starting and charging problems

[Daitona]

hello together,

i have bought an evora gulf edition new two weeks ago, nice car and after two porsche and an exige 350 sport a more comfortable choice. BUT after i picked the car up two weeks ago, the car did not start after filling it up at the gas station. lotus help arrived after 1 hour, battery was changed and the car started again. after arrival in my home town and 200 km the battery should have been charged.  two days later the car did not start, so i put it on a charger. now the car starts, but it is not normal, that the battery is empty after 1 week. i had an honda s2000 8 years ago and the battery only lasted 2 weeks.

any body out there with the same problem? for the time being charger or disconnecting the battery is a interim solution. i hope that lotus will find the problem having the first service after 1500 km.

thanks daitona

 

 

[Colin P]

Sorry I can't help, other than to say that I have left my car for much longer than 2 days without connecting to a trickle charger - over the winter as well.

There have been isolated reports of dodgy batteries - but if it was actually physically changed it should rule that out.

[Frickin_idiot]

I leave mine plugged into a battery conditioner at all times, takes the hassle away from it all.

[CocoPops]

Same.

[ramjet]

Ipresume Lotus help load tested the battery before just sending you on your way?

A lot of people on here use battery conditioners. It probably would have been something I was going to look at if I was going to keep my car. The esprit battery can get quite low after 2 weeks.

I would not have thought that 2 days was normal though.

[B430m]

Just my opinion, but I would think that if the battery only lasts a couple of days after being charged I would need to be replaced with a new one.

[Escape]

If it was in fact replaced, as mentioned in the first post, it would point to a battery drain in the car. Connecting a battery charger will mask the problem, but is no solution! You should check (or rather, have Lotus check, as it's a new car!) the current drain with everything off.

[B430m]

40 minutes ago, Escape said:

If it was in fact replaced, as mentioned in the first post, it would point to a battery drain in the car. Connecting a battery charger will mask the problem, but is no solution! You should check (or rather, have Lotus check, as it's a new car!) the current drain with everything off.

Perhaps the alternator needs to be checked.

[Daitona]

thanks, battery already changed...i just thougt somebody might have had the same problem....parked the car now for a one week business trip and disconnected the battery....i hope she will start satzedas morning. the dealer is 200 km away and i want to have her checked after the drive in period....

[Escape]

With the battery new and disconnected, you should have no problems starting the car after your one week trip. If does turn out to be empty, Michael is right and the problem is the alternator (or more general charging system). Easy to check by measuring the voltage with engine running.

[Peegee355]

After a winter of 15 daily commutes, headlamps, seat heats my 400 has never let me down, though I did give it a monthly charge.  I could always tell when it was getting low as the radio/satnav wouldn't turn on till the car had been running a few minutes (who needs a voltmeter).

Here's a graph of the battery's peaks and troughs for the last 90 days as a fyi of the trauma they go through.

[Daitona]

will report the positive or negative reaction of the car on saturday morning 700am after arrival from china ????? 

[Escape]

@Peegee355 what exactly are both lines in the graph? The top seems to be charging voltage, but I'm surprised to see the bottom one drop as low as 7V on several occasions? Seems very low for actual battery voltage! Or is that the lowest momentary reading during starting?

[Peegee355]

The manufacturer isn't that forthcoming with actual details!

 

https://www.nonda.co/products/nonda-zus-smart-car-charger

[Daitona]

back from china yesterday morning, reconnected the battery, car did not start. i drove 200 km to the airport, so the battery should have been relaoded. to make a long story short, parking had a service and they assisted to start the evora. the guys were very friendly, they have already uploaded pics in facebook and admired the british design. 

i drove the car to the dealer to have it fixed. will let you know the cause.....

thanks daitona

[Escape]

Thanks for sharing Peter. Without knowing what data is monitored and how it's displayed that graph has little value...

[Daitona]

Sorry for the late answer to the problem. Lotus checked the car during 1000 miles service. Result: the new battery had a defect...got another new one. did not believe it, but the last 2000 km without any problems including a fantastic trip to the Italian alps......