I bought a Mondeo Vignale Hybrid a couple of years ago; lovely car to drive and very pleased with it. However, I'm a very low mileage driver at the best of times and cover even fewer miles now due to this wretched Covid virus and the various restrictions.

 

I now find that, presumably due to lack of use, the battery is draining on a regular basis and a result the car fails to start. I've bought myself a 'battery booster' which I can use if there's any charge left in the battery but even this fails to help if the thing is completely drained.

 

I wondered whether others had suffered similarly and whether anybody had any suggestions, other than the obvious one to drive more regularly for no other purpose than to keep the battery healthy? Hardly congruous with one of the reasons for going hybrid!

 

Any help very much appreciated - cheers!

If you don't keep the battery charged you significantly decrease its life expectancy, they really don't like being drained fully.

Some people take the battery out when they're not driving it for extended periods and hook it up to a charger in the house to keep it topped up.

Sounds like the battery is needing checking and replacing if required. 

On the Mondeo hybrid the car battery is only a little one in the boot. 

Neil, how long is the car left untouched, it sounds like something is draining the battery. If the battery is fully charged it should easily be able to be left for 4 weeks and still fire up. as Ian says it is a smaller battery on the Hybrid but it should still be fit for purpose. It is not related/connected to the Hybrid battery and system

 

Thanks for the replies lads.

 

Trevor - Most weeks, I use the car just once to my local supermarket, a round trip of about 3 miles. If I take it for a run it seems to last about 3 weeks before becoming flat again.

 

I'm confused about the battery; if it's only small, why's the boot space so limited? I thought it was because the battery was quite large. Can I access the battery do you know?

2 minutes ago, Trikeboy said:

I'm confused about the battery; if it's only small, why's the boot space so limited? I thought it was because the battery was quite large. Can I access the battery do you know?

The Hybrid battery is large and under the boot floor.  But it still uses a small 12v battery for accessories etc.  It's in the passenger side of the boot, just behind the carpet panel.

A 3 mile round trip per week isn't really enough for any car battery.  I know it's difficult under lockdown but could you go any further for exercise or anything? 

Agree with the above. Might be worth getting the 12v battery tested too.

I don't have a hybrid but I give my diesel a run when I go to the supermarket once a week, 3 miles round trip normally, but I go for a bit of a drive of around 15-20 miles. In normal times I drive 1000+ miles a month, so if the car did 4 trips a month directly to the supermarket (12 miles) then I'd expect to have starting/battery problems too. (let alone DPF problems! 😂)

you say you got a battery booster, but then ask where the battery is? where are connecting this booster? 

can you clarify which battery is going flat? 

Thanks Tom. You'll have gathered that I'm pretty hopeless when it comes to anything practical! I hadn't realised that there was a separate 12v battery.

I was trying to avoid making special trips for no other reason than to keep the battery healthy, but if that's the best option, that's what I'll do.

Ian - There's a live terminal  in the engine compartment which I've been using for the booster. Now that I know the battery's in the boot I'll be able to use that if necessary going forward!

 

 

in the boot on the left is a panel/trim . remove thatvand you will see the 12v battery. as you will see its a very small battery about half the size of a convential engibe car battery. that is  because it doesnt use the power to turn engine over with a atarter motor. 

either you have current draw on that battery or the battery is faulty  get it tested at a garage. 

If you want an excellent charger buy one of these CTEK Multi MXS 5.0 12V SMART Fully Automatic Battery Charger

Shop around on price. It should be between £60 and £68 which was the approx original price before the pandemic 

Euro Car Parts want £135.99 - so I e mailed their ceo and asked him why they were ripping people off as battery chargers were now in demand, dam rob dogs

Halford want £79.99

3 hours ago, TrevorB said:

Halford want £79.99

£69 on Amazon at the moment.

Thanks Trevor and Eric, I'm expecting it to be delivered by Amazon today.