Member Since: 15 Jan 2016
Location: GL
Posts: 10360
Before you go into the passenger fusebox.
Please recheck the large J fuses
and the following small fuses under the bonnet.
No.
20 ALT
23 abs
26 AIR SUSPENSION
30 GEARBOX
28 FBH DIESEL MODELS
27 ENGINE ECU
So if you aren't measuring any current through that lot, there is something wrong with your test method.
Please tell us how you are checking it
To be honest you don't need to keep waiting 30 minutes at this point.
If you are seeing a drain at the battery, prove your test method, and see which fuses it is doing down.
Once you identified likely fuses, recheck them after the 30 mins is up.
23rd Apr 2020 3:10 pm
Trucks
Member Since: 30 Nov 2019
Location: south newton
Posts: 375
No current whatsoever on all you mentioned using multimeter as in picture on fuse 23
23rd Apr 2020 3:47 pm
Pete K
Member Since: 15 Jan 2016
Location: GL
Posts: 10360
Click image to enlarge
move the red lead into the V socket.
Move knob to 9 o'clock
-V 200m
repeat including large fuses
23rd Apr 2020 3:58 pm
gstuart
Member Since: 21 Oct 2016
Location: kent
Posts: 13612
Pete K wrote:
Before you go into the passenger fusebox.
Please recheck the large J fuses
and the following small fuses under the bonnet.
No.
20 ALT
23 abs
26 AIR SUSPENSION
30 GEARBOX
28 FBH DIESEL MODELS
27 ENGINE ECU
So if you aren't measuring any current through that lot, there is something wrong with your test method.
Please tell us how you are checking it
To be honest you don't need to keep waiting 30 minutes at this point.
If you are seeing a drain at the battery, prove your test method, and see which fuses it is doing down.
Once you identified likely fuses, recheck them after the 30 mins is up.
Hi Pete k
Hope all is well
Don’t think u can forget when I helped me when I had the battery drain
On the bottom 2 x engine cartridge bay fuses (F18) using a multimeter I got nothing , then when I installed the made up test leads and clamp meter I started to get readings , which indicated the drain was coming from the internal fuse box
Am wondering if that’s happening here as indeed seems weird there’s no reading
But know ur extremely knowledgeable when it comes to this sort of thing, was just curious
Many thks as always
23rd Apr 2020 4:14 pm
matgriff
Member Since: 16 Sep 2019
Location: Newcastle Under Lyme, Staffs
Posts: 171
As mentioned, if you're trying to measure the voltage drop across a fuse to determine the current, then you're looking at a couple of millivolts or there abouts, so you need the DVM set to DC volts on the lowest range.
I see from your clamp on ammeter you have a reading of 170ma after a couple of hours, this still seems a bit high to me, I'd expect <100ma but it could drop down as certain systems and CPU's enter their sleep modes..
So at 170ma, this is around 2W of power, which seems not unreasonable as a total load for all the things that need a supported power supply.
Even at 170ma you battery should last way longer than a couple of days before going flat.
One question, if you start the car up does the battery voltage come up to around 13.5v and stay there when you apply a good load, ie headlights, heated seats etc etc ?2005 TDV6 SE Auto
Cairns Blue
23rd Apr 2020 4:20 pm
gstuart
Member Since: 21 Oct 2016
Location: kent
Posts: 13612
May i ask a daft question please, yeh i know
Just curious , Ref the alternators diode , ie if u have the engine running , set the multimeter to AC Volts then putting test leads onto the pos and neg of the battery posts , should be under O.5 Vac
Could a faulty diode cause a large draw on the battery plse
Many thks
23rd Apr 2020 4:27 pm
Trucks
Member Since: 30 Nov 2019
Location: south newton
Posts: 375
As requested still no reading on all the fuses
23rd Apr 2020 4:44 pm
Trucks
Member Since: 30 Nov 2019
Location: south newton
Posts: 375
As to the car starting has not been a problem I observed the multimeter and the battery dropped to 12.45v then on start went to 13.95 v
I have tested the alternator under load with everything running and was still pushing out just under 14volts.
The car would not start just the Solenoid clicking when I was in hospital for 5 days and someone wanted to use it .
The car stayed that way untill I was well enough to tinker with it some three weeks later.
I keep the ctek handy and every third day the voltage gets to 12.45 i put the car on charge overnight just to maintain the battery.
I believe this continuous charging is not good for the battery is that correct.
Pete
23rd Apr 2020 5:08 pm
Trucks
Member Since: 30 Nov 2019
Location: south newton
Posts: 375
Last message today as bloody
Knackered .
See new picture
The clamp meter was put on 10 minutes ago and has remained as seen 0.01/2 the battery is at 13v
So I think the bonnet alarm switch has caused all the trouble as the battery normally would be lower than that by this time of the day
So leaving things as they are and will check battery tomorrow
morning and will order the bonnet sensor switch tomorrow as well
I will keep you posted
And thanks again
Pete
23rd Apr 2020 5:45 pm
Trucks
Member Since: 30 Nov 2019
Location: south newton
Posts: 375
Forgot pictures
23rd Apr 2020 5:47 pm
Pete K
Member Since: 15 Jan 2016
Location: GL
Posts: 10360
That's good news then if you have fixed it.
Otherwise, (as gstuart points out) you will probably need to make 2 of these up :
Click image to enlarge
Click image to enlarge
23rd Apr 2020 6:16 pm
matgriff
Member Since: 16 Sep 2019
Location: Newcastle Under Lyme, Staffs
Posts: 171
ok so 20ma... winner
I'd say that was pretty normal
Mat2005 TDV6 SE Auto
Cairns Blue
23rd Apr 2020 8:48 pm
matgriff
Member Since: 16 Sep 2019
Location: Newcastle Under Lyme, Staffs
Posts: 171
Quote:
May i ask a daft question please, yeh i know Whistle
Just curious , Ref the alternators diode , ie if u have the engine running , set the multimeter to AC Volts then putting test leads onto the pos and neg of the battery posts , should be under O.5 Vac
Could a faulty diode cause a large draw on the battery plse
The AC voltage ripple content as measured across the battery should be tiny, the battery has the effect of damping out the AC component, you could see an AC component in the current from the rectifier if a diode was shorted,
And yes a shorted diode in the alternator would cause the battery to discharge
even with the ignition turned off.... hence my question about the battery voltage coming up under load.
I think he's solved it with the alarm problem (bonnet switch ) fix
Mat2005 TDV6 SE Auto
Cairns Blue
23rd Apr 2020 8:53 pm
gstuart
Member Since: 21 Oct 2016
Location: kent
Posts: 13612
The AC voltage ripple content as measured across the battery should be tiny, the battery has the effect of damping out the AC component, you could see an AC component in the current from the rectifier if a diode was shorted,
And yes a shorted diode in the alternator would cause the battery to discharge
even with the ignition turned off.... hence my question about the battery voltage coming up under load.
I think he's solved it with the alarm problem (bonnet switch ) fix
Mat
Hi Mat
That’s really kind of u to explain that , many thks and appreciated as I do like to learn new things
So would I be right in saying the alternators ripple could only be tested with an oscilloscope plse
I wondered that when u asked the question and if indeed it was concerning the diode
Is that when it fails it allows voltage to travel both ways and therefore starts to drain the battery
Interesting , ref the bonnet catch , been trying to think how it causes battery drain, fingers crossed that’s resolved the issue
Thks again
Ps, as a side note I use an app to keep an eye on my batteries , fitted a battery monitor and can then see the condition of the battery , also includes a cold cranking amp test , via Bluetooth on ur iPhone / iPad but alas only has a range of around 20 x feet
Use the last app because I can monitor both batteries , first app is a free download , second one is £10
Click image to enlarge
Click image to enlarge
Click image to enlarge
23rd Apr 2020 10:14 pm
Trucks
Member Since: 30 Nov 2019
Location: south newton
Posts: 375
Good morning campers
The good news the battery has retained its charge at 12.88v
overnight and considering it was not in use since yesterday early morning that aquates to over 28 hours and the charge has basically stayed the same.
So it seems that the bonnet switch was to blame,I ask as will otheres no doubt how as it's such a miniscule switch could cause the battery drain,but when you think about it when I used to lock my car with one click the car would lock and there would be no single beep so you guess everything was ok,but no twenty minutes later sometimes longer sometimes earlier the dam alarm would go off so obviously something was whirring round and round under the bonnet till it said "sod (something more explicit would be suitable) this for a game of soldiers I am going to turn on the alarm".
Also I suspect when I double locked it the same thing was whirring round but did not trigger the alarm as it was a secondary alarm,so in its wisdom it said to itself "sod this again if he wont turn on the alarm i aint"so it kept on whirring untill the battery went down.
I expect I am undoubtedly wrong but am happy the battery is holding its charge.
And just to say I put the clamp meter on this morning and was reading .01 and just to test I reconnected my dash cam (Yes it was disconnected from the fuse box before any test were undertaken, weeks ago as a matter of fact.)and the reading immediately went up to 270/300 then settled about 180 disconnect and reading went to 01 so it settled my mind that the clamp meter was ok.
Just lastly thank you all for your great imput and I have learnt from all of you,just goes to show how great this forum is and I will be donating a tenner to the forum not much I know but better than nowt
Thanks again.(hope you don't hear from me again on the subject )
Pete
Ps
So perhaps there is something there for you very clever diagnostic people to muse about and see what answers you can find to the bonnet switch saga.
Be safe don't get caught out with this virus.
Pete
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