Flat battery in less than 2 weeks

[Andy H]

Hi all,

I've previously left my car for 3+ weeks and it's started no problem. The weekend before last I drove over 200 miles so the battery should have been fully charged on my return. This morning the battery was completely dead and I had to use the manual key and then boot access. I connected my rapid boost charger and after a while I was able to lock and unlock the doors again. I'm going to keep it on charge for a few hours but it's introduced that element of doubt and worry for my weekend trip.

I'm sure I didn't leave anything on in the cabin and there are no after market accessories connected (no tracker). I don't suppose there's any way to know what caused this after the event. Has anyone else found themselves in a similar position and managed to do any analysis with a multimeter to at least prove there's a parasitic drain?

Thanks, Andy.

 

[Beachbum]

Cant help here, but I would say, once a battery has died it is never as good as it was.
If it lost charge in 2 weeks, this time round, I doubt it will last that long after the full discharge.
I would suggest using a trickle charger more frequently now and/or consider getting a new battery

 

[DJManc]

Hi all,

I've previously left my car for 3+ weeks and it's started no problem. The weekend before last I drove over 200 miles so the battery should have been fully charged on my return. This morning the battery was completely dead and I had to use the manual key and then boot access. I connected my rapid boost charger and after a while I was able to lock and unlock the doors again. I'm going to keep it on charge for a few hours but it's introduced that element of doubt and worry for my weekend trip.

I'm sure I didn't leave anything on in the cabin and there are no after market accessories connected (no tracker). I don't suppose there's any way to know what caused this after the event. Has anyone else found themselves in a similar position and managed to do any analysis with a multimeter to at least prove there's a parasitic drain?

Thanks, Andy.

I have not yet suffered from a complete drain, but if I dont use the car for a couple of weeks, the Ctek battery indicator that I have fixed up to the battery shows red that its very low and needs charge immediately. Never known this in any other car I have had before and I am convinced that there is something draining the battery!

 

[Andy H]

Cant help here, but I would say, once a battery has died it is never as good as it was.
If it lost charge in 2 weeks, this time round, I doubt it will last that long after the full discharge.
I would suggest using a trickle charger more frequently now and/or consider getting a new battery

Thanks for the answer. I think I'd feel pretty cheated if I had to replace the battery after 6 months. Even when I've had a battery run flat in the past, it's been OK after with a full charge. I'd be looking to Lotus warranty if it keeps happening.

 

[Andy H]

I have not yet suffered from a complete drain, but if I dont use the car for a couple of weeks, the Ctek battery indicator that I have fixed up to the battery shows red that its very low and needs charge immediately. Never known this in any other car I have had before and I am convinced that there is something draining the battery!

I do wonder if this has been a gradual long term decline. I have a trickle charger but I haven't been using it religiously. I guess I can just get into the habit of using it between drives.

 

[crestima]

Hi all,

I've previously left my car for 3+ weeks and it's started no problem. The weekend before last I drove over 200 miles so the battery should have been fully charged on my return. This morning the battery was completely dead and I had to use the manual key and then boot access. I connected my rapid boost charger and after a while I was able to lock and unlock the doors again. I'm going to keep it on charge for a few hours but it's introduced that element of doubt and worry for my weekend trip.

I'm sure I didn't leave anything on in the cabin and there are no after market accessories connected (no tracker). I don't suppose there's any way to know what caused this after the event. Has anyone else found themselves in a similar position and managed to do any analysis with a multimeter to at least prove there's a parasitic drain?

Thanks, Andy.

Hey Andy,
Yes, this happened to me once too with the OEM battery, and I had to go through the same ordeal to access and recharge it. There's lots of speculation, including my own, about the actual root cause of the battery drain and why it only occurs sporadically. I'm afraid I can't really shed much insight on this, but if you refer to my post of Sept. 4th on the thread "Battery Drain", you'll find out that I opted to buy an Antigravity Battery with the remote kick-start feature as a last resort. This feature really does work and has actually saved my hide once already. I can understand that not everyone is willing to shed the extra $ for the Antigravity, but if you come to the point of having to replace the OEM battery anyway, then perhaps it may make that upgrade investment a bit more sensible. Btw, the collateral weight savings is pretty significant too.

 

[gwman]

Hey Andy,
Yes, this happened to me once too with the OEM battery, and I had to go through the same ordeal to access and recharge it. There's lots of speculation, including my own, about the actual root cause of the battery drain and why it only occurs sporadically. I'm afraid I can't really shed much insight on this, but if you refer to my post of Sept. 4th on the thread "Battery Drain", you'll find out that I opted to buy an Antigravity Battery with the remote kick-start feature as a last resort. This feature really does work and has actually saved my hide once already. I can understand that not everyone is willing to shed the extra $ for the Antigravity, but if you come to the point of having to replace the OEM battery anyway, then perhaps it may make that upgrade investment a bit more sensible. Btw, the collateral weight savings is pretty significant too.

Crestima,
What size Antigravity did you get? Their site recommends a T6 but the owners manual size parameters match an H6. I have an H6 already and wondering if it will fit.

 

[crestima]

Crestima,
What size Antigravity did you get? Their site recommends a T6 but the owners manual size parameters match an H6. I have an H6 already and wondering if it will fit.

I have the Antigravity T6/L2 Lithium 40ah, which I purchased from GRP. It's dimensions are a bit smaller than the OEM battery, but it secures well with the existing securing bracket.

 

[Blackthought_]

The antigravity is perfect. I’ve had it on a few other cars including lotus cars and weeks later it fires right up. Also comes with a remote and saves battery to start the car in case you leave on something that drains the battery. Expensive but very worth it

 

[Andy H]

Thanks for all the tips. I'll look into the antigravity model above to see if there are UK distributors.

 

[Porter]

Did you possibly leave the car unlocked? I know when in an unlocked state the power drain is much higher on the Emira because it wakes up a ton of the internal systems in preparation to drive.

On my car at even tries to connect to the cell phone etc. Not just when I unlock the car, but if I even walk by the car hours after finishing a drive and turning the car off, if I had forgotten to lock the doors.

 

[Blackthought_]

Did you possibly leave the car unlocked? I know when in an unlocked state the power drain is much higher on the Emira because it wakes up a ton of the internal systems in preparation to drive.

On my car at even tries to connect to the cell phone etc. Not just when I unlock the car, but if I even walk by the car hours after finishing a drive and turning the car off, if I had forgotten to lock the doors.

Your car doesn’t lock automatically if you forgot to lock it? (Assuming the keys are not inside)

I used to hate working on a lotus because it used to yell at me when I unlocked the car (but did not open a door) and went to the trunk to work on something back there. I then learned just open the door and it will not lock it and not yell at me