A Tale Of The Dead Battery & A Beeping Noise

[DuncRS6]

Morning Gents,

So the car has been absolutely faultless for some time now but all things must come to an end.

The fun and games started on Friday morning where I was meant to be attending a wedding, unlocked it using the key fob jumped in the car and it wouldn't start or even turn over, the battery was dead and I had very little time to mess around. With no one around with jump leads I had to get a lift and leave the old girl on the drive.

Saturday morning and I put the battery on charge for a few hours, it starts and all seems well. Took her for a good long drive that evening and again on Sunday to make sure she was still fine.

Then at 3am this morning the rear starts to incessantly beep in long bursts with a small pause in between, again i unlock the car with the key fob, but the lights in the car are very dim and being being 3am, knackered and not wanting to piss the neighbours off even more I disconnected the battery.

So couple of questions for you guys:

1. Anyone had the beeping from the rear of the car? A quick Google and it seems the alarm battery failing could be the cause of this. Is this an easy fix or a royal pia?

2. Would this be the reason the car battery has decided to give up on life? There didn't seem to be any warning signs it was failing.

3. Anything else to check that may be causing this?

Cheers

[Shoppinit]

It's the alarm 'siren'. It's about as dissuasive as a digital watch alarm.

Most likely thing is that the battery is at end of life and low voltage has caused the alarm to trigger.

If you thnik your battery is good, you can always disconnect the siren to see if that stops the battery drain.

You could also check the 200A fuse for corrosion, too, but my money is on the battery.

[Mɐʇʇ]

Many times I've had a battery on charge show all green - but it drops off super quick when you put some load on it.
Are you sure the pathetic beeping isn't the alarm trying to alert you the battery's been disconnected/dead?

@Shopp - Is there any upgrade for the pathetic beeping to a "proper" siren for the alarm that you know of?

[Shoppinit]

No, I bought a new OE one and it was just as rubbish. Made in Hungaria and it lasted less than a year. I gave up after that. You should probably not be relying on this siren to protect you anyway. It's pathetic even when it works.

Probably if you are serious about deterring crims then a complete aftermarket solution is a better option.

[Mɐʇʇ]

Ah! I've got a BNIB one in the box for next winters big service - maybe I won't bother.
Perhaps rather than install it, I'll dismantle it and see if we can wire a train horn in instead.

[DuncRS6]

Cheers guys,

I did think that it may be the battery being at end of life. Ill order another battery then.

Any recommendations?

It currently has a Varta Silver battery in.

[Shoppinit]

I looked at doing that. There is some communication between the siren and the central convenience module, though, and the battery back-up complicates things somewhat. I'm sure it's fairly easy to find a solution to that, but I personally didn't bother. Like I said, if you think the factory alarm is going to protect you from all but a thief that has time-travelled from 1989 then you are deluding yourself.

[Shoppinit]

Varta FTW. Spec in the FAQ.

[simonpoulton]

I had this when the battery was generally low - I think it was the head unit at the time draining it, which was sorted. I now have a solar panel thingy stuck to the rear window of mine to keep it topped up as its not my daily driver.

[IchBautAuto]

I looked at doing that. There is some communication between the siren and the central convenience module, though, and the battery back-up complicates things somewhat. I'm sure it's fairly easy to find a solution to that, but I personally didn't bother. Like I said, if you think the factory alarm is going to protect you from all but a thief that has time-travelled from 1989 then you are deluding yourself.

I posted a year ago about battery issues. It was a fresh battery and draining after a week or so. Turned out to be the alarm.

I just left the alarm horn out and it has been much better since. That said, after I installed a CTEK bluetooth battery monitor system it is easy to see where your current is going. Even with all things working well, the ccm and the alarm system sensors are a constant current drain. If I leave my car unlocked the battery drain is far less.

I'm no fan of the electronics and every man and his dog has some system to bypass them anyway so a Disklok is the way to go. Have one for each car (despite them being almost unobtainable this side of the world) and while I am under no illusions that they are unbeatable, it's another fence in the way.