My Defender has under 1000 km on it , it sits for a week at a time and the battery is drained to a point where the alert is activated. I had to put it on a charger twice now. Also battery drained when I went camping for two days from just opening & closing the doors. I am thinking it’s a dud battery from the factory.

 

Yes, I agree a bad or poorly connected battery in the most likely cause. It is the least expensive fix, so is always the first thing to do repair-wise.

Just checking to make sure that your charger is for an AGM battery .. not a traditional lead-acid one? A lead-acid charger will destroy an AGM battery by over-charging it (been there, done that). When deeply discharged the AGM takes a while to charge .....

 

@Hovdebo - One thing to be aware of is that if you leave the keys in it, it's known to drain the battery. No idea why, but something is turned on when the key is in the vehicle. I know many who just leave their keys in their vehicles once they are in the garage, for instance. If you are leaving it in there, you may want to either get a faraway(sp?) cage/pouch for them or pull the keys when exiting. If you don't leave the keys in it, I'm out of ideas!

 

That's a Faraday cage.

 

As part of my recent failed alternator debacle, the battery was also found to be sub-par. Dealership replaced it with a new one as factory one wasn't up to snuff. Not holding charge. I'd ask for/get a swap out

 

Sounds actually normal to me. Whenever a door is opened up, 20+ computers fire up. That takes a lot of juice. U can turn off interior lights by touching and holding the front upper light for 20 seconds or so. I also leave a door propped open when camping to prevent this. I put mine on a charger every month or so. I do this with all my rovers. Short trips never fully charge the battery.

At least is tells you when the battery is low instead of killing it completely.

Also, good idea to have a lithium jump pack whenever camping in case it does die. My buddies LR4 died frequently while camping.

Microstart is the best brand in my opinion but any large pack will do. Very compact and really works. I was skeptical at first but have jumped many trucks with mine.

[url=http://Micro Start XP-10 (Latest Model) with Carry Case - Mini Car/Truck Jump Starter with 600 Cranking Amps - Jumps a Diesel Truck - 18,000 mAh to Charge Electronic Devices & Cell Phones [ame]https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09JV6CMYH/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_C5YRMJYRTCAV8M2K5TYW]http://Micro Start XP-10 (Latest Model) with Carry Case - Mini Car/Truck Jump Starter with 600 Cranking Amps - Jumps a Diesel Truck - 18,000 mAh to Charge Electronic Devices & Cell Phones https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09JV6CMYH/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_C5YRMJYRTCAV8M2K5TYW[/ame]

 

Thanks that’s good to know!

 

I never left the keys in the car but the activity key was in the glove box, don’t know if that would activate anything???

 

After 3 jump starts on camping trips I can confirm that if you camp beside the vehicle (and you have keyless entry) you must double lock the vehicle and wrap your key (or activity key) in aluminium foil. You could leave the door ajar, but I've found sometimes funny things fire up like the air blower after a few hours. When the tail lights switch on randomly in the middle of the night, get ready for a jump start in the morning. One trick if you want access to the vehicle is to put a carabiner in the lock, say in the barn door lock then double lock, but you still need to wrap the key if you are sleeping within a few metres of the car. It's a PITA to wrap the key but I find that if I don't do it, it's constantly communicating and drawing amps. I tried pulling the KVM fuse but that disables entry altogether so don't do that unless you want to manually open the drivers door which you can only do with the key, not the activity key. I haven't yet even had a low battery warning since I started wrapping the key. Unfortunately you can't turn off the activity key, that would also solve the problem... and removing the battery from the key is more fiddly than wrapping it.

 

So new-er owner here - I've seen Simons (PowerfulUK) videos on amp draw by just opening the rear door/tailgate (11A!) and his maths about how fast that'll kill your batt.

So the question : has anyone figured out how to install a switch that makes the car think the rear door is shut? (while actually it's open so you're not waking up pivi every single time you want to grab or access something.)

*and yea, I don't care about interior lights - I have a headlamp that I'm happy to use if this solves the battery drain risk. lol.

And an alternate question : putting a carabeaner in the D loop of the rear door is a workable idea - but how long till the system stops pulling 11 amps while the door is open?

Appreciate any info!