Vauxhall astra - How much use to keep battery charged

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Fri 22 May 2015 09:57
Vauxhall astra - How much use to keep battery charged - catsdad
Our 99 1.6 Astra only gets used as a second car 2-3 times a week for trips of 2-5 miles typically each. Until this year it gave no problems on its previous regime of daily Monday to,Friday trips mostly of about only a mile. However a few times recently I've needed to use jump leads to get the car started. I then give it a quick 10 mile trip and all is well for a week or two before it recurs. The battery is around five years old but the garage says it tests as being OK. We do have an intermittent yellow dash light that seems typical of aged Vauxhalls but I don't think that has any bearing on battery charging? Are we simply not using the car enough? if so any views on how much we need to step up the frequency/mileage would be appreciated.
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Fri 22 May 2015 10:11
Vauxhall astra - How much use to keep battery charged - RobJP

A 5 year old battery, combined with that sort of use, may just not be enough.

Could you put the battery on charge for a couple of days, or put it on a trickle charger ?

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Fri 22 May 2015 10:24
Vauxhall astra - How much use to keep battery charged - Fernando P

I have had a CTEK charger for such use and recommend it.

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Fri 22 May 2015 10:42
Vauxhall astra - How much use to keep battery charged - Andrew-T

The answer may depend on what your car's electronics are doing when the car is parked - for example things like immobilisers. Three short journeys a week may not be enough to compensate for starting the engine, especially in winter with a demand for headlamps and blowers etc. If the battery gradually gets drained under this regime it will show its age sooner, so give it a trickle charge every month or so. Also make sure the terminals are cleanly connected.

I have a 1991 Pug which goes on an 80-mile run every 2 or 3 weeks, and the battery always seems to need very little topping up, but if it has not been out for several weeks I give it a couple of hours trickle, just to make sure.

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Fri 22 May 2015 12:29
Vauxhall astra - How much use to keep battery charged - bathtub tom
We do have an intermittent yellow dash light

I'd investigate that first.

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Fri 22 May 2015 14:27
Vauxhall astra - How much use to keep battery charged - Wackyracer
We do have an intermittent yellow dash light

I'd investigate that first.

So would I. Firstly what is this dash light? ABS or Airbags by any chance? they tend to light up if battery voltage drops.

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Fri 22 May 2015 20:39
Vauxhall astra - How much use to keep battery charged - catsdad

Thanks for advice folks. The light is the engine management/control indicator. Its a well-known source of Vauxhall alarms real and false. One wag on another site says if you have never seen it light then the bulb must have failed! Anyway the last twice its been lighting up - at times not related to the starting issue - the main dealer has reset at no charge with no fault found. It covers a range of functions which the handbook says are related to injection, idling and over-run cut-off. So there is no obvious connection to the current battery problem. I only mentioned in case there is an obscure connection that someone was aware of. I will get hold of a charger and boost the battery and see how it goes from there.

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