Car Battery Issue

LawyerX1

So my car battery is flat as lately it doesn’t seem to be holding its charge and I’ve had to keep jump starting it. I’d say the battery is only a few years old.

It’s a Lion Performance 030 so it wasnt cheap.

I bought a BuddyGo car battery charger, plugged it into the mains and onto the battery, switched the plug on and the charger tells me my battery is 100% charged... how can it be when it’s not turning over...? The battery is flat!

Broken battery or broken charger?

Aylesbury_Duck

A few years old might mean it's on its last legs, particularly if you do lots of short journeys?

Lion is a pretty budget brand as well.

Do you know anyone who has a proper battery tester? If not, take it into a local garage and ask if they'll check the health of the battery.

mluton

Could be starter Motor or Alternator issue.

LawyerX1

I do a lot of short journeys. I had it checked a few months back and they said it’s fine

LawyerX1

mluton wrote: »

Could be starter Motor or Alternator issue.

Could it still be starter motor if it jump starts fine everytime with my portable starter?

foxy-stoat

mluton wrote: »

Could be starter Motor or Alternator issue.

^^^^^ I had this on a previous car. Alternator was seizing and caused the dead or dying battery starting symptoms....started fine after the belt broke thought

foxy-stoat

LawyerX1 wrote: »

Could it still be starter motor if it jump starts fine everytime with my portable starter?

Naaaaa, unless connections to the starter motor are dodgy, maybe bad earth.

born_again

If the battery has gone flat, then odds on it will never come back enough to keep going. Especially if it's cold.
For the piece of mind get a new one. Go for a long drive once in a while to keep it well topped up. So not lights, heater fans on full blast etc.

foxy-stoat

born_again wrote: »

If the battery has gone flat, then odds on it will never come back enough to keep going. Especially if it's cold.
For the piece of mind get a new one. Go for a long drive once in a while to keep it well topped up. So not lights, heater fans on full blast etc.

You are better off with a volt meter, leave it ticking over and with everything on and test to see what the alternator is charging the battery at.

Under or over charging can kill a new battery in a short time.

Aylesbury_Duck

LawyerX1 wrote: »

I do a lot of short journeys. I had it checked a few months back and they said it’s fine

This is the most likely cause, in my opinion. A lot of short journeys over a few years means you've probably had an expected lifetime from it. If it is the battery, when you get a new one, try and do some longer runs or buy a trickle charger for it. Best to get one now because it's only going to get worse if we get some frosty nights again.

Inner_Zone

Battery appears to have a three year warranty. So how old actually is it?


And if you get it replaced use a battery charger as above, regularily.