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Battery Problems Series 2 TD5 Disco


mpb

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A mate has got a Series 2 TD5 Disco on a Y plate. Just recently he has been having starting problems. The battery keeps going flat.

Yesterday I put my multi-meter across the battery. With the engine off he was getting 12.5 Volts across the battery, with the engine running the voltage raise to 15.1 Volts at tick over. With the engine off I measured a current draw of just over 1 amp.

We left the keys in the ignition on the accesory position for 10 minutes while we were doing something else. The disco wouldn't start. I measured the battery voltage & it had dropped to 9.5 Volts.

So my questions are

1. Is the alternator over charging the battery?

2. Has the battery had it & is this causing the alternator to charge the battey at a higher voltage?

3. Is a current draw of over an amp classed as high when the ignitions off?

4. Has anyone fitted two high power batteries (eg optimas) in a TD5 battery tray. If yes has anyone got any pictures.

Cheers

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1. sounds too high to me - 14.2 to 14.4 is about normal - check the meter isn't over reading though

2. not sure but doubtful

3. yes probably 50x what you would expect to find

4. no :)

standard Td5 battery is high capacity 110Ah so more than up to the job

sounds to me like a problem somewhere draining it overnight

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1. sounds too high to me - 14.2 to 14.4 is about normal - check the meter isn't over reading though

2. not sure but doubtful

3. yes probably 50x what you would expect to find

4. no :)

standard Td5 battery is high capacity 110Ah so more than up to the job

sounds to me like a problem somewhere draining it overnight

Cheers Mr Moster,

Ill take the disco to a garage with a drop tester & get them to check the battery & alternator for me. Looks like ive got fuse pulling day coming up to see whats drawing all the current.

The reason for wanting to fit 2 batteries is the vehcle will soon be running a set of beacons & worklights, so we didn't want to leave the engine running & flatten the starter battery, with all the lights on.

Cheers once again

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I once saw a similar thing on a Td5 Discovery and it was that somebody (ahem) had squished the wires behind the radio when fitting a new radio and there was a short to earth - but a poor connection so it was not a dead short only taking about half an amp or something IIRC. May be worth checking if a new radio has been fitted - otherwise it is fuse pulling time but it doesn't take long to do it that way :)

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