Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Aero 8, 2012< Plus 8, SuperSports, Coupe & Aeromax S4 Battery Life

Just a quick update on my experience with the S4. Nope, I still haven't driven it since Janauray (and I've only seen it one to make sure it was still in the garage and the pigeons hadn't broken in again). However, as usual, went to turn the engine over last weekend and found it flat as a pancake.

Turns out the trickle charger wasn't quite plugged in properly, so having sat for 4+ weeks with no juice it had run itself completely flat.

Plugging the charger back in I was a little concerned, as the dashboard lit up like a fruit machine and the windows did a little jig of joy. However, just having charge like this isn't enough to start the car, so had to leave it charging.

Of course, with a recharge it's all happy as larry and everything is playing ball as it should (except the boot release but thats a long standing issue on this one - just ask Charles)...

My S1 was reasonably capable of retaining a charge over a few weeks on non use, but the S4 seems to drain the battery much faster.

I'm putting this down to the fact that the lights stay on on the dash (start button in particular) even when the keys are out of the ignition.

Anyone know if there is a way of putting in a switch to turn the dashlights off, but without stopping the power to any other essential systems (immobiliser / alarm etc?)

The Aeromax is atrocious,; you only have to look at it and the battery runs flat.

I've attributed that to the active tracker because everything else powers down after 5-minutes. Are you sure your start button doesn't turn off once the doors are locked and the car has has gone to sleep? The start button, iirc, should turn back on when you unlock the doors.

+1

And we don't have the facility to have a battery conditioner in our garage.

Ahh I guess I've never stood and watched - just assumed the light was always on (never seen it off unless it's flat).

In that case, must be the immobiliser.

Now there is a battery isolator switch under the hood which if flipped would I'm sure solve the flat battery issue, but would also render the alarm / immobilser inoperable, which isn't really ideal...

Sounds a bit like 'fridge light syndrome

That also resets the ECU, which isn't ideal.

Very true!

If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?

Absolutely. Though perhaps the light stays on when the car is on trickle charge? I've never seen it off though.

Couple of possiblities (to avoid standing inside the fride to check)..

a) Does the light stay on in a trickle charge set up?
b) If you leave the doors unlocked - does the light stay on (would explain this particular lack of charge perhaps?
c) Does the immobiliser take a lot of juice? Or is it something mechanical? (You can tell I'm a technical type can't you...)

Same issue on my Aeromax. I drive it week end only (Travelling the rest of the week for business) and if I don t cut the master switch, the battery is flat in five days

Flagged it to the dealer in France and Italy. Same answer, TADTS...

Quite annoying really

I have tried to trace a leak with a multimeter to no success so far. So, I bought a booster pack just in case

But it is a suboptimal answer

In my case, I can leave it for approximately 14-days without having problems with it starting - after that

Therefore, the CTEK XS3600 is my friend.

I think the variance will depend on the type of tracker you have (they all draw power from the car to stay powered up), what your stereo does when the car is off (they all draw power to keep their clock powered) and lastly, how much power the car draws as it stays asleep but waiting for you to press one of the remotes (obviously this means a draw).

Porsches are better but they have a similar issue.