Dead/Flat battery Toyota Yaris + Portable chargers

[t45]

Hello,
Help needed for flat/dead battery on Toyota Yaris.
Not sure cause. Don’t think left anything on – light etc so i have no idea how this has happened.
I am quite sure it is the battery – the wipers still work but are very slow – lights are dim.
The radio still plays and when I put the keys in ignition and turn (but not turn car on) all the lights on my dashboard still appear. Does this signify a flat/dead battery?
I have a 3 in 1 portable jumpstarter (Nikkai) that I bought years ago and haven’t used it – i charged it for 12 hours yesterday in the hope that this would help and I triedit on the battery this morning – nothing happened – i left the cables attached (positive on positive and black cable on a meta point) for 15 mins and still nothing happened – could my portable charger not be working even though I have charged it for 12 hours? Should I try charging it up again?
Unfortunately I no longer have the instructions o really I don’t know what I am looking for in terms of voltage signs saying when it is fully charged.
If anyone has any advice on the Nikkai charger (i think they are a discontinued product) and or any instructions this would be appreciated as I could trouble shoot to see if mine is actually in working order.
There isn’t a switch on off button on the charger so I assume that once charged and the cable clips are attached it is automatically charges.......but there was no movement on the voltage meter chart.
I really dont want to hire a mobile mechanic as this could be expensive and I really don’t want to buy another portable charger as they too are expensive.
Any advice or what i should be looking for both for the battery and the portable charger would be appreciated.
I can’t jump start my car as I am not parked on a hill and I don’t have anyone to push the car!.....
Many thanks, 

 

[Peter.N.]

Firstly, how old is the battery, it could just have failed. I don't trust these modern chargers I would rather buy a proper one with a transformer secondhand from ebay.

Peter

 

[t45]

Thanks Peter - I really dontknow the age of the battery but will have to find out......I'm not sure whether my Nikkai jump starter will work - I have it on recharge so when I get back this evening i will give it anothet try. Maybe I should find a nother grounding point as I clipped the black cable onto the metal stick that holds up the bonnet but I dont know if this would generate much.
would it be better for me to clip this somehwere on engine - the cables are very short though......
It's a bit of a nuiance as even though i am trying this Nikkai jumpstarter i'm not even sure whether this si actually working - i dont know if it is charging itself! so it vcouldbe acase of attaching a flat jumpstarter to a flat/dead battery!

 

[alan333]

Googleing nikkai charger shows up a charger very similar to one I bought from Aldi about 10 years ago. Mine stopped holding a charge a while ago so I don't have it any more, but when you press the red button it shows the volts, and when charged IIRC mine went to about 14 volts. There was a big switch on mine (on the back maybe?) and to jump start a car you had to connect the cables, then turn the switch on, then crank the car. It definately wasn't an automatic thing which charged the battery just by being connected. Mine only got used to jump start a car once, and it didn't work. There's a fair chance yours will be knackered too if it hasn't been used.

I'd say your flat battery diagnosis is correct. You say you can't jump start the car since you're not on a hill, but that would actually be called BUMP starting, ie where you push the car and let the clutch out once moving.

Jump starting is where you use jump leads from another car's battery. This would be your cheapest and easiest method of getting the car started, but beware sometimes the quality of jump leads is too rubbish to let enough power through.

 

[alan333]

Clipping the negative lead to the bonnet stay won't work. Clip it to the battery negative terminal.

 

[t45]

thank you Alan - is the negative terminal the screw/bot opposite the one with the red plastic covering. There is nothing covering this one. It looks like a screw/bolt to me but it doesnt have anything saying it is the negative point........

 

[alan333]

The battery has two terminals, the positive often has a cover over it, and usually has some red on it somewhere. The negative is often uncovered. Somewhere near the terminals there will be marks for polarity, like a plus and minus sign. You need to connect red of your charger to poz on the battey, and black to neg. If you get someone with jump leads they get connected in the same way, ie red to red and black to black.

 

[Burnerman]

I find these portable jump starters a bit of a pain really....fine if they get regular use, but they pack in otherwise.
If you get the Yaris going, hasten to a motor factors who will test the battery and the charging rate, and then take it from there.
Be lucky!
John

 

[t45]

Hi John and Alan,
Thank you for your comments. I have some feedback on my attempts at resurrecting the battery last night.
My aim is to get to a garage fast and have the battery looked at.
Unfortunately, I have had no success.
The battery seems completely dead, not even flat. Even when i put the keys in and turn ignition there seems to be no connection. Nothing.
What I was wondering is, with the portable battery is there a specific time I should leave it attached to my battery – I say this cos I left it on for about 40 minutes last night and was rather surprised that it had no impact. I assume that with these portables the thing is that it is to kick start the battery and mine hasn’t even achieved that!....
So, with the aim of getting the car to a pro at the garage, should I try to get someone to help me with jump leads from a battery in their car – would this provide more power and more umph than a portable kick starter?
Or is even this a waste of time?
I was hoping to get the battery to crank a bit. But nothing. Not a thing. Not a squeak!
I also wanted to say that the following are can still be turned on: front lights, but very dim, radio (but I don’t think any sound), wipers very slow....does THIS INDICATE A FLAT BATTER OR A DEAD BATTERY? If it was completely dead would there be no light and no wiper movement? Is there anything else I should check to work out whether the problem is indeed the battery rather than something else?
Is it possible that there could be a fuse problem?
It just seems really odd that the battery suddenly went flat /dead– out of nowhere. There has been no sign of damage to the battery that I know of.
The main thing is that I can get up and running again at minimal cost – mobile mechanics are so expensive and although I appreciate their skill, I would ideally like to get the thing started myself so i could then use this money for a new battery!
Would it be worth putting the portable kick starter back on for about 3 hours or should I buy a new kickstarter or one of those super mini ones that you attach to the cigarette socket?
Any advice/ideas would be welcome, thank you,

 

[AlanE]

should I buy a new kickstarter or one of those super mini ones that you attach to the cigarette socket?

Almost certainly a wast of time and money. If it connects to cigarette lighter socket then the current flow to battery would be so low that you would be talking of connecting it for days rather than hours!

It looks like new battery time and that is really your only option.

If you are not able to get to garage/supplier for battery order one online, that is how I purchased the last ones I needed. Buy and pay online and battery is delivered next day, no more fluffing about.

 

[Spark123]

Hi John and Alan,
So, with the aim of getting the car to a pro at the garage, should I try to get someone to help me with jump leads from a battery in their car – would this provide more power and more umph than a portable kick starter?
Or is even this a waste of time?

Jump starting will provide more juice, it may be enough to get it going but you need decent jump leads. The cheap ones with small wire won't be enough to get it started, they are not too bad if your battery is OK and just needs a bit of a top up for 5 mins (ie if you left your lights on). If there is an outstanding problem the electrics may die again once the jump leads are removed.
Extra care is needed when using jump leads not to short circuit them or get the leads mixed up, a 24v short can cause fire/explosion!

I was hoping to get the battery to crank a bit. But nothing. Not a thing. Not a squeak!

Either it is totally flat or it has dropped a cell, only way to tell really is to take it off the car, charge it up and do a voltage drop test (garages should have a drop tester).

I also wanted to say that the following are can still be turned on: front lights, but very dim, radio (but I don’t think any sound), wipers very slow....does THIS INDICATE A FLAT BATTER OR A DEAD BATTERY?

Either! As above, re-charge and drop test will show this.

If it was completely dead would there be no light and no wiper movement? Is there anything else I should check to work out whether the problem is indeed the battery rather than something else?

If it proves to be just a flat battery then there is the possibility that there is something in the car flattening it or the alternator isn't charging it, this will need further work but cross that bridge when you come to it.

Is it possible that there could be a fuse problem?

Not really

It just seems really odd that the battery suddenly went flat /dead– out of nowhere.

Not really that odd tbh, I have seen stranger things!

 

[t45]

Thank you Spark, this is really helpful – i will see if I can get someone to help me with jump leads and another car to get more ‘juice’ in.
I don’t have the skill or car knowledge to drop voltage test but if I could get this to a garage then i could happily do this.
I think I need to get the car started and then get it to the garage asap.
A jump start is what I need.
Do you think it would be worth trying the jump starts without leads – ie someone pushing car and pressing clutch down, gear 2, release etc!....

 

[Burnerman]

A jump start is best, but if you do go for a push, your technique is fine......so long as there's enough juice to turn the dash lamps on. Make sure there aren't any accessories turned on, too.
It sounds like your starter pack has called it a day as well!
John

 

[t45]

Thank you John,
I hope my sister has the strength as she will be pushing, initially on flat ground until we reach some gradient!
‘Accessories’ – is this your lights, wipers, radio etc?

 

[Peter.N.]

Put it in a low gear, 2nd is about optimal or it won't turn the engine fast enough.

Peter