Charging my iPhone has killed my battery?

[ARH]

Yesterday I changed my rear wheel bearings and had to charge my phone via the cigarette lighter (which is a bit faulty as you have to niggle it around for it to charge)

I only charged it for around 30-40 minutes and when I finished the job the car wouldn't start so I jumped it and all was good, got up this morning and it was dead so I had to jump the car once again. I put the meter on the battery and it was reading about 14.1v.

Does this mean my alternator is fine? Is my battery knackered? If my battery is knackered how come a 30 minute charge would do that? (Engine wasn't running). I have never had any problems with the battery before this.

Any insight would be great

Aaron

 

[MrLapou]

Alt voltage is a tad low. I'd like to see 14.6v. Noway the battery in phone will discharge battery in 30mins..

Perhaps you should check out the niggle cig socket, glove box and boot lights.

 

[Geraldy212]

No, a quick 30 minute charge of a phone could not possibly discharge a 12v car battery (unless the battery was faulty). The 14.1v battery voltage may be misleading. Trot down to your local battery shop and ask for a battery load-test. If on the other hand, the battery passes the load test, there must be some other drain which is discharging it, or your starter motor or ignition key needs looking at. I have seen on this forum how A3 starter motors have often been reported as faulty.

 

[ARH]

It may of been 14.6v it was about 4 o'clock so I'm not quite sure. I have removed the cigarette lighter fuse and the actual cigarette lighter unit and the battery is still dying. I can't see how any of this has happened from changing my bearings and charging my phone?

There are no other lights on the car whilst its locked either

would my starter motor or ignition really be the problem? I just know if I didn't charge my phone I wouldn't have this problem it's just so annoying the money I saved changing the bearings myself will be spent trying to solve this stupid problem.

Is a battery test free from places like kwik fit?

Aaron

 

[Kenzie96]

Nah your alternator is fine anything above 13.5v is fine chances are it is your battery, where abouts are you if your close to me ill load test it also most garages should do it for free i mean its a 30 sec job.

 

[ARH]

I blame the sh*t iPhone battery's, then I wouldn't be in this situation

im I'm Birmingham mate?

i will give the battery a charge for a few hours then if it don't start tomorrow then I will get a battery test but I'm just really clueless to what the problem could be

 

[Chillout]

I blame the sh*t iPhone battery's, then I wouldn't be in this situation

im I'm Birmingham mate?

i will give the battery a charge for a few hours then if it don't start tomorrow then I will get a battery test but I'm just really clueless to what the problem could be

You could check the rested drain on the battery with a multimeter it should be a minute drain if you have an excessive amount you could remove fuses one by one to locate the drain but first off I would scan the car and get a load test on the battery

 

[ARH]

The battery is on charge at the moment I thought I would give it a proper charge for a few hours, but are you saying that a blown fuse could be causing this?

Aaron

 

[Chillout]

The battery is on charge at the moment I thought I would give it a proper charge for a few hours, but are you saying that a blown fuse could be causing this?

Aaron

No not really what I meant was if you were to check the current draw on your battery when it is at rest it should be between 0-15 ma if it is a lot higher you have an excessive drain to find the drain you can remove fuses one at a time for various circuits until your drain on the drain falls to an acceptable level also does everything work on your car

its like using every socket in your house and switching them off one by one to reduce the load .

i would go down this route if your battery and charging systems are ok.

 

[hades-]

these things happen
if it was by charging your phone then the battery was shagged in the 1st place and on its way out

 

[Boon]

I'd say a duff battery

There is no way even for a few hours that charging an iPhone will discharge it. I normally leave my GoPro's, bluetooth handsfree & even an icom VHF radio on charge overnight (not all at the same time!) and never had a problem

 

[ARH]

No not really what I meant was if you were to check the current draw on your battery when it is at rest it should be between 0-15 ma if it is a lot higher you have an excessive drain to find the drain you can remove fuses one at a time for various circuits until your drain on the drain falls to an acceptable level also does everything work on your car

its like using every socket in your house and switching them off one by one to reduce the load .

i would go down this route if your battery and charging systems are ok.

these things happen
if it was by charging your phone then the battery was shagged in the 1st place and on its way out

I'd say a duff battery

There is no way even for a few hours that charging an iPhone will discharge it. I normally leave my GoPro's, bluetooth handsfree & even an icom VHF radio on charge overnight (not all at the same time!) and never had a problem

Well, I bought a battery from a scrap yard for £15 the other day for my MK4 and it has been working perfectly so I have just switched battery's from the MK4 to the Audi, started first time but it would because it's a full battery, took it around the block for 20 mins and it was fine, stopped for 5 mins and started up fine. The real test will be waking up and seeing if the problem has been cured, which sounds like it will be the battery by the sounds of it, and it looks like the original battery too so is that normal to go at 50k?

Thanks for all the help

Aaron

 

[Boon]

It's not so much the mileage of the car, more to do with how it's used. Frequent stop starts as well as long periods of sitting unused will degrade a battery's life.

I normally expect to replace a battery every 2 to 3 years, 4 at the very most! But then I like to change it before it fails, & the old one gets used in my shed for lights etc!

 

[ARH]

Got myself a Bosch S3 today and all is good so charging my phone did actually kill my battery! It must of been on its way out if it only took a half hour phone charge to kill it.

Cheers for all the help