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

Like others on here I am a bit of a gadget freak and I have found another (somewhat cheaper) solution for battery monitoring that has some additional benefits. I purchased a Elm327 WiFi OBD Obd2 Car Diagnostic Scanner from Fleabay (plenty to choose from but I got the one pictured below which is available for £6.99 shipped from the UK or less if you are willing to wait for shipping from the Far East)

[img]http://tm-img.com/image/8vkvq[/img]

and the OBD Fusion App for my Iphone which can easily connect using Bluetooth to the Scanner which amongst other things allows monitoring of the battery voltage as shown in the Dashboard screenshot from OBD Fusion ( $9.99 from Apple’s App stores) shown Below:

[img]http://tm-img.com/image/8vtDh[/img]

In fact I originally got hold of this combination to allow me to clear the yellow/orange dashboard engine fault light that I had come on a couple of times on my Aeromax that according to Mark Middleton (he runs Middleton Motors in Upton on Severn, is a really nice helpful guy who is clearly very knowledgeable about Aeros) was probably triggered by me overfilling the petrol tank as he could find no engine fault codes with his OBD software when it first happened and so cleared the dashboard light. Needless to say since having this set up in place I have only had to clear the dashboard engine fault light a couple of times as I am now more careful about not overfilling the petrol tank. Nevertheless it is a useful and cheap setup for monitoring both battery and various other engine parameters that I thought I would share with anyone form this community that might be interested.

Another set of Screen shots from OBD Fusion with the Fault Code screen is shown below:

[img]http://tm-img.com/image/8v3gz[/img]



Enjoy

Talking to a client yesterday who told me his nearly new BMW was suffering from a flat battery. He took it to the dealer who advised the battery was weak.

He asked them to change it without a price check and unsure if it was a warranty item (it wasn't) and they charged him(no pun) £450.

They said it was £120 to test the old one + new battery + fitting and £120 to test the new one.

Writing this it still sounds unbelievable, but no reason to doubt him.

- Dick Turpin.......

The moral of the story is to change it yourself.

I once took my old MGB battery to Kennings to get it checked with the intention of buying a new one if needed. I knew the counter staff very well - I was there a lot.

The counter man brought the tester and was within an inch of connecting, when he said " That's not one of our batteries"
"I know" I said "I want it testing and if its gone I'll buy a new one"............
"I can't test it if its not our battery"

I went elsewhere for my new battery......................

Kennings didn't survive.

Remember it well !!
Asking for a part man disappears scratches his bum comes back and says don't have it
Both Leadmill Rd and later Fitzwilliam St

Regards

John

The parts men were the same whether in Sheffield, Doncaster or Rotherham.
Headley and Jack were at Rotherham. It would have made a great sitcom.

Has anyone ever worked out what the battery drain is on the Aero? Mine drains within 2 weeks if I forget to connect a ctek to it so it would be nice to solve the problem rather than treat the symptom.

From what I have read it seems to vary, sometimes a poor battery seems to cause a drain, other time its an audio or stereo installation.. etc.

Best bet it to get an auto electrician to find out.

My S2 had a wire trapped which was causing the drain.This leads to roughly a 1-2 week flatten.

The Coupe will not last a week unless plugged in however there are a number of security things fitted to locate it.

I also see issues with some of the dashboard indicator (windscreen, interior light, boot) staying on which would not help.

Best bet is to get a local specialist electrician to go through the fuses in the brain box in the engine room.