W210 Battery drain after using headlights

[Michael1983]

Hoping somebody might have come across this issue before but I have a 2002 W210 fitted with Xenon lights and if I take the car out and night and use the headlights then the next morning the battery will be dead flat, the car has already had a new battery and it doesn't matter if I use the old one or the new one it seems to be the same.

Previous owner made mention of an issue with the car blowing ballasts and sold the car with a spare one. Both lights seem to work fine and it's not draining the battery whilst the car is running as I've driven places with the lights on turned the car off and it still starts up fine. One thing I have noticed is a yellow wire connected to come headlight that doesn't look standard.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as its annoying not being able to use the car in the dark.

 

[Gazwould]

Or battery isn't charging up properly because of an alternator issue .

 

[Michael1983]

I've put a volt meter on the alternator and seems OK, also the battery is completely flat I have to unlock the car with the key and there are no lights on the dash but jump start it and take the car for a run with the lights off and it charges up fine.
I have already brought new brush to install to the alternator as it is on the low side but still contacting before I worked out the link that it did it after using the lights.
Not sure if it's linked but it does like to throw up lighting fault on the dash a lot when I'm driving it even with no lights on.

 

[Blobcat]

Are they original xenon’s or some dodgy aftermarket install?

Alternator wise the regulator pack could have a failed diode that allows the battery to discharge when the car is off.

 

[Doug1234]

I had a Ford Sierra 30 years ago that did similar , sometimes the lights would go dim on a long drive at night say more than about 3/4’s of an hour. Turned out to be the alternator as mentioned in other posts it was charging but only putting in enough to stop the battery light coming on and using the lights tipped the balance.

 

[mioba]

Youu need to get the voltmeter out and start testing the circiuts as something is drawing

 

[mioba]

I think you would get a red battery symbol for battery (ie circuit) on a 2002 car, but could be mistaken, whats the v across the battery with the engine running, my gut tell me is something to do with the headlights, is this car a recent a purchase.
Are the headlights original fit with the car or an aftermarket, has the PO fixed them up with some el cheapo parts.

 

[Michael1983]

OK sorry for the delay I had to wait until the weekend to get on the car.
The voltage across the battery with the engine running was around 14volts, body of car to positive terminal was between 12.5 to 13 volts.
I turned the lights on and there was no change to these figures both of the dip beam fuses were pulling 14 volts however I have attached photos to show a nice bodge repair that probably explains the lighting fault message. Having the lights on for a few minutes didn't affect the battery but as all previous times the battery discarged the lights would have been on for over half an hour I'm wondering if the fact someone has got both lights running through the right hand side circuit could this cause the issues with the lighting module as in causing it to get too hot.
Although I couldn't get into the passenger light to check it out fully I was able to peek in and I noticed this side has a longer wire on the ballast which makes me suspect this is the side that has had the ballast issues mentioned by the previous owner as the wire seemed to loop around and connect from the top where as drivers side is only long enough to connect from the bottom.
I got the car in April its not used daily hence it took a while to figure out the connection.