Car not starting, no breakdown cover?

spira9

Went to halfords. Battery was fine and at 63%. So all that driving around charged it.

Amazing how much hassle a flat battery can cause.

Thanks for everyone who tried to help me. Case closed.

rich13348

Just make sure you keep driving it for a good while every week to keep the battery charged or you will have the same problem in a couple of months time.

Clive_Woody

spira9 wrote: »

Went to halfords. Battery was fine and at 63%. So all that driving around charged it.

Amazing how much hassle a flat battery can cause.

Thanks for everyone who tried to help me. Case closed.

My wife does a lot of short journeys and had a similar problem, fortunately with breakdown cover. The guy who sorted her car out advised not having the aircon turned on all the time as this can add significantly to battery drain.

Possibly this might help you :money:

Nodding_Donkey

I'd be interested to know how turning the aircon off was supposed to stop the battery going flat.

Ebe_Scrooge

Nodding_Donkey wrote: »

I'd be interested to know how turning the aircon off was supposed to stop the battery going flat.

Aircon sucks quite a bit of current. When the engine's running, a lot of the alternator's output is going to power the aircon, meaning less is going to recharge the battery. If the battery is struggling anyway, and you're not doing long journeys to give it a good charge, then gradually the charge will diminish - basically more is being used in starting the engine than is being replenished on each trip.


The same is true of any electrical equipment - anything that draws current will slightly reduce what's going into the battery. But aircon is usually the single biggest energy-consumer.

BeenThroughItAll

Ebe_Scrooge wrote: »

Aircon sucks quite a bit of current. When the engine's running, a lot of the alternator's output is going to power the aircon, meaning less is going to recharge the battery. If the battery is struggling anyway, and you're not doing long journeys to give it a good charge, then gradually the charge will diminish - basically more is being used in starting the engine than is being replenished on each trip.


The same is true of any electrical equipment - anything that draws current will slightly reduce what's going into the battery. But aircon is usually the single biggest energy-consumer.

Aircon's only major power-sucking component is the compressor, which is in most vehicles driven off the auxiliary belt. Sure, it's consuming BHP, but it's not using significant amounts of electrical power.


Only electrical power is to the solenoid engaging the clutch on the compressor, and to the blower fan (which you may have on even if you're not using the AC).


Sure, there are some electrically driven AC compressors on cars, but they're very much the minority (excluding pure EVs).

Nodding_Donkey

In fact in the winter you would use less electrical power as the blower wouldn't have to be set so high to demist the windows.

spira9

My car has 'Dab edition' in it's name and I did listen to music while I was parked on lunch breaks etc. So I think that's the major cause of it. My radio is annoying as it always comes on by itself whenever I enter the car, you can't really turn it off. You can only mute it and then wait for it to power down but I think that stays in stand by still.

robbies_gal

and then on the other hand ive been told to keep air son on as much as possible so that it doesnt leak

petrolhead69

When we had a car with heavy loads and only used infrequently and for short trips the battery would die (sheddy bmw 740 with a knackered battery and not worth fixing up) , a solar charger left on the back shelf meant it was never stuck again.