Another flat battery question
Discussion
I am now getting a flat battery after 2 to 3 days, normally it would be ok for maybe 2 weeks, so I have read through a lot of old posts and started with a clamp meter on the battery negative, around 600mA with the door open, if I operate the door switch manually I get 2 scenarios, one the current drops to around 450 for 20s then drops to 300, second option I start around 500 which then increases to 600 as soon as I touch the switch and then drops to around 450 20 s later, so clearly something wrong here sometimes, at no point does my interior light come on though, so I guess one current change is from the delay timer coil, any thoughts on the second step ?
I have then pulled all the fuses one by one and 3 thst make a difference, so counting from the left I have no 4 that reduces current by approx 150 to 200mA but is a little strange in that inserting the fuse does not increase the current again, that only happens after I operate the door switch, this fuse is 30A, the other 2 fuses, no6 at 25A and no19 at 10A both decrease current again by 150 to 200mA but these ones see the current going back up as soon as they are re inserted, looking through the bible I do not see any of the layouts having fuses that seem logical, the one on p241 seems the closest but has differences on relays used, so is it a case now of pulling each of those fuses to see what doesn’t work or is there a more technical approach
I have then pulled all the fuses one by one and 3 thst make a difference, so counting from the left I have no 4 that reduces current by approx 150 to 200mA but is a little strange in that inserting the fuse does not increase the current again, that only happens after I operate the door switch, this fuse is 30A, the other 2 fuses, no6 at 25A and no19 at 10A both decrease current again by 150 to 200mA but these ones see the current going back up as soon as they are re inserted, looking through the bible I do not see any of the layouts having fuses that seem logical, the one on p241 seems the closest but has differences on relays used, so is it a case now of pulling each of those fuses to see what doesn’t work or is there a more technical approach
Hi Bel427, yes the interior light delay relay shows up as the most common issue, I did try to remove it as I assumed that was the easiest test, but it refused to come out, not a good sign, I will try again today but need to find a way to support the fuse box first so I don’t whip the whole thing out, but even if removal stops that drain I still have 2 other circuits causing an issue
Hi Steve D, thanks for the cct, I will PM you.
If I remove the interior light relay and leave it out, I have no use for it, does that remove this cct as a battery drain possibility?
Have a little gadget as in the photo plugged into the cigar lighter, but surprised that it would so much current, normal lift it to break contact when I get out, but I also see that cigar lighter is also normally linked to wing mirror heater, any idea on how they switch on / off, the horn doesn’t sound a likely issue, I am sure I would notice that, but I will try tonight to remove those fuses one by one to see what stops working
If I remove the interior light relay and leave it out, I have no use for it, does that remove this cct as a battery drain possibility?
Have a little gadget as in the photo plugged into the cigar lighter, but surprised that it would so much current, normal lift it to break contact when I get out, but I also see that cigar lighter is also normally linked to wing mirror heater, any idea on how they switch on / off, the horn doesn’t sound a likely issue, I am sure I would notice that, but I will try tonight to remove those fuses one by one to see what stops working
Yes it could be the battery, it’s 5 years old, but then again how long would it stay charged with a new battery if was taking 0.6A all day long?
I have removed the interior light timer, it never worked anyway so not bothered about that, my current is now down to 250mA, so less than half of what it was, the strange thing now though is that if I pull fuses 4 and 19 which are cigar lighter and horn I get no further drop in current, I don’t see any logic in this
But anyway, I will see if the battery stays charged for longer now
I have removed the interior light timer, it never worked anyway so not bothered about that, my current is now down to 250mA, so less than half of what it was, the strange thing now though is that if I pull fuses 4 and 19 which are cigar lighter and horn I get no further drop in current, I don’t see any logic in this
But anyway, I will see if the battery stays charged for longer now
I have been reading on this forum for several years and often hear stories of the Meta alarm and it’s issues, but I have the Foxguard one that rarely seems to get a mention, so these also have a history of issues?
Although removing fuses 4 and 19 no longer reduce the drain fuse 6 does, it seems to follow Steve D cct, thank you very much for that, with that fuse removed I am close to zero drain, but as it’s immobiliser and central locking I do need to refit it.
I have looked at the door switch, it looks reasonable but what I don’t understand is the central locking system, if I have the passenger door open and press the switch I hear a relay operate in the left of the dashboard, when I release it I get a clunk from just behind where the door opens, what is that relay and clunk doing, my reason for asking is that I get a variation in drain, sometimes pushing the switch in reduces the drain by 100mA and then back up when I release, but sometimes it does the exact opposite, I know it sounds like it should be the switch but if listen for the relay and clunk they always remain in the same sequence,, if I remove fuse 6 central locking doesn’t work but the doors still open and close and stay secure, so what is the clunk near the door latch doing if I am not locking the car?, it’s a 95 with the door opener on the rear wing.
I do have a CTEK conditioner but it would be nice to connect every time I get out of the car
Although removing fuses 4 and 19 no longer reduce the drain fuse 6 does, it seems to follow Steve D cct, thank you very much for that, with that fuse removed I am close to zero drain, but as it’s immobiliser and central locking I do need to refit it.
I have looked at the door switch, it looks reasonable but what I don’t understand is the central locking system, if I have the passenger door open and press the switch I hear a relay operate in the left of the dashboard, when I release it I get a clunk from just behind where the door opens, what is that relay and clunk doing, my reason for asking is that I get a variation in drain, sometimes pushing the switch in reduces the drain by 100mA and then back up when I release, but sometimes it does the exact opposite, I know it sounds like it should be the switch but if listen for the relay and clunk they always remain in the same sequence,, if I remove fuse 6 central locking doesn’t work but the doors still open and close and stay secure, so what is the clunk near the door latch doing if I am not locking the car?, it’s a 95 with the door opener on the rear wing.
I do have a CTEK conditioner but it would be nice to connect every time I get out of the car
Hi Steve D, any idea why closing the door should operate the central locking relay?, maybe the 100mA change I see is energising the coil?, the only thing I can think off that would change when closing the door is the interior light delay relay, but I have removed that, anyway I got bored looking at this today so I went for a drive, not good, misfire gremlins that I thought I had fixed last year came back with a vengeance, last year I tightened up all the spring connections in the pump and main power relays and the car has run perfect since for about 1300 miles, so all I have done this week is remove the fuses and disturbed the rats nest.
On returning home I kept the engine running and twisted and shook all the rats nest cables, nothing, taped all the relays and ecu to try and simulate vibration, nothing, stopped and removed the ecu, checked all the plug spring clips, they all look ok but if I insert a small spade terminal in each one there is a big variation in grip, how easy would it be to replace the ecu connector, the relay bases or the loom?, I have an NC 500 trip planned for July but if it keeps running like this I will need to take the wife’s mx5, that would be embarrassing
On returning home I kept the engine running and twisted and shook all the rats nest cables, nothing, taped all the relays and ecu to try and simulate vibration, nothing, stopped and removed the ecu, checked all the plug spring clips, they all look ok but if I insert a small spade terminal in each one there is a big variation in grip, how easy would it be to replace the ecu connector, the relay bases or the loom?, I have an NC 500 trip planned for July but if it keeps running like this I will need to take the wife’s mx5, that would be embarrassing
Well it looks like I have halved the drain but the battery still drops down to about 10v after 3 days, connecting up its old last battery that I replaced about 5 or 6 years ago as a precautionary measure is still over 12v for the same time period, so yes it’s just a dimple knackered battery, I think the one in there is an 072 as I was recommended at the time, but I remember it being a bit of a tight fit and needed persuading to get it into the box, that will be fun to remove now, does anyone know of something slightly smaller ?, the one that it came with was quite a bit smaller but also on capacity
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