Cause for Alarm!?

[Arthur]

Went to start up our 2007 3.0 Alphie today but the battery was completely flat. ☹️ Thankfully the jump start pack which I’d purchased for such an eventuality worked impeccably. 👍However, there is now a beep, beep, beep, pause sound emanating from the right hand side of the driver’s footwell.
 

The ‘alarm’ stops when the ignition is started but starts again as soon as the engine is turned off. I’ve had the car since February 2022 and have not encountered this problem previously (but the battery has never been flat before).

 

Before I seek the services of an auto electrician can anyone advise whether they have encountered a similar problem or suggest what the problem maybe - something that needs to be reset perhaps following reconnection of a re charged battery?
 

I’m hoping someone can prove just how smart our fellow forum members are.

[Rojie]

13 hours ago, Arthur said:

Went to start up our 2007 3.0 Alphie today but the battery was completely flat. ☹️ Thankfully the jump start pack which I’d purchased for such an eventuality worked impeccably. 👍However, there is now a beep, beep, beep, pause sound emanating from the right hand side of the driver’s footwell.
 

The ‘alarm’ stops when the ignition is started but starts again as soon as the engine is turned off. I’ve had the car since February 2022 and have not encountered this problem previously (but the battery has never been flat before).

 

Before I seek the services of an auto electrician can anyone advise whether they have encountered a similar problem or suggest what the problem maybe - something that needs to be reset perhaps following reconnection of a re charged battery?
 

I’m hoping someone can prove just how smart our fellow forum members are.

 

 

Hello Roger,

 

A few things spring to mind.

 

Firstly, it is essential that all owners ensure their 12v starter batteries are in vey good condition and fully charged.

Otherwise Gremlins start to manifest themselves.

 

Secondly, ensure your room lights (mood) lights are off.

They can be difficult to detect when on a low setting, in daylight, or if you are in a rush.

Do you have driving lights fitted? They should be wired through the ignition circuit, but sometimes they aren't !

 

I have a small voltmeter that fits into the facia cigarette socket which enables me to check battery status, even under load, and ensure that the alternator is performing it's duties.

[Arthur]

Hi. The room lights were off when power was restored and I don’t have non-factory fitted driving lights.  Something had drained the ignition battery entirely as nothing worked for about 20 minutes after I jump started and the charge level improved through the alternator.

 

I have a battery condition meter in the camper conversion which showed that the ignition battery was on zero whilst the leisure battery was on max. We’d been to Anglesey and back twice the previous week so everything should have been tickety boo and I had a new battery fitted by Calder Campers when we got the vehicle 18 months ago.

 

Whether the ‘alarm’ is being generated by the current drainer or whether there is something else causing the drain I don’t know but nothing had been accidentally left on. The car came with an after market ‘remote auto starter’ (20 page instruction booklet in Japanese 🤷‍♂️) which I have never used but is obviously still connected and whether this is the guilty party only the auto electrician will be able to tell me. I’ll check to see if the car starts today and update the forum with investigation results.

[Jenny Smedley]

This is tricky because lots of things go wrong if you have to disconnect the battery either to charge it or change it. For instance has anyone come across the anomaly with the remote window opener/closer for all windows bar the drivers one? We found out that after you reconnect the battery you have to open each window with it's own button, holding it for a few seconds after the window stops moving. Then the remote controls from the driver's seat will all work. It's funny because one of the remotes has never worked, and the dealer would have changed it for us, but we decided we didn't want long drives back and forth to do it - he obviously didn't know this trick (which is in the handbook actually although we never noticed it before).  Now all the remote buttons work, so the original Japanese battery did us a favour by failing. 

Does anyone know any other little useful tricks for after battery removal?

We're also wondering why we didn't lose our radio again - if that was caused by battery disconnection during shipping, why didn't it happen this time?

[Jenny Smedley]

How do you keep your battery charged without disconnecting it and causing these issues?

[Rojie]

4 hours ago, Jenny Smedley said:

This is tricky because lots of things go wrong if you have to disconnect the battery either to charge it or change it. For instance has anyone come across the anomaly with the remote window opener/closer for all windows bar the drivers one? We found out that after you reconnect the battery you have to open each window with it's own button, holding it for a few seconds after the window stops moving. Then the remote controls from the driver's seat will all work. It's funny because one of the remotes has never worked, and the dealer would have changed it for us, but we decided we didn't want long drives back and forth to do it - he obviously didn't know this trick (which is in the handbook actually although we never noticed it before).  Now all the remote buttons work, so the original Japanese battery did us a favour by failing. 

Does anyone know any other little useful tricks for after battery removal?

We're also wondering why we didn't lose our radio again - if that was caused by battery disconnection during shipping, why didn't it happen this time?

 

It is standard that windows, and the moonroof, will need resetting after a battery disconnection.

It is not an anomaly.

 

Depending on how long your battery is disconnected, you will need to reset the clock too, as could be anticipated.

 

Batteries can be charged in situ.

A decent battery can be recharged by about 20 minutes idling.

 

Japanese FM radios will not normally work in the UK, except to receive Radio 2.

This is because the FM frequency bands used are different. with only a small overlap.

So this not an anomaly either.

Frequency shifters can be used to compensate, with varying degrees of success.

 

I re-iterate, for all owners, it is essential to keep your 12V starter battery fully charged, especially as autumn is approaching and the throughout winter.

 

I always keep an 'old' battery on trickle charge for jumping or substitution, should the need for either arise.

 

 

[Jenny Smedley]

Thanks, We don't have a moonroof, the clock did need re-setting. We already found a hack on how to re-start the radio if you don't have a password, which worked beautifully. And yes one station is all we need now that we can play CDs.
So, you can charge without disconnecting - to make sure I have it right. That's great thanks.

Good idea to keep a spare.

As for the door locks - the remote button never worked since we had the car. But it could be it needed re-setting ever since it came off the boat - how to we re-set it, do you know?

 

Anomaly may have been the wrong word, but it still needs re-setting whatever you call it. 

Edited October 8, 2023 by Jenny Smedley

[Rojie]

56 minutes ago, Jenny Smedley said:

Thanks, We don't have a moonroof, the clock did need re-setting. We already found a hack on how to re-start the radio if you don't have a password, which worked beautifully. And yes one station is all we need now that we can play CDs.
So, you can charge without disconnecting - to make sure I have it right. That's great thanks.

Good idea to keep a spare.

As for the door locks - the remote button never worked since we had the car. But it could be it needed re-setting ever since it came off the boat - how to we re-set it, do you know?

 

Anomaly may have been the wrong word, but it still needs re-setting whatever you call it. 

 

Yes you can charge without disconnection, although it is better to disconnect.

 

Ensure Ignition is OFF. 

 

Whichever you do; make ABSOLUTELY sure you do not make any reverse polarity connections; even for a moment.

If you do, the main 100A (or so) fuse will blow. Not good news !

 

After you have disconnected your battery a few times, you will soon getting the hang off resetting the windows.

[Arthur]

So… disconnected the negative terminal on the car battery and left for 15 minutes to ensure all capacitors drained. Reconnected, and left ignition in position 1 for another 15 minutes then started the engine and took the car for a 30 minute blast up the motorway. Got back and turned off. No alarm sounding. No idea what the alarm was nor original cause for the battery to drain but everything seems to be ok 🤞

[Geralt]

Thanks for letting us know the outcome.