[sotal]

I've not had chance to put my engine together yet so the Range Rover has been sitting on the drive, before this cold spell I'd left it connected to an Optimate Trickle charger to keep the battery topped up which was fine and kept reporting that it was fully charged.

But recently I noticed that it is just constantly charging, so I went and got in and the car was dead - on turning the key in the ignition it just lit the EAS leds for a second - that was it.

So it's either the battery is now knackered or it's using more current than it's putting back in.

I've not locked it for a good while just in case it locks me out, will not locking it cause anything to stay awake?

 

[nipper]

No.

 

[RRToadHall]

Are you sure your charger is good? If your rig has been sitting there really is no reason that the battery should be using any power unless your BeCM is waking up from stray radio signals.

 

[lrscott]

You could also have a shot battery that refuses to charge, thus causing some sort of a constant charge... Check the "P" or "Park" LED of your transmission selector. If it is lit with a red LED (it will be faint) indicating your BECM is on. It will turn on every time you change something on the car, such as opening the door, the hood, turning the lights on, etc. If it does not go off after 2 minutes, you have a problem. You might try disconnecting the RF antenna, as RRToadhall suggested, you might be receiving interference from other radio waves. These vehicles can be awakened by even nearby alarm systems or wireless networks. If after disconnecting the RF receiver, and you still experience the same problem, the BECM is probably acting up and needs to be replaced. Of course the cheapest repair would be trying a new battery, considering a BECM costs nearly $300 used.

 

[sotal]

My initial suspect is the battery and I have a spare if it will fit in the hole, so will try that first but I'm trying desperatley to finish my Series 2a gearbox so I can get the Range Rover into the garage to rebuild the engine.

I've noticed the LED on faintly next to the gear lever but don't know how long it stays on for. At the moment it doesn't even get chance to come on.

Thinking about it now - I'd be better to disconnect the battery from the car and leave it on charge to see if it charges up.


The charger should be good it's just very slow - it's an Optimate from my Motorbike and is intended to keep the motorbike batteries topped up whilst your not using them, it also conditions and desulphers batteries and tells you if the battery is dead. Charging a car battery out of the car takes about 4 days normally but before this cold spell it was managing to keep the battery maintened and fully charged.