to do that I hit the Battery Disconnect Switch.
That in turn killed all the lights in the cabin even when I hooked up jumper cables. With jumper cables connected I then tried to reset the BDS per the manual by inserting the vehicle key into the Ignition Control but that didn't bring any lights back nor after repeated attempts, the vehicle would not start nor even make a sound. Even searched for a reset button behind my driver's seat like previous models had but saw nothing there either.
Not sure what to do next with my "dead" Vantage as it sits in my garage.
So here I am saying HELP !!! Any thoughts?
Most unfortunate.
Purely a guess, but when the electricity to the trickle charger ceased, battery drain would obviously continue.
I think the tracker can be a heavy drain, especially after its own battery fails.
Assuming then the your fairly recent battery eventually stood for a time completely flat, could those circumstances kill a battery?
I don't think a trickle charger is able to revive a battery when is completely flat.
Perhaps you might need another new battery.
( Please post the end of the story, so that we can learn. )
The latest word (from my mechanic) is that the only way to go at this point is to reach the terminals on the actual battery and use an actual charger for 24 hours to get the battery back. Until then, it is isolated from the entire car, and no button push or reset can happen because there is no residual power to activate that.
Can help you, I’m afraid, but can perhaps offer some help to others who have a later model Vantage with a dead battery.
Mine (a 2016 with no battery disconnect switch) recently ran the battery down whilst in storage. I had no lights on the dash when I inserted the glass key. The tracker co rang me to say I had a sabotage alert. Apparently that means <3V. Very dead car.
The jump start instructions say to connect the donor car to a positive terminal under the bonnet and a bit of metal. Then run the donor at 1500 rpm for five mins, then turn off the donor but don’t disconnect it (<- v important and not something I’ve come across before on other cars), fire up the AM and let it idle for a bit before disconnecting the jump leads.
That sort of works, except it needed 15 mins of the donor running and a connection to the +ve terminal of the battery behind the seat. Then the car fired up and was drivable, except that the screen would not pop up. That was fixed by disconnecting the battery cables for 30 mins.
All a bit worrying and a bit of a ballache, but in the end fixed for nothing.
Mine (a 2016 with no battery disconnect switch) recently ran the battery down whilst in storage. I had no lights on the dash when I inserted the glass key. The tracker co rang me to say I had a sabotage alert. Apparently that means <3V. Very dead car.
The jump start instructions say to connect the donor car to a positive terminal under the bonnet and a bit of metal. Then run the donor at 1500 rpm for five mins, then turn off the donor but don’t disconnect it (<- v important and not something I’ve come across before on other cars), fire up the AM and let it idle for a bit before disconnecting the jump leads.
That sort of works, except it needed 15 mins of the donor running and a connection to the +ve terminal of the battery behind the seat. Then the car fired up and was drivable, except that the screen would not pop up. That was fixed by disconnecting the battery cables for 30 mins.
All a bit worrying and a bit of a ballache, but in the end fixed for nothing.
BlackTails said:
Can help you, I’m afraid, but can perhaps offer some help to others who have a later model Vantage with a dead battery.
Mine (a 2016 with no battery disconnect switch) recently ran the battery down whilst in storage. I had no lights on the dash when I inserted the glass key. The tracker co rang me to say I had a sabotage alert. Apparently that means <3V. Very dead car.
The jump start instructions say to connect the donor car to a positive terminal under the bonnet and a bit of metal. Then run the donor at 1500 rpm for five mins, then turn off the donor but don’t disconnect it (<- v important and not something I’ve come across before on other cars), fire up the AM and let it idle for a bit before disconnecting the jump leads.
That sort of works, except it needed 15 mins of the donor running and a connection to the +ve terminal of the battery behind the seat. Then the car fired up and was drivable, except that the screen would not pop up. That was fixed by disconnecting the battery cables for 30 mins.
All a bit worrying and a bit of a ballache, but in the end fixed for nothing.
I'd be inclined to change that battery now. Lead-acid batteries really don't like being completely discharged so its future reliability could be compromised.Mine (a 2016 with no battery disconnect switch) recently ran the battery down whilst in storage. I had no lights on the dash when I inserted the glass key. The tracker co rang me to say I had a sabotage alert. Apparently that means <3V. Very dead car.
The jump start instructions say to connect the donor car to a positive terminal under the bonnet and a bit of metal. Then run the donor at 1500 rpm for five mins, then turn off the donor but don’t disconnect it (<- v important and not something I’ve come across before on other cars), fire up the AM and let it idle for a bit before disconnecting the jump leads.
That sort of works, except it needed 15 mins of the donor running and a connection to the +ve terminal of the battery behind the seat. Then the car fired up and was drivable, except that the screen would not pop up. That was fixed by disconnecting the battery cables for 30 mins.
All a bit worrying and a bit of a ballache, but in the end fixed for nothing.
gr8car said:
The latest word (from my mechanic) is that the only way to go at this point is to reach the terminals on the actual battery and use an actual charger for 24 hours to get the battery back. Until then, it is isolated from the entire car, and no button push or reset can happen because there is no residual power to activate that.
You might be able to use a battery start pack or trickle charger to provide enough power to be able to reset even with a dead battery?One of mine has a mode that it intended to supply a low level of power whilst you’re doing work that needs the battery removing.
LTP said:
I'd be inclined to change that battery now. Lead-acid batteries really don't like being completely discharged so its future reliability could be compromised.
That’s on my Sisyphean to do list. Once I had the car firing, it came home and went through a full battery reconditioning cycle on the CTek, then a full recharge on the CTek. See if that keeps me going for a bit. Panamax said:
A battery that needs regular C-tek is a knackered battery.
IMO if a battery's more than two years old and you get a "fail to start" you might as well just buy a new battery.
Depends on how often/long the car is driven and the quiescent current drain when it's switched off. Back in the 70's when a car was "off" it really was off - these days with alarm systems, immobilisers, remote locking, "keyless go" and maintaining all of the settings in the software that're not held in non-volatile memory, not so much.IMO if a battery's more than two years old and you get a "fail to start" you might as well just buy a new battery.
Panamax said:
A battery that needs regular C-tek is a knackered battery.
IMO if a battery's more than two years old and you get a "fail to start" you might as well just buy a new battery.
This. IMO if a battery's more than two years old and you get a "fail to start" you might as well just buy a new battery.
And also, even if you can start the car after a long pause whilst connected to the CTEK it doesn’t mean that the battery is still good. I usually disconnect the C-Tek the night before taking out the car. Then you know for sure whether the battery holds power.
hornbaek said:
And also, even if you can start the car after a long pause whilst connected to the CTEK it doesn’t mean that the battery is still good. I usually disconnect the C-Tek the night before taking out the car. Then you know for sure whether the battery holds power.
Yeah, that is a good thing to do. My DB9 lives on a smart charger most of the time, but every now and then I turn it off for a few days before I use the car just to make sure that the battery still holds charge. Otherwise one day you'll start it up directly after charging and if the battery has expired you won't be able to start it to get home again!hornbaek said:
Panamax said:
A battery that needs regular C-tek is a knackered battery.
IMO if a battery's more than two years old and you get a "fail to start" you might as well just buy a new battery.
This. IMO if a battery's more than two years old and you get a "fail to start" you might as well just buy a new battery.
And also, even if you can start the car after a long pause whilst connected to the CTEK it doesn’t mean that the battery is still good. I usually disconnect the C-Tek the night before taking out the car. Then you know for sure whether the battery holds power.
Batteries are pretty resilient. I’ve had this one 6 years, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t changed by the previous owner.
Gassing Station | Aston Martin | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff