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[Andy B]

Not an Omega, but a Fiat Seicento. Re the Halfords battery thread, my daughter's car has had some starting problems. The battery checks out OK .... two different testers.

The car's using 185mA with nothing running at all ... key in my pocket, doors closed  (boot light goes off  ), no alarm fitted. Any opinions as to whether that's too high or not    before I start pulling fuses.

TIA

[Marks DTM Calib]

Yes, should be a tenth of that

[Andy B]

Yes, should be a tenth of that

Thanks Mark. When I first connect the multimeter it reads around 50 & then goes straight to 180 or so.

I'll start pulling fuses then ............ I wonder where the fuse box is     

[Andy B]

Pulled fuses one by one & lo & behold it's the radio (Jamie's favourite make  )

When I disconnected the battery to put my meter in line I'd not realised that just powering it up had turned the radio on. Pressing 'off' reduced the drain to about 80mA but pressing & holding 'off' shut the radio down completely. Result was that the drain went to 7mA 

This has started since I modified the wiring to the radio such that the ignition feed was supplied via the ignition live of the neighbouring electric window switch. All wiring back to original.

I'll inform her of the 'fault'   

[chrisgixer]

Yes these cars are all fine until they encounter their owners

[Bigron]

I had this cunning plan (been speaking to Baldrick, you see...), in which I would charge my battery via the rear seat cigarette lighter socket, with a secondary use as system keep-alive for if I needed to remove the main battery.
All worked well for a while and after a few minutes it stopped accepting charge. Does that socket disconnect after a while? I thought that it was permanently live.     

Ron.

[Andy B]

..... Does that socket disconnect after a while? I thought that it was permanently live.     

Ron.

Apparently so on later Omegas  Both on earlier cars is just ignition live. 

[Bigron]

Thanks Andy. It is odd, though, when the legend on the dust cover states it has 10 Amp capability - why, therefore, would it disconnect after a few minutes and leave you powerless?
Some features on Omegas are very clever and well thought out.......

Ron.

[Andy B]

Thanks Andy. It is odd, though, when the legend on the dust cover states it has 10 Amp capability - why, therefore, would it disconnect after a few minutes and leave you powerless?
Some features on Omegas are very clever and well thought out.......

Ron.

If 185mA will drain a battery ................. how long would your battery last if you were draining it by 10Amps?      (not very  )

[Bigron]

Good point, but I wanted to put current INTO the socket, for charging purposes, not take it out! If I wanted to use it for current supply, e.g. a tyre pump, that would not drain the battery in the time needed to do the job, but the socket would time out before I had finished - not helpful........

Ron.

[Entwood]

Good point, but I wanted to put current INTO the socket, for charging purposes, not take it out! If I wanted to use it for current supply, e.g. a tyre pump, that would not drain the battery in the time needed to do the job, but the socket would time out before I had finished - not helpful........

Ron.

close door, reopen .. timer restarts  .. do it all the time when changing the tyre pressures for towing/solo ..

[Bigron]

Thanks for that; not too useful a technique if I am charging overnight, though!
I don't suppose you know how long the time delay is?

Ron.

[Entwood]

Thanks for that; not too useful a technique if I am charging overnight, though!
I don't suppose you know how long the time delay is?

Ron.

IIRC its about 6 minutes...

Edit

15 minutes

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.reynolds983/Manuals/Omega2002Manual.pdf

Page 75 column 3

[Andy B]

Good point, but I wanted to put current INTO the socket, for charging purposes, not take it out! If I wanted to use it for current supply, e.g. a tyre pump, that would not drain the battery in the time needed to do the job, but the socket would time out before I had finished - not helpful........

Ron.

Sorry .... mis-understood what you were doing. 

You could always fit your own fused permanent supply to A N Other ciggy type socket tat you could hide somewhere ..... under the dash maybe or in the glove box

[Bigron]

No need for apologies anywhere, I have had brilliant help, as usual.
My grateful thanks to all.

Ron.