Flat battery at the airport.

[DARYL DEVEREUX]

Guys , have owned my truck for almost 2 years, love my truck, but approx 5 months in I have a flat battery at th airport after being away for 4 days, then it happened again and the dealer replaced the battery and stated I should always lock it up inside my private garage. It happened again a month ago when we need for a life threatening emergency, flat battery, ambulance arrived 1.5 hours later. Truck was carried to dealer who had it for approximately 3 weeks( medically wasn’t allowed to drive) They have done software updates , left it for days seeing if something draws down on the battery, all good. Get my truck back, locking it in my garage, and photographing my electrical status on start up and close down for the day, two days ago I had a 20% drop over night from 94% to 72%, so far nothing else. I don’t trust what is going on with this “parasite discharge. Grenadier UK asked for photos of my garage, apparently someone in Oz had some electrical equipment which affected the battery status ( beats me). Wanted to fit the wolf mirror, dealer would not fit(don’t want to lose my warranty) so in sits in my cupboard.
This is a known about problem, but what is the answer, because I don’t trust my beautiful truck anymore and I am waiting for it to let me down AGAIN.
I want it fixed so I can continue to enjoy it
Regards Proud Grenadier owner, but now with trust issues

 

[AWo]

It looks like the emergeny was on you? I hope you're well. The most important thing.

May I ask why the ambulance took 1,5 hours? For emergencies this is always too late..

AWo

 

[Krabby]

Moved thread. Not an active emergency.

 

[Pat_Mustard]

Fwiw. My 24p if left for anything like 4 days looses about 20% battery charge. Since I bought it 6 months ago it never has had more than a 92% battery.

I took a reading after a long trip and then another after 4 days stationary- 12.52v down to 12.25v- both are below optimal reading I’m told. Dealership was not interested. Told me that they need trickle charged or run regularly- which at the time I did think- what about when I leave the country / go to an airport.

I also left it this winter for 5 days the battery said -4c temp / 0% charge! It had been very cold and was left outside with about 16” of snow encasing it. It started first time and I ran it for 4 hours which increase the battery % charge. The only noticeable thing was the stop start cancellation warning sounded immediately on start up.

My local dealership has the showroom ones on constant trickle charge overnight .

 

[Forrester]

This has happened to me twice in 5 months of ownership. The first time I caught the battery at 50% charge after 2 days without driving. Went for a drive and all ok.

The second time, a couple of months later - absolutely flat after 3 days without driving, resulting in a airbag error. Going to the dealer next week to get it reset.

There's no pattern to this - it's just a random power drain of around an amp or two, I think. Very difficult to track down, but clearly a fault.

I've added a second spare 90Ahr battery (not connected) and some jump leads in the second battery space, just in case I get stuck. I'm working on adding a DC-DC trickle charger to keep the extra battery topped up.

I've taken to checking the state of charge of the battery every day even if I don't drive just to make sure everything is ok.

It's clearly unreasonable to anyone to say that you have to drive a Genadier or keep it on trickle charge for a 4 day layover. 4 weeks - possibly, but 4 days no. It's a fault

 

[Pat_Mustard]

This has happened to me twice in 5 months of ownership. The first time I caught the battery at 50% charge after 2 days without driving. Went for a drive and all ok.

The second time, a couple of months later - absolutely flat after 3 days without driving, resulting in a airbag error. Going to the dealer next week to get it reset.

There's no pattern to this - it's just a random power drain of around an amp or two, I think. Very difficult to track down, but clearly a fault.

I've added a second spare 90Ahr battery (not connected) and some jump leads in the second battery space, just in case I get stuck. I'm working on adding a DC-DC trickle charger to keep the extra battery topped up.

I've taken to checking the state of charge of the battery every day even if I don't drive just to make sure everything is ok.

It's clearly unreasonable to anyone to say that you have to drive a Genadier or keep it on trickle charge for a 4 day layover. 4 weeks - possibly, but 4 days no. It's a fault

Totally agree with your last 2 sentences. Ineos need to sort this.

Hopefully the op will have better luck than I , especially given it was unreliable at a time when it really needed it to be.

These are not 90s imported lada’s as after all….(although the lada was renowned for being able to start in significant sub zero temperatures, I think in some cases rumoured by lighting a small fire under them to defrost- won’t be doing that to my grenadier thanks).

 

[Skydance]

I’ve recently learned the battery needs to be calibrated by Ineos software to charge more accurately.

BMS should be reset to say it’s got a new battery. This can only be done via Ineos software. I had this done on my recent service and has made some improvements to the charging SOC and the amps.

However, it doesn’t stop the battery drain but because the battery is measuring and charging more accurately, fingers crossed won’t leave you stranded.

Double locking on the key fob and keeping the doors closed are recommended.

 

[Pat_Mustard]

I’ve recently learned the battery needs to be calibrated by Ineos software to charge more accurately.

BMS should be reset to say it’s got a new battery. This can only be done via Ineos software. I had this done on my recent service and has made some improvements to the charging SOC and the amps.

However, it doesn’t stop the battery drain but because the battery is measuring and charging more accurately, fingers crossed won’t leave you stranded.

Double locking on the key fob and keeping the doors closed are recommended.

Good advice.
I always double lock on the fob, mainly (as a mildly autistic gent) who can’t wait for the lights to go out and isn’t trusting, so I press again to ensure it’s locked and doors all closed.

My wagon has not seen much use before me and the rear doors and narrow boot are especially stiff and easy to half close if not slammed home; resulting in the car not locking at all!

the double press ensures I am confident all doors are closed; which in turn means I don’t awake a 2am to go outside to check.

 

[TheDocAUS]

Possible causes of power drains discussed here:

Thread 'What is draining my battery in my IG or QM when parked?'

Aug 24, 2025

PART 1- THE POSSIBLE CAUSES - this post
PART 2 - WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT - next post
PART 3 - FURTHER CHECKS - look here​

PART 1- THE POSSIBLE CAUSES
I am writing a checklist for owners to work through if your battery is going flat quickly. Understanding how the INEOS works is useful to work out if there is a problem or just the way your setup is working.

All modern 4X4s make BIG power demands on the battery. The INEOS is close to what I experienced with the much older Nissan Patrol over 10 years. I had a dual battery setup in each. I fixed the...

• TheDocAUS
• battery
• Replies: 51
• Forum: Electrical, electronics & vehicle software

• 

 

[TheDocAUS]

Guys , have owned my truck for almost 2 years, love my truck, but approx 5 months in I have a flat battery at th airport after being away for 4 days, then it happened again and the dealer replaced the battery and stated I should always lock it up inside my private garage. It happened again a month ago when we need for a life threatening emergency, flat battery, ambulance arrived 1.5 hours later. Truck was carried to dealer who had it for approximately 3 weeks( medically wasn’t allowed to drive) They have done software updates , left it for days seeing if something draws down on the battery, all good. Get my truck back, locking it in my garage, and photographing my electrical status on start up and close down for the day, two days ago I had a 20% drop over night from 94% to 72%, so far nothing else. I don’t trust what is going on with this “parasite discharge. Grenadier UK asked for photos of my garage, apparently someone in Oz had some electrical equipment which affected the battery status ( beats me). Wanted to fit the wolf mirror, dealer would not fit(don’t want to lose my warranty) so in sits in my cupboard.
This is a known about problem, but what is the answer, because I don’t trust my beautiful truck anymore and I am waiting for it to let me down AGAIN.
I want it fixed so I can continue to enjoy it
Regards Proud Grenadier owner, but now with trust issues

Also install a cheap battery monitor to get insight into what is going on. These units can graph power usage over time. Suggestions here:

Cheap Battery Monitors

IntroductionA summary of cheap battery monitors owners can use on their cars or battery boxes. The original comparison is here (BM2 BLE, Kickass (who now re-badge an AncelBM200) and CTEK). BM2 BLE …

thedocaus.com

 

[Forrester]

I don't think the cheap battery monitors will help with parasitic drain currents. Those monitors will only measure the voltage (and so infer the SOC, I think). To track down a parasitic current you need something 'in-line' to measure the current flow. That's tricky because you need something that will handle hundreds of amps down to a few milliamps. Clamp detectors (they go round the wire) are good for high and medium currents, but pretty innacurate for small currents. The best I've come up with so far is something like the Victron Energy Shunt 500A which has a resistance of 0.1 milli-ohm, giving a voltage of 50 milli-volt at 500A. So if you want to measure a drain of 1A, say, you will get a reading of 100 micro-volts - that's small. My trusty Fluke 175 wont do that - not directly anyway.

If anyone has got any good simple ideas for tracking down parasitic drains, I'd be very interested. I like to get to the bottom of this.

 

[Eric]

I don't think the cheap battery monitors will help with parasitic drain currents. Those monitors will only measure the voltage (and so infer the SOC, I think). To track down a parasitic current you need something 'in-line' to measure the current flow. That's tricky because you need something that will handle hundreds of amps down to a few milliamps. Clamp detectors (they go round the wire) are good for high and medium currents, but pretty innacurate for small currents. The best I've come up with so far is something like the Victron Energy Shunt 500A which has a resistance of 0.1 milli-ohm, giving a voltage of 50 milli-volt at 500A. So if you want to measure a drain of 1A, say, you will get a reading of 100 micro-volts - that's small. My trusty Fluke 175 wont do that - not directly anyway.

If anyone has got any good simple ideas for tracking down parasitic drains, I'd be very interested. I like to get to the bottom of this.

Very basic and very long winded is to go back to old school technology, and put a multimeter across every fuse in turn to see which one is passing current

 

[TheDocAUS]

I don't think the cheap battery monitors will help with parasitic drain currents. Those monitors will only measure the voltage (and so infer the SOC, I think). To track down a parasitic current you need something 'in-line' to measure the current flow. That's tricky because you need something that will handle hundreds of amps down to a few milliamps. Clamp detectors (they go round the wire) are good for high and medium currents, but pretty innacurate for small currents. The best I've come up with so far is something like the Victron Energy Shunt 500A which has a resistance of 0.1 milli-ohm, giving a voltage of 50 milli-volt at 500A. So if you want to measure a drain of 1A, say, you will get a reading of 100 micro-volts - that's small. My trusty Fluke 175 wont do that - not directly anyway.

If anyone has got any good simple ideas for tracking down parasitic drains, I'd be very interested. I like to get to the bottom of this.

Depends on how big the drain is. Monitors are invaluable for helping finding issues. They have helped me out a few times now.

Yes shunts are better, but cost a great deal more and involve considerable rewiring. Lots of cost and lots of work. Cheap battery monitors involve neither.

My comments were not just cheap battery monitors but the earlier post as well. Moreover, not all drains are parasitic either.

I would not have faced the issues of the OP, because I also have a jump starter, which can often get you out of a flat battery.

 

[Forrester]

Thanks, TheDocAus. Yes, I've read your useful comments on battery drains, but they don't seem to apply to the problem I've got (first place I looked actually). Completely randomly, twice in 5 months isn't a lot, but I don't want to end up being in the same situation as the OP. I don't know at all whether it's parasitic or whether it's a module not shutting down (for example). But I do want to continuously monitor the low current drain over a period of weeks. This seems to be the only feasible way of tracking this down.

My current outline idea is to use a Victron shunt (about 30 GBP) connected up to a Raspberry Pi Pico (7 GBP) to broadcast Bluetooth data on the current drain to my server every 30 seconds or so and to raise an alarm if the drain goes over a certain threshold. I'm a software/hardware designer by trade, so this isn't too difficult for me to do. Also I have a lot of this technology working already. The problem is finding the time to do it.

 

[Greasemonkey]

I've had problems with the batteries from the very beginning and have complained about them regularly without success. If I don't use the vehicle for several days, the battery voltage drops below 10V, and occasionally it won't start at all. It's gotten so bad that I can't start it without charging it first. Contacting the dealer again revealed that they currently have no capacity to help me. Furthermore, they have to conduct their own tests before INEOS will approve a new battery under warranty. The earliest this could happen is at my service appointment on May 21, 2026.

Fed up, with the car constantly displaying software errors and breaking down on the road incurring much higher costs, I contacted Moll Batteries. The original EFB+ 105Ah battery is available, but only by special order and not through their online shop.
Because of the problems with the INEOS batteries, Moll Batteries conducted their own tests and determined that INEOS may be using an incorrect charging curve. Presumably, INEOS is developing new software to solve this problem.

I've ordered two new batteries from Moll at my own expense, but that doesn't really help, as I've now discovered that they need to be registered with the system. The only advantage now is that the dealer can replace the batteries on May 21, 2026, during the third service appointment, regardless of INEOS's decision.

It would be interesting to know if the GlobeGuard OBD Reader is capable of performing this registration, as is possible with other OBD readers. Perhaps Tom D can comment on this?

See Point 28 and OBD component calibration

 

[Dschubba]

My car is in the shop currently for a new battery which they agreed to replace. The current theory is that the old battery had probably been left in a discharged condition for a period while the car was on the lot, and or the long boat ride to au/nz, and the resulting sulphation is causing a self discharge. I guess soon I will know. I noticed that after I started the car, the voltage shot up to 14.9V while the current was only 5A, and the battery was only 48% charged. 1- it surprised me the volts went that high for the Moll battery, and 2- to me it indicated the battery probably had quite a high internal resistance indicating it was buggered.

At the same time it’s getting an aircon work over, it didn’t work from new, got fixed with a re gas, but that’s all leaked into the ozone layer, so we gonna have another go.