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Velar dead - flat battery

35K views 31 replies 13 participants last post by  Brother Tony 
#1 ·
D240SE with 3000km on the clock. Drove normally on Monday, parked in our garage unlocked as normal. Key kept far away from the car as normal. All doors closed properly, infotainment off.

Went to start it on Wednesday after loading the kids in (seemed awfully dark inside the car...) and absolutely nothing. No lights or response, even the hazard button light was off.

Roadside assistance came and measured the battery at 3V. Took ages to get it jump-started, and we didn't have time to take it for a proper drive afterward so we left the car on a CTEK charger until I got home from work.

Car was still dead so I tried to jump start it with my Golf to no avail. Left charger plugged in overnight.

Noticed this morning that the charger still hasn't got past the first stage of the charging process, which basically means no progress. Going to have to get roadside assistance over again to jump it when I have time to take it for a proper spirited drive to juice the battery back up properly. Hopefully no recurrences after that.

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#2 ·
Sounds like a dead battery. Had similar with wife's Qashqai, rescue swopped battery under warranty as there was a known bad batch of batteries. Perhaps JLR have a similar issue?
 
#4 ·
Some chargers cannot charge up a completely flat battery for some reason - there needs to be some residual charge for them to work.

In any event this sounds like a defective battery and I would get it replaced under warranty. The Velars use pricey AGM batteries, and they are hidden away somewhere requiring the dealer to do the replacement!
 
#5 ·
We had similar problem, but Velar was staying in garage for 2 weeks. I also tried Citek charger first - it didn't help. Than I was advised to use another car to start Velar - I did it, drove for 15-20 km (not in traffic), after I returned to garage I charged it with Citek until green lamp for a day. So, after that we trying not to left it for 2 weeks without using, or, just connect Citek in advance.
 
#6 ·
Yeah my CTEK is a very low power one (0.8A) designed for maintenance only. Nonetheless roadside assistance recommended I leave it hooked up overnight to see if it helps. It didn't... voltage on the battery dropped from 3.6V to 2.8V. Ridiculously low for a 12V battery so I'm pretty sure the battery is toast.

The bigger worry is why the car is drawing so much power when sitting still in the garage doing nothing. Even if I get the battery replaced, the same thing will happen.

I expect to be able to leave the car in the garage for a month without having to worry about the battery - I can even do that with my Lotus which is notorious for having high parasitic draw.
 
#7 ·
Just when I thought it can't get any worse...

Roadside came by just then to jump start the car (since I had time today to give it a good drive) after testing the battery at ~2.5V and 0 CCA (meant to be >12V / 800CCA). Was told to drive the car for an hour then go straight back home, and take it into the dealer the next day for a full battery recharge.

Barely 2 minutes into the drive, the car started spluttering, all the instrumentation kept turning on/off/on again, multiple faults for gearbox dynamics stability etc. Barely managed to get it to the side of the road. When I stopped the gearbox was stuck in S, but there was no drive (car revved like it was in neutral) and it wouldn't let me turn it back to P. I had the mind to manually engage the parking brake before turning the car off.

Opened the driver door and got out, closed the door and noticed that the exterior door handles were still retracted. None of the door handle buttons work, and none of the buttons on the remote work.

Going to call the service centre when they open tomorrow and have them arrange for the car to somehow be towed back to the dealer.
 
#9 ·
Hopefully as simple as that. I plan to let the dealer hold onto the car for a week after fixing it so that I'm sure the car doesn't have a rogue component rapidly draining the battery.

Roadside assistance mentioned that it's my fault for leaving the car unlocked in the garage, and that I should always lock the car when not driving it. Provided the infotainment hasn't been left on (although the Velar one doesn't stay on by itself anyway without the engine running) is there any merit to this? What do others here do?
 
#10 ·
Yeah I'd probably lock it, maybe the car is in 'sleep' mode like your your PC and still draining power. My Golf has some very odd behaviours shouting about keys presnet/not present if you do't keep it simple - it's keyless unlock and drive as well - seems happy locked up and left.
 
#11 ·
From my experience with the Qashqai it seems that modern batteries either hold charge or not, nothing in between and they just die without warning. One day working fine, the next completely dead and unserviceable. Your dealer will be able to tell all.
 
#12 ·
4th time lucky? This time roadside assistance are coming to tow the car away. Yesterday they took 12 hours to arrive, hopefully a bit more prompt today.

edit: successfully towed back to dealer service. They are trying to figure out what's wrong with it and will call me back today hopefully.

Should note that they were happy to receive the car and begin work on it immediately - normally I have to book 2-3 weeks in advance for a regular service.
 
#13 ·
Main battery has been replaced, car is ready for me to pick up but they are going to hold onto the car until Monday.

Found a note in the online user manual: "Always secure the vehicle when left unattended." I guess this means the car must be locked if you're not driving it every day. Happy to take the blame for this, and I wil be sure to lock the car going forward, although I do find it funny that the battery runs completely empty in just 2 days (no other modern car I've ever had this problem.)
 
#14 ·
I have left other cars over a month without any use through winter and have still started on return. Definitely a warranty issue. Modern cars go into a low power mode after a short time from locking. Your LR dealer should ge able to run diagnostics to check for abnormal current drain over a test period i.e over night.
 
#16 ·
good news for you, you know at least the reason and your problem is solved.

I have been awaken at 2Am this morning by Land rover, who got an alarm for loss of power.
I went to my garage , impossible to open the car: dead battery. I have not been using the car for 10 days because of
business trip. I have put my ctek 5 to charge the battery but the car is now in maintenance mode, I do not know if I can drive
if to the concession if the I miraculously I can charge the battery. I believe it will be difficult to tow the car away , the car is in an underground
garage at the second floor with small entrance and tight turns.
Hopefully I have the same problem than you, I would prefer au faulty battery to another "unknown problem".
 
#17 ·
Hello
It exists excellent "battery booster" using Lithium ion
enabling to start a car with dead battery. For instance Nobo GB70 ...
I have got one after a bad experience of my car blocked outside the public road.
The avantage of the li-ion batteries is to keep the charge on a long term..
Now, always on board in case .....
Another good practise is using a charger like ctek 5. to maintain charge when the car is not used during several weeks.
 
#19 ·
This morning the ctek was in error mode, the battery is not charged.
Strange thing is that rear light are on when I charge, I could not find a way to switch them off, it is probably the reason
why the battery is dead ,maybe the rear light stayed on in my garage box during the entire week.

Tomorrow I will call the assistance , no time to dot it today ...
 
#22 ·
End of the story
I called assistance this morning, they took 30mn to come. They came with a booster the car started instantly with the lights on...
I still do not understand why the light stayed on ...The guy was helpful: on the CTEK MX5, as it is an AGM battery the setting should
be on frozen mode and not in normal mode. Secondly he recommanded to purchase a small portable booster at 170 euros on amazon, saying that he has been able to start Ranges and other SUV with it. I drove 30mn the car , put back the CTEK with the good setting, battery is fully loaded now.
 
#23 ·
I can add another observation to the story. Our Velar was parked and double locked for 1 week and on ignition it showed the message, battery low, start engine. 🤔
I could not do much. Seated didn't work , but console lighted up as usual. So park the car at the airport for 3 weeks will be a lot of fun I guess. I'll take a starting cable with me just in case it runs out of power. Annoying. Never had that with another car in such a short period of none usage. Must be the alarm sucking the battery.
 
#26 ·
Mine has also now showing a flat battery. Managed to unlock the car but it didn't have enough power to start. I had bought a small lithium ion USB charger and jump starter. Fired up like a charm!

Came to it the next day and it didn't have any power! Not even to push out the handles! Panic... how do you put a key in a shut handle?! I found you push one side and pull the other, then drag it out. I used the key and opened the car. You need 2 people if you do the drivers do so do the passenger one as you need to open the bonnet.
So mine is on charge on the drive but not looking good. 12 months old so it needs a new battery or new alternator at the very least! What is zapping the power????
I noticed the windows don't close automatically when holding the button for a few seconds ?? hmmm.
Maybe the new software upgrade I had 3 days ago?
 
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