Low mileage battery problems

missile

The car is 5yo.

That is at / near the end of life.

I just can’t help thinking cars should be better than this by now.

Batteries are better than they were, but we make more demands on them.

I wouldn’t have a clue what I’m doing

Perhaps you should learn?

Car battery problems often arise due to drivers habits, consistent short journeys and even the type of car you drive. Some simple maintenance can help to prolong the life of your battery and reduce car battery problems.
More powerful lights use more electricity
Courtesy lights use electricity
Welcome / Coming home lights on use electricity
In car entertainment uses electricity
Stop/ start uses electricity
Add ons like a dash cam use electricity

Look after your battery and it will look after you :beer:

ripplyuk

missile wrote: »

Perhaps you should learn?

That’s what I’m doing here. Learning. What I meant was I have no interest in fiddling about with the electrics or anything under the bonnet. I don’t want to learn to be a car mechanic. I check the oil and tyres and fill up the screenwash. That’s more than most women do. None of my friends do any of that.

AdrianC

gaz_moose wrote: »

solar chargers that plug into the lighter socket are a bit of a waste of time.

Especially if, like many, the ciggy socket turns off with the ignition. Always worth a check...

reeac

ripplyuk wrote: »

What is a short run? I do a 10 mile journey in it two or three times a week. Once a fortnight it does a 22 mile trip (so 44 mile round trip). The rest of the time is a few 3 mile journeys to the village. Is this nowhere near enough?

There’s no motorways near me and I’m scared of driving on them anyway.

Our 14 year old Honda Jazz gets pretty similar useage and it's original battery lasted 10 years. Our old 1998 Jaguar XJ8 had a 15 year old battery in it, still going strong, when we traded it in. Never a problem, never had to use a battery charger on it and only 3,000 miles per year. Of course cars evolve and more recent ones probably have more demanding security systems with consequent more battery drain when parked.

AdrianC

One of the biggest killers of a battery is whether it ever gets flattened. If ever it does, the life gets dramatically shortened.

mobileron

I think you need to go to Halfords they will check and update the situation.

Dont go to the dealer they will charge u top dollar.

ripplyuk

reeac wrote: »

Our 14 year old Honda Jazz gets pretty similar useage and it's original battery lasted 10 years. Our old 1998 Jaguar XJ8 had a 15 year old battery in it, still going strong, when we traded it in. Never a problem, never had to use a battery charger on it and only 3,000 miles per year. Of course cars evolve and more recent ones probably have more demanding security systems with consequent more battery drain when parked.

I think it must depend on the car model too. My elderly neighbour takes hers out once or maybe twice a week at most. In total about 14 miles. She never seems to have any battery problems and her car is a year younger than mine.

Arklight

ripplyuk wrote: »

I only do 4000-5000 miles per year. This was never a problem with my previous cars. My old Corsa could sit for a fortnight in mid-winter and still start with no issues. This Volkswagen Up seems to have problems after a day or two.

Yesterday it started ok but I only did a short journey. Today it had problems and took a while to get it started. I drove straight to the garage. They tested the battery and said it’s fine and that I’m just not driving it enough. He suggested leaving it running in the driveway for an hour each day. Besides being worried about theft, I’m not sure this will work. Does the car not need to be moving to charge the battery? Is it bad for the car in other ways to leave it running stationary so long?

I told him that I never had this issue before getting this car. He said they are built differently and that the Up would be ‘more electrical’ than the Corsa. Is this right?

Does anyone know how many miles I need to do to charge up the battery and stop this problem occurring again? Should I get some sort of car electrician to look at it?

Find a different garage and get them to fit a new battery. I can't believe any decent mechanic would tell you to leave your car idling for an hour a day on the driveway.

DUTR

ripplyuk wrote: »

I think it must depend on the car model too. My elderly neighbour takes hers out once or maybe twice a week at most. In total about 14 miles. She never seems to have any battery problems and her car is a year younger than mine.

With due respect to the other contributors, I do believe something additional like your dashcam is what is causing issue (some units brag about low power consumption in park mode), my last VW was going 9 yrs on the original battery and this one is currently 6yrs and going fine (touchwood) it's not even seen 35K miles yet since new.

ripplyuk

DUTR wrote: »

With due respect to the other contributors, I do believe something additional like your dashcam is what is causing issue (some units brag about low power consumption in park mode), my last VW was going 9 yrs on the original battery and this one is currently 6yrs and going fine (touchwood) it's not even seen 35K miles yet since new.

I thought so too, last year. It’s a Nextbase and they kept assuring me that there’s no way it could drain the battery. Halfords sent a guy out anyway and he changed the wiring around and replaced the actual dashcam in case it was faulty. Again, they assured me it cannot cause battery problems. I don’t know how to tell for sure. It’s not in parking mode and turns off when I take the key out so I thought it was ok now.