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It would appear that when, on Tuesday, I nipped out to the car for something, I didn't shut the door properly and the interior light was on for quite a while... So, when I went out to use it for the weekly shop earlier today, it wouldn't start, not a flicker of life.
I've ordered a charger/conditioner (I was going to anyway, what with the car hardly being used at the moment and probably the foreseeable future), but d'ya reckon the battery is goosed or salvageable/chargeable? It's fairly new, it was a replacement after a much older one was killed in a similar manner...
It should be OK. They don't like being fully discharged or left flat for ages but for a one off it shouldn't be a big deal.
The battery should certainly survive going flat - but modern batteries frequently don't respond well to domestic chargers once they've gone completely flat.
You're best option will be to get some charge into the battery by starting it with jumps leads and leaving it running for 30 minutes or so - and then connect the charger.
I learnt this when I did exactly the same thing a couple of months ago!
Any recommendations for tricky/conditioning/maintenance chargers?
Ctek chargers, use then at work to keep the spare batteries looked after. They ping the battery to see if it needs charging, rather than constantly trickle charging which can damage the battery
I'd been looking at CTEK. Do they have a manual mode as I need a power source for some rust removing electrolysis?
I did this to my Volvo. Took about 6 hours for the battery to refill (and stop/start became available again) but was fine afterward.
Not a recommendation as such, but this is the one I've ordered
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00E907Q4A/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Did exactly the same to my wife's Hyundai a month ago, Halfords smart charger borrowed from mechanic mate up the street, charged up fine. The battery is almost 7 years old so I thought it might be dead but now think I'll survive the summer at least..... Else a new battery would be sat doing sod all!
+1 for CTEK chargers. They have a conditioning mode which is meant to reverse any sulphation from running the battery flat. I have an MXS 5.0 and it's been great at saving a deep discharged battery a couple of times. You can also use it to trickle charge the battery if you want to keep it permanently connected and charged up:
https://www.ctek.com/products/vehicle/mxs-5-0
Do they have a manual mode as I need a power source for some rust removing electrolysis?
I don't think so, but probably best to check direct with them. I suspect the whole intelligent charger thing will rebel if you do that.
This sort of situation is pretty much a daily occurrence at work, where we can have up to 3500 cars on site at our busiest, and some cars can sit untouched for weeks if nobody’s interested in buying it. The worst are Kia Venga, they have a flaw in the interior boot light switch where, if the hatch isn’t closed firmly, the light stays on and the rather weedy little battery dies on its ass! It’s a matter of some rejoicing if it’s necessary to collect a Venga for a driver or transporter and the bloody thing starts!
Mercedes are worse, though; if a battery goes flat the entire management system has a collective breakdown and our tech bloke has to come and plug in a diagnostic system and try to reset it. Not always successfully, either; we’ve had two go out on transporters because they couldn’t be started, one couldn’t even be got out of ‘park’!
I wouldn’t buy a Mercedes under any circumstances.
IHN - I have done the same - got the Genius charger 7200 - the slighter higher amp one, but the same.
I found most were sold out on amazon and used ebay. No real surprise really, millions of cars suddenly lying up for a month or more. Worked well for me.
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Right, well, the charger arrived yesterday, but there's not enough voltage in the battery for it to kick in (needs a minimum 2V). So, I need to jump start it first like someone up there said ^. Jump leads ordered...
Still, the charger seems to be doing the business on the van battery in the meantime.
I discovered the hard way that the light on the vanity mirror on the sunshade on my subaru outback is hardwired to the battery with no switching.
leave the mirror open, and the battery will drain as flat as it can go....
I discovered this quite late at night at bristol airport after a week away. AA got me started and battery seems to have recovered fine. I was ultra conscious of not stalling on the drive home though.