458 Battery Problems !!!

On my coupe I haven't experienced this at all thankfully. But, yes I agree a cut off would be nice. On my 430 spider it's very easy...When not using my 458 I use the factory charger. But, I have just let it sit for a week or so and it doesn't die. I wonder now that you have a new battery if that will help. Also, I wonder if your dealer can somehow put a cut off switch in your 458? Ask them and see what they think. I think it is usual for your bat to die that fast. Check to make sure there isn't something staying on that is draining your battery. Like a small light ect.

 

The car didnt start on me just once: when it stood in my garage for over 2 months without the battery charger. I then plugged it in overnight and the car started.

Since then I am religious about plugging in the battery tender and never had problems with startups or any other.

Make sure when you plug the battery tender in that you leave it recharging the car until the light on the tender turns green, this means that the battery is 100% charged.

There might be a problem with the battery dying after various periods of standstill because the car is so laden with electronics that it takes a lot of battery power just to have all the electronic systems on stand-by...

When the car starts though..

 

You need to get power to the location. These cars can't just be disconnected from their electronics- they are too reliant on them. So they really need to be plugged into their tenders. Just be glad these newer cars seem to come with better tenders that are up to the job. Id recommend the CTek 7002 as opposed to the included tender- the included one is a good one- its the 3300- but the 7002 will do an even better job of conditioning the battery and it will help get you charged up quicker as well. It sounds like its a pain to get power to your car but you will have to figure out a way to do it.

 

I think there are some issues with the electronic systems if you disconnect all power for an extended length of time.

 

+1. I had our electrician add a couple outlets in the garage to make it easier. If you live in a condo or restricted area, it may be tougher, but by all means, try.

Also, these cars plug into a "tender", not a "charger". A tender cycles and conditions the battery, so it's normal for it to show charged, then cycling, then charged; the green light indicates the battery is charged to full, but don't worry if it takes a while (again, it's a tender not a charger).

Last, the cars do consume some power even while parked, a bit more if the alarm is set. If for some reason the battery dies (or is near dead), when you try and start it you'll get a light show of warnings and alerts, some which may require a DEIS to reset; all due to low voltage or current. If you do disconnect the battery (in which case you should have that battery on a tender anyway), when you re-start the car there is a very specific ECU learning process you will want to follow. (start, let idle for 10-15mins, all accessories off).

 

Great info Caer and Entropy thx!!

I think the tender that comes with the car is the UC 800 , at least that’s what I think I have, my car is a 2010, maybe the later models come with a 3300...

There are many models offered by cteck, check out this link:

Battery Chargers - CTEK Battery Chargers

Which one do you guys think is best, the 7002?

Also, if I buy it from ctek or other non-ferrari retailer will the charger come with an adaptor that fits in the battery charger socket of the 458?

Keep her on tender and she will render ☺

 

Start batteries should always be between 11.3V and 14.5V. Lower or higher, electrolytes die fast. That’s why cars have alternator voltage regulator device.

If you allow your battery to goes lower than 11V or above 15V you compromise it life for good. Then, even if you recharge it well, battery will not sustain it.

So, never allow it.

 

This is right. Lead-acid batteries do not like to be undercharged or overcharged. A lithium battery such as offered in the 911 GT3 saves 20 lb and is more forgiving. But the cost is huge.

 

I learned that I need to lock my BMW 535 while it is in the garage. Apparently if you don't lock the car, it keeps the electronics in a sort of stand by mode.
Now that I lock the car at all times, the battery is good to go.
I wonder if its the same with modern Ferraris.

 

Personally I would not own any car unless I am in a position to drive it at least 3-4 times a week. That's my solution to this problem. It's not worthwhile having such pricey cars just sit and depreciate in value any way while you are not able to enjoy driving them.

I realize some of you have multiple cars and also travel a lot making this impractical. But I try to own just one toy at a time to maximize my enjoyment of it.

 

You may want to check this out. The service manager told me that after a period of time the BMW WUP (wake up) system goes "to sleep" whether locked or unlocked. I keep all my cars unlocked in the garage because I dread not being able to open them if the system goes down. But I admit that this has not happened yet.

 

On Porsche that time it's 7 days.

 

Less than a day on BMW, I am told. I have also been told that it doesn't matter whether the car is locked; it takes the same time to go down.

It would be good to get authoritative reliable information on this subject for various cars.

 

I’ve never had a BMW. But less than one day it’s pretty strange.

On Porsche only after 7 days of full rest you have to rearm the car whether locked or not.

Remote will not work anymore and you’ll have to rearm it on a battery plug in the bottom driver’s door.

Need BMW this kind of precept only after a day?

I agree. It would be nice to know about other brands precepts.

 

+1, though I think that to understand all the different consumers of power we'd have to dig deep into several piles of software.

a bit of speculation - A lot of cars (like modern Ferraris) that have more highly sensitive ECU's and sensors onboard and getting and keeping that system synched draws a bit of parasitic power, likely by design (i.e. instead of dead batteries, we'd be complaining about having the systems re-learn at every start). On the Challenge cars, we use the battery cutoff (it's a lightweight lithium) overnights and in transport, but the team also does a careful relearn/reboot process. In fact, if you power the car up and try to start without the system fully booted, we've had faults. (yes, I know, not a road car, but just an example)

I'd speculate that some vehicles (eg. GMC, for our family Yukon) don't care, and neither do we. Our BMW X5M I've left parked for 10 days, remote would not work, but once I got the door open with the key (pain), it was fine. I forgot that the remotes we all love to use require a receiver in the car, which needs to be turned on to receive the signal from the fob...and that receiver consumes a bit of juice as well, even is sleep mode. (Big battery in that BMW BTW).

 

I had a 2010 458 coupe and the battery went dead after 10 days of not driving the car. I just went 3 weeks not driving my 2013 458 spider and it started right up.

 

Batteries are like people. Some make it till 90s and others can't reach 60s.

 

Good points everyone.

If the tender that comes with it is in fact a "800"- usually in CTek language that means its 0.8A. Thats usually not enough to keep up with the current draw most of these cars require. One of the nice things about the CTek tenders is they are good at not over charging the battery.

One thing to note about a dead battery and a car with a frameless window like most F cars: when you try to open the door, wait for the window to lower before trying to actually open the door. If the window doesn't lower, you could do some damage by pulling the door open (seals, even perhaps crack the glass/ damage the window motor).

 

I have a 2010 458. I don't drive the car often, and so there are clearly battery issues. I had the Ferrari CTEK which was quite small and died on me after about a year. So, now I have a larger CTEK 7002. The Ferrari does seem to go about 10 days for me without dying without the charger on it. But, then with it plugged in it goes much longer. But, oddly -- when I come back to the car after an extended period, the car throws up electronics errors, won't start (like the battery is dead), but then after a few presses of the button it usually starts with a slow turn, and then after that with a quick turn. It's latest stunt is that when it does start after say a 40 day period of sitting it throws out a ton of white smoke (30 to 45 seconds of smoke), but after say 25 or 30 days, it throws out no smoke. So, the smoke issue is binary. Drive the car for a few minutes, and pretty much it starts really good.

This is a recurring problem. I have a 2 year old battery which does not require water to be added. The car is in a climate controlled garage (60 to 85 degrees depending on the season.

I keep the battery tender on the car, so I wouldn't expect the electronics to go crazy, or the car to lose it's charge, but it does. Any thoughts here?

 

PITTY you guys don't read all threads here ............ why do we post them ....

We have discussed this iten already lots of times ... PUT THE CAR ON THE TENDER ALLWAYS !

The factory did not make a cut-off switch because they don't want you to take the power off !

And the battery does not last more than 2 years ... period !

Do a search on our previous threads ...

One: https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/458-replacement-battery.561685/#post-145618551

Two: https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/trickle-chargers-and-condo-boards.560687/

Three: https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/488-does-it-need-to-be-plugged-in.561470/

Four: https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/battery-life-question.559288/

 

Believe me, you don't want to disconnect the battery of a 458. It's not an 80s or 90s Ferrari: the ammount of electronic systems and their complexity is staggering, which in turn means the consequences of cutting off the battery are greatly enhanced. Car needs to be basically reprogrammed at the dealer to be "roadworthy" again.

Ferrari doesn't hand over a battery tender and advise you to have it plugged in at all times for nothing.

Kind regards,

Nuno.

 

Agreed. The same thing started to happen with my 2011 458 (including the white smoke that one time). New battery in. All good now. Keep the car on the tender always. Period.

 

That's not accurate information. I've disconnected the battery on my 458 plenty. Has no negative impact on anything.

Ray

 

You might want to consider installing a lithium ion battery. I have a Braille I48CS in my 458 and love it - never have to use a battery tender. I'm also installing a cut off switch from the 360 into the car soon and will be posting some how-to information soon. Here is a video on the battery



Note, a lithium ion battery uses a slightly different type charger, so not recommended to use the stock Ferrari tender. I have a tender from Braille and will adapting the Ferrari style plug for charging, even though the standby on this battery is so long, it doesn't need maintenance charging. The discharge rate of Lithium ion batteries is far less than traditional batteries, so it can go quite a while and still start the car no problem. I have a lithium ion battery on my motorcycle as well, which solved similar issues with the bike sitting but not starting.

Braille battery for the 458 or any Ferrari is really one of the best upgrades you can make in my view

Ray