Satsuma Battery Draining

[Entih]

Hello! I'm a rather experienced player to MSC, having played... a lot... but I am running into a somewhat annoying issue this last round of coming back to the game. The Satsuma batteries keep dying. A lot.

For context, I have gone through about 6 batteries so far, though 2 of the dead ones were entirely my fault. The other 4 batteries which have died have either died over the course of an in-game day from passive drain (I made sure lights and doors were closed on the car), or have died during save and load, presumably to calculated passive drain over time skipped. All 6 were unrecoverable.

All of the dead batteries are draining from full(ish) charge, and the car charges the battery well while driving (at least according to the in-car gauge), so I don't suspect the alternator is shot. Is there a part that causes excessive passive drain when worn, or do I have to disconnect the battery clamps every time I get out of the car for fear of another 500 mk battery bill?

[Cammy Mann]

Take the chance, replace the alternator and battery if that doesn't work just disconnect battery every time you get out the car.

[s-d]

I'm using stock, it works perfectly for me and holds charge good. Keep in mind that about a week is enough for a battery to die on it's own, the car has to be constantly driven or have it's battery charged.

[jmoore32796]

Ok it's been a while since someone has commented on this, but has an answer been found? My previous save (before I lost it), upon loading the game the battery would be well into the red on the extra gauges and audibly weak (starter turning the engine over more slowly). I don't leave doors open and I don't think having the headlights in vs off made a difference. Concerned that the battery would die in less than a day and hadn't figured it out before I had to start a new save. So hoping to get an answer so I can avoid the issue in the future. The only thing I can think of is maybe because the alternator was nearing the end of its life it was causing parasitic draw but I have no idea

[kaylojames]

Useful info on how batteries work:

All batteries gradually lose charge over time. Initial batterydischarge rate rate is fairly low, but as soon as the charge dips below about 75% of its nominal capacity, the batterydischarge rate rapidly increases - permanently. This creates a feedback loop that quickly drains the battery, causing the internal discharge rate to skyrocket.

A brand new battery from Teimo's starts with 145 Ah capacity, 128 Ah charge, and an initial discharge rate of 0.0003 Ah/s (real time). The stock battery in the garage starts with 131 Ah capacity, 110 Ah charge, and discharge rate of 0.0008 Ah/s. Permanent damage begins to occur below 109 Ah of charge - takes 17.5 hours for a new battery to drain down to 109 Ah. For the stock battery, you have 20 minutes from the start of the game to charge it above initial 110 Ah charge.

The bench charger has a nominal recharge rate of 0.029 Ah/s. Recharge rate on a brand new battery is 0.029 AH/s less the 0.0003 Ah/s discharge rate - 0.0287 Ah/s

The longer a battery's charge level is below 109 Ah, the higher its batterydischarge rate increases beyond the initial 0.003 Ah/s. It takes just 24 minutes of deep discharge to exceed the charger's recharge rate, rendering the battery useless.

Because of this, you should always charge batteries before attempting to cold start if you do not know for a fact that your battery is near fully charged. You'll know the battery has maxed out when the needle is on the left side of the dial and no longer moving.

[Nerezza]

Having this same issue. Latest example is driving my car to Fleetari's and leaving it for less than 1 in-game day. MSC editor said the battery was over 90% charged and discharge rate was 0.0003 Ah/s. I guess that should take at least 24 RL hours for the battery to die on its own, but when I came back to pick up the car the next in-game day it was dead. 40 Ah charge according to MSC editor, with a drain rate too high to be recoverable.

[Leevixiex]

Originally posted by Nerezza:

Having this same issue. Latest example is driving my car to Fleetari's and leaving it for less than 1 in-game day. MSC editor said the battery was over 90% charged and discharge rate was 0.0003 Ah/s. I guess that should take at least 24 RL hours for the battery to die on its own, but when I came back to pick up the car the next in-game day it was dead. 40 Ah charge according to MSC editor, with a drain rate too high to be recoverable.

Having same problem here. I had my car running for a first time and ran it for quite a long time. Went to save and quit the game. Came back and the car wont say a thing. Batterycharger says full 12 V. Don't know if this is a pug or what but I think a new battery does the thing.