92 SL1 Battery draw in cold weather

Discussion in 'Saturn S-series' started by Erik, Feb 27, 2006.

  1. Erik

    Erik Guest

    I'm in Canada (Ottawa) and in the winter I'm having quite a bit of problems with
    the battery. The alternator is pretty new so this is not the problem. I had the
    battery checked few days ago and at the store they said that it was ok (but I
    still think it might be the cause).
    The battery goes completly flat in 5 days and after a cold weekend, it doesn't
    have enough power to start the car.
    I measured the draw and there is 10ma static draw. This is still less than other
    people reported. I looked more in details the source of the draw and 7ma comes
    from "Chimes". This doesn't sound normal to me and I think the chime/temporal
    module might be dead.
    Did anyone else experience something similar?

    Thanks

    Erik.
     
    Erik, Feb 27, 2006
    #1
  2. Erik

    SnoMan Guest

    How old is the battery? They do go bad but for some reason people tned
    not to replace them when problem arise. In a cold climate, peak
    performance is needed and it can loose it quicker in a cold climate.
    Sound like battery has reached the end of its survice life and in
    leaking current internally.
     
    SnoMan, Feb 27, 2006
    #2
  3. Erik

    shoppa Guest

    Is that in 5 days with no driving done at all? Or maybe 5 days with
    only really short trips (like under a few miles total?) I'm thinking
    that your alternator isn't really charging it much if any.
    A car battery has a capacity measured at around a hundred Amp-hours. It
    should be able to provide that 10mA for most of a year before it goes
    dead. (Self-discharge will be a much bigger factor.)

    It's also possible that there's some much larger intermittent drain
    that you never catch in action.

    Tim.
     
    shoppa, Feb 27, 2006
    #3
  4. Erik

    SnoMan Guest


    Actauly a 10ma load would deplete the battery in about about 6 to 8
    month assuming no internal leakage in battery but all batteies leake
    at least a few ma's even when new so the time will likeys be less. I
    suspect that battery is near the end of its life and time and energy
    would be better spent replacing it rather than looking for gremlins.
     
    SnoMan, Feb 27, 2006
    #4
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