Battery life on Discovery 4

Good point. What's weird is I took the car to a shop before purchase (mechanic is a big LR guru) to get everything checked out and he ran a test on the battery and said it was fine.

Where would you suggest getting it tested? I was just going to go to Advance Auto, but I know they do the 30 second readout...

Funny, my 3 year old bat the other day was dead. Got in the truck after letting it sit for a week in the garage and only the blinkers worked... I jumped it from the aux battery (I was in a hurry), but another good reason to install a quality aux. The dealer tested it this week and said all was good. I'm dubious at best. I think I'll replace it in fact. Anyone try an odyssey battery as a replacement?

jaguardoc504 said:

The yellow tops are not designed to be charges like a regular lead/acid battery, maybe that is where the problem comes in? The red tops should be no issue though.
What are you considering a short lifespan?

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I've never had a single battery system in my rovers, three of them now with dual kits. The ones using Optima have had red starter and yellow aux. They were fine for a while, but nothing like the years of constant use like the Odyssey's in the LR3.

I'll have to see what's in the 96 Disco tomorrow and get back to you. Honestly, over the years, 230,000 miles in the 1996 D1 and 86,000 miles in the 2004 Disco, there have been a few so maybe I just had a bad on or two.

I am sure there's no problem with the charging system as it's designed for such purpose and installed by a master level LR tech.

Bama4door said:

Good point. What's weird is I took the car to a shop before purchase (mechanic is a big LR guru) to get everything checked out and he ran a test on the battery and said it was fine.

Where would you suggest getting it tested? I was just going to go to Advance Auto, but I know they do the 30 second readout...

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"testing" while in the car and in a few minutes can only tell you if it's really bad/finished. A real test is on a load machine and ideally over several hours.

NASdiesel said:

Funny, my 3 year old bat the other day was dead. Got in the truck after letting it sit for a week in the garage and only the blinkers worked... I jumped it from the aux battery (I was in a hurry), but another good reason to install a quality aux. The dealer tested it this week and said all was good. I'm dubious at best. I think I'll replace it in fact. Anyone try an odyssey battery as a replacement?

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Are you talking about fitting into an LR3? I expected you to be a better reader... post #34.... 1350 super simple plug n play into an lr3. LR4 requires recoding or some software change. It's much better than the original and the 1350 is also a higher output than the recommended sufficient 1500. The 15000 is probably easier to drop in but I fir the 1350 with zero trouble.

To charge these outside the vehicle you should also look into at least a 30 amp charger that they have. I got the 40 amp on sale which can charge three at one time Regardless of charger brand, the Odyssey requires a high amp charge to be done properly than most economy chargers are able to do.

Thanks Jwest, you are right. I posted without going back far enough. Usually I read the 1st page and last... Sums up my academic experience.

It's for the Lr4 so I need to figure out the recoding. I have an aux odyssey battery and it was able to fully jump the dead factory battery. I use a trickle charger in the winter when it sits but never expected it would be flat in the summer in 80 degree weather when locked.

NASdiesel said:

I use a trickle charger in the winter when it sits but never expected it would be flat in the summer in 80 degree weather when locked.

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That does sound odd. I wonder if you have something draining it that isn't supposed to be on. My 2004 had to have a tender on it so to make it easy I had installed a hard wired version that can just be plugged in to an extension cord even outside in rain as the ends are either under the hood or in the house.

I've been very pleased so far with Deka Intimidator AGM series so far.. Goodbye Interstate... I would recommend them, and for those with DBS and the weird charging requirements of the Odyssey that I have read, it does not seem like a good bet.

I dumped the Yellow Top and Interstate and went with 2 Deka batteries, I'm happy.

tlt said:

I've been very pleased so far with Deka Intimidator AGM series so far.. Goodbye Interstate... I would recommend them, and for those with DBS and the weird charging requirements of the Odyssey that I have read, it does not seem like a good bet.

I dumped the Yellow Top and Interstate and went with 2 Deka batteries, I'm happy.

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"DBS" ? Dual battery system ?

I don't think there is anything "weird" about the charging, I think it's mainly that they need a higher amp charge than others. The simple Wrangler dual kit in my lr3 has been charging these just fine for years. Maybe I just got lucky with that combination ?

I'd have certainly looked into the Deka had I known about them before.

I wouldn't blame a Dual Battery System on charging issues at all. For some reason, I have never achieved more than 2 years on an interstate battery, and they only honored the warranty once (pro-rated). We'll see what the long term tests turn out like. So far, the entire vehicle seems very very happy with the current setup whether it's keeping topped with Solar, a charger or driving. I'm using the Traxide system.

I also have a lot of extra stuff wired up, winch, radios, trackers, fridge, stuff like that.. I am not familiar with the system you are using, but if it is working, that is all that matters.