Her new toy is dead already !!

[s1ghthound01]

The wifes new toy is Dead, She took her little Elan Se for a 20 mile run, came back parked it in the garage and three days later the battery is dead as a dodo, my mate went over and checked the battery which is only a couple of months old and it had 1 volt in it, he also checked to see that no lights or anything had been left on and all were ok. Any ideas.

[daveiow]

Fairly common problem but a bit excessive after only 3 days, takes mine a good fortnight to flatten the battery.
If after examination, the boot light staying on can be an issue, wiring in a battery saver is recommended if you have mains power in your garage.
daveiow

[dapinky]

There are a couple of 'usual suspects' for this....

1) If the alarm is draining too much power it can flatten the battery (but 3 days is ridiculous for that one)

2) The boot light can sometimes remain on when the lid is closed (sensitive switch) - this can be best checked by shutting your phone in the boot with the video record function operating - if it can still 'see', then the light is probably on!

- these tests assume that the battery itself is holding 'good' charge, and the altenator is working.

Personally, I'd have the battery tested first, then remove one of the leads from the boot lamp (spade connector) to dissable it (if that *may* be the fault) and then test the voltage after 24 hours (or check for current draw between the battery and the primary lead).

If there is a significant current draw with everything 'switched off', it will be a case of trial and error to find the faulty circuit (unless anyone with more knowledge comes along with anything worth checking first - I'm not an electrician, and try to avoid the 'black magic' of auto electrics)

Edit - beaten to it by Dave.

Also worth thinking about (if you have no easy mains supply to the car) is a solar panel wired to the battery and left on the dashboard - that's what I use, and it hasn't let me down yet! (but it will not help if the battery is really cr@p or the current loss is more than the panel can supply).

[HJ2]

Wow! An Elan-Hybrid!

[theelanman]

my battery collapsed earlier this year......
been running fine for about 2 years.....I also have a dis-car-nect thing for when its sorn over the winter so that I always have charge when I come to start it
this time I came back to it.....engaged the dis-car-nect and nothing......tried charging it...nothing.....
had it on charge for 10 hours and nothing.....
took it back to the garage.....they tested it......absolutely nothing....
replaced free of charge as it was still under warranty......

I start by checking the battery....mine wouldn't even take a charge......so was U/S

[GeoffSmith]

I know you said all the lights, but did you check the interior lights? Make sure the light switch is pushed in.

[theelanman]

I know you said all the lights, but did you check the interior lights? Make sure the light switch is pushed in.

ah yes.....the push n pull headlight switch......I always forget about that one.....

[epipete]

I suggest it's not 'Dead' not even 'moribund', perhaps 'comatose'!

In addition to the wise suggestions above, there is a thread which might help:
viewtopic.php?f=37&t=22942&p=289368&hilit=Parasitic#p289368

This time of year I'm often having to recharge the battery (though not on 3 days notice) in my case it's because the radio is connected to the main feed so is always live (even when switched off) and the alarm also takes a continuous drain. Do you have anything else that could be 'live' heated seats, cd changer - patently, these are low drain so Im kinda clutching at straws.

Good luck

[Scott J]

my alarm and radio would drain the battery if left inn the garage though not in 3 days, maybe 7-10 days.

[tweetdriver63]

I'm not an expert on electrics, but I think if you connect an ammeter to the battery you might be able to isolate the problem. With everything off and the doors closed, check to see if there's a significant current. Then, start pulling and resetting fuses one at a time. Hopefully, there'll be one that will cause a big drop in the current when you pull it. Your problem would be on that circuit. You may want to do this with the hood down so you have a little room to move. I'd start with the fuses in the footwell because they're the easiest to get to, then in the dash, then don't forget there are a couple behind the seat. All this, of course, after checking the easy stuff like the boot light.

[Steve A]

Good posting that man

[lotusflasherman]

Standard Battery in Elan is '50 ampere-hours at 20hr rating' - which in plain English means it should be able to deliver 2.5 amps for 20 hrs before it reaches it's 'discharge voltage' of 10.5V,- what we'd call flat . The point at which it will struggle to crank the engine to start it can be before that though, depending on battery quality/condition . Note that 2.5 amps at 12 volts is 30 watts so battery has capacity to deliver 30 watts for 20 hours before 10.5V is reached. Boot lamp is 10 watt bulb (so takes just over 800mA) so will discharge the battery in 60 hours. (1/3rd current last 3 times as long). Take a lead off a battery terminal and connect an ammeter between the terminal and that lead and see what current is draining when 'everything is switched off'.

Note that certain items are always draining the battery - clock, radio/stereo/ICE (to maintain the station presets and security code), the alarm/immobiliser system and any tracker fitted need power to keep working. LED clock in Elan is negligible but some aftermarket ICE have a significant drain on the battery, in the order of 60mA, and some alarm systems can be up to 100mA with interior scanners etc. Not a lot but they all add up and many cars parked at an airport for a week need a jump start.

Lotus also use diodes in tricky places like headlamp lifting circuits and I had a devil of a job on my Lotus Eclat. A diode should pass current one way and block it the other but with age they can go 'soft' and allow a discharge in the direction that should be blocked. On my Eclat I had a battery discharge problem and traced it to a circuit with diodes in that I could see on the wiring diagram but finding it in the car was a nightmare - I was upside down in the front footwells for several days - I believe it's called The Lotus Position! I haven't checked the Elan wiring diagram for diodes but they are shown as an arrowhead pointing at a bar, something like this --->|---- and current should flow in the direction of the arrow.

If your battery is down to 1 or 2 volts it may not recover from a standard charge cycle but I highly recommend Ctek chargers ..www.ctek.com/gb/en/chargers/MXS%205.0
I bought one of these a year ago and it's brought back to life several old 'dead batteries' I planned to dump and has a brilliant range of accessories - such as a dash indicator and socket that is permanently connected to the inaccessible Elan battery. I have one fitted to my Elan and can leave the charger permanently connected for periods when I'm not using it - it will monitor the voltage and put in a boost only when needed and revert to monitoring mode but won't overcharge and cause electrolyte loss like most chargers. When I want to drive I unplug from the dashboard socket and away I go. Not particularly cheap but worth every penny!!!