Drained Battery

[littlewimp]

Well not sure what's happened know, I used my jumpack to start car to get it in the garage but now have no front or rear lights working and the boot wont operate on the buttons, I'm guessing that somethings shut itself down or even worse! could this be connected to my battery drain problem? its all getting a bit confusing .

 

[television]

Has the battery been charged.

 

[littlewimp]

Hi Malcolm, I have trickle charged the battery several times, it seems to vary on the time it takes to drain, It can start fine after 3-4 days then rapidly drain within several hours, could it be the alternator causing rapid drain down ?

 

[littlewimp]

If I could identify the fuses that feed some of the possible faulty units I could connect up my amp meter and go through a system of elimination . were would you start Malcolm,? Thanks Neil.

 

[Frontstep]

Have you had the battery tested ?

 

[television]

The biggest cause of drain are seat controllers and window ECU's. A fuse type plug in ammeter should find any leaking ones.

 

[littlewimp]

Have you had the battery tested ?

Yes battery has been tested I also fitted a new one from my Portchester this also went flat after a short while.

 

[littlewimp]

Hi Malcolm I've just got one of these testers, just uncertain of the fuses I need to check.

 

[Frontstep]

Can you get access to a clamp meter ?
You need a DC amps model thats capable someone with more electrical knowledge then me should be able to point you in the right direction.

 

[television]

Can you get access to a clamp meter ?
You need a DC amps model thats capable someone with more electrical knowledge then me should be able to point you in the right direction.

£45 from CPC is the cheapest that can read milli amps DC

 

[littlewimp]

Thanks , my clamps meters are ac amps only so I should possibly invest in a dc version.

 

[television]

It has to be one that resolves down to milli amps. this is the CPC version that has a 80 amp and a 4 amp range.

This is the fuse type about £12

 

[Frontstep]

Loads on Amazon but I wouldn't know a good one

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=sr_st...:419153031&qid=1455913314&sort=price-asc-rank

 

[littlewimp]

Thanks. I'm just using the fuse type. I've added some leads to the fuse holder and have it connected in line. It's been connected for fourth five minutes and it's dropped from 8 amps down to 1.3 amps, which I know is to high . But I would of thought this wouldn't of completely flattened a 100 amp battery in 8 hrs? If I knew what fuses to drop out I could do so until the reading drops and this would perhaps pinpoint the problem.

 

[television]

Loads on Amazon but I wouldn't know a good one

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=sr_st...:419153031&qid=1455913314&sort=price-asc-rank

None of those will do low DC anmps

 

[television]

Thanks. I'm just using the fuse type. I've added some leads to the fuse holder and have it connected in line. It's been connected for fourth five minutes and it's dropped from 8 amps down to 1.3 amps, which I know is to high . But I would of thought this wouldn't of completely flattened a 100 amp battery in 8 hrs? If I knew what fuses to drop out I could do so until the reading drops and this would perhaps pinpoint the problem.

Every time the car is locked and unlocked it will draw very high amps, it will be sleeping after about 20 minutes locked. 1.3 amp will cream the top off the charge, as before its normally the seat and window controllers that give the most problems. The CAN could be keeping the car awake

 

[littlewimp]

You Guessed it, went into the garage to find the car with a almost dead flat battery, I have done several draw down test since and its around 1.7 amps. not really sure what my next course of action is now, well at least everything is functioning and I was able to go for for a spin yesterday !

 

[television]

If you cannot find this via a fuse holder them could be alternator reg pack. was the battery really fully charged, working on them with the doors open will drain the battery.

 

[littlewimp]

Thanks Malcolm I did disconnect the alternator last week when I had 3.3 amps drain and it made no difference, obviously the bad earth was causing this high power drain. ive had all doors shut and I've cheated the boot lock so that I can monitor my clamp meter over a 45- 60 minute timescale. I'm not sure exactly how long it would take to drain a good fully charged battery with a 2 amp load? this would equate roughly to having a 20 watt bulb powered at all times I think ?

 

[television]

Door and seat ECU are the worst. 2 amps would take the best out of a battery overnight,