So true. Issues like this is why JLR and JLR dealers lose loyal customers. Rather than do the right thing, they stick me with buying a new $500 battery since my wife drives this Defender and I don't want her stranded. Nonsense like this will have me test driving a GX550 before I buy another Defender. And that won't be long since I'm not keeping either of our Defenders past the warranty period. Although it appears that warranty doesn't really apply to the whole vehicle anyway.

 

My dealer (Land Rover Santa Fe) stated that they would replace it under warranty - it's booked to get replaced this Saturday. I did run a battery health test and it passed, in terms of available cranking amps, but the voltage doesn't hold even overnight. The only thing I haven't checked is current draw when the vehicle is off. Excessive current draw would obviously discharge even a healthy battery.

 

We had this issue with my wife's Evoque. When we drove to dealer the battery charged enough that it would pass the LR battery test.

So the dealer kept the Evoque overnight (and gave us a loaner). The battery failed after sitting overnight and it was replaced under warranty.

My dealer (Knauz Illinois) knew about this battery test issue and how to solve. Their service department is excellent.

 

New to the forum.

​​​​​ I have recently purchased a new 2023 P400. I travel for work, away for a few days at a time, always parking my defender in a parade at the airport. Three times (yesterday being the third time) in the last month that I've returned to a the defender and had some form of battery drain problem requiring roadside assistance or a "battery power save mode" with accompanying removal of power steering and lane assist warning - which thanks to this forum I was able to correct by disconnecting the negative terminal. Yesterday was a completely dead (had to open doors with the emergency key contained in the FOB) battery. If yesterday's incident was the only one, I would forgive the situation, it a chilly -30c here and the vehicle is cold soaked. But the preceding two events and the fact that yesterday the battery was completely lifeless prevents me from entertaining this as an excuse.
is there something I'm missing about shutting down and locking the defender that might keep the defenders electrical system running.

I am suspect of one thing, I have an android phone and the defender will not disconnect until I close and lock the doors. If I just close the doors, Android auto (pivi ?) stay connected to my phone seemingly forever. I'll be in the house 20minutes after parking and my phone will activate in the house with Android auto and blue tooth attached to the defender if I'm close enough to the garage.

A friend bought me a journal so I would have something to do for the times I'm waiting for roadside assistance. He said he used to own a land rover and found a journal to be therapeutic🤦.

 

Mine, after a 30 minute interstate drive and 30 minutes off road gave me another battery warning after being in the field for about an hour. The battery is just too small and the charging system is inadequate. It looks as if I will be replacing the battery again, #4. This means the battery replacement frequency is 4 times the oil change requirement. My wife's Evoque is on its second in a year. This issue is not just JLR, it is all the new 'High Tech" cars out there. The charging and storage system is just not up to the demands, in the real world, of all the electronics.

As for the airport problem. My service tech told me that airport failures are rampant. You see anytime anybody with a key fob operating in the same frequency range the Land Rover or Range Rover is (Kind of nearly all cars now). If they click their fob to unlock their car, it awakens all the cars within range. Not un-locking them just making them open their little electronic eyes and await their unique signal. This happens, literally hundreds of times a day, in airport lots. It is draining batteries of loads of cars as they perk up hoping their masters are near. Kind of why I have a set of solar panels I plug into the OBD port (it is always hot) and place over the sunscreen when I park at the airport. Volkswagen was shipping their cars with a solar panel from the factory to put in their cars at the distributor lots. They where dying that frequently.

 

There is a service bulletin for MY 21-22 Defenders. Perhaps it's something similar on the MY23. The symptoms you and many others on here describe, match the issue perfectly.

N811 -Door Zone Module- Quiescent Drain

 

You know, you may be on to something there. One of the symptoms of that is the back up cam not switching off after backing. Mine takes forever to get out of backup view mode. Kind of nauseating after a while to watch that. It was on my list of things to get done at the dealer next time I roll down the mountain to civilization. That and yet another battery, along with the whiney warning it will need service in 1,000 miles and counting. I've already done the service. Yes, I know there is the cute turn it on with the hood popped, hit the brake and then the gas kind of thing, while in the accessory mode to make the service reminder (more like nagging) go away. I just want them to do it.

My service advisor, who I have known for at least a decade now. He was showing me the new 130 with all the "Safari" crap on it, along with wraps and stickers. There were doing some kind of promo outdoorsy thing with it and some others with JLR North America. He knows I actually work out in the field, all over the world. I told him to have them deliver one to me in April to Windhoek in Namibia and we will film the hell out of it and do an actual real life work adventure with it. Well that will never happen. Just the usual advert fantasy film is all they will ever do. Nope, anther POS Hilux, with regular road tires and a camper back. The e'ffing Hilux has this really annoying electric warning squeal that comes on anytinme you go over 80 kph! After two months, never found a way to disable it aside from an icepick in the speaker. Thank god for noise cancelling EarPods, These trucks are not immune to battery problems either. The last Hilux totally fried its secondary battery, the ground post along with the entire corner melted off (Varta Battery)! So much for our cold box.

 

Will not fix the battery issue, but I carry a NOCO portable lithium jump starter (minimum 1750A, Amazon) with me at all times now, in all my cars. I have not had issue with my Defenders but any new car that sits of over two weeks and you usually need help. Like you folks, learned the hard way.

 

I di put this battery in the only spot I could find for a second batter, it is as big as I could get in there. However, after a bit of thought, I found that this was most like a stupid idea anyhow in the long run. Instead I shoved it in an extra Pelican case, along with a 65W USB port and a 12v port. If you plug it into the 12V outlet in back, it charges, along with the regular battery. If your low, turn the car on, but not start it and the two batteries level each other, allowing you to start after 5-10 minutes. The really big plus side is I can use it to power equipment in the field. It is about 20% the size of the Bluetti power solar generator thing. It does not pull my arm out of my shoulder socket when I pick it up and, it cost $40, plus $15 for the USB thing. It will power up the GNSS base station transmitter for a couple of days. I am putting this sticker on the base station, cannot resist.