Battery drainage while parked for a while… any solution?

[Grenni-HH]

Hello everyone,

BATTERY -

Recently, my Grenadier was at the dealership for 6 weeks... and then the battery was dead... had to be jump-started.
Well... we'll skip the comment about the dealership... etc!

What can we do to prevent our car from draining the battery after a month or more? Does anyone have an idea on how to shut down the computer or parts of it so the battery – or for many of us, "the batteries" – don’t get damaged from discharging?

- I thought maybe pulling a specific fuse could help – but unfortunately, I haven’t found anything!

What do you all think?

Best, Patrick

 

[Tazzieman]

They probably opened and closed the doors many times. The computer fires up each time.
It shouldn't kill the battery after 6 weeks if unused.
Some people trickle charge. Others get their battery checked (you can buy a battery condition tester for not much)
Maybe your battery is bad. But maybe just the dealer is!

 

[TheDocAUS]

Hello everyone,

BATTERY -

Recently, my Grenadier was at the dealership for 6 weeks... and then the battery was dead... had to be jump-started.
Well... we'll skip the comment about the dealership... etc!

What can we do to prevent our car from draining the battery after a month or more? Does anyone have an idea on how to shut down the computer or parts of it so the battery – or for many of us, "the batteries" – don’t get damaged from discharging?

- I thought maybe pulling a specific fuse could help – but unfortunately, I haven’t found anything!

What do you all think?

Best, Patrick

Only really 3 options:

1. have the dealer put the car on a charger from time to time;
2. I have a rooftop solar panel and a CTEK250SE mated to the 120S, so as long as there is sun the battery is topped up (both main and aux); or
3. can you place the car in transport mode? Which cuts battery usage, see Rok Dr Guide for how this is done.

 

[Deleted member 9052558]

Hello everyone,

BATTERY -

Recently, my Grenadier was at the dealership for 6 weeks... and then the battery was dead... had to be jump-started.
Well... we'll skip the comment about the dealership... etc!

What can we do to prevent our car from draining the battery after a month or more? Does anyone have an idea on how to shut down the computer or parts of it so the battery – or for many of us, "the batteries" – don’t get damaged from discharging?

- I thought maybe pulling a specific fuse could help – but unfortunately, I haven’t found anything!

What do you all think?

Best, Patrick

I have had my first Grenadier at the dealership for 5 plus weeks after buying it waiting on side steps and roof rack cross bars to come in stock before they could add them on & finally ship it to me (live 4 hours one way from the dealer). Plus it has been at several different local shops getting LOTS of exterior lights added on, custom wrap, many other accessories etc added on and it has never died at any of the shops sitting or being worked on day after day for weeks. So maybe you just had a bad battery? hope you figure it out and don’t have any further issues. I would say if it going to sit for weeks at a time in the future to just start it up once a week and let it idle a bit to make sure all is good and you don’t came back to a dead vehicle.

 

[Dok]

Same issue: my battery could lose up to 10% overnight.... Frequently getting under 50% with warning messages.
Was not able to have it at more than 70% even after a 6 hours trip.
I think it is linked to the intial 2 months on the dealer parking before delivery

Had to change it and it's better but still wondering why I still have random drains
Dealer has planned to make measurements

 

[Grenni-HH]

Only really 3 options:

1. have the dealer put the car on a charger from time to time;
2. I have a rooftop solar panel and a CTEK250SE mated to the 120S, so as long as there is sun the battery is topped up (both main and aux); or
3. can you place the car in transport mode? Which cuts battery usage, see Rok Dr Guide for how this is done.

Thanks a lot for your help, you mentioned at .3 rock Dr. guide. Where would I find this? I have never heard about it?
Thank you

 

[Deleted member 9052558]

 

[Jean Mercier]

Thanks a lot for your help, you mentioned at .3 rock Dr. guide. Where would I find this? I have never heard about it?
Thank you

You can find it here:

Rok_Dr’s Exceedingly Unofficial Owner’s Manual Supplement

Just discovered the existence of this manual today. Thank you so much for all of your hard work!

www.theineosforum.com

 

[landmannnn]

You activate transport mode by pulley this fuse in the fusebox near the steering wheel. This de-powers some of the standby electrics.

Longer term storage, over a month, will require a trickle charger or the battery removing.

 

[angstorms]

When I leave the Grenadier for period of time in the garage, I will put it on a Noco trickle charger. That is the other option,

 

[Tomdoc]

When I leave the Grenadier for period of time in the garage, I will put it on a Noco trickle charger. That is the other option,

How do you hook it up? I have one (NOCO 10) on right now running onto the under-hood positive and the engine lifting ring. Problem is the hood is open to allow cable access. In 3 days my S0C has risen from 56 to 66 - I suspect because not having the hood slammed shut is adding some further drain.

 

[ipcrss]

How do you hook it up? I have one (NOCO 10) on right now running onto the under-hood positive and the engine lifting ring. Problem is the hood is open to allow cable access. In 3 days my S0C has risen from 56 to 66 - I suspect because not having the hood slammed shut is adding some further drain.

I had a similar situation with inability to charge properly through the under bonnet charging points with an 8 amp charger (and lots of other battery/discharge/SOC and current charge/discharge issues) before the agent found the high pressure water reservoir near the rhs (drivers side) bulkhead was weeping/dripping/leaking through a pin-prick crack or hole onto the wiring loom/connectors and corroding them. I asked if the positive pole was just a dumb extension cable and that it did not seem to be allowing charging properly. It is suggested that this leak was causing some or all of the issues. However I was happy to shut the bonnet tightly on the thin charger cables to rule out any "bonnet not shut properly" issues if they exist. The rubber seal prevents the cable from being chopped as far as i can tell.

 

[WanderingSniper]

I feel like I'm unfortunately an expert on this subject. I owned two jeeps before this that both suffered from vampiric energy drain. It seems the computer, the wifi, the random lights and my poor job at wiring a winch all caused my jeeps to die in about 11 days. In the end I did a ton of research and no gas powered car likes to sit for longer than a week without moving. We all have those friends that left a car in a corn field for a year and it started just fine, but most modern cars are simply not built for it. If you can't get the battery to full charge then it needs to be replaced by the dealer for their mistake. If it will hold a charge than it just needs to be trickle charged every third day if you aren't using it. I ran a plug eventually from my trickle charger under the hood, our the wheel well and plugged it in every night. I plan on getting a solar panel for the Grenadier to alleviate some of this.

 

[Jean Mercier]

I feel like I'm unfortunately an expert on this subject. I owned two jeeps before this that both suffered from vampiric energy drain. It seems the computer, the wifi, the random lights and my poor job at wiring a winch all caused my jeeps to die in about 11 days. In the end I did a ton of research and no gas powered car likes to sit for longer than a week without moving. We all have those friends that left a car in a corn field for a year and it started just fine, but most modern cars are simply not built for it. If you can't get the battery to full charge then it needs to be replaced by the dealer for their mistake. If it will hold a charge than it just needs to be trickle charged every third day if you aren't using it. I ran a plug eventually from my trickle charger under the hood, our the wheel well and plugged it in every night. I plan on getting a solar panel for the Grenadier to alleviate some of this.

I think the Grenadier does it quite well (at least with the double battery system), In July-August I didn't move the car for 3 weeks, and it started without problems, see my post here:

What did you do with your Grenadier today?

Hi Logsplitter, behind the drivers headlight. See attached, I pushed the spade connectors back up and put folded plastic in underneath so they wouldn't drop / loosen again. Learning every day! Thanks a lot! (y)

www.theineosforum.com

 

[300chris]

I think it depends if it’s left “alone” or if it’s being worked on/accssed.
I’ve left mine parked for 3 weeks and seen a 2% change in SOC on the battery. But it was literally parked and not touched.
Unlocking/opening will activate a bunch of electronics that consume energy. Something you would think the dealers might know?

 

[Tomdoc]

I am experimenting and progress has been made. Now using a solar panel (just 20W) with cable tucked into the hood at the A-pillar corner. SoC has gone up to 76% so happy that it works. Will hard wire in a connector as the next step. Thanks everyone. This is for battery maintenance and not leisure use topping up while camping etc. I have a CTEK solar wiring set up for that. SoC of second battery is 100% acc to one of @Jean Mercier 's Chinese spies.

 

[ECrider]

How do you hook it up? I have one (NOCO 10) on right now running onto the under-hood positive and the engine lifting ring. Problem is the hood is open to allow cable access. In 3 days my S0C has risen from 56 to 66 - I suspect because not having the hood slammed shut is adding some further drain.

I hook my trickle charger up through the 13 pin tow plug at the back. Ctek mxs10 adapters to tow socket online. Works well for me.

 

[Tomdoc]

Great to know thanks!

 

[WanderingSniper]

I hook my trickle charger up through the 13 pin tow plug at the back. Ctek mxs10 adapters to tow socket online. Works well for me.

Which adapter are you using, this is a fantastic idea?

 

[ECrider]

Which adapter are you using, this is a fantastic idea?

Got mine off a Land Rover forum some years back for the D4. Looks like this;