Battery dead after 2 weeks w/trickle charger.

Charge the battery then unplug the charger and let it sit for say a day. Get a volt meter and read the voltage. Look at this chart and it will give you the state of charge of your battery. Replace batteries that will not hold a 80% charge. You can run the car around 50% but your days with that battery are numbered. I would not take a long trip with a cruddy battery.

Ferraris are always best started with a good battery. Other appliances can give voltage spikes that the Ferrari electronics does not like. So don't jump a Ferrari. Ferraris also don't run well with bad batteries. You are more likely to get mil's and error codes if you do.

Finally, you can have a bad trickle charger that can over charge and kill a battery. Your charger needs to have intelligent circuitry that will trickle upon demand then shut itself off when there is no demand. You can have the car powered so your radio presets and ECU learned block memory stay intact and a good trickle charger on.

 

Was thinking of purchasing a trickle charger after today. One of my cars is in storage and I try to get over to switch cars as often as possible to run it. Today the battery was utterly dead so I used a smart charger to get it going after 20 minutes of charging. It is a pain though the battery is 7 years old. Thats money well spent since 5yrs should be automatic replacement anyway considering it is not a daily driver. Next week the battery is getting replaced so the car does not get stranded.

 

Hi and welcome. I am a one year owner and have just replaced my battery and have a trickle charger installed

If the charger is wired directly to the battery posts as it should me and probably is there is no reason to turn the switch in the trunk when plugging in the trickle charger

The remote posts for connecting a regular charger are located in the engine bay under the trim panel on the right side. You need to remove it to access them

If you have no history of when a new battery was installed I would suggest go getting a new one so you have a baseline of age on it. 6 years is pretty much it and chances are yours is shot. The battery is located in front of the right front wheel and you need a jack to remove the wheel and access the compartment it is in. Changing the battery is a great first project to familiarize yourself with the car if you are so inclined.

Try charging it with a real charger from the remote posts if you want to just get it started. I would turn off the kill switch myself if doing that. Not sure it's necessary but why not

Good luck and I'm in nj so hope to meet you sometime at FCa events or shows

Bob

 

If your battery was charged and correctly disconnected and lost it's charge in 2 weeks its shot, regardless of whether the trickle charger was connected or not. A good battery should easily hold it charge all winter is disconnected. Speaking from 30 years + of experience of storing numerous cars over the winter.

Don't waste your time. Spend the $100 and get a new battery.

 

The jump points for the car are under the right side engine bay cover. Right side if you are standing at the back of the car. It takes an Allen wrench to get it off. Also, that cutoff switch just goes to the ground on the car. I once had a problem with that ground not being connected correctly.
You may just need a new battery.

 

I'll just repost this in here as it is a good heads up and I would not be surprised if there are a few cars out there with an issue I found on mine

Initially when I turned the kill switch I noticed that there were still some things powered in my car. It was odd but on closer examination I found that the audio installer who installed the amp in the trunk ran the leads for it directly to the battery as that is the suggested install for these things.

By running the ground of the amp directly to the battery post it was bypassing the cutoff switch and allowing a back path of grounding to other circuits. The ground cable for these amps needs to be run to the output side of the kill switch. It's a bit of a pia due to tight location, etc. But anyone with after market amps that you didn't install might want to check that yours is correctly done.

 

Fixed.

Gee I'd love to post that for a laugh.

Oh ****, hang on...
How do I edit that? ...

 

If the battery is brand new did the installer put the leads for the trickle charger back on the battery posts correctly?
It should be wired directly to the battery posts, independent of the kill switch.

Are you reasonably sure the trickle charger is working?

Do you an after market amp in the trunk?

Just a thought.

 

That's funny Steve!

I have no idea why some 355 guys think I'm such a "hater" and have no clue. All I have ever done is post the truth. Pro's have posted similar things. I have worked on Ferraris over 30 years, owned up to 3 Ferrari at one time, currently own two, raced one, and fixed many 355's.

Discussing 355's is like discussing "gun control" or "abortion." That's the laugh.

 

Things to check:

Make sure nothing is connected to the battery. Can it hold a charge by itself?

Autoparts stores will load test the battery for free. Even a new battery can have a damaged cell or internal shorts.

Does the trickle charger output around 14V?

If the battery passes and you have the capability to charge it then start looking at the car.

If your car can eat a new battery in two weeks you have too much parasitic drain. Your clock and radio presets and ECU LBM etc should be under 50ma. You can have something else draining power. Find it like this: How to Find a Parasitic Battery Drain: 9 Steps (with Pictures)

You can check alternator output to make sure it has the capability to charge the battery.

 

Man...

Here is a new owner looking for a little help with a battery issue and another thread getting hijacked about the same old crap.

Why don't we just stick to helping this new guy get his battery sorted as he asked in his post?

 

What a novel idea, I like it!

 

Steve was making a joke.

We are offering real solutions. So sorry to offend you "Both".

 

Read my posts carefully.

I am most positive that you are experiencing exactly what I outlined via the amp. You didn't respond to my question previously. Do you have an aftermarket amp installed in your trunk?

The fact that that the CD player is respond with the kill switch off leads me to believe that precisely what I outlined above is taking place. Someone wired the radio/ amp to the ground on the battery as oppose to the output of the kill switch back feeding the radio as I said above.

 

He is talking about a stero amplifier. Turn off the battery cutoff under the bonnet and be sure the radio and everything inside and outside the car is off. You may not have a aftermarket radio amp.

 

By amp I am referring to a stereo amplifier mounted typically mounted to the side wall of the trunk cavity. If you have an aftermarket stereo installed. I.e. One that didn't come with the car, the typical install includes an aftermarket amplifier. It looks like a flat box about 10x10x2.

I don't know if this is your issue but with the back feed of a cd as you described it may be something to look at

I'm not speaking of the trickle charger connection here but that may be suspect as well

Look in your trunk. Do you have an amp?