I awoke this morning to a flat battery in my MG SUV

Apparently when the battery goes fully flat then every thing shuts down.
Key fob would not work so I could not even unlock it.
I have a jump starter in the vehicle but even if I could have gotten access to it, it would not have worked.
The whole system needed to be reset by a technician.
Why oh why do companies make their products non user friendly?
RAC were called, time taken to reset to usable mode - 25 minutes.

Had the same thing happen on Monday to my hybrid, I’d done a short journey on Christmas Eve and then didn’t use it for two days, so had to call out the AA to jump start it, it’ll be going on a trickle charge if I have to leave it in the future, my last car, a mild hybrid, used to warn me of a potential low battery so I was able to charge overnight, i think it’s poor quality batteries fitted nowadays, some owners have changed them out for better ones…

I left my headlights on overnight. :roll_eyes:

Doh…is it electric…?

No, not electric.

I’ve been thinking of buying an old motor that’s been restored from the eighties or nineties…I had two Allegro’s and I could take the engines out in my sleep. Bung the charger on a flat battery for half an hour and away you go. No bells or whistles just great motoring as long as you throw the toolbox in the boot.
This is the best photo I could find of the motor…Seen here with two mates modeling it before a winter fell walk…


Never let me down…Neither did Phil and Jim…

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I bought a solar trickle charger. Keeps the battery topped up in times when the car isn’t used very much. It has a diode built in to prevent discharge through the system…

solar trickle charger (Amazon link)

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I used to have an allegro too foxy, an underrated car imo with that quartec steering wheel, which some modern cars have a version of, typical of cars of that period the dreaded tin worm finished most of them off

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I had an allergro my 2nd car and I loved it it was “done up” brought it from my friends brother he had done it up for her but she decided to move to London and would not need it I loved that car a step up on my Ford Ecort Mk ii that needed its engine covering on cold nights,

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We had an all-agro. Not the most successful car we ever bought.

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The aux battery in my car and in my camper are connected to solar panels on my car port roof when they are parked.

Just “tested” the aux battery in my car on a Christmas visit to Canberra where it ran the fridge without the engine being run for a week. It relied solely on the solar panel on the car roof in very wet, cloudy conditions. The battery is 7 years old so I am very pleased with it.

For the car main battery I keep that topped up with a Projecta trickle charger when it is left in the garage for any length of time but like most starter batteries they only seem to last 5 or 6 years anyway.

In an emergency I could start the car from the aux battery though it would probably ruin it.

On our recent Uluru family trip both my youngest son and SiL had battery troubles, the former had one dodgy battery but once disconnected (there were two) he was OK for the rest of the trip but my SiL had to buy a new battery in the Alice though he was able to start the car off his aux battery but it meant he couldn’t use his freezer during the trip (no ice cream :frowning_with_open_mouth: )

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My car squeals like a stuck pig if I remove the keys from the ignition with the lights on.

Many years ago, after making that mistake a couple of times, I constructed a buzzer which sounded in my HJ Kingswood if the lights were left on with the ignition off. At least in those cars a push start was all that was needed.

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Well there are 3,600 members who disagree with you mart…

Well I never…There’s actually an Allegro drivers club where you can buy spares or even a complete vehicle…


Problem is…It’s on facebook…and I don’t do facebook…
:frowning_with_open_mouth:

This is a very common problem over here as well and, I must say, of hybrid cars in particular. Battery technology hasn’t kept pace with consumers’ wishes of wanting more and more bells and whistles in their cars all of which drain the battery and suck it empty. With hybrid cars the 12V starter battery is kept smaller since it doesn’t have to start a heavy engine but just the electronic system. If you drive regularly or keep it tripple charged, you won’t have problems but otherwise you will. My battery was flat once and a neighbour helped me with a jump starter. That was the first thing I bought afterwards but have never used it except for helping another neighbour because I had been warned by a voltmeter I also bought and put in the cigarette lighter socket. It’s the first thing I check when getting in the car. My jump starter is also in the boot but even if the doors wouldn’t open electronically I could still open the car mechanically and would get access to it. I couldn’t lock the car either if I’d left the lights on. If they are on auto, they switch off automatically.

Toyota hybrids had a special problem with the 12V batteries. They were also drained by a software glitch which they debugged during inspection and replaced the battery after two years. I’m lucky since I can charge my battery regularly which kerbside parkers can’t, one more reason why EVs can’t be used by people without property. They are forced to drive just to recharge the battery and thus pollute the environment unnecessarily. That can’t be the solution. Doing without bells and whistles can.

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I won’t be joining them. :slight_smile:

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