Lance
Avid poster
Posts: 233
Location: Melbourne
Tow/Motorhome: VW Crafter Motorhome
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Post by Lance on Jul 28, 2019 19:01:28 GMT 10
Gooday all. I suspect I have a current drain from the start battery in my Crafter. Looking for the correct method to check for a loss using either my cheapie MM or my not so cheapie MM I understand the best bet is to disconnect the + cable and measure any current between the post and the cable. Correct ? What settings on the MMs do I use ? Manuals for both have been lost ages ago..............
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Post by jr on Jul 28, 2019 20:29:55 GMT 10
Hi Lance, That red clamp multi meter would be easy selected to 40A assuming it is 40A DC. Don't disconnect anything just put the clamp over the earth cable from the battery. If the battery drainage is very low then try the other meter but you will need to disconnect the earth or positive of the battery and select the meter to 10A DC. Make sure you have the black lead in the 10A pin hole. Then place one lead of the meter on the cable you have disconnected and the other on the battery terminal block you disconnected off. Does not matter which way you connect the meter leads the reading may have a minus in front but the reading will be the same either way. Now if the current is below 200mA that's 0.2amps select the 200m and plug the black lead in the com pin hole. JR
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Lance
Avid poster
Posts: 233
Location: Melbourne
Tow/Motorhome: VW Crafter Motorhome
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Post by Lance on Jul 28, 2019 20:48:10 GMT 10
Hi Lance, That red clamp multi meter would be easy selected to 40A assuming it is 40A DC. Don't disconnect anything just put the clamp over the earth cable from the battery. JR Thanks JR.That gave me a reading fluctuating between 0.12 & 0.17. What does that tell this inexperienced sparky................
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Post by jr on Jul 28, 2019 21:07:40 GMT 10
0.12amps to 0.17amps so lets say 0.2amps to round it off. In 5hours the battery would have drained 1AH and in 24hrs the battery would have drained 4.8AH's. That does not sound to bad as the vehicle will be using some power doing nothing anyway. The battery will go flat but that would depend on how often you run the vehicle. JR
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Lance
Avid poster
Posts: 233
Location: Melbourne
Tow/Motorhome: VW Crafter Motorhome
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Post by Lance on Jul 28, 2019 21:35:06 GMT 10
Thanks for that JR, makes me feel better..........I think.......
We just drove 160km home and when we pulled into the backyard the battery was showing 13.2v. That was 4hrs ago. It's now showing 12.84 with nothing turned 'On' I'll check again on da morrow
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Post by nsgnomad on Jul 28, 2019 23:08:19 GMT 10
Lance, is this your 'house' battery or starter battery? Are they isolated or just in parallel? I am a little concerned by JR's figures, which I basically agree with. 0.12amps to 0.17amps so lets say 0.2amps to round it off. In 5hours the battery would have drained 1AH and in 24hrs the battery would have drained 4.8AH's. That does not sound to bad as the vehicle will be using some power doing nothing anyway. The battery will go flat but that would depend on how often you run the vehicle. JR If you consider a normal car starter, then you would expect it to be able to start OK after 1 week of nil use and should be OK after 2 weeks if in good condition. But at 4.8AH per day, after 1 week it would be down by 33.6AH or 67.2AH after a fortnight. I know that deep cycle and starter batteries are different, but looking at the weekly / fortnightly drain i think it might be a little excessive. After all, would you be happy if you couldn't start the vehicle after standing for a week or 2? JR's figures are rounded up, so actual figures are perhaps around 25 to 30% lower, nevertheless, I think there is cause for further investigation.
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Lance
Avid poster
Posts: 233
Location: Melbourne
Tow/Motorhome: VW Crafter Motorhome
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Post by Lance on Jul 29, 2019 2:33:54 GMT 10
My concerns are with the Start battery nsg. It is connected to the House battery through an isolator.
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Post by Frank and Brenda on Jul 29, 2019 7:20:41 GMT 10
If you use it infrequently, just get a small panel and clip it on thr battery I bought one for the motorbike to keep the battery up to scratch while we're away rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com.au%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F192762088067If you have a live cigarette lighter when the ignition if off, you can sit that on the dash with no worries (they are not weather proof) and plug it in or run the cable out the door to under the bonnet
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Post by dieseltojo on Jul 29, 2019 8:35:57 GMT 10
Hi Lance, I don;t have that probably same amount of reduction in my Land cruiser, but eventually it loses some power as we use it less than our ute which is easier to drive around regularly. I know nothing about power either, but i Put a small maintenance type charger on mine once a month.
It is not a high amount of current going in and tit might take a couple of days to top up. This has worked for me for around 4 years.
I must say It is a slow drain as I have not bothered to test it having two standard batteries in a land cruiser diesel from new and a decent aux battery for accessories which the rear mounted fridge runs off.
The truck has an alarm on it and takes what ever power it needs over time to run the clock and radio I suppose.
You vehicle might have a full time inverter that draws a some small metering power drain. I would not be concerned with a small amount but if free camping it could be a concern alright. I have always figured out my problems but my son is a sparky and he looks over my shoulder and tells me I am an electrical butcher and then fixes my stuff ups.
So all this wonderful info might be hot air.
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Post by dieseltojo on Jul 29, 2019 9:04:31 GMT 10
Hi Lance, I don't have that same amount of reduction in my Land cruiser, but eventually it loses some power as we use it less than our ute which is easier to drive around regularly. I know nothing about power either, but I Put a small maintenance type charger on mine once a month.
It is not a high amount of current going in and tit might take a couple of days to top up. This has worked for me for around 4 years.
I must say It is a slow drain as I have not bothered to test it having two standard batteries in a land cruiser diesel from new and a decent aux battery for accessories which the rear mounted fridge runs off.
The truck has an alarm on it and takes what ever power it needs over time to run the clock and radio I suppose. I don't know if the engine has a power loss due to glow plugs and such.
You vehicle might have a full time inverter that draws a some small metering power drain. I would not be concerned with a small amount but if free camping it could be a concern alright. I have always figured out my problems but my son is a sparky and he looks over my shoulder and tells me I am an electrical butcher and then fixes my stuff ups.
So all this wonderful info might be hot air.
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Lance
Avid poster
Posts: 233
Location: Melbourne
Tow/Motorhome: VW Crafter Motorhome
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Post by Lance on Jul 29, 2019 9:14:36 GMT 10
This morning, the drain is now showing .40 and the start battery is down to 12.34v. Perhaps it could be that the battery is dying. It's a Century DIN65L-MF According to the Century www that is to suit VW - GOLF TRANSPORTER CARAVELLE BORA CCA:580 RC:110 AH:63ah My vehicle is a 2.5l, 5cyl Diesel and the battery listed for it is DIN85LH-MF CCA:760 RC:165 AH:88ah Battery just not up to the job
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Post by Old Techo on Jul 29, 2019 9:28:34 GMT 10
G'day lance,
Those clip-on or clamp meters are not very accurate at low current.
I have one the same as yours and it is important to push the reset/zero/rel button with the clamp at least a few inches away from cable to be tested and then whack on the clamp roughly centred around the cable. That is the clamp spacing to the cable. Despite this the readings still tend to wander.
As an accuracy improvement then touch nothing other than immediately remove and reverse the clamp so that you get the opposite polarity reading. Let's say +0.24 and -0.12 then average those values to halfway between 0.24 and 0.12 or 0.18 amps. You could repeat the process if a pedant like me.
The above is merely trying to improve the accuracy of the clamp if that is all you have but the proper way, having determined by clamp that the current is clearly below 10 amps, is to use a multimeter and break the circuit as JR described.
When using a multimeter to measure current ALWAYS start on the max amp range even if you think the current is much less. This means changing your probe connection in most meters. Having determined the current is well within the next lower current range swap probe connections and start of the highest current range then switch your way down if necessary.
When finished measuring current NEVER put the meter away left in the current position, especially the 10 amp connection, as that is likely unfused and if you then forget and try to measure battery or mains volts............ kaput !!!!
That constant drain on modern vehicles is often called parasitic current but it is not normally a problem unless the vehicle is left standing for many weeks. Our Hyundai ix35 is 7 years old on the original battery and starts easily after we have been away for 10 weeks.
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Post by GerryP on Jul 29, 2019 9:52:40 GMT 10
Parasitic loads on cars is getting worse, my Ranger being amongst them. Then they fit cheap quality gel batteries that don't like under bonnet heat and you end up with problems. Mine was shocking as the BCM stays 'alive' for ages, power sockets take a half hour to switch off and if activated, the Sync3 system scans for wifi in case there's an update to be found! And that's the tip of the iceberg!
I've managed to reprogram most of these annoying drains away, including the most annoying chimes as well as flashing lights and horns beeping whenever I lock or unlock the car. That along with a decent agm starting battery and I'm now fine for a few weeks or more.
Don't get me wrong, I love my truck, but the 'smarts' are too smart for their own good.
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Lance
Avid poster
Posts: 233
Location: Melbourne
Tow/Motorhome: VW Crafter Motorhome
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Post by Lance on Jul 29, 2019 10:32:33 GMT 10
We use the camper at least twice/mth so non-use wouldn't be an issue for a good sized battery I imagine.
I've ordered a Delkor 59015 to pick up this morning. CCA: 810 A AH(20HR): 90 Ah RC: 160 Min
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Post by collyn on Jul 29, 2019 10:46:00 GMT 10
Lance
A quick way to check is to measure the voltage about an hour after the vehicle is used (so battery has cooled down) - then disconnect all leads from both terminals and check again (make a note of it) leave like that overnight).
If the voltage is still way down - then it is rooted. If not post again and I will explain how to fix the problem. If battery is OK, then there is vehicle issue. Report what you find on here and I will explain how you should be able to track down the cause.
Collyn
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