# mystery dead battery issue.



## tonyvancity (Jan 2, 2017)

I installed a brand new battery in my 06 Xtrail about 6 months ago. The old one in the truck was there since i bought it back in 2015, so it was from 5 years or longer in service and had seen better days. 
Fast forward till about June 2020. I installed myself a pair of led Phaser accent lights. Nothing complicated, i just ran the wires and spliced them to my side marker lights. 
I have not been driving my Xtrail as pre Covid due to lack of work and often drive another vehicle , but i do start up my Xtrail and run t for a minute or so. Sometimes it would be every night, sometimes every 2-3-4 days. A few times i did not start for a week....and then i find out i had a dead battery. At first i chalked it up to having a door left open or maybe my plug in Dash Cam somehow drained the battery. It shouldn't tho, need to have the ignition on to accessory to power the dash cam thru the glove box cigar socket. 
I unplugged it the dash cam just to be on the safe side. That was about 3 weeks ago. Two weeks ago it was raining and my brother started up my Xtrail to roll up my windows as a favor for me. 
Today i went to go start up my truck and dead battery. The dome lights come on and i just assume i have somehow instigated a power source draw from somewhere.
Is it possible my wiring of the led lights was faulty and somehow draining the battery?.
The accent led lights are wired to the parking lights, so they will only turn on when i twist the head light stalk to the ON position. (it was turned off). 
All my doors were firmly shut, nothing was left turned on.
Should i assume the led accents (wiring) are to blame ?
I have my battery on trickle charger for at least 2 hours now, i'm heading back out to my car to disconnect it and see if the truck starts. Last time i did this it started up no problem ( i think about a month ago or so. Losing track of dates with this covid/dates blurring, blah blah.) .


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## tonyvancity (Jan 2, 2017)

**update: Truck started up no problemo. 
But it be nice to know if i have a wiring issue to deal with . I do not want to drive it one day to work, finish a shift and get stranded with a dead battery. *


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## otomodo (May 23, 2008)

IMO the problem was the everyday start.

My xtrail didn't move for a month(nice weather). Instead of trying to start it up, i charged it up. I moved it to the other side of the driveway with a full battery. 
One week later, weather forecast for this week was rain almost all week long, so i hoped my battery still got enough juice to crank it. It turned 1/4 of a turn and died on me.
Lucky me i had an 6 years old 330 cca battery from my hybrid in the garage that had enough juice to crank 3/4 of a turn and started it.

The battery on it is a 7 years old from walcrap that is lasting as long as the oem(8 years).

The battery needs to be charged by the system running on the road not idling. 
That's my thoughts 

Sent from my SM-A505W using Tapatalk


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## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

tonyvancity said:


> I installed a brand new battery in my 06 Xtrail about 6 months ago. The old one in the truck was there since i bought it back in 2015, so it was from 5 years or longer in service and had seen better days.
> Fast forward till about June 2020. I installed myself a pair of led Phaser accent lights. Nothing complicated, i just ran the wires and spliced them to my side marker lights.
> I have not been driving my Xtrail as pre Covid due to lack of work and often drive another vehicle , but i do start up my Xtrail and run t for a minute or so. Sometimes it would be every night, sometimes every 2-3-4 days. A few times i did not start for a week....and then i find out i had a dead battery. At first i chalked it up to having a door left open or maybe my plug in Dash Cam somehow drained the battery. It shouldn't tho, need to have the ignition on to accessory to power the dash cam thru the glove box cigar socket.
> I unplugged it the dash cam just to be on the safe side. That was about 3 weeks ago. Two weeks ago it was raining and my brother started up my Xtrail to roll up my windows as a favor for me.
> ...


The new battery may have one or more bad cells so it's not able to maintain full power capacity, so it runs down very quickly with several starts/stops.

Another possibility is that there's a parasitic draw somewhere in the system. Assuming the charging system voltage is ok and the battery is good, the next thing to do would be to have a parasitic draw test performed; there should not be more than a 50 milliamp draw on the system with the ignition switch in the "OFF" position. If there is a higher draw, you need to do some testing to find out where the draw is coming from. Remove fuses one at a time until the draw goes away or falls into acceptable range.


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## X-hale (Apr 17, 2017)

I tend to be with rogoman on this, bad battery. Is there somewhere nearby to have it tested, Lorco perhaps or even Crappy Tire. Draw test is next.
Starting and running it for a minute is actually not a good idea. You either have to start it and drive it until the engine is hot or not at all. Wear is highest on a cold engine and short runs cause all sorts of other issues like condensation.


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## tonyvancity (Jan 2, 2017)

*ahhh, thanks for the advice guys. I understand it be probably be best to start up the vehicle and just drive it around for 5 minutes or more. Normally, when i'm working full time , the vehicle of course gets started up and driven everyday. It's a good thing my ex neighbor gave us his near brand new trickle charger when he sold and moved out of his house about 8 months ago. So far i have had to use it about 3 times. I may take the battery out and either drive it over to Cnd Tire or Lordco and ask to have it tested. But i am leaning more towards as you guys mentioned it just needs to start and drive my Xtrail rather just start, idle for a minute and shut off. *


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## Fisch2 (Oct 2, 2020)

I've had my T30 for 15 years and never found why it eats batteries just sitting there. Embarrassing and expensive when arriving at the airport having left it in the car park for a week or so. For several years now, when leaving the car, I unhook the battery and then it's fine. I even bought a special battery terminal for a Peugeot and fitted it - it allows the terminal to be removed and replaced by hand - no wrench or screw driver needed. It's a "feature"! The fact that this method works proves that something in the car is using the energy, but what? I think I've checked everything.


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## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

Fisch2 said:


> I've had my T30 for 15 years and never found why it eats batteries just sitting there. Embarrassing and expensive when arriving at the airport having left it in the car park for a week or so. For several years now, when leaving the car, I unhook the battery and then it's fine. I even bought a special battery terminal for a Peugeot and fitted it - it allows the terminal to be removed and replaced by hand - no wrench or screw driver needed. It's a "feature"! The fact that this method works proves that something in the car is using the energy, but what? I think I've checked everything.


It's very possible that there's a parasitic draw on the battery. Assuming the charging system voltage is ok and the battery is good, the next thing to do would be to have a parasitic draw test performed; there should not be more than a 50 milliamp draw on the system with the ignition switch in the "OFF" position. If there is a higher draw, you need to do some testing to find out where the draw is coming from. Remove fuses one at a time until the draw goes away or falls into acceptable range.


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## tonyvancity (Jan 2, 2017)

''a parasitic draw on the battery ''......that's what i'm thinking. I was mystified why this happened twice so i was googling and altho i have not found any answers other then as you suggest to test for a parasitic draw, someone mentioned that new (and used) vehicles sometimes sit on dealership parking lots for weeks or longer unsold and they start up. 
Or is there something that they do to prevent dead batteries as vehicles sit on the lot and await customers to test drive them? I can't imagine they have their lot boys disconnect the battery terminals on every vehicle and reconnect the moment the salesmen needs to get it started for a test drive....or maybe they do?


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