Ok new ex stobbies truck today and after 2 hours of laptop been on and fridge 23v on guage… old truck 2 hours 24.3v truck b4 24.3v anyways scania comes out after i called them and said i seem to have far to much drainage than i have had in any other scania. Battery test is conducted these are 24v 1050a test at 1040a FAILED 900a FAILED 840A FAILED 820 PASS… recomendation by scania There fine get a few more months out of them before they die… Whats your thoughts im no battery expert… tests show cells were fine and full of batt water. Im sure if the battery says 1050a you should expect 1000a for a few years at least?
Thats what i said to TM but he said if there flat in the morning get up a bit earlier to check then well get scania back out. I dont get paid for break down so would be nice to hear that really they should have been changed i might be able to get paid or something for the extra time added to my day.
Bloody hate dodgy batteries, I’d want them changed. The cost of a flat battery aint just the call out, there is the loss off reputation, and if your on containers demurage once your late and you then get left to the back end off the day. Premium I had where i was before needed a new battery after about 3 yrs, Renault said if they only replaced the knackered one, they wouldnt guarentee the new one, so the boss replaced both. just got to make sense
Danny27404:
Thats what i said to TM but he said if there flat in the morning get up a bit earlier to check then well get scania back out. I dont get paid for break down so would be nice to hear that really they should have been changed i might be able to get paid or something for the extra time added to my day.
thats great business sense that , the words false economy spring to mind , but then again what do i know im only a steering wheel attendant
Ok, so we bought one of these fancy battery testers, as we aknowledge technology moves on.
Thing is, every battery we used it on was failed, even ones we knew to be good. It would fail a battery, we would fit it to a truck and it’d be spot on for years.
Maybe we weren’t using it right, who knows.
When I do jumpstarts (which I do a lot), first check the voltage in each battery before fitting leads.
If one battery is 6 volts and the other 10, then the lower one is usually bad and that drags the good one down.
Then, crack the caps off and check the water levels, if a cell is dry it won’t hold charge. Top up with distilled water if required.
Then, fit leads and wang the engine over 'til she fires up.
With the engine running, check the voltage across each battery then across both batteries. 13.5 - 14.5 volts in each, 27 - 29v across both is acceptable. Then out with the DC amp clamp, clamp onto the main power lead (the one connected to alternator) to check what the batteries are actually accepting.
If the batteries were very flat to start with (remember the voltage check before jumpstarting), I’d be expecting the alternator to be running flat out to charge the batteries, and the batteries to be pulling a high amperage. This amp clamp measures the amps the batteries are actually accepting.
If the charging voltage is right but the amps are low, it suggests the bats are past their prime, they’re not soaking up the power the alternator is providing.
To show up a bad cell, I just use a dropper. This usually means removing the batteries to check them, but it’s a check worth doing.
Under the load of the drop tester, if a cell gasses and bubbles, it’s knackered. It won’t hold a charge well and usually means the battery needs replacing.
Complicated for a jumpstart? Well, anyone can just stick a set of leads on
But doing the job properly shows up faults before they develop into further problems.
Your problem lies not in your batteries but what you said at the start of your second post, your tm. Not many outfits nowadays will change batteries if they can get away with a callout, esp if your outfit is on a r+m deal. Your gaffer will probably be arguing the toss with Scania that it was supplied with naff batteries so wants them changing foc.
Have you had any problems starting it though, just beacause it says such and such on your gauge doesn’t mean it won’t start, the first time they don’t start from normal off duty electrical usage then get both changed.
I had a night out in the yard not long back and deliberately didnt start the engine until after 9 hours parked to see how they would cope with using laptop and leaving fridge on for the whole time. Started no problem so hopefully I can bring my fuel consumption down now as used to run engine for 20 mins now and then to recharge batteries.
