Battery drain

TheJoker · August 05, 2007, 09:01:28 AM

Blimey Anders!

And the rest of you! Much appreciated! I better get out there an pull those connectors. Let's hope nothing more 'important' comes in the way..

Blom · September 12, 2007, 06:27:14 PM

TheJoker, im interested in your problem. Did you ever solve the drain problem of your battery?

Ive experienced similar problems lately, less than a week in the garage and no driving, results in a dead battery. The battery is like yours new, so im interested in what solved yours?

Thanks

Blom

TheJoker · September 13, 2007, 08:40:47 AM

Sorry for the radio silence, especially after everybody helped so much. No I've not solved the problem, in fact I've been so busy that I've been using the car about twice per week now so I've not had any symptoms from the problem. It's still there, but I haven't done anything since my last post.

I am going to fix it. I've also got MOT coming up so I need to just make sure everything is alright anyway.
As soon as I've done something, I'll let you guys know.

Sorry again!

Anders Dinsen · September 13, 2007, 10:05:38 AM

Blom, I'm 90% certain your problem is related to the aftermarket heater (Webasto?) that you have on your car. I know that installation of such a unit is NOT trivial, especially not electrically, so it is likely that something is not quite right there.

- Anders

Blom · September 13, 2007, 05:02:42 PM

The Webasto heater?

Why?, ive not had it running, the car has just been standing for 5 days without driving in it?

:-) Well, ill let the garage look at it, and then ill see what comes up :-)

When a battery have been out of power, how long or how many km should you drive before the battery is recharged to full? The reason why I ask, is that the garage drained the battery when testing the generator and after that we have only in been driving lets say around 100km in total and then the car stood still for 5 days, and were dead.

Thanks

Anders Dinsen · September 13, 2007, 06:44:33 PM

Quote from: Blom on September 13, 2007, 05:02:42 PM
The Webasto heater?

Why?, ive not had it running, the car has just been standing for 5 days without driving in it?

If the battery just drains itself, then something is wrong. If something is wrong, why not suspect the non-standard stuff first? Especially when knowing that it is difficult to install correctly.

Quote
When a battery have been out of power, how long or how many km should you drive before the battery is recharged to full? The reason why I ask, is that the garage drained the battery when testing the generator and after that we have only in been driving lets say around 100km in total and then the car stood still for 5 days, and were dead.

This sounds like something is draining it.

But it could of course also be the generator that doesn't charge correctly. Even new generators can be faulty!

- Anders

Blom · September 13, 2007, 08:28:53 PM

Yes, its a possibility to look at non standard stuff first, but until now, it has been working flawlessly, so why suddenly start acting up? well, ill see what comes up, I were just qurious about TheJokers "solution" perhaps I could have had a clue.

Blom

TheJoker · September 14, 2007, 07:57:13 AM

Blom,

First, I assume that your battery is in good shape. If the battery is on its way out, it'll die after a week standing.
Also, if you can disconnect the Webasto heater fairly easily, I'd do so, just to eliminate. Other than that, try measuring the drain on the fuses (and the Webasto) as I did and take it from there.

And, electrical things have a tendencey to "suddeny start acting up"... it's their nature

Blom · September 14, 2007, 10:42:56 AM

TheJoker, your right.. they have a tendencey :-) ill let the garage take care of it, we have other things needed to be done.

Thanks

TheJoker · September 17, 2007, 07:33:56 AM

Gentlemen,

I was going to start pulling the plugs apart on Saturday, but just to be sure I measured the drain again, and this time the drain was in the region of 0.21 - 0.19 most of the time...
Is this in the region of normal drain or is it still too much drain? Self healing Espace, anyone?!

Anders Dinsen · September 17, 2007, 10:16:19 AM

Quote from: TheJoker on September 17, 2007, 07:33:56 AM
Is this in the region of normal drain or is it still too much drain? Self healing Espace, anyone?!

Heh, that would be a nice feature, wouldn't it?
But in this case I don't think you are that lucky. If the problem is corrosion in a connector, the problem is bound to change over time as the corrosion develops etc. Don't count on anything yet.

- Anders

TheJoker · September 17, 2007, 11:27:39 AM

You're right Anders. I better do the unplugging properly.

TheJoker · January 05, 2008, 12:33:18 PM

Hi gents,

This is a bit strange; A month or so back I was out there unplugging the cables and looking at the battery drain, I unplugged all cables that I could find, I documented it and intended to post pictures and analysis on here. Unfortunately time ran away from me and nothing happened...

except...

.... The car seems fine now... I've not charged it for a long time now.

Granted I've used it quite regularily but still it's been 'uncharged' for longer than it was before... So I'm starting to think that the car is OK now..?!

Now I just need to figure out how to change the left hand (battery side) dipped beam.. hahahah!

Thanks for all your help, much appreciated! I might still need it if this problem returns.