# Flat Engine Battery



## Midnightrambler (Nov 12, 2007)

Just spent three nights at Cheltenham Caravan Club site on electric hook up.
Came to start my Rapido this morning & the battery was flat.
My van has a charger which charges both batteries when on hook up.
The AA man arrived & started the van with his jump lead thingy. Started first time. He had me stop the engine did a few checks to see if the power was being uploaded. I then started it with the key & managed to get home. 
He didn't seem to think I needed a new battery, but has it is nearly seven years old, any ideas please.
Thanks in advance
Alan


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## greygit (Apr 15, 2007)

Midnightrambler said:


> Just spent three nights at Cheltenham Caravan Club site on electric hook up.
> Came to start my Rapido this morning & the battery was flat.
> My van has a charger which charges both batteries when on hook up.
> The AA man arrived & started the van with his jump lead thingy. Started first time. He had me stop the engine did a few checks to see if the power was being uploaded. I then started it with the key & managed to get home.
> ...


It's odd that it started again just after you ran it briefly as it wouldn't have had time to put any charge into the battery. Was the battery charged up when you got home if so I would check its condition periodically? 
Gary


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## ralph-dot (May 10, 2005)

when this happened to me, there was a loose earth


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## Spiritofherald (May 18, 2012)

You can take a fully re-charged battery to most automotive spares supplier and they will 'drop' test it for you to check it is capable of holding its charge. I believe Quikfit do these tests and probably Halford too. The test is not always 100% accurate but is usually free, especially if you buy a replacement from them.


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## Wizzo (Dec 3, 2007)

Midnightrambler said:


> He didn't seem to think I needed a new battery, but has it is nearly seven years old, any ideas please.
> Thanks in advance
> Alan


The clue may lie in your last comment. 7 years old. Time to renew probably. I had a similar thing about 18 months ago. The battery had never before let me down but over the course of the next two weeks it go worse and worse until it would not hold a charge at all. Ended up having to call out the breakdown service to bring me out a battery in France.

Try your local motor factors or specialist battery shops for prices. Just tell them what base vehicle and engine size it is.

JohnW


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## Midnightrambler (Nov 12, 2007)

Thanks for the replies gentlemen. Yes, I will check the earth connection & I will keep checking it over the next few weeks. Not using the van for a few weeks, so will be able to keep an eye on it.
Thanks again
Alan


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## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

I am going to sit on the fence.....

IMO 7 years is a good age for a battery BUT they can last a lot longer than that so I would not automatically dump it.

BUT if it started again after only a few minutes running that could not be due to charge having been put into it - operating the starter requires one heck of a lot of amperage for a short duration - that can only come from a decently charged battery IMO.

BUT we had a similar problem on our (then) new to us Swift - it kept failing to even attempt to turn over and that was due to a poor connection onto the negative terminal. I tried tightening it "just in case" no change, once we got back to the UK we had the connection checked and the negative terminal had been eaten away by sparking (they are incredibly difficult to get at on the Swift that we have) as the original connection had not been properly tightened. The terminal was only about 1/4 of it's original size and only made connection when it happened to bounce into contact........ 8O 

New battery (even though the old one held a great charge and was only 3 years old - there was not enough terminal left to get a decent tight clamp onto), problem solved (and has not re-occurred).

So check your negative battery terminal and the connection VERY carefully - IMO that is likely to be the location of the problem and it may be due to the terminal being smaller than it used to be due to sparking.

Good luck,

Dave


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## Drew (May 30, 2005)

Seven Years Old?

You are trying to "Get blood out of a stone".

Yes! check all your connections - earth - charger etc, etc, etc, but do yourself a favour and get yourself a new one.

Why mess about with the life and soul of your motorhome? Your battery is one of the most essential parts of your vehicle, without it you are stuck, don't mess about, just think of the aggravation that you might have if your vehicle won't start when you are in the middle of somewhere with no-one to help

Save yourself the worry and purchase a new one, you won't regret it.

Drew


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## Midnightrambler (Nov 12, 2007)

Thanks Drew. appreciated the comment.
I have checked the connections, all okay. Will definately get a new one.
Thanks guys for all the help
Alan


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## ralph-dot (May 10, 2005)

ralph-dot said:


> when this happened to me, there was a loose earth


The loose earth connection was where it bolted on to the engine.


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## greygit (Apr 15, 2007)

If you do get the problem of the flat battery again check battery connections etc. with your hand for heat ,poor connections tend to heat up.......and no they won't be red hot. 
Gary


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## Midnightrambler (Nov 12, 2007)

Thanks guys, will check the connections again when I fit the new one


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