Help. I can't get into my car

Arunmor

paul_c123 said:

born_again said:

sand_hun said:

Hi @poohsticks123 and @born_again valid point, however as it's a Saturday I think I have to go with convenience and may struggle to get a local garage out. You're right, on RAC website it says there is a waiting period before you can use services that have just been added on. Nevertheless, in reality they still let you use the services but they add a surcharge of £85. 

So, I paid £8.55 to add Home Start to my policy (as I'm part way through the contract) and a further £85 surcharge for a mechanic to come out because it's an existing breakdown. Bit annoying, but at least I can hopefully get it resolved quickly and conveniently. 

£85 would have bought you a new battery...
Never mind the expected £100+ for the rac  battery..

But he can't fit it himself, and he couldn't even get to the car carrying a heavy battery no doubt. Its bad enough having to carry them a short distance around the house to fit them on a car on your driveway, for example. The options of a mobile mechanic were fruitless, so RAC it was. And to be honest, a local garage or mobile mechanic would have probably charged about the same.

Where there's a will there's a way.

sand_hun

The RAC came out and said it was a flat battery. A new battery from them would have cost over £220. They also said I could buy a battery charger or just drive the car around for an hour to charge it back up. I opted for the latter and all seems fine. Their report was as follows:

Non start flat battery, battery tested serviceable recharge, customer to charge battery, unable to identified drain on test 0.03a, vehicle charging system ok 14.6v 71a

photome

sand_hun said:

The RAC came out and said it was a flat battery. A new battery from them would have cost over £220. They also said I could buy a battery charger or just drive the car around for an hour to charge it back up. I opted for the latter and all seems fine. Their report was as follows:

Non start flat battery, battery tested serviceable recharge, customer to charge battery, unable to identified drain on test 0.03a, vehicle charging system ok 14.6v 71a

Likely to drain again if left for while.

I would invest in a charger and or a new battery

born_again

Get a new battery. Once that flat, they never recover & will just keep going flat quicker & quicker.

ButterCheese

If I were in your situation, I would get a solar panel charger that can perhaps be hardwired into the car and left on the dashboard.  Look on Amazon, they range from £26 upwards.  If you can't hard wire it in then you should be able to poke it through a hole in the firewall (where other wires go through) fairly easily.  Of course if you do that, make sure you connect it to the battery with proper connectors rather than leaving the crocodile clips in there!  This would be a lot less hassle than potentially calling out the AA or attmepting to unlock the car manually each time.

Modern cars and their electrical components do not like being run flat.  If the ECU powers down then a lot of things can go awry when it eventually has enough power to reboot.  Also, it can mess with the security and alarm system.

O solar charger will be a worthy investment.  You can also, as a backup, get a jumper pack but of course you have to be able to get into the car in the first place to open the hood and use it.  

ButterCheese

Also I note that you said it's only parked away from home at the moment due to houseworks?  Is it on a driveway normally?  If so, perhaps a trickle charger would be better if you can safely run electricity to where it is normally parked.  They are usually supplied with "pig tails" so you can leave the connections on the vehicle battery all the time,  and clip the charger in/out as required

Goudy

sand_hun said:

The RAC came out and said it was a flat battery. A new battery from them would have cost over £220. They also said I could buy a battery charger or just drive the car around for an hour to charge it back up. I opted for the latter and all seems fine. Their report was as follows:

Non start flat battery, battery tested serviceable recharge, customer to charge battery, unable to identified drain on test 0.03a, vehicle charging system ok 14.6v 71a

The RAC have checked the alternator (14.6v 71amps) which appears good

They have checked for a drain on the battery with engine off/key out (0.03 amps), this is about right as well.
It's usually around 25 milliamps.

It's not straight forward to test the battery's ability to store and deliver power/amps.
It usually needs a load or short placing on the battery with a special tool that will give you a reading of it's overall "strength" to hold and deliver amps.

It's quite possible to have the correct volts in a battery, but without the amps it'll not start the engine.
It'll not start off any 12v battery, the starter motor needs a healthy amount of amps.

Car's don't whirr whirr on the starter motor anymore with a low battery, they often just "click", which is the starter relay activating.

Running it around for 7 or so miles should see it recharge, but if it's ability to store amps is waning, then you'll be in the same position again once that car has been left a day or so.

If your battery is over 5 or 6 years old, it's probably starting to suffer a bit to hold it's full amps anyway and you might want to consider a new battery before it leaves you stranded again.

As already mentioned, Tanya do some good deals and you'll see the better quality batteries warrantied for 4 or 5 years.

You might want to consider trickle changing it if you leave the car long periods without use even with a new battery.
I put one of those solar trickle chargers in the mother in laws car that doesn't get much use and it helps keep the battery chemistry active, though it won't charge a flat battery.
Obviously it's no good in a garage, but out in the open it's enough to tickle it and keep it charged.

You just place it in the windscreen and plug it into the cars OBD2 port under the dash.
 



 

sand_hun

Hi everyone, thanks for your help. It sounds like I need to either get a new battery or buy a charger. I am leaning towards the latter. It's a 2015 car and has 42,000 miles on the clock. I have owned it for 5 years in which time I have done 14,000 miles. I've never changed the battery in that time.

Hi @ButterCheese yes, overnight the car is usually on my driveway and I can safely connect to an electric supply via an extension cable.

How about something like this? https://www.argos.co.uk/product/7604351

QrizB

sand_hun said:

How about something like this? https://www.argos.co.uk/product/7604351

That'll do the job if you can park somewhere with mains power.

If not, something like this might be an option (I've got exactly this one):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ECO-WORTHY-Battery-Maintainer-Waterproof-Portable/dp/B0DGKZZ4LL

Mine came from eBay and was less than £20 (they had an offer on).

ButterCheese

sand_hun said:

Hi everyone, thanks for your help. It sounds like I need to either get a new battery or buy a charger. I am leaning towards the latter. It's a 2015 car and has 42,000 miles on the clock. I have owned it for 5 years in which time I have done 14,000 miles. I've never changed the battery in that time.

Hi @ButterCheese yes, overnight the car is usually on my driveway and I can safely connect to an electric supply via an extension cable.

How about something like this? https://www.argos.co.uk/product/7604351

Yes that'll do, but AA branded stuff is not necessarily good value, it's usually cheap internals with a "safe and trusted" AA badge on.  It also doesn't seem to come with pigtails, which you want.  Otherwise you have to keep taking the bulky crocodile clips on and off, and some sit so high you can't close the bonnet.  There are better options on Amazon for cheaper.  

Another thing to look out for is your alternator.  I'm not trying to panic you, yours might be fine.  But repeated use of a flattened/old battery will put a lot more strain on your alternator, as it is working flat out for the whole journey trying to charge a battery from dead flat.  It might be a good idea to get a new one fitted if budget permits