Battery and alarm drain
Discussion
I've measured the drain with the car immobilised and with the alarm armed/car locked and in both cases it is 180 mA. If the clock takes 30 mA and there are no other drains then the alarm takes 150 mA. Is such a large current normal (Clifford Concept 300). My calculations on 180 mA give a weekly drain of 30 AH and so the battery (65 AH) is nearly flat after only two weeks. No wonder my battery is low as only using car once a week.
It's not that simple as charging via the cigar socket never fully charges the battery and I believe this has been my problem. There is too much volt drop in the circuit so I have reverted to charging the battery direct across its terminals. In the process of fitting a remote socket connected direct to the terminals and that should solve the problem once and for all, unless I've killed the battery letting it run too low. The alarm current however still concerns me as if I left (I won't be anyway) the car at an airport park for two weeks I doubt it would start on return. The alarm must be a crap design regarding current consumption or I have a fault. Tried downloading info from Clifford web site but it won't let me
eng622 said:
It's not that simple as charging via the cigar socket never fully charges the battery and I believe this has been my problem. There is too much volt drop in the circuit so I have reverted to charging the battery direct across its terminals. In the process of fitting a remote socket connected direct to the terminals and that should solve the problem once and for all, unless I've killed the battery letting it run too low. The alarm current however still concerns me as if I left (I won't be anyway) the car at an airport park for two weeks I doubt it would start on return. The alarm must be a crap design regarding current consumption or I have a fault. Tried downloading info from Clifford web site but it won't let me
With a battery conditioner like the Airflow, I dont believe you should think of it as charging the battery.They will struggle to bring a low battery back up, but will keep a healthy battery ready to go.
I also use an Airflow, have had it for about 8 years, using on the TR6 previous to the griff.
The only time it has let me down is when I have forgotten to switch the mains socket on ! DOH !
It has always been plugged into the cigar outlet , which is ideal on a griff.
Edited by AntonyJ on Thursday 24th April 21:20
eng622 said:
The alarm current however still concerns me as if I left (I won't be anyway) the car at an airport park for two weeks I doubt it would start on return. The alarm must be a crap design regarding current consumption or I have a fault.
I have the standard factory fit Alarm/immobiliser and got rather fed up with the constant drain on the battery when laid up. I fitted a remote battery plug/socket under the bonnet that completely isolated the car electrics including alarm from the battery. So the battery may be charged conveniently and it avoids battery drain while laid up. Not used the car since last October or charged the battery, connected up today and it started first time.Only downside is that the alarm internal battery will lose its charge.
Can send pics if you are interested
Edited by Loubaruch on Friday 25th April 23:31
Thought about a battery isolator but the problem is my car is left in the driveway, although covered so woyld have insurance problems regarding a claim if alarm/immobiliser disconnected.
Regarding charging the principle is simple unless you have a sophisicated constant current charger. So, if not the charging current depends on the difference between the charger output voltage and the battery terminal voltage. As the battery is charged its terminal voltage increases and so the charging current falls and you know when its fully charged when the current falls to around 1A or less (when charging direct across the battery terminals). Problem I've found is charging though the cigar sockets never gives a charging current of more than 2 A and although this may appear alright the battery never gets fully charged due to cable volt drop even after several hours of charging when the current falls to less than 1A. If you charge direct across the battery terminals in similar conditions the initial charging current is around 4A and this falls to less than 1A when fully charged
Regarding charging the principle is simple unless you have a sophisicated constant current charger. So, if not the charging current depends on the difference between the charger output voltage and the battery terminal voltage. As the battery is charged its terminal voltage increases and so the charging current falls and you know when its fully charged when the current falls to around 1A or less (when charging direct across the battery terminals). Problem I've found is charging though the cigar sockets never gives a charging current of more than 2 A and although this may appear alright the battery never gets fully charged due to cable volt drop even after several hours of charging when the current falls to less than 1A. If you charge direct across the battery terminals in similar conditions the initial charging current is around 4A and this falls to less than 1A when fully charged
There's really no need to go to all that trouble.
If you use a smart 3 stage charger, it will work out the draw and condition of the battery and charge correctly...via the fag socket.
It should
recondition
charge correctly
maintain battery (with the alarm on)
for as long a period as you want. I have had an accumate on mine for years and it maintains it fine for whatever period, months in many cases. It has also recovered fully discharged batteries several times, which have gone on for many months afterwards. Two maybe three weeks on a Griff/Tiv, is about the norm for a fully charged battery to start a cold motor etc in my experience.
If you use a smart 3 stage charger, it will work out the draw and condition of the battery and charge correctly...via the fag socket.
It should
recondition
charge correctly
maintain battery (with the alarm on)
for as long a period as you want. I have had an accumate on mine for years and it maintains it fine for whatever period, months in many cases. It has also recovered fully discharged batteries several times, which have gone on for many months afterwards. Two maybe three weeks on a Griff/Tiv, is about the norm for a fully charged battery to start a cold motor etc in my experience.
I've found the standard alarm heavy on the battery also. 2 weeks is the max and thats with a new high capacity Varta battery. I've bought an optimate and it comes with harness to wire direct in. I tied the plug up in the passneger footwell and it simply plugs in when needed.
I also have a race style isolator but it stops the clock and resets the ecu (which can be handy on occasions) which is a pain.
I think the early alarms were just hungry.
HI there
I have an Anderson socket in the passenger footwell of my Chim (Oops, I'll get my coat!!), but have never had to use it. I use an Optimate via the fag socket successfully. I spend weeks away at work and never ever have a problem on return. Starts first time every time.
HTH
Phil
I have an Anderson socket in the passenger footwell of my Chim (Oops, I'll get my coat!!), but have never had to use it. I use an Optimate via the fag socket successfully. I spend weeks away at work and never ever have a problem on return. Starts first time every time.
HTH
Phil
mikeb said:
I was told to remove the Courtesy light relay on the fuse / relay pack (the big yellow ford bugger) as this draws quite a big current when the car is left standing??
MikeyB
just been with an auto electrician all morning sorting out issues...... my car was draining twice what it should have been when standing, and this was traced to the "big yellow ford bugger" (courtesy light delay turning off relay)... chap who was doing all the work said that he had come across these before, and regulary found them faulty.MikeyB
removed it as no spare was avaiable...and all readings are as they should be.
Quinny said:
Guillotine said:
I have had an accumate on mine for years and it maintains it fine for whatever period, months in many cases. It has also recovered fully discharged batteries several times, which have gone on for many months afterwards. Two maybe three weeks on a Griff/Tiv, is about the norm for a fully charged battery to start a cold motor etc in my experience.
Same here
I've never replaced a battery since using my Acumate.
Last battery was renewed around 2003 so now 5 years old and still going strong
How you doing Quinny ? Not long to go now eh buddy
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