The battery on my Seicento S (51 reg) keeps draining power. The battery itself is new but I am getting only about a month's running when it gets harder and harder to start then nothing at all. If it's left for more than a day it's flat. Can anyone help please?

Check the alternator isnt on its way out

What sort of driving are you doing?

Standard stereo or aftermarket?

Cheers

D

I'm only using the car in (small) town for shopping etc and probably doing about 2-3 miles a day. It's hardly used at weekends, but since I've had this problem I've been driving it around just to keep the battery charged, not always with any success.

The stereo is the one it came with - presume its standard.

2 to 3 miles a day is not enough to recharge the battery after a start.

Worth checking that there isn't a draw.

Cheers

D

Thanks for your advice. I can't understand why it's happening with this car. I had a Cinquecento for 8 years before I got this Seicento, doing exactly the same kind of running, and it never once let me down. It's why I decided to get another small Fiat. Wish I'd kept it

as said the alternator might not be charging correctly. mine was dead and no warning lights came on at all. so worth a check with the multi meter.

This might sound silly, but are you sure the stereo is actually turned off and not just turned down?

the way cinq and sei stereos are wired up as standard, they will still run with the engine off, key at stop or out and all other electrics off, some people do a slight mod to the wires so the stereo turns off with the ignition, partly to avoid this happening.

Sounds to me like it's definitely the Alternator. With the keys out of the ignition there should be nothing that can drain the battery (unless there is something displayed on the dash, i.e. the media player is on, or of course the lights if it's an older model).

only the stereo stays on when the key is out everything else is dead.

also does your car have a car alarm? mine drains the battery in 2-3 days if i have the alarm on and i dont use it. just thinking your old one might not have had a alarm as there more common on sei's

Does the ignition light come on at pos 1?

Cheers

D

I thought it was the stereo to begin with, although I always switch it off and remove the front panel. There is a red light behind the panel which stays on, so power is obviously still going there. Ignition comes on as normal but when I'm turning it over the lcd display flickers, there's one or two 'chugs' then nothing, though warning lights still illuminated. I'll have the alternator checked out - hope that solves it. Thanks everyone.

clock34 said:

also does your car have a car alarm? mine drains the battery in 2-3 days if i have the alarm on and i dont use it.

Click to expand...

that CANT be good. my car has an alarm (an OK £50 ebay one) radio thats got a constant live, my DVR power supply wired in and my boost controller is constantly fed.

only draws a few mA and think the longest ive not started it for was 2weeks and it started fine

Nellie K said:

I thought it was the stereo to begin with, although I always switch it off and remove the front panel. There is a red light behind the panel which stays on, so power is obviously still going there. Ignition comes on as normal but when I'm turning it over the lcd display flickers, there's one or two 'chugs' then nothing, though warning lights still illuminated. I'll have the alternator checked out - hope that solves it. Thanks everyone.

Click to expand...

Ah, remove, abrade, refit and seal all earths.

Cheers

D

yeh not good. not using the alarm now anyways as the fob is dead... might be different with the new bat. might be worth me checkin lol

As evryone else has said, check your'e alternator.
I found that out the hard way, just ask Steve (clock34) LOL.
Phne round any scrappies near you and change the Alternator, make sure your'e current one hasn't seized like mine did.
Once again Steve & Ming. Thanks for getting the Sei started for me.

One of my Shumachers has been suffering from the same battery drain for some time now so I decided to check it out.
The battery would go flat after about 4/5 days so I fitted a new battery (unknown brand). I still had problems after six months so had the battery replaced under guarantee (not enough cranking Amps) with a known brand. I noticed the same problem after a few months so went and bought a Bosch. Noticed the same problem.

Tests:
CD player used 150mA on standby.(ignition off).
Alarm uses 30mA when set.
Car uses close to nothing with ignition off.
Alternator produces 14.13V at tick over.

Battery is a 40A/h -25% for self loss =30A/h.
180mA x 24hour = 4.32A/h.
30 / 4.32 = 6.95 Days.

I dont know how good the charging regulators in the alternators are, But you can bet they are nothing like the 3/5 stage leisure battery chargers that charge to 95+% capacity.

So. If the battery is only charging to 75% then a 40A/h battery will be 30A/h at full charge?
30A/h -25% self discharge =22.5 A/h.

From the early mathmatics.
22.5A/h / 4.32A/h (in 24 hours) = 5.2 days from a fully charged battery.
So, The 4/5 day flat battery problem could be correct?

Conclusion is:
The battery won't get fully charged unless you drive for many hours non stop and may only charge to 75% of the capacity of a good battery.

Check the current uses of each device you install.