Hi Guys
I am new on here but I need help and advice I have a Scania r440 series on a 60 plate and its going through batteries like anything .
I have spoken to other operators and it seems it could be a problem has any one on here suffered with this problem or know anyone who has and rectified it.
Fitted with genuine Scania Varta batteries replaced with Varta after market 180ah still having problems?
Strangely you have taken me back to a 143 many years ago with the same problem,it ate batteries and Scania kept replacing them with their bonafide batteries till
my own fitter said try something else and we did,never had to replace another battery.Basically seems after all these years Scania batteries are still crap,amazing.
It sounds as though you have something draining them or a dodgy alternator. Easiest way to check is to ensure they are fully charged, park it for a night and recheck the voltage in the morning, if it drops then you have a drain, if not then it’s something that happens when it is running. First place to look is the alternator, if that’s good then you have a drain whilst it’s running. In the case of a drain you can try isolating certain things until you find the culprit, or better still get it into an auto electricians, don’t go to Scania, you want a specialist on the case.
Apparently a nokia 3310 charger will kill scania batteries within 2.456 seconds.
bubsy06:
Apparently a nokia 3310 charger will kill scania batteries within 2.456 seconds.
lol
I took the faulty batteries off charged and used on another truck for a couple of weeks no problem put back on the scania and two weeks later flat again.
No apparent drain just flat.
Then RAM you take the wisdom Newmercman has given freely and find yourself a specialist electrician.
The two weeks bit is odd, seems like they are being under charged.
Can you get volts on dash when motor is running? Should be more than 27 volts.
A quick test of the alternator is to crank up the windows with the engine off and then with it running, if there’s a big difference in speed the alternator is NFG 
Take it to an specialist Auto Electrician, they will put the vehicle on test overnight connected to a device that will detect any problems.
Gotta be alternator I’d say, you can get a heavy duty alternator for scania’s.
As its a scania its probably all those extra spots its got fitted on the roof bar and low bar 
My R440 was a bugger for batteries and the dealer just washed their hands of it. Within three months of it being brand new the batteries wouldn’t last a 24 hour break with light use. Never did get solved, just had to run it every few hours.
I would suspect the alternator under-charging also. Not aware of anything but may be some ‘intelligent’-charging type system, to allegedly improve fuel economy, gone awry.
As a temp saver on batteries, if an option, plug into a conditioning smart charger when parked or if tramping it may be possible to rig it up with a solar panel.
Check for corroded/loose wiring between alternator out put and starter motor feed stud.
If there is a high resistance you will still get charge voltage (28.5 ish) but a low current flow back up to the batteries.Also check alternator out put with an ampmeter in circuit(0- 200 amp meter)If one of the alternator phases is down you will still get full charge voltage but very low current flow.
Easiest meter to use is a high current induction clamp type then you dont have to break into the circuit.